A Mother-Daughter’s Journey Through Seoul

When Juliet Izon’s debut novel, The Encore, was published, she made good on a promise to her daughter Avvie. If the book sold, they would go to Tokyo together. After a 10-day trip to Japan, Juliet and Avvie had two weeks of school vacation left and a transpacific flight already behind them. They started doing the math and decided to add four nights in Seoul to their itinerary.

Source: media.cntraveler.com

Neither of them expected to fall quite so hard for the city. The practical case for Seoul was simple: the time zone matched Japan’s, so there was no additional jet lag to manage. The exchange rate with the US dollar made a city that might otherwise feel expensive surprisingly accessible.

Source: media.cntraveler.com

But the more compelling case was one that any parent of a tween will recognize: this is a liminal age, the years when a child begins arriving at her own passions and itineraries. Avvie came to trip planning with a list of what she wanted to eat and where she wanted to go, and Juliet found herself in the unfamiliar and delightful position of following her daughter’s lead.

Source: media.cntraveler.com