€700 Gin and Tonic, Finding Calm in Okinawa, Moving to LA from Korea for Film School

SUMMARY:

This week on Travelling Through Life: A Podcast on the Go I chat with a man I met on a RyanAir flight almost 7 years ago. Jin is a talented filmmaker from South Korea who moved to LA for film school. We chat about an outrageously expensive gin and tonic in Rome, finding calm in Okinawa, the music that accompanied family road trips, vacationing with friends on the isolated island of Guam, and why NYC is infinitely better than LA.

Travelling through Life: A Podcast on the Go is a fun and quirky show from Travel with TMc that delves into all things travel and adventures from the road, in the air, and in between here and there. Subscribe for weekly episodes! 

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MORE RESOURCES & LINK FROM TODAY’S EPISODE:

Busan (South Korea)
Guam
Okinawa (Japan)
Korean Academy of Film Arts
American Film Institute
Wētā FX
Wellington, NZ Indie Cinemas
Director Bong Joon Ho
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Pani Bottle
Éric Rohmer
Tribeca Film Festival
The Hicks Happy Hour (edited by Jin!)

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction and First Impressions
00:06 Introduction to Jin-hyuk Suk
06:01 First Trips & Childhood Experiences: 
09:58 How to Choose Where to Travel: Resorts in Guam, Self-Discovery in Europe, & Calmness in Okinawa
23:25 Why a Career in Film
26:36 Growing Up in South Korea
28:46 Moving to LA for Film School
33:22 Life in the US on a Visa in 2025
38:30 NYC is Better than LA
42:50 Travel Traditions
44:10 Local Indie Theatres in Wellington, New Zealand
45:31 Pandemic Effects on Living Abroad: Korean Student in USA 
46:49 Travel Mishap: Italian Strip Club
53:08 Language & Travel: Korean & English
01:08:57 Impact of Tech on Travel Style: International Remote Work
01:11:59 Documenting Travel Memories: Photography
01:14:13 Living vs. Travelling Abroad: What's Your Preference?
01:18:49 Being a "Tour Guide" in Your Own City
01:22:08 Weirdest Sleeping Spot: None (yet!)
01:22:48 Spotify Travel Playlist: Jin's Choice
01:24:14 Speed Round: San Sebast

Transcript

Tara (00:06)
Hello, welcome to Travelling Through Life: A Podcast on the Go. I'm your host Tara and the founder of the blog Travel with TMc which is where you'll find free destination guides, points and miles consulting for Canadians, a little bit of vanlife behind the scenes and much more. Travelling Through Life: A Podcast on the Go is a fun and quirky show that delves into everything travel and adventure, whether from the road, in the air or in between here and there.

Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen and leave a 5-star review. These 2 quick, easy actions make a big impact on helping the show reach a wider audience. So thank you for your support. In Season 2, my guests and I cover a wide range of travel topics. And it's my hope that you'll hear and see yourself represented in these guests and the conversations that we have. It'd also be awesome if maybe there's something new that piques your interest and maybe gives you a different way of travelling or seeing the world.

This week on Travelling Through Life: A Podcast on the Go, I chat with a man I met on a Ryanair flight almost 7 years ago. His name is Jin and he's a talented filmmaker from South Korea who's now living in LA. I didn't know it until our discussion on the podcast, but the day we crossed paths was after a very fraught experience he'd had in Italy. Jin and I kept in touch through email and actually met up again about five or six months later

when I returned to Korea for my own journey. Recently in conversation with my friend Ryan at a local cafe, I spoke about how I love meeting strangers on planes and how I actually get excited in advance for the potential serendipity of meeting a new stranger and learning about their story. Jin is the perfect example of these wonderful magical encounters. I'm so happy he chose to meet me halfway and talk to the stranger beside him.

On the podcast episode with Jin, we talk about everything from the most expensive gin and tonic in the world that he was shocked to receive the bill for. The music that accompanied family road trips in South Korea, vacationing on resorts on Guam with his friends, and healing through travel in Europe in his 20s. We also talk about moving to LA for film school and translating for some of Korea's film giants, especially during today's climate. And last,

Jin goes on to explain why New York does live up to the hype and is in fact the best city in the world and better than LA. Alright, thanks for listening and let's dive in.

Tara (02:41)
Hey, here we go. Hi, Jin, how are you? Welcome to the show.

Jin Suk (02:46)
Yeah, pleasure to be here for the first time in my life in a podcast. Yeah, I have no, I usually, you know, sit behind my laptop ⁓ for ⁓ honing in for other people's performance behind the curtain. But yeah, this is my first time.

Tara (02:51)
No way, really?

Hey.

Well, I'm thrilled that your first time is on Travelling Through Life: A Podcast On The Go. That's awesome. So for anybody who's just listening in, my name is Tara and my guest for today is Jin and we met, was it in 2019? I think so. We were both on a Ryanair flight going from Italy to Ireland and.

Jin Suk (03:14)
You

Okay, okay.

I guess. Yeah.

Tara (03:36)
As I tend to do on flights, I spoke to the stranger next to me. And it turned out we had a ton to talk about. And we've kept in touch since then. And today we get to reconnect on the podcast. So why don't you tell everybody about yourself, who you are, what you do, and where you're calling in from today.

Jin Suk (03:59)
Okay, yeah, hello people in the world. My name's Jin. I'm living in Los Angeles for now. It's been already almost 3 years. I came here to study film editing. I already had started films in Korea in my previous film school, which was Korean National Film School there.

Tara (04:03)
you

Jin Suk (04:28)
And ⁓ yeah, we met in the airplane at the time. I could speak English, and I was in English, but it was a little bit wacky. But she very patiently ⁓ listened to me very carefully. And at the time, I was really in the middle of, ⁓ how can I say, like, a mental crisis or something. But I think I had a lot of things to let out at the time. But yeah.

with a nice talk and for now I think I settled in in many levels like in terms of life or in terms of career. So yeah, I'm like chasing and ⁓

having a really nice time with the people that I can trust in, like, in terms of career. And I also got married. ⁓ So, yeah, everything seems settled, I guess.

Tara (05:26)
⁓ I didn't know! Congratulations! Aww!

That's such wonderful news! I knew that the 2 of you were in LA together, but congratulations on your wedding and your marriage! You're welcome! That's awesome! very cool! Yeah, and by the way, your English was great when we spoke on the plane. Don't even get me started! It was my Korean that was horrendous! I knew all of... Yeah, it still is! I still only know about 4 words! Yeah, too funny! Okay, so, ⁓ born in Korea.

Jin Suk (05:39)
Thank you.

Thank you. It was.

Yeah.

Tara (06:01)
You're living in LA now, but you've done some travel in between. Did you grow up travelling? Like, were in your family, did you do any travelling when you were kids?

Jin Suk (06:11)
I guess so. mean, my parents, thankfully, compared to other Korean or generic Asian parents, mean, my parents more rather pay more time on just travelling a lot, like domestically or even internationally. ⁓ So which I still believe that those moments, I mean, I think I forgot

a lot of like actual moments of like being here and there. But I think I believe that the senses that I could cultivate while I travel with my parents, like listening to music in the car or yeah, I mean what I felt at those numerous places or what I ate, know, those things I could, you know, I just believe in that, you know.

Tara (06:56)
Mm.

Yeah, very cool. Do you have siblings? Did you grow up with siblings too?

Jin Suk (07:11)
Yeah.

Yeah, my younger brother, we all 4 of us, you know, went to a lot of places, I guess.

Tara (07:20)
Yeah, mostly by car or by plane or train.

Jin Suk (07:23)
By

car, I mean, I think the things that I still stuck in my head is, I don't know, like some me, my brother lying on the backseat of my father's car and some 60s, 70s American pop songs. ⁓ Because my parents loved those, not because of like, you know, we have to...

teach my kids English or something that was just solely they just play their song ⁓ for the whole travels or even classical music. So ⁓ I think that opened my sensibility of music and it's still like really those have been my like grounds of

⁓ my this my like fondness toward in American songs yeah yeah I guess yeah

Tara (08:28)
Hmm. Very neat. Is there a song

from your childhood on those drives that stands out for you?

Jin Suk (08:36)
like when I was a kid more like the basic American songs like Abba or my parents loved

The...

Tara (08:51)
It's okay, we're digging way back into the memory drawer here.

Jin Suk (08:52)
Yeah, seriously.

