I was born of a Korean immigrant family that had emigrated to Canada in the ealy 1970s. With my older siblings in tow, they chased the American Dream. Unfortunately, the US immigation laws in the 1970s were overly restrictive. In fact, I learned recently that it was a privilege that did not come easily. Having a fiancée from outside the country, I'm actively going through the process to make her an American.

My father, an industrial, mechanical, and design engineer, had left a comfortable job at a fan manufacturer and even turned down an early opportunity to work for Samsung before they became the tech giant that they are today.

It was 1983 and I was only 5 years old when I first went to Korea. I was born in Canada, at the time, one of the cleanest countries in the world, when I was brought to Seoul as it was undergoing a massive industrialization. The air was thick with diesel fumes and the occasional sewer odor. What was to be a month long trip to visit my ailing grandfather turned into a few weeks since I was not vaccinated. I grew deathly ill and was forced to return home.

Thirty five years had passed since my last visit when I decided to go back to Korea. It was 2018 and I had been working at Amazon for 3 years when I decided it was time to check it out. I had read articles about so many Korean emigrants returning home to find that Korea had, in many ways, surpassed the American prosperity that was perceived to be the case in the late 20th century. While American technology had reach its apex with the dot come bust, Korea began to catch up and is now a technological land of innovation.

I had always had an affinity for checking off a visit to the tallest buildings in the world, so naturally when I was in Korea, I decided to visit the Lotte Tower. It was ranked the 5th tallest building in the world. Side note: living in Dubai I have now been to the tallest in the world at Burj Khalifa.

From high a top the Lotte Tower, I was able to see the site of the 1988 Seoul Olympic games and the stadium that now stood ghostly empty. I saw where other landmarks were as I explored the top floor in 360 degrees.

After some time in Seoul, I took the KTX train to Busan. I had made it a point to take this route and train because of the famous Train to Busan zombie movie that was popularized a few years prior.

Busan was amazing, my favorite part of the trip. It's no wonder why they chose it for the chase scene in Black Panther. It was my first 5 star splurge, where I stay at the Park Hyatt Busan. Side note: I wrote an article on the Busan part of my trip, it was that good. Other areas of interest were the Busan International Film Fesitval venue and Shinsegae Mall, the worlds largest department store.

I took my family on this trip, including my mom. She told me that for her honeymoon, she wanted to go to Jeju Island. You can think of it as the Hawaii of Korea. Unfortunately, she was unable to afford the trip in her early youth, so I added a trip there to our itinerary. Now that we had traveled south from Seoul to the coast in Busan, it was easy to take a flight to Jeju.

We landed and stayed the the Ramada Inn. I was missing the Park Hyatt, but that's what a 5 star experience will do to you. There was a lot to do in Jeju. We say lava tubes, learned about Jeju pork and ate at some of the most amazing places. The beaches were gorgeous and overall, it was an experience I would highly recommend.

When I took my mom to Korea, I was hoping that she would be able to translate since my Korean was never that great. However, when you leave a country, 40 years is a long time to be away for you to keep up with the language's natural evolution and things change. Imagine having a coma and waking up in 40 years. You would hardly be able to communicate. Much to my surprise, I was able to communicate in English everywhere I went. Korea had really changed from the 1983 Korea I remembered to the 2018 Korea. I can't wait for my next return. As a partner of LG, and hoping to make partnership with Samsung and other Korean manufacturers, I have started brushing up on my Korean. I've been inspired to reconnect with my roots.