A two-day stopover for Australian women in New York: skincare, culture, banana milk and a smarter way to break up the long haul home.
By Anne Higgins
For Australian women living in New York, the trip home is never exactly short. Even on the best route, you are looking at a serious long-haul commitment – multiple time zones, dry cabin air, swollen everything, and that slightly feral feeling that comes somewhere between your second airport coffee and your third security line.
So, on my latest trip, I decided to do something different: instead of pushing straight through, I built in a two-day stopover in Seoul.
And honestly? It may be one of the smartest travel decisions I have made.
Seoul is the kind of city that works beautifully as a short stopover. It is efficient, polished, easy to navigate, and full of energy without being overwhelming. You can arrive, reset, get a real night’s sleep, have an excellent coffee, wander through temples and design-forward shopping districts, and – most importantly – book yourself into one of the most advanced beauty and skincare ecosystems in the world.
For me, the main draw was Korean skin clinics. I had heard all the hype, but seeing it firsthand is different. The clinics are calm, efficient, highly professional, and far more advanced than many comparable options in the U.S. The pricing is also a major factor: treatments can be around a quarter of what you might pay in New York, which makes Seoul feel less like a splurge and more like a very strategic stopover.
This was not a full holiday in the traditional sense. It was two days of targeted recovery: skin treatments, beauty shopping, a proper blowout, good snacks, city walks, and a little bit of culture. Exactly what you need when you are halfway between New York and Australia and trying to arrive looking less like you were personally defeated by the Pacific.
The beauty scene is obviously the headline. I stopped into Olive Young, which is basically a Korean beauty playground, and then spent time at a clinic for skin treatments that felt both clinical and luxurious. Everything was streamlined, thoughtful, and very clearly built around results. There is a reason people travel here specifically for skincare.
But Seoul is not just a beauty destination. In between appointments, I managed to see a surprisingly rich slice of the city. Starfield Library was spectacular – soaring bookshelves, flowers, light, and that very Seoul blend of culture, retail, and design. I visited temple grounds filled with lanterns and quiet courtyards, wandered through Gangnam, saw bold public art, and found myself constantly noticing how well the city balances futuristic retail, traditional architecture, and everyday convenience.
And then there was the banana milk.
Specifically, the viral banana milk from 7-Eleven. I expected it to be a cute novelty; instead, I became completely obsessed. It is sweet, nostalgic, slightly ridiculous, and somehow the exact thing you want when you are jet-lagged and wandering around Seoul pretending you are a functioning adult. I have since been trying to source it in New York – so Australian cafes, consider this your official hint: please get this on the menu immediately.
What I loved most about Seoul as a stopover is that it felt both productive and restorative. You are not trying to conquer the city. You are using it well. Two days is enough time to get your treatments, shop for skincare, eat something excellent, see a few beautiful places, and reset before the next long flight.
For Australian women in New York who regularly make the trip home, Seoul is worth considering as more than just a transit point. It is a clever pause. A beauty reset. A cultural hit. A soft landing between two very long legs of travel.
And for anyone interested in doing the same, I have also built an app to help women connect with Korean beauty clinics more easily – making it simpler to explore options, understand treatments, and plan a short beauty-focused stopover with confidence. Explore Skingleaux here.
Two days in Seoul will not show you everything. But it will give you a very good taste: the glow of the clinics, the calm of the temples, the scale of the libraries, the fun of the convenience stores, and the quiet satisfaction of arriving in Australia feeling like you did something smart for yourself on the way.
Next time I fly home, I would absolutely do it again. Only this time, I am leaving room in my suitcase for more skincare – and at least six bottles of banana milk.
