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Travel Journal
Seven days in Seoul with mum: An unlikely bonding trip after a decade
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The writer and her mother on a trip to South Korea in November 2025, their first time travelling as a pair in almost a decade.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF JESSICA NOVIA
SINGAPORE – Like many working adults, I guard my annual leave fiercely. I plan it around public holidays, travel companions’ schedules and the best times to visit a certain destination, determined to squeeze as much joy as possible out of every precious break.
In January 2025, over dinner with my 63-year-old mother, I listed my upcoming trips for the year: a snowboarding trip to Niseko in March, summer in Sardinia with university friends, a music festival in Manila.
