Staccato Leaps

Hello there! 

Before I give the details of our trip, I would like to brief you of the things you might want to consider before traveling to South Korea. BTW, Dan and I planned this trip ten months in advance. I made sure to be able to prepare well for this trip-- as I usually do. :P The budget I allotted for a one-week trip is 44,000php per person (including the roundtrip plane tickets; excluding visa processing, travel tax, and souvenirs).

 1. Tourist Visa

There are two embassies in the Philippines--one in Manila and the other in Cebu. As far as I know, if you are going to apply for a visa in Cebu, you can still do so personally. However, those who are applying for visas in Manila, they need to secure a visa through a South Korean Embassy-accredited travel agency. You may check the list here. We opted for the Reli Travel and Tours (Dusit Thani branch) to help process our visas. The fee is but minimal, at around 700php each. You can check their website for the necessary application documents. If you're lazy, click here. 

2. Plane Tickets

I used to take Philippine air carriers' services when going abroad. This time, I chose to avail of the promo fare of a South Korean low cost carrier, Jeju Air. Jeju Air has an ICN(terminal 1)-MNL(terminal 1) turn around daily flight. Our roundtrip ticket cost 14,500php per person. The promo fare included one hand-carry luggage weighing 10 kilos and one 15kilo-check in luggage. Dan and I got worried with the weight of our luggages but it seems like they were not very strict as they waived the charges for the excess kilo on my end. Some of the passengers also had more than one hand-carry baggages. 

Tip: For South Korean airline passengers, you may be able to utilize the city-airport terminal to save time and energy. Hehe.  I will be explaining to you the city-airport terminal in another blog post.

3. Accommodation 

After securing your tourist visa and plane tickets, the next thing you need to secure is the accommodation. Dan and I planned to go to three places in South Korea, namely: Gyeongju, Busan, and Seoul. Seven years ago, I would book directly from the guesthouse's website. Nowadays, people have access to different platforms such as booking.com and airbnb. 

I don't like booking hotels since I am stingy. Kidding. Haha. I just don't think the money you pay for a hotel room is not maximized when you are out there traveling majority of the time. Guesthouses are cozy--well, at least in South Korea. The guesthouses there have good interior, amenities, and facilities. Most provide for free wifi, toiletries, towels, brushes, blower, airconditioning and heating system, hot and cold bath, and breakfast. Also, you get to use their kitchen or laundry if you're the type who prefers to cook or wash your clothes, respectively. If you're lucky, you can get brochures with tourist attraction discounts and even shopping coupons!

For our stay in Gyeongju, I used the booking.com to reserve a traditional ondol room from Momojein Guesthouse. The guesthouse is approximately 20 minutes away from the intercity bus terminal, 5 minutes away from the city bus stops, and ten minutes away from the train station. For our Busan trip, I reserved a double room with Ekonomy Haeundae. For our stay in Seoul, we tried Namsan Guesthouse. I will be reviewing these three places in another blog post. 

4. Budgeting your Time

The next on the list is probably budgeting your time (which includes choosing which places you want to visit). Luckily, I have provided for you a detailed itinerary of our trip. :P I will be incorporating said data with the succeeding blog posts. One thing that I do recommend is researching the place that you are going to visit. Google is your friend. Check the opening days and hours, the entrance fee, the distance from public transportation, recommended nearby restaurants, feasible side trips, etc.

It wouldn't hurt if you familiarize yourself with the culture and language of the country you are visiting. It is actually a bonus. I have observed that the locals find it amusing whenever foreigners delve into their culture and language. They become more accommodating and both parties get to share a momentary connection and of course, a worthwhile memory.

I also highly recommend familiarizing yourself with the map (both the terrain and the public transportation routes). Use technology wisely! Download apps that might be of help to you. Dan and I used the Subway Korea map which was very useful when navigating Seoul and Busan.

5. Exchange rate

Most Filipinos who travel abroad for the first time are shocked whenever they convert the amount of whatever they purchase into peso and then comparing it with the ones we have in our country. Tell you what, if you are off to give yourself a migraine, I'm not going to stop you. Otherwise, please spare yourself from headaches. Haha. South Korea (or any other country in general) and the Philippines have different standards of living and purchasing power. Stop worrying about it and just stick with your budget. That's why you need to do your research well. Okay?Okay. Haha.

The currency exchange when we went to South Korea (12-18April 2019) is 1kwn=0.050php. That means:

10,000 KWN = 500 PHP

If that's too difficult, just remove the three zeros from the KWN amount and that would roughly be the amount in USD. For example:

10, 000 KWN = 10 USD 

6. Food

Food in South Korea is overwhelming. I'm not the best judge for that as I have a small appetite but I think it is standard in East Asian countries to have a big bowl of rice, several side dishes, and a good amount of viand as one meal. Here are some observations during our trip:


A. Street food - 1,000 to 5,000KRW 
B. Mid-range restaurant - 7,000 to 15,000KRW
C. High-end restaurant - 10,000 to 30,000 KRW

I'll probably post another blog on street food that are worth trying. :)

There you have it! Now that we got the essentials covered, let's proceed to the detailed itinerary.~