Okay, get back to this one again. yeah, because you know, when parents say, when parents told me that, okay, this is my favourite one, then you you cannot forget those things, you know. ⁓ Like, there are also several films that my parents told me back then like, this is my favourite one. This is one that I loved when I was

Tara (08:59)
Feel free to sing any if you want. ⁓

Mmm.

Jin Suk (09:26)
30 or something, then that carved me into that, okay, maybe in conscious way, but I think that made me to want me to listen or see those things with more carefulness, I guess. But that happened very naturally. Everything was just natural, not having intention of forcing me something into...

Tara (09:45)
Mmm.

Jin Suk (09:56)
education or whatever. Yeah.

Tara (09:56)
Right,

right, right. Yeah, very cool. Do you remember the first trip that you took as a young adult, like by yourself or with friends or without the parents?

Jin Suk (10:09)
Yes. The very first one that I went with my friends with my own consciousness was right after I finished my ⁓ the college university entrance exam that we took. And we went to Guam.

Tara (10:21)
He

What? ⁓ That was your first? my gosh. Tell us more.

Jin Suk (10:38)
Guam. Wait, my... ⁓

Guam is... It's really funny, but it's really close to Korean people. I don't know why. Maybe it's because part of America and a lot of people go...

to Guam because there are like a lot of like travel, what do you guys call it? Like a package or like a lot of travel companies provide this Guam as a whole package with the resort, know, something like that. I, with my friends, we just bought this package of...

Tara (11:15)
Mm-hmm.

Jin Suk (11:31)
you know, travel thing. ⁓ So we went to some specific resort. So I basically didn't go to Guam itself. I more like went to a specific resort in Guam. We stayed for 5 days, you know, solely in that specific resort. So now I have a more own way to manage my travel. But at the time, ⁓ it was just 4 kids.

going abroad. So we just we just stayed there and like ⁓ got yeah yeah that was silly but anyway yeah yeah anyway

Tara (12:05)
Yeah.

It sounds like there might be a few stories there. Fair

enough. Nice. And throughout your, like you're in your 30s now, correct? Fabulous. ⁓ Throughout your 20s, like whereabouts did you travel? What guided you in your travels? Who did you enjoy sharing those experiences with? Or did you do them on your own or a mix?

Jin Suk (12:22)
Yeah.

So I guess like my travels in 20s mostly about being a wanderer, like... ⁓

and finding a piece in me because like, so I went to like Italy or Paris, especially Italy. I think when I went there like 3 or 4 times by myself, I just, know, spontaneously just bought the tickets and

Tara (13:17)
⁓

Jin Suk (13:25)
I didn't even like plan for any hotels or where to stay or where to go. just, I think I just needed to just get away from, I mean at the time I don't know, I wanted to be a filmmaker, but I don't know what position specifically I should choose or something or like, know, very...

some serious questions like why do I leave, something like that so I always you know wanted to like get out from the where I belong to. At the same time I also travelled lot to Japan especially to Okinawa I think I went there almost 10 times I mean it's really close to Korea yeah it only takes 2 hours or something but still like

Tara (14:14)
Yeah

Jin Suk (14:20)
Like I went to Okinawa for 4 times or something a year with my friends, my closest friends, because I found Okinawa is really like a hidden gem or ⁓ isolated island or something. Because like Okinawa, people can speak English, but at the same time, you know, they more...

Tara (14:34)
Hmm.

Jin Suk (14:48)
I'm not fluent in English, so I could feel more, you know. ⁓

like less communicative, which I needed. Like I just want to feel that, you ⁓

I mean, choices that I made, ⁓ these destinations, I think now I recall, I think I want to be thrown away at some place. I want to feel either not get lost or when I need some peace in mind that I picked this very...

somewhere I can feel calmness. ⁓ That has been my 20s. I mean I love those moments, but at the same time.

Tara (15:42)
Hmm.

Jin Suk (15:53)
You know, my deep in mind, I felt very desperate, you know, I don't know what to do. Yeah, those or the my sentiment, I guess that I had when I was 20. Yeah.

Tara (16:03)
Yeah.

I remember our chat on the plane there and ⁓ no, it was such a lovely chat because as complete strangers, know, there's that wonderful space where we can be what I think is open and honest because, you know, who knows if we'll ever see the strangers again. It's a neutral person. And I remember you thinking at that time about what you wanted to do with film and

Jin Suk (16:10)
you

Tara (16:33)
doubting yourself a little bit, I think, at the time. And now you're flying with what you're doing. ⁓ And I'm curious to know, like, because I can relate a little bit to what you're saying too about choosing destinations that allow you to quiet. having that bit of language barrier or being in a space that's a bit more physically isolated that gives you that time to quiet your mind when you're external settings.

Jin Suk (16:59)
Hmm hmm hmm hmm.

Tara (16:59)
or quieter

or more separated from you. can relate to that. ⁓

Jin Suk (17:04)
Yeah,

like especially like when we go to Okinawa, I generally went to not the like capital of Okinawa or something. mean, my friends and I and also my wife and I just took in a small ship to go to like one hour away from the main cities. ⁓ So we actually went to some

Tara (17:28)
Mm.

Jin Suk (17:32)
Okinawa is an island, but we even went to a way smaller island where small villages ⁓ where they barely can speak English. But my wife can speak Japanese and my friends could speak a little bit of Japanese, but I basically cannot.

Generally when I go to a lot of places where can just speak English, but I just always stand there, even in a coffee shop or even in the grocery shops, I just pick things as if I don't know anything about this place. I think I intentionally loved the sense of,

It's not that distant from the environment where I lived in Korea. It's somehow similar, but somehow a little bit different. So I think I really felt this comfortableness. Only took me 2 hours, enough of time that I can feel that I'm going to somewhere else.

Tara (18:35)
Mm.

Hmm.

Yeah.

Jin Suk (18:51)
But this is a place where I feel comfortable at the same time, something's different, but I cannot speak this language. Okinawa for me, for my entire 20s, it's very... It was my secret key to...

get through this existential crisis or thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Tara (19:19)
⁓ the 20s are a tough time. They're turbulent here.

You're figuring out who you are and what you want to do and how you're going to navigate the world. And quite literally, travel is such a wonderful tool to help people do that, difference of location and the familiarity that you mentioned in being in a new place, but also being somewhere physically different. definitely. That's beautiful. Have you been back to Okinawa in the last few years or when was the last time you were there?

Jin Suk (19:41)
Yeah.

It's been a while because I came here, Los Angeles, like 3 years ago. I only went to Korea like one or 2 times since then. So, I mean, Japan is far from here. But like, talked a lot. mean, my friends and I really talked a lot about the time we spent in Okinawa. I mean, we took a lot of pictures there and that's the...

time and place where I practiced my skill set of taking photos. mean, the subjects were my friends at the time, which taught me a lot how to tackle with this small gadget. And we always talk like this. mean, we can go to Okinawa

Even though it's a little bit tricky because everyone's like working for their own job, but like we can go. But we also know that we can never, you know, realize the sensibility again. I mean, at the time we were young and we just stayed in a small Airbnb and we just...

could find any joy or yeah, just buying some stuff from the convenience store. I mean, Japan's convenience store is awesome, ⁓ yeah, but like we could drink. I mean, we knew that we picked, we are so glad that we couldn't miss the perfect timing. ⁓

Tara (21:24)
they're fantastic. Yeah.

Jin Suk (21:41)
at the moment like I mean it's not gonna be the same so that's something permanently will reside in my self that you know as a fundamental source of what is being what is feel like to be on travel yeah yeah

Tara (21:47)
Definitely.

Yeah,

it makes sense. The little that I know you in the the years that we have known each other, it makes sense to me as well that you've gone into the film industry. You describe yourself being a bit of an observer and enjoy stepping back a little bit. And yeah, from what you just said there, you were happy for your friends and your now wife to do the talking and you could take things in a little bit.

⁓ or be the documenter in the group. Maybe I'm wrong in this observation, but.

Jin Suk (22:37)
No, no, no, I guess

that's the sensibility that I was born with, I guess. More like, because I am exposed to people who perform. And I'm like, I could sense that I'm not type of person who...

want to express myself in front camera or something but I'm more like feel comfortable with like behind the curtain or like in front of the monitor you know to see to observe so that I have more like sense of control you know so maybe I guess the ⁓ yeah that's me yeah yeah

Tara (23:11)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, makes sense. can relate to this as well.

When did film come into your life as something that you wanted to pursue?

