By Nicole Damiano, ASTA Verified Travel Advisor with FG Luxury Travel · Updated August 2026
14 days flew by and Brandon is heading back to Florida in the morning. We tried to cram as much of Korea as we possibly could into 2 weeks. While we were at work, Brandon spent time relaxing watching sports center and catching up on his man time, but he also visited the Jinjilbang and ate at Gimbap Nara – he loved the Bulgogi. He also took a trip up to Seoul for a few days, stayed in a hostel, caught a KBL basketball game, rode the subway and talked business with some referees in the KBL.
With Adam and I, we ate Galbi, Shabu Shabu, ChamChi (all you can eat Tuna!), Gimbap, Cold noodles (i forget what it is called), Mandu, Tempura, Persimmons, Pears, Jeju Oranges, Mechju, Soju, Ramyen and Korean cake. We rode on the bus, subway and train.
Brandon couldn’t stop talking about the barber poles….supposedly stripes mean one thing…and not necessarily a hair cuttery.
We shopped downtown for glasses, more for me, he just got his fixed, Adam got a new pair too, we climbed Meudong, went to Jeonju, Nonsan and the dried persimmon festival. We drank makgeolli with old men in the park and snacked on seaweed.
I asked him for a list of his top 10, he insisted on a bottom 5 too.
1. The Food
2. Basketball Games
3. The Tuna Restaurant
4. Climbing Meudong Mountain
5. Seoul
6. Dried Persimmon Festival
7. Seeing me 🙂
8. Downtown Gwangju
9. The People and their Kindways (as he says)
10. The Relaxation
and now, for the bottom 5
1. Cab accident
2. Inconsiderate people bumping
3. Getting lost at the bus station in Seoul
4. all three of us having the shits
5. Olive peeing on my bed (in brandon’s words)
Honorable Mention – The spicy food
Anyway, I will miss him… but he must go back to take care of the kiddos , sandii and give my mom, dad and grandparents love and hugs from me.
Love You Brandon
How do you build a life around adventure and travel?Intentionally and incrementally. Most families who live this way did not leap from conventional to adventurous overnight. They built remote work capacity, paid down debt, tested longer trips, and had honest conversations about what they want from their lives.
What does an adventurous family lifestyle actually look like?Different for every family. For some it is long-term travel. For others it is weekend adventures close to home. What connects them is intentionality about how time is spent and a preference for experiences over accumulation.
How do you balance adventure with stability for kids?By finding stability within the adventure rather than treating them as opposites. Routines, rituals, and family rhythms travel with you. Kids need consistency in relationships more than consistency in geography.
What has travel taught your family?That people are fundamentally similar across cultures. That comfort zone is a smaller circle than it feels from inside. That the things worth having in life require effort and discomfort. And that time together doing hard interesting things is the most reliable source of family closeness.
How do you handle the pressure to live conventionally when you have chosen differently?By getting clear on why you made the choices you made and returning to that clarity when outside noise gets loud. Most families living unconventionally describe an initial period of explaining themselves that gradually gives way to just living the life.
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