Name: John Seo

Age: 26

Current Location: Chicago

Travel History: All through China, South Korea, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Inner Mongolia, Belize, Mexico, The Caribbean, Canada, France, England

Travel dream/goal: To work in a profession that involves traveling the world, learning about the thousands of customs and cultures, and to divulge my palette in international culinary exploration!

Most valuable lesson learned on the road: Always keep your valuables with you (i.e. passport, wallet, cash, phone).  After traveling from Dalian to Beijing, the cab driver who was taking me home insisted I put my bags in the trunk.  After I paid and got out, he drove off with everything including my laptop, cash, and most importantly my Chinese work visa in my passport.

If you could recommend one place in the world: A small coastal town in Southern Thailand, Prachuap Khiri Khan, that is only 10K away from the Burmese Border.  It is not one of the most breathtaking towns, but I had spent two days there without seeing another tourist and enjoyed some awesome night markets.

Favorite Jet Set Zero episode: S01E07 – Where Rob talks about relationships abroad.  When I was working in China for a year, I completely could relate to his frustration and sadness having had a long distance relationship myself that quickly dissolved after being half way around the world.

Best cheap travel tip: All hostels are not created equal.  When traveling in Thailand, and reaching our destination town/city for the day or next few days, we would always visit a few hostels in the area and compare prices and amenities to get the best deal.

Follow his adventures at: http://www.johniseo.com

Find out more about our Spotlight series!

In our first short from Season 7: Italy, enjoy a brief peak into the cooking of an idyllic Italian family dinner.

Hey JS0 fans, I’m the new intern!

I’ve had an insatiable desire to travel my whole life. I’m still young, so it’s not like I’ve had many opportunities to see the world outside of print (i.e. travelogues and travel websites), but I’ve done what I can. I’ve traveled a large part of the United States and backpacked through Europe for a month during high school. I am not ashamed to admit that I’m slightly OCD about everything from organizing my bookshelf to what I’m wearing that day, so living out of a messy backpack scared me witless at first. It turned out that sleeping on trains in the close company of people I’d never met before, eating delicious food made on the street, staying in a sketchy hostel situated next to what I’m pretty sure was a heroin lab, and lugging around everything I would need for a month in a dirty sack on my back was the most amazing experience I’ve ever had, and I can only hope that I’ll be able to do it again soon!

My personal travel dreams: learn a Slavic language and travel through Eastern Europe, walk the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, and sail my own boat on a tour of the Mediterranean Sea. But besides travel, I love spending hours upon hours in used book stores; learning about history (specifically the 1930s through 1950s); collecting maps, globes, and postcards; making and watching documentaries; hiking in the beautiful scenery of the Pacific Northwest; baking cookies, cakes, and other sweet treats; following fashion blogs; and appreciating – sometimes attempting – photography.

Right now, I’m a college student, studying Geography, International Studies, and French. I’m home for the summer, and having been full to the brim with feelings of wanderlust and underutilized productivity, I can’t wait to start interning for Jet Set Zero!