Jin Suk (23:32)
⁓ That is also I can recall as an influence from my parents. ⁓ My parents watched a lot of films. They still watch a lot of films. They never forced me ⁓ like, you should study or something like that. But there's this ⁓ unforgettable memory that I have. ⁓ So when I was...

middle school, guess, when I was 12 already now, but like my mother. So there's this Moulin Rouge, know, starred by Nicole Kidman. was playing in a TV program or something. ⁓ It was one in the morning.

Tara (24:06)
Yeah.

Jin Suk (24:19)
And my mother told me that, okay, you don't have to go to school tomorrow, but you have to watch this right now. Yeah, and I loved it. ⁓ There are a lot of pop songs in there. I mean, I think this fondness my parents had in film just naturally nurtured my interest in this.

Tara (24:26)
⁓

Jin Suk (24:47)
medium and also I really loved yeah I really loved going to like video store I mean we don't watch video anymore but like at the time my mother and I went video store almost every day because my mother like came to school to pick me up but there's this you know small video shop which also has its like you know like snack shops together

Tara (24:54)
Mmm.

Wow.

Jin Suk (25:15)
So it was just a part of journey from school to my place. Always we just went there ⁓ and my mother taught me about like actors and actresses, ⁓ especially in America. And yeah, I could still remember the smell and the scenery of the place and...

and then walking, you know, between the aisles of this ⁓ deck of, you know, videotapes and yeah, and watching the titles of the movies.

Tara (25:58)
I'm with you on the fond memories of video stores that used to be like a Friday. ⁓ we've got someone's doing their lawn over there. That's OK. It's part of life. ⁓ Yeah, I was just going to say, like, I remember as kids going to the video store, ⁓ same thing like walking among the aisles and looking for the title that you wanted and picking your snacks and.

Jin Suk (26:04)
Sorry again.

Tara (26:24)
than in university that was like a Friday night ritual was, you know, think we need to bring back video stores. No, yeah, Goodness. Okay, well talk to us a little bit about choosing to move from Korea to, well, and actually I want to back up a little bit. Whereabouts in Korea did you grow up?

Jin Suk (26:27)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, we don't need the algorithm anymore. Seriously.

I grew up when I was young in Busan, which is more like a southern part of South Korea. Yeah, but I went to Seoul after I got into university. So ever since I was 20, I lived there for about 10 years, I guess. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Tara (26:55)
I'm Bim.

Very cool. Oh, that's awesome.

I am in 2019. I returned to Korea after having lived there. I wanted to just layer some better memories of the place and a former colleague of mine, we met up in Busan and there was a huge fireworks display that evening. I don't even remember what it was for, but it was some of the best fireworks I've ever seen. It was great. It was on the water there. Yeah.

Jin Suk (27:17)
Mm-hmm.

out.

studied ⁓ in Seoul and I think I wanted to be a director at the moment, but, ⁓ I even went to ⁓ this national film school in Korea located in Seoul. ⁓

And then I figured I'm just too, you know.

someone who just find peace.

like when I'm alone or something so and I'm like being a director is so horrible job like so that's why but I still wanted to be a filmmaker so when you go to you know international school or you know if you can speak English or something that you know you can expand your realm

in this industry, so I picked American Film School in LA to study film editing. So that's the pivotal moment for me to take the flight, yeah.

Tara (28:46)
What was it like moving to LA? What were your first impressions and how was it settling into this new place?

Jin Suk (28:54)
Honestly, I didn't have any interest or because I thought I am more like a New York person. ⁓ Even though I didn't even went to New York at the time, from films or whatever, ⁓ more like a very, like in the buildings, like walking the streets. ⁓

Whatever, yeah, whatever New York vibe has, but like I didn't see myself being in Los Angeles at all, but like this particular program and this particular film school is like, what can I say? Like the most privileged, yeah, whatever thing. So I had to choose this one and first off weather is awesome. But at the same time, there's no fluctuation.

Tara (29:23)
You

you

Jin Suk (29:50)
I mean, Korea is really wild, know, when it's winter, it's damn cold. When it's summer, it's horribly hot. But at the same time, you know, there's this joy that, you know, you have to pull out your coat or something when it's winter. But like here, it's... Every day is the basic the same, which is good for filming, I guess, but like...

Tara (29:58)
Hehehehe. Hehehehe.

True.

Jin Suk (30:20)
⁓ yeah, I think it's, I don't know for how long I will live here, but, but I think it helped me to settle in like, emotionally because there's this like stability, you know, there's like, I think it helped me to only focus on my side, you know. Yes.

Tara (30:41)
Mm.

There's one

less thing to think about. There's one less thing to adjust to. Yeah, definitely. That makes sense. Was there anything that you, despite thinking that you were a New Yorker at heart, was there anything that you automatically were drawn to once you got to LA other than the sun or anything that you were like, I'm not a fan of this?

Jin Suk (31:11)
I loved for the 2 years for the program ⁓ every time I went to school driving school ⁓ I could see the Hollywood sign because my school is literally right beneath ⁓ the mountain of the Hollywood sign so like

Tara (31:34)
⁓ wow.

Jin Suk (31:38)
Every time I had like Starbucks coffee, I don't know, I was just trying to like being an American or something, I grabbing Starbucks in my car, heading to school, watching the Hollywood sign really gave me sense that, you know, I'm like entering to the centre of, you know, filmmaking. was just no one in Busan or Seoul, only obsessed with in the film.

Tara (32:05)
you

Jin Suk (32:08)
for my whole lifetime. And now I am in Hollywood. I mean, every morning I watch that sign as if, know, brainwashed me. Okay, I'm getting into this, know, the heart of, you know, filmmaking. But I really loved, ⁓ every day it was sunny and Hollywood sign. Yeah, that scene, I think that will, you know.

they will live with me forever, I guess, that image. But at the same time, know, the street is messy. You know, a lot of homeless people. Yeah, it's not that hygiene in the place that I lived in Korea. But now I'm really used to this as a part of,

Yeah, this is LA, I guess. Some place, you know, there's this dream factory at the same time. What really dream is about. yeah.

Tara (33:05)
you

Yeah, it sounds like

when you were going to school there, you lived your own film montage. I can just like see it. Yeah, interesting. ⁓ We don't have to get into it too much, but I'm curious to know being that, ⁓ I'm guessing you came on a visitor visa for like a student visa for school. And now with, you know, He Who Must

Jin Suk (33:20)
Yeah, I guess. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Tara (33:40)
not being named in office and whatnot, how is that affecting your life in terms of being able to see family or stability or like, you know, peace of mind? How has that been for you lately?

Jin Suk (33:53)
Yeah, so I'm staying here still as a, you know, with the student visa and I'm trying to shift this to a so-called artist visa, which is a lot of my friends, got to, you know, obtain. But there's this fantastic story that I have. So I actually went to...

Tokyo like last month with my wife for celebrating like third year anniversary or something. It's only the third year. I mean, okay. ⁓ But I had horrible, horrible experience at LAX airport, which never happened. I ⁓ went to Korea or I went to other...

Tara (34:19)
Nice!

you

Jin Suk (34:44)
places, I, you know, ever since I started to live in Los Angeles, but this is the first time, but I had my all legitimate documents or I even had more documents that I even needed, but they detained me for almost 3 hours.

Tara (35:05)
⁓ no! ⁓

I'm so sorry.

Jin Suk (35:10)
And when I got escorted to another room, I was like, okay, is this serious? And the person was like, ⁓ this is nothing. This is just for procedure, whatever. You are in your post-program phase where you can work or something. We're trying to check this once more.

And once the door opened, there were like 50 people, very desperate, like gloomy faces already. And there were even people who already, you know, been captivated in the room, like almost for 6 hours or something. Somebody even was crying and yelling. I was like, this is, what is this? And I didn't even have to have like, like extra interview. They just, you know,

um, took my old documents and passport for 2 hours or something and they just, you know, handed out again. But there were people who were, you know, having an interview and like yelling or something. But I, of course I knew this different, you know, environment or this vibe these days.

⁓ but that was my, you know, like tactical, tactile office. Yeah. I was like, okay, this is real thing. That was, ⁓ my wife had to wait for 2 or 3 hours, ⁓ in the airport. ⁓ yeah, I think I was trying to absorb the air in the room to learn about, you know,

Tara (37:01)
Hmm.

Jin Suk (37:07)
I think I knew that I was gonna be okay. I I had all the documents. I have legitimate reason to be here. But at the same time, I mean, everyone else, majority of the people in the room also seem to have, you know, there seems like a student or something. I think this is for, you know, giving us like, like.

Tara (37:14)
Mm-hmm.

