Traveling to See BTS' Bus Stop in Gangneung

My first trip outside of Seoul was not what I expected.

My friends and I decided to take a trip to Gangneung, which is about two hours outside of Seoul, so we could see the iconic BTS Bus Stop. During 2017, BTS took a picture for their, You Will Never Walk Alone album, at a bus stop bench. It has now become an official landmark that fans tend to visit to take a picture of it themselves. 

On a Sunday morning, our journey started at 5:30 AM as we wanted to start the trip bright and early. First, we had to get to the Dongseoul bus terminal which was an hour away from where we were staying on campus. We arrived at the terminal around 6:30, and we were able to buy our bus tickets for 7:10. After some snacks, and a two-hour nap on the bus we arrived in Gangneung around 9 AM. As soon as we stepped off the bus, I knew I was not in Seoul anymore. As someone who has lived in a city for my entire life, being in places where it's quiet and you don’t hear the bustling of the city almost feels uncomfortable. I knew how to navigate being in a city but not being in the suburbs. However, I can’t deny that there was some peace in the quiet and being able to take in the scenery.

After having a delicious breakfast, we decided to make our journey to the beach where the landmark was located. To my surprise we were not the only ones who decided to visit the bus stop that day. There was a line to take pictures with the bench, so we had to wait around 15 minutes. I thought I would have more time to take in the moment and listen to a song or two from the album as I sat on the bench, but that was not the case. We had to quickly take our individual and group pictures as soon as we could so that we could let the people behind us take their pictures. Though I wish I had more time to take in the moment, it was still spectacular to see such an important bench for BTS’ journey.

After the pictures, we had decided to visit another beach where the Korean drama, Goblin, was filmed. The filming site was at a seaport, so it was nice to watch the waves hitting the rocks for a while. Nonetheless, we soon became hungry for dinner, but this was where my friends and I encountered some difficulty. Due to our location, there were mostly seafood options around, but half of the group could not eat seafood, so it was hard to find a place to accommodate everyone. So, we tried to go back into town and find other restaurants. Unfortunately, since it was a Sunday, it seemed as if most places were not open. Although we wanted to eat food that was local to Gangneung, the best option we could find was fried chicken.

When dinner was over, we decided to make our journey back home, but when we got to the station, there were not enough seats to head back home on the bus. So, like most foreigners would do, we started freaking out that we would not be able to return to Seoul and tried to find a solution. After a couple minutes, one of my friends decided to check the bus seats again and thankfully our prayers were answered because she found exactly five seats left on the bus. In all, we did not arrive home until almost 2 AM, resulting in almost 24-hour day trip.

My first trip outside of Seoul was a bit chaotic as there were many ups and downs, but I appreciated the journey. When I look back on this trip, though there were moments that were stressful or annoying at the time, my friends and I laugh when we think about them now.

Not everything will go perfect when you are studying abroad, but you will make memories that you will never forget out of it.