Hotel Notes: Good Ol’ Days

“Today is the day that you will miss someday. Make a Record of this moment.”

As we were researching places to stay for our two-day trip to Busan, Good Ol’ Days’ motto stood out immediately. Our travels’ primary goal is to bridge the gap between the dreams of somedays and the nostalgia of the memories already made. As we stepped into the hotel and discovered every little thoughtful detail, it felt like a place built around that same idea.

Good Ol’ Days understands that the best parts of travel are often the small ones: the cup of coffee before heading out for the day, the view from a window, the objects you collect along the way, the photographs that become more meaningful with time. Nothing here felt accidental.

That attention to the experience carries through the entire hotel. There are books to flip through, records to play and small details that encourage you to stay awhile rather than simply use the room as somewhere to sleep. In the room, postcards, pencils and rolls of washi tape are left for guests to use - small tools for recording something from the trip while you’re still in the middle of it. Even the hotel’s immaculate collection of branded souvenirs feels considered: objects you actually want to bring home, less as hotel merchandise than as little records of having been there.

One rainy afternoon, we took a break from sightseeing and settled into the downstairs café for hot tea and cake. Back in our room, while the rain fell outside, we listened to records and added notes and little pieces from the trip to our travel notebook, using the pens, stamps and other tools they’d left for us. None of it was something we had planned to do in Busan, but it became one of our favorite afternoons there.

There was something wonderfully nostalgic about it without the hotel ever feeling overly performative. Instead, it felt like an invitation to recognize a memory while you’re still making it.