Jin Suk (37:31)
intentionally like a fear or something like it's just more about like educating us that you know and I didn't want to surrender myself that you know even though you know it gives me it forces me to feel that specific way or something like okay but yeah I was trying to imagine that there's this there's even more people who are in a

more desperate in a situation like ⁓ legally or something. And I know that I am in a more fortunate case. So that kind of like helped me to expand my imagination that, you know, in this world, there are people who are more in danger, I guess. Yeah.

Tara (38:11)
Hmm.

Interesting time. ⁓ I'm sorry that happened for both you and your wife. That would be a stressful situation. Has your time being in California, have you been able to explore the state at all? Or has it been something you've been interested in doing? Or has it been like head down, get the degree, going through the program and get work sort of thing?

Jin Suk (38:26)
Yeah.

Yeah,

basically, it was just about, you the program. ⁓ But I went to New York for the first time, even though I had my own image about New York ⁓ for a long time. But ⁓ my wife and I went to New York last year. And honestly, I had thought that I know about New York because everyone knows. I mean, New York is the centre of its capital of

Earth. So, ⁓ but I went there, I honestly really shocked. I'm like, that was, I even thought that I think I have to live here, at least a couple years in. ⁓ At some point, it was really. Yeah, now I could understand why people always say about New York, New York. was like, yeah, I think I read about New York or I.

watched a lot of New York, I listened about New York, I thought, you I don't know about them, but wow, it was.

Tara (39:57)
Can you put your finger on what it was? Because it's one thing to have this idea about it and for us to be like, wow, that's where I want to be. But it's another thing for us to actually get there and then be like, no, for real, this is a place that I want to be. So oftentimes those 2, the idea and the place don't match. But what was it for you?

Jin Suk (39:57)
That was city.

Yeah, because like even though it's been 3 years, LA, I don't think...

I'm really close to this city. I mean, know a lot of places now, but I don't, you know, like from the deep level, I don't see myself. I mean, there are like tons of opportunities here, it's here. So if I'm gonna live here, maybe that's because about my career or something. When I went to New York, I was like just instantly the...

The first reason was I just like walking. You you don't have to walk. I mean, you never walk in Los Angeles. So I just love when you walk, you know, ⁓ the way you experience the scenes, it changes, right? You know, as opposed to when you ride a car or something. So I love the sense of walking. And when you.

took subway and you show up in a different area of New York. The scenes are so different and I really love the, as if you watch a theatrical experience or a film, like it just changes the scenes. And you can also start to walk as soon as the scene changes. And I also loved the centre part was a scam. It's like, what is this? This is so gigantic.

I think I've been to lot of parks here and there, but that was just a different level. So I'm like, what is this? like, that was so... was like, even in the place, I was like, I still have to process, what is this? This is so awesome. Yeah, and I'm going to New York again next month for attending a festival ⁓ for the film that I edited.

Tara (42:10)
you

Jin Suk (42:21)
um, look at LA. Um, so yeah, I think I.

Tara (42:23)
You

I can see your face light up as you're talking about New York. Like can see how it gets you going. Yeah, that's very cool.

Jin Suk (42:36)
Yeah,

I think I was right, you know, of me thinking about myself. I'm more like a New York person when I was young. I mean, I think I...

Yeah, sorry LA. It is what it is. ⁓

Tara (42:52)
Fair enough, fair enough. Do you have any travel traditions, things that you do before, during or after your trip and whether they have been consistent throughout your life or changed at different stages?

Jin Suk (43:04)
⁓

I I, there are 2 things. I try to go to park for whatever cities that I go. And I also try to go local theatres because they have their own, you know, different programs or how they look. I mean, the staff or the merchants.

Tara (43:22)
Hmm.

Jin Suk (43:36)
or whatever food they sell. ⁓ Yeah, even when I went to ⁓ Tokyo last month, we went to like a small local theatre and I just, you know, took the flyers ⁓ for their programs. I mean, this is my job at the same time, you know, my hobby or yeah, it's kind of...

small tradition that I have now. Yeah, yeah.

Tara (44:08)
Yeah.

Have you been to Wellington, New Zealand yet?

Jin Suk (44:14)
Wellington? No.

Tara (44:15)
Yeah, in New Zealand.

Okay, if you like local theatres, you have to go. So I lived there in 2018. 2018? Yeah, in 2018. And my ex at the time, he was in film and whatnot. I think we had talked about that on the plane. That was probably one of the first things we chatted about. But in Wellington, that's where Wētā studios are. did, yeah, okay, of course you would know Wētā.

Jin Suk (44:31)
okay.

Tara (44:42)
And there's such a wonderful community there. Like they only have one big cinema. Everything else is independent cinemas. And when you talk about all of them having like their own vibe and the architecture being different and the food, there's something very, very special about Wellington and specifically their film community. I think you would love it. ⁓

Jin Suk (44:51)
Okay.

Yeah, I've never heard of it, but like I'm really yeah

because there must be where I yeah, and yeah, I'm really okay Okay

Tara (45:12)
Put it on your list. And because

Weta's there, there's been like offshoots of other creative agencies, whether they're in film or in other parts of the arts. It's such a cool city. Yeah. Put it on your list. Yeah. Very cool. ⁓ For your program with the timing of things, that was just after the pandemic, correct?

Jin Suk (45:20)
Yeah.

Okay. Noted. Yeah, okay. Thank you.

Yes.

Tara (45:37)
Did the pandemic affect your travel goals or your moving abroad or anything like that? was it just lucky timing for you?

Jin Suk (45:43)
you

think it was lucky timing. It was just, I mean, we started the program with, you know, wearing masks, but ⁓ it gradually, you know, we didn't have to. So we were more like, ready to be excited. Like, you know, okay, now the shit is done. And like, and yeah. And even the program before.

Tara (46:08)
Yeah

Jin Suk (46:15)
Mine, they did virtually. lot of courses happened virtually. But my case, the school and people just started to get back into settle up. So I'm more like ⁓ benefit from, I couldn't say benefit, more like people are ready to be, get connected. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Tara (46:39)
The energy was there. Yeah, yeah, that's very cool.

On a totally different tangent, have you ever missed a flight?

Jin Suk (46:49)
Missed a flight.

Tara (46:50)
Yeah.

Jin Suk (46:56)
I don't think so. mean, is there something to try to experience, I guess? ⁓

Tara (47:00)
I wouldn't suggest it. I did it once

and it was not a fun experience. I was just curious, given that you have travelled quite a fair bit, ⁓ sometimes it's a thing that happens, know? Okay, knock on wood then. ⁓ Have you ever had any scary experiences or close calls or anything like that in your travels or would you say you've been pretty smooth sailing?

Jin Suk (47:05)
Okay, yeah.

Not so far, yeah.

Not for the flight, for in general, like a travel. I have the, I think, I don't know, it was the journey to Italy where I met you, I don't know. But there, when I went to Rome, I think it was my first time to Rome.

Tara (47:32)
Yeah, in general on travels, yeah. ⁓

Jin Suk (47:53)
And like I said, I was desperate in like finding myself or something like that. So I took out this plane and it was night and I was just walking in Rome and this man came to me. He said he was British guy and he asked me, you know.

to some direction or something. I, at the time, I haven't talked to anyone for more than a day. And...

I don't know, this gentle guy just asked me this direction and we started conversation and we walked together and he said he was a accountant or something from London and you know, he was stranger, but I think I felt comfortable with this guy, you know, and I was so vulnerable at the time. So I think I was ready to, to open my

Tara (49:01)
Hmm.

Jin Suk (49:05)
vulnerability or whatever. But then, yeah, he suggests me to grab a beer or something. He said it's on him. Then he took me to his hotel. I mean, he argued that it was his hotel. Then we went to a bar. ⁓ But then I had to figure at that moment because we could just go to a random bar close to

where we were but he just he just took me to this specific bar then as soon as we sat down in the basement level of bar we were the only guests and there's 2 ladies you know sat next to us and like I okay what is this and we ordered gin tonic

Tara (50:00)
⁓ no...

Jin Suk (50:05)
And then like these ladies were trying to like, and I knew, and I figured that this man also part of this, you know, people and my mind went so like, and I had a passport in my pocket. was horrible in the imagination, know, when like, am I gonna even survive? I'm like, I was so terrified. And then the bill.

Tara (50:14)
Yeah... Yeah...

no.

Jin Suk (50:35)
you know, was handed to me. And it was like 700 euro.

Tara (50:41)
⁓

No, it wasn't. What?

Jin Suk (50:44)
on my end. And I'm like, for 2 glasses of gin tonic and with this ladies, whom I was just forced them to get away from.

Tara (50:46)
⁓

⁓

Jin Suk (51:02)
But I had just had to, you know, get away from the place. And I, with my father's credit card, Jesus Christ. then, yeah, and they, you know, served me a cab or something. And in the cab, I kind of like let out to this driver, like about my situation. And he seemed to understand my English at the same time.

Tara (51:10)
yeah.

⁓

Jin Suk (51:32)
I was just letting out my wrath to this random driver on the first day of Rome. then my father texted me. It was like 4 in the morning in Korea. But because my parents were so worried about me at the time, I seemed so not okay.

Tara (51:38)
⁓ this was your first day. ⁓

Jin Suk (52:02)
took flight to Italy and in the very first day you purchased so-called food because my father received a text saying food 700 euros like what 4 in the morning so was like yeah are you okay Jin so they're yeah and that was that was wild

Tara (52:24)
That's one heck of a story. I can't believe that was your first day. How did the rest of that trip go?

Jin Suk (52:26)
Yeah.

So that next day I just stay in room, know, sobering. Like 700 euro for 2 glasses of gin and tonic. Jesus Christ, yeah. Well, that was lesson, you know. Yeah.

Tara (52:39)
you

Jin Suk (52:51)
Anyway, yeah.

Tara (52:54)
Okay, alright. It's a good story later on, right? Yeah.

Jin Suk (52:58)
Yeah.

Something to tell in a podcast, I guess. Yeah. Yeah.

Tara (53:04)
Thank you. ⁓

So you and I have already talked about language a little bit, how awful my Korean is and how good your English is. And so we're both polyglots. I'm curious to know ⁓ what has your language journey been like? ⁓ So Korean, I'm guessing, is your first. English would be what? Second, third, fourth? How many languages do you know and how did you come to know them?

Jin Suk (53:33)
Basically, I can speak 2 languages. ⁓ English, we Korean learn English from very young stage. ⁓

but I mean, I could read and listen and understand English. but like the problem of education in Korea is even though we put like monstrous money on, you know, educating English, but you know, people cannot talk.

English fluently enough. ⁓ The reason is because we don't necessarily use this when communicating, more like for exam. So even though ⁓

Tara (54:37)
Mm. Mm-hmm.

Jin Suk (54:42)
But for my case, I watched lot of films and I listened to a lot of pop songs. So I relatively could open my ear to English, but it also took me a lot of time. I'm still learning English, but after I got here, LA, I hung out with lot of American friends and I spent...

and I'm spending a lot of time with them, like every day, all day. And I knew and I know that my grammar breaks a lot of time, but I think I didn't care. I just, know, a lot of things to say about films. And I just went on and on as opposed to when I was Korea, a lot of Korean, you know, student cases,

they're really terrified of being ⁓ incorrect in grammar or... Yeah, so... But it seems like at least my friends don't care about me breaking grammar or something. They're just more like either patient or...

Tara (55:50)
Hmm. ⁓

Jin Suk (56:12)
more focus is on, you know, what I actually talk. So ⁓ and with those ⁓ generosities, I think I still can say whatever I want to say, and they just tend to listen. And, and I don't think I feel ashamed or ⁓

Tara (56:17)
Mm-hmm.

Jin Suk (56:39)
And this is basically not my first language. And while I can manage 2 languages, how many languages can you speak? I always, know, as my friends, you can only speak English, you idiot. I'm like, so I, yeah, I think I hope my fellow Koreans can have more chances to just speak more. Yeah.

Tara (56:52)
Yep.

Yeah, yeah. I love that you mentioned that the response to somebody who perhaps might not be kind about someone else's learning journey is for most North Americans or North American-born individuals, they only know English. so truly it's a disadvantage, but the irony is definitely there too that A, they don't.

Jin Suk (57:24)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Tara (57:32)
have empathy because they haven't been in those situations, but B, they don't have the processing or the mental capacity because they haven't exercised that part of their brain. Yeah. ⁓ Have you had any really funny or oops moments with language at all, anything that sticks out in your brain?

Jin Suk (57:39)
Yeah.

⁓ I don't know why, like we... So the time, you know, the class, the program had just started. ⁓ So we had ⁓ like a brief moment of introducing yourself or something. But I just translated this specific word. ⁓ It was, I was embarrassment, but... ⁓

When you just memorize that word from the book level in Korea, the translated Korean words, it's a little bit different. it is the same, at the same time, it depends on what circumstances you use embarrassment, right? I mean, you can use that word in a different meaning, whatever. But...

I just, because at the time I just, you know, processed, you know, Korean sentence in my head to, you know, yield it in English form. And I used embarrassment in a weird position. It was a story about, no, like LAPD.

in front of my apartment, there was cars burning. I was trying to explain some hectic situation, you know, in front of my classmates. And I was trying to explain my ⁓ surprise and my...

my sudden, how can I say, more like my surprise and, ⁓ but at the same time, the time I was like, I said embarrassment. I was embarrassed to see the incident of like a car was burning and an LAPD, whatever, but people like was trying to delve into the meaning of embarrassment. What do you mean by being embarrassed?

Tara (59:49)
Mm-hmm.

⁓ huh.

Jin Suk (1:00:04)
watching a scene of like crime or something ⁓ like be I don't know but I also didn't understand what you guys you know questions about yeah that was literally the whacky moment yeah yeah yeah yeah

Tara (1:00:08)
Right.

And now you know exactly when you want to use that word. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Have you found at all that your learning journey with languages has enhanced your skills as an editor, whether it's on the audio side and the details that you need to pay attention to when you're using and living in another language or maybe more so on the...

comprehension side, like you know how you have to parse when you're listening to someone speak another language, you're really focusing and you're paying attention and your brain's like actively sorting things. Has that helped at all with editing?

Jin Suk (1:00:55)
Precisely, editing is you deal with frame by frame. Frame is like a 1/24th second. So it really kind of changes if you have 1/24th seconds more or even less, which obviously depends on understanding the muscle movement.

which also relate to the context or everything. So that was actually was my consent before me coming in LA because like, you know, can I understand ⁓ every single detail of a cultural thing or everything relate to this language? ⁓ But it turns out that, you ⁓

I didn't have to worry about this because I am exposed to this material.

too many times. So I have no choice but to get used to ⁓ the language that specifically these characters are using. But ⁓ the good thing about, like I said, parsing my brain to this, you know, different language helped me to... ⁓ Because even though we share universally, ⁓ like sense of humour, whatever, you know...

that the specificity is different. I have to change my, you know, sense of humour, like the mechanism or like, even though like,

Tara (1:02:26)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Jin Suk (1:02:45)
I am the same person who has my own sense of humour. Like, when I try to execute in Korean or in English, I have to use different muscles. As if I wouldn't use when you ride car or when you ride bicycle, you know, you just naturally know how to...

Tara (1:02:57)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Jin Suk (1:03:07)
you know, hover them, you know, so, ⁓ I mean, it took a lot of time and it still takes a lot of time to, you know, more naturally let myself out through that vessel. But I think it's also kind of fun. It's kind of, I, you know, of course it took me more effort to manage this second language to, you know, express myself or try to make people.

Tara (1:03:08)
you.

Jin Suk (1:03:36)
Make a joke or something, but I think as if I'm playing a game with this language. I think it, I believe it also nurture my ⁓ sense of Korean too. I think it just ⁓ helps each other. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Tara (1:03:45)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

⁓ yeah. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, yeah,

I hear you on that. think learning French in school helped me pay attention to English much differently than if I didn't have another language to force me to think about my first one. ⁓ And your wife is Korean, correct? So I'm curious to know, given that you guys are speaking, or that you're living in a country that is a different language than what you both grew up in.

Jin Suk (1:04:10)
Yeah.

EKS.

Tara (1:04:23)
Do you use Korean together now or English or both? And how is that separation or melding of skills and languages that you have now?

Jin Suk (1:04:34)
We, think, yeah, I know some cases that people mix up the usage. Yeah, but for our case, ⁓ we've been together for...

Tara (1:04:40)
code switching.

Jin Suk (1:04:48)
13, 14 years already. I'm doomed. And we also, even before we got married, we lived 5 or 6 years already together. So it's been already 7, 8 years. So, I mean, we already used to using Korean solely. So we haven't changed at all ⁓ in our, the safest.

you know, zone changing the language. But the problem is like, after like summer break or something where you don't necessarily have the chance to meet your American friends daily basis, after summer break, the first day in the fall semester, I can feel a sense that, okay, my English is breaking more.

Tara (1:05:19)
Yeah.

You

Jin Suk (1:05:46)
And I need

like several days to, you know, back myself. Yeah. So you have to use it every day. Yeah. Yeah.

Tara (1:05:51)
Yeah, you got to flex the muscles again. Yeah, definitely. I was

just in Guatemala a month ago. And for the first week, my brain kept on defaulting to French instead of Spanish. And it took me like a solid week to think first in Spanish instead. So I know what you're talking about there, though. You got to dust off the brain a little bit and get back into it. Yeah, very cool. That's so lovely that you have each other to...

Jin Suk (1:06:08)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tara (1:06:19)
retain and use and nurture Korean. Because as you said before, we express ourselves differently in one language versus another, even though we are the same person. We do have different personality traits or ⁓ sensibilities that show up differently in the different languages we use.

Jin Suk (1:06:35)
Yeah,

yeah, especially like, you I recently been working on, know, Bong Joon Ho, the director of Parasite, the most renowned ⁓ South Korean director. His retrospective has been, in The Academy Museum in Los Angeles.

Tara (1:06:47)
Yeah

Jin Suk (1:07:00)
So he did numerous interviews and numerous screening events with Q &A with himself. And I got to edit ⁓ his interview and his retrospective videos, something like that. And also I had to translate. So he can understand English. I mean, he shot several English films.

Tara (1:07:19)
Wow.

Jin Suk (1:07:30)
in Hollywood. ⁓ I mean, Mickey 17 recently with Robert Pattinson. anyway, so he canons in English. So this moderator's used English, but then he just responded in Korean. So I so there are not that many, you know, Korean slash English speaking editor in Los Angeles. So I got to be the one who got this job. So but I had to translate English to Korean.

Tara (1:07:56)
Yeah.

Jin Suk (1:08:00)
Korean to English and and Bong Joon-ho Manages a lot of like humors. So I'm like how to You know like Yeah, it it also educate me me a lot I used chat to PT a lot like I put Korean or I put English in in here and there wet way to you know Yeah to find the

Tara (1:08:02)
Wow.

Hmm.

Jin Suk (1:08:28)
the most appropriate nuance or something like that. Yeah, yeah, it helped me a lot to, in both ways, in Korean, in English,

Tara (1:08:31)
Mm-hmm.

Amazing. Yeah,

I have so much respect for (human) translators, ⁓ because like you said, it's not just the words that you're translating. It's the nuance. It's the cultural components of the semantics from different places. Yeah, that's a very layered, interesting job. Cool. That's so neat that you did that. Yeah. Speaking of tech, how has technology changed how you travel or experience different places in the world?

Jin Suk (1:08:53)
Yeah

I guess, ⁓

for my...

job because I can work remotely. ⁓ Even when I went to Tokyo or even went to New York, ⁓ I had ⁓ my clients. ⁓ I mean, the problem is I have to communicate every time even I went to a vacation or something. But at the same time, I can also

Tara (1:09:18)
Hmm.

Jin Suk (1:09:42)
you know, go anywhere, ⁓ not necessarily have to be, you know, anchored in a specific city. ⁓ So that's really plus point for me. When I was in Tokyo with my wife, I had something to deliver to my client. So I just went to a cafe. So I spent

Tara (1:09:49)
Mm-hmm.

Jin Suk (1:10:09)
an afternoon while my wife was just, you know, travelling by herself. ⁓ So, I mean, that also gave me, you know, a chance to, my wife, her own freedom to, you know, ⁓ and the evening she came to me and, shared her time, you know, of her experience. And I also,

Tara (1:10:34)
Mm-hmm.

Jin Suk (1:10:37)
cherish the moment of, I mean, cafe in Tokyo is way, way better than the cafes in Los Angeles. So, I loved, I was, you know, like was hurrying, to finish my job at the same time I was just having a chill like with this coffee. Yeah. So I think that is the, I also know that, okay, this is gonna be my life. You know, I think

This is really good. mean, I am going to New York next month. And I also, when I was trying to figure out how many days I can go, I was like, maybe I should not go that for that long. Maybe if there's another job gonna happen in LA, but at same time, maybe I can just work there. So I just took like 2 weeks ⁓ flight and...

whatever happens and then I could just work there. I also, when I went to Seoul for some job there, I could do remotely, you know, with this New York person ⁓ for LA client, me in Seoul. So that was really, okay, I think this is cool. ⁓

Tara (1:11:51)
That's super cool. That is, it

literally opens up the world for you. That's really neat. Very cool. Given that you are a documenter of sorts in your career, are you a documenter at all when it comes to your travel memories?

Jin Suk (1:11:58)
Yeah.

I think I take pictures for people whom I travel with and which taught me how to capture like people as subject and people in some specific scenes like

maybe film taught me how to do or this practices taught me how to watch film. I mean, you know, in both ways, because like it's just not about, you know, placing a person in an awesome, you know, landscape. It's more about, it taught me how to put my camera on a person and what to see and where to see.

to even encompass, because even with your most fanciest gear, it's...

And you can just have like fabulous images in Instagram or whatever. But if you really want to archive the senses and the feeling and the memory that you specifically had with this specific person in a specific place, you got to know where to this camera. So I think I kind of like it.

Because I think I have passion or love towards this subject who are my friends. yeah, that's... I think that's what I do, I guess.

Tara (1:14:01)
Mm.

That's a beautiful way of putting it. Yeah, I appreciate that.

Okay, I want to be respectful of your time. We're already a little bit over. But I'm curious to know, you both lived and travelled abroad. Do you have a preference between the 2 or do you enjoy them each for the separate ways that you can get into a place?

Jin Suk (1:14:18)
Yeah, no, no.

I people have their own definition of travel, I think I try to at least leave. I know it's a really tricky thing to say what is living, what do you mean by live in a specific place, but I think I rather... ⁓

Tara (1:14:57)
Hmm. Hmm.

Jin Suk (1:15:04)
expect like for example when you go to New York or Tokyo there are so many you know awesome places so I'm like and you are gonna get to anxious I mean like you know I have to go this place and that place something like that but I'd rather ⁓ for example when I went to New York for the first time last year with my wife and we knew that okay we cannot go every place is in New York so we just chose to we're just gonna

Tara (1:15:18)
Hmm.

Jin Suk (1:15:34)
you know, stay this place for a week. ⁓ I mean, we are gonna more like focus on like this area and this and that, ⁓ museums, you know, and we didn't even, that's why we didn't even went to like, what's that the Statue of Liberty or something? and also we, told ourselves that, okay, we're gonna come back.

in LA and just New York again next time, then we will go to that place. Something like that. so I went to honeymoon with my wife, ⁓ of course with my wife, ⁓ to Italy. And I was just, because I've been to Italy multiple times, but it was first time for my wife. So I just.

wanted to show a lot of things to my wife. So we travel a month and we started from Rome to Sicily. And I think I, set too many destinations and I kind of exhausted. I mean, I could present it to my wife, a lot of good, you know, scenes, but at the same time, what I

Tara (1:16:22)
⁓ yeah.

for

Jin Suk (1:16:48)
hoped was like, you know, more like chill vibe or something. Then, you know, it helped me to figure out, okay, I just, I think I made, I think I have to make choices. You know, you can have it all. So that's why it made us to, you know, when we went to Tokyo, we just like, we're gonna come back and let's just, you know, embrace this air and have more time as to.

Tara (1:16:59)
Hmm.

Right.

Jin Suk (1:17:15)
look around with this people's faces, how they look like or how yeah, something like that. I think that's more like, I can't say it's way of living. mean, living, you know, contains more complicated meaning, but, still, ⁓ you are a, ⁓

like what is that like an alien in those places but you an alien can have their own way to hover the city you know a city i don't think only belongs to the citizens who actually have legitimate you know

Tara (1:17:56)
Mm.

Jin Suk (1:18:04)
legal status to live there. I mean, also, travellers have our own, path to, you know, harbor through. So I was like, I know I'm not a citizen of Tokyo, I'm, but at the same time, I don't want to like sightseeing, you know, just taking a picture and then leave the place right away. I, so I think that's my kind of, has become my policy.

Tara (1:18:24)
Mmm, mm-hmm.

Jin Suk (1:18:32)
right now more like I'm just gonna embrace this scene with more room you

Tara (1:18:40)
Mm.

Less frenetic energy and more just calm and take it in like you said. Yeah, yeah, very cool. ⁓ I kind of know the answer to this question, but have you ever been a tour guide for someone else in wherever you live?

Jin Suk (1:18:57)
Yeah, because like,

I there's there's there's one time this Korean VFX artist from Seoul came to Los Angeles for participating like conference or something for a week and I got to have this like interpreter job. ⁓

because I can speak Korean and English and I'm in this industry. And I had chance to several days to escort them to tour the city. yeah, and the one thing that I did well was I took them to the Academy Museum that I just talked, which is gigantic museum and which is not necessarily

like general tourists would go. They would go like Santa Monica or the like Griffith Park or something. But as I knew that these filmmakers would like to go some, know, little bit different place. And the one of the reason why I took them to that place was because ⁓ there's this ⁓ merchant shop. It's damn awesome.

Tara (1:19:56)
Mmm.

Mm.

Jin Suk (1:20:20)
It's not

generic, know, when you go to like Hollywood Boulevard or, or walk of fame, you know, there are a lot of souvenir shops, which is literally like, you know, not in a good qualities, but in that specific, you know, merchant shop, it's really articulated, very, ⁓ delicate, you know, Merchants are there and this people are so excited and they spend like,

at least one or 2 hundred each people. And I am the member of the museum, so I had my discount thing. So people lined up for ⁓ their... ⁓ Yeah, and then I was standing next to these clerk and letting know that my... And I asked him, am I allowed to do this? And he said, okay.

Tara (1:20:52)
Yeah.

their purchases.

Laughter

Jin Suk (1:21:19)
They got 10 % off. ⁓ Yeah, it was... Yeah.

Tara (1:21:23)
That's neat.

Oh, very cool. And very thoughtful too that you would bring them somewhere that you thought they would particularly like. You were also a tour guide for me because when I went back to Korea in 2019, we met up in Seoul. That was within the same year that we met, right? We met in May. And then I was, yeah, and then I was in Korea in like October, November. And you were a phenomenal tour guide. Oh my gosh, you blew my mind with all the different places you brought me and...

Jin Suk (1:21:41)
I guess so, yeah.

Tara (1:21:51)
some historic, some foodie spots, some local cafes and whatnot. And you made a full day of it. It was so awesome. So I know I thanked you back then, but I'm thanking you again because that was one of the highlights. No thank you. Very cool. ⁓ Do you have a weirdest place that you've ever slept?

Jin Suk (1:22:03)
Thank you. ⁓

Tara (1:22:14)
Yeah.

Jin Suk (1:22:16)
Do you have like, what do you have like, ⁓ slept? Yeah.

Tara (1:22:18)
For me? Yeah,

I like to ask people the weirdest place they've slept on their trips. There's been some weird ones.

Jin Suk (1:22:26)
Okay.

I think I always slept in a very secured, safe places. So I will put that in this too.

Tara (1:22:39)
Okay. Alright. Okay.

Episode 2, we'll get a new one. Alright, we're coming to the end here. As a bonus for the listeners, I have put together like a travel playlist for them using songs that my guests have that represent either a theme from a trip that they've been on or the sense of the kind of traveller that they are. So do you have a song that comes to mind? Yeah. Yeah.

Jin Suk (1:22:44)
Okay.

Absolutely, Breathless by Camel.

Tara (1:23:12)
Okay.

Jin Suk (1:23:15)
Crank it up. it is, you know, everyone has their own songs of, you know, I mean, this song is so attached to my memory and the scene of Okinawa, like so firmly, you know, so whenever I play that song, can, you know, just automatically, automatically the scenes are playing. But at the same time, you know, for...

Tara (1:23:16)
You

Takes your right back. Yeah.

Jin Suk (1:23:45)
new listeners to this song will also have, ⁓ please play this song in your car. It will just enhance the experience of, you know, the sense of driving. just, you know, it really comes well with the highway in a sunny day. yeah. Yeah.

Tara (1:24:02)
Awesome. Good road trip song, it sounds like. What was

the name of the artist again?

Jin Suk (1:24:09)
Camel like a animal. Yeah, yeah.

Tara (1:24:12)
Okay, perfect. Awesome.

Alright, you ready for the speed round to wrap things up?

Jin Suk (1:24:18)
I think I talked too much, again, patiently, you were listening to me again.

Tara (1:24:19)
I wanted to, that's the point of

this. I get to ask questions and you get to talk.

Jin Suk (1:24:28)
Yeah, and I knew that I also breaking a lot of grammar, which I don't damn care. yeah, but bear with it. Yeah.

Tara (1:24:32)
honestly,

your English is fantastic, really. No need to, yeah, definitely. ⁓ Okay, so in one word or one sentence, where was your last trip?

Jin Suk (1:24:42)
Okay.

It's like the place. Yeah, Tokyo.

Tara (1:24:53)
Mm-hmm.

and there's your next trip.

Jin Suk (1:24:58)
New York.

Tara (1:24:59)
And what is your dream destination?

Jin Suk (1:25:02)
San Sebastian.

Tara (1:25:03)
Ooh, okay, how come?

Jin Suk (1:25:05)
I'm a foodie and I know that that's the heaven. So, yeah.

Tara (1:25:13)
Awesome, okay, fantastic.

We've talked about this a little bit, but do you prefer to see many places or to get to know one really well?

Jin Suk (1:25:24)
So ticket to.

Tara (1:25:26)
to get to know a place really well, or do you prefer to go to as many as possible?

Jin Suk (1:25:31)
Just, yeah, I want to have just enough places that I can appreciate the, you know, city or the country, yeah.

Tara (1:25:45)
Hmm. Is your style more bougie or budget?

Jin Suk (1:25:51)
I think I'm a bougie person. Yeah, fancy Korean. Okay.

Tara (1:25:53)
Love it, love it. ⁓

Solo travel or travelling with others?

You can say both. People have cheated on this.

Jin Suk (1:26:16)
Both, guess, Yeah.

Tara (1:26:17)
Yeah.

It sounds like you and your wife have done a lot of cool travel together and you and your friends as well. So I can see why that would be a tough one.

Jin Suk (1:26:24)
Yeah, but at same time you sometimes you need, know your own time, you yeah Yeah

Tara (1:26:27)
Yeah, for sure, definitely.

Do you prefer guided tours or to find your own way?

Jin Suk (1:26:35)
Find my way, find my way always, yeah.

Tara (1:26:38)
Would you prefer to travel in the ocean or outer space?

Jin Suk (1:26:44)
Ocean, yeah.

Tara (1:26:46)
Who is your favourite YouTuber, blogger, podcaster, content creator in the travel space if there is one that has caught your eye?

Jin Suk (1:26:53)
I'm a TARA. ⁓ There's

this Korean YouTuber who has like 3 million subscribers or something. His name is Pani Bottle (Park Jae-han). I think he's the biggest travel YouTuber in Korea. I think the reason I like him is he travels...

Tara (1:27:01)
Yeah.

my gosh.

Jin Suk (1:27:23)
he travelled a lot by himself and he's like a very calm and you know who is really composed but kind of funny person so I he really healed me just watching him he just jibberish a lot you know with his his ⁓ GoPro by himself and not fancy at all but I think that humbleness

Tara (1:27:40)
Hmm.

Jin Suk (1:27:51)
kind of attracts a lot of people, which ended up him having 3 million ⁓ subscribers. But anyway, yeah, I still like it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Tara (1:27:54)
Yeah.

Very cool. Cool. I'll have to get the link from you afterwards. Okay, sounds

good. What's your favourite mode of transportation?

Jin Suk (1:28:09)
like what transportation? ⁓ I think ⁓ I recently got to love bus more. Yeah. So that I can see the scenes while I, yeah.

Tara (1:28:17)
Okay. Awesome.

Yeah, yeah,

Planned trips or spontaneous trips?

Jin Suk (1:28:34)
I plan a lot, but when you go on the site, I just go by, you know, spontaneous mind. Yeah. Yeah.

Tara (1:28:44)
Yep, yep. Sometimes

it helps. can plan spontaneity a little bit. Yeah. Are you an underpacker or an overpacker?

Jin Suk (1:28:48)
Yeah.

underpecker.

Tara (1:28:54)
Impressive, okay.

Jin Suk (1:28:56)
I even have my undies very little. ⁓ Make it simple, okay?

Tara (1:29:03)
Can always wash them in the sink.

All right, what about the most overrated destination that you've been to?

Jin Suk (1:29:14)
Ooh, ⁓ okay. um Overrated. ⁓ yeah. Sorry, but Venice.

Tara (1:29:15)
Mm.

I've heard that from a few people. You know what? I was just saying the other day to somebody, I wish that I went during the pandemic because then you could see Venice as Venice without the hordes of tourists, know? Yeah, okay, alright. Most underrated destination.

Jin Suk (1:29:34)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, it was not good

I, as I spoke a lot about Okinawa, to promote Okinawa more, I would pick Okinawa. Yeah.

Tara (1:30:01)
⁓ Okay, lovely.

⁓ Take this question how you will, because I feel like you have a few homes now. What home comfort do you miss most when you're away?

Jin Suk (1:30:28)
I think I'm still searching for what is home, what home means to me. but because honestly, this is too romantic response, but like, think whatever I, so when I'm with my wife, I can feel that, okay, this is home and...

Tara (1:30:46)
Hmm.

Jin Suk (1:30:50)
Okay, this is tricky question, but I think...

But I still think Seoul is my home, not Busan. I mean, I think for amount of time that I spent, I lived in Busan for 20 years, but I got to be an adult who is more conscious about himself. Seoul, think is my still, because that's the place where I focused on myself. 

Tara (1:31:26)
Mm-hmm.

Jin Suk (1:31:28)
figuring out who I am, something like that. So Seoul is, think still LA is for me still feel really temporary, you know, place, Yeah.

Tara (1:31:38)
Yeah.

What's the best piece of travel advice you've received?

Jin Suk (1:31:47)
travel advice.

I think the reason I started to visit ⁓ local theatres was because my mentor from Korea told me to do that. it will... Yeah, just try it. And then now it has been my tradition, a habit. But it wasn't necessarily only about I have to go local theatre itself, more like...

Tara (1:32:16)
Hmm.

Jin Suk (1:32:26)
you know, a local.

things that people would do, you know.

people living in here, Los Angeles, wouldn't go to like, Hollywood sign or New York, I wouldn't go to, Statue of Liberty there. The places the local people would go, will give me different views of, in the travelling sites, I guess. Yeah.

Tara (1:32:57)
Real life. Yeah, definitely. If you

ever come to Kitchener, Ontario, I'll have to take you to the Princess Cinemas. That's our... What's the worst piece of travel advice that you've received?

Jin Suk (1:33:03)
Okay, okay.

This is kind of the tendency that Korean people would have, which is...

That's why, you know, when you go to some specific places, you can find a lot of Koreans because they only refer to like, infos from blogs from neighbour. So whenever people recommend or people send me a link from like, very generic blogs, would, yeah, I wouldn't take it very seriously. Yeah. Yeah.

Tara (1:34:02)
Okay, alright.

Do you prefer window seats or aisle seats?

Jin Suk (1:34:08)
aisle.

Tara (1:34:10)
Really?

Jin Suk (1:34:11)
so that I can go to bathroom more easily. I have my own preference, okay?

Tara (1:34:17)
Okay, alright, I thought you were gonna go for the cinematic views. Okay. Describe yourself as a traveller in 3 words.

I

Jin Suk (1:34:45)
Wow, your guys have

been really tough time I guess. ⁓ Wow.

Tara (1:34:50)
This is

one that causes people to think a little bit more, I think.

Jin Suk (1:34:54)
Yeah. Can you

give me any references or what's yours?

Tara (1:34:58)
Oh gosh, for me, I'm used to asking the questions, not having them on me. I would say curious. I would say chatty. And I would say observing.

Jin Suk (1:35:14)
Okay, I have.

Coffee Park Theatre.

Tara (1:35:21)
Okay, alright. ⁓ Given that you travel with your wife now quite a bit, what are 3 characteristics that make a good travel partner?

Jin Suk (1:35:30)
Ooh.

⁓

Yeah, my wife has perfect case because she knows how to cherish whatever moments ⁓ we confront, even though it's like not ideal cases and ⁓ being open to spontaneous, you know, mind and a skill set or a trained

Tara (1:35:45)
Hmm.

Jin Suk (1:36:10)
taste buds to appreciate the local foods. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tara (1:36:17)
Very cool. That's awesome.

What's the best part of travelling for you?

Jin Suk (1:36:24)
⁓

to make myself.

strange. It feels strange, a feel.

New about myself, I guess?

Tara (1:36:53)
What about the worst part of travel?

Mm-hmm

Jin Suk (1:36:59)
You got to miss foods from your home place. Yeah. Yeah.

Tara (1:37:06)
Yeah, totally agree. Yeah,

OK, only 3 left. You're doing awesome. ⁓ What's the best travel app?

Jin Suk (1:37:11)
Hmm.

app.

This is such not a, okay. ⁓

Hmm.

Whatever cities would have their own, but like a bicycle rental, the, ⁓ what is I called the sharing bicycle apps.

Tara (1:37:45)
yeah. Yeah, bike sharing

apps. Very cool. That's a great suggestion. Okay. Do you have a favourite travel book or movie? And when I say travel, it can just be something that's set in another place. Doesn't have to be about travel.

Jin Suk (1:37:53)
Yeah.

So books or films that you want to take together or films or yeah.

Tara (1:38:14)
Something

that maybe has inspired you about a place or piqued your interest about a place or yeah. Or a culture, it doesn't have to be like a physical place. It could be about people as well.

Jin Suk (1:38:28)
I think I have to put some interesting films because I'm in industry. I shouldn't say like very films that people would, you know, easily say. ⁓

Tara (1:38:32)
Okay. Yeah.

Go with whatever your gut says. No, no judgments.

Jin Suk (1:39:09)
Okay. Every... So there's this director whose name is Éric Rohmer, French obviously. And when you see his films, it's about daily...

basis, like people fall in love and cheat each other or whatever, you the stories happening, a lot of cities in France and the scenes and how they wear are so, you know, attractive enough to... ⁓

help the audience to imagine what his French chic is. So ⁓ yeah, watch any Eric Romero films, then it will make you dream to not only travel in Paris, yeah, it may want you to make, it will make you want to live there, you know, yeah, yeah.

Tara (1:40:07)
Okay.

Okay, very cool.

Last question. What's the best gift for a traveller?

Jin Suk (1:40:37)
gift for like a souvenir or?

Tara (1:40:40)
It can be however you answer it. Some people have answered this with, ⁓ I don't wanna say, like some people have gone with products, some people have gone with services, some people have gone way out of the box and answered this differently. Somebody who enjoys travel, what would be a good gift for them?

Jin Suk (1:40:53)
⁓

Mm-hmm.

I either ice cream shop or cafe, you gotta go to... I I like to go ice cream shops or cafe. It's just... I think I even thought that it's really fortunate that human beings could conceive the notion of cafe or ice cream shops. it's just a... Yeah, in this horrendous era.

we at least have cafe or ice cream shops to, you know, chill yourself. Yeah. So, yeah.

Tara (1:41:39)
I like that answer, I like that a lot. Very cool. Jin, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. It was a treat to get to talk to you again. It's been a very long time. It's neat to hear what you've been up to and how life is going for you and to hear some of your stories.

Jin Suk (1:41:57)
Yeah,

I don't know, I did a nice job, but yeah, I think you took me not to derail this conversation, yeah.

Tara (1:42:09)
You did a lovely job. I'm grateful that we got to connect again. This was fantastic. Before I let you go, if you'd like, where can people find you? And is there anything else that you'd like to add? Are there any films that you've worked on or are working on that people should have on their to watch list? Or if they have any questions for you who want to get in touch, is there a way that you'd like them to do that?

Jin Suk (1:42:33)
⁓ I have my own Instagram, ⁓ @records_jin I generally just post about my film works. ⁓

But I post whenever I saw ⁓ Hollywood directors or like actors and actresses in film theatres. ⁓ So yeah, it will share what is happening in Los Angeles, especially in theatre theatrical realm. And the films that I can...

So I've been doing the commercials all ⁓ like short. I mean, I just graduated from my grad school, ⁓ but I, you know my thesis film has been accepted to numerous festival, which includes the Tribeca Festival. That's why I'm going to New York next month. And I just got the Student Emmy Award. So this...

this editor from the Orient has promising in the future, guess. yeah, film that I can ⁓ recommend is.

La Notte means the night in Italian. ⁓

Just watch it. It will open your... ...grammar of film.

Tara (1:44:26)
Very cool.

Well, congratulations on all your success. It's only the beginning for you. I can't wait to see where you go with everything in life and in film. So congrats, and we'll talk again soon. Take care, Jin. Bye.

Jin Suk (1:44:36)
Thank you very much to me.