This post has been sitting in my drafts folder, and today I decided to finally bring it to the light of the world. 🌞
I have been to numerous international destinations and it fascinates me how much I learn about myself and about the world on each trip. For sure, each of those trips allowed me to become a more resilient traveler, and I have carried each of the lessons I learned from each trip to the next one.
The tips I listed below were some of the lessons I learned during my last trip to Seoul (which was already 8 years ago omg 😱), but I'm pretty sure it still is applicable today.
Before the Trip
- Be on the lookout for a seat sale. I use Skyscanner to easily find cheap flights.
- Prepare your visa. If you are like me who holds a passport that requires a visa to enter South Korea, it's already a given that we have to work on securing a tourist visa. Years ago I physically went to the South Korean embassy to get my visa processed, but I think today it's all online. I have not tried the online application route but for sure I will undergo this new process if I plan to travel to South Korea for the next coming months. 😉
- Plan your itinerary. As much as I like going impromptu with my activities abroad, I still want to have some sense of control and order whenever possible. And so what I have learned with my trips so far is this process:
- Create a list of all the activities you are interested in doing. Don't think too much of it, just dump everything you can think of.
- Group these activities by location. Google Maps is a great help on this step.
- Align these activities to the number of days that you are traveling. Then assign a day for each region of your activities.
- Once the daily itinerary has been laid out, you can go into more details like the routes and medium of transportation so you can now plan the order of visiting the places within each region.
- Book your accommodation. Finding a hostel usually happens after I have planned my itinerary. My criteria for choosing the accommodation that best fits for me are:
- Close to public transportation (i.e. subway)
- Has elevator (because of my knees 😫)
- Previously when I was traveling solo, I wanted a private toilet and shower. But since experiencing capsule hotels in Taipei and Tokyo, I am more open-minded now to shared spaces in hostels.
- Prepare foreign money. Before, I really go the bank to get local currency. But now I learned to just prepare cash in USD and just withdraw local currency via ATM. As much as possible, if the store accepts credit cards, I will pay via card. But if they only accept cash, that's the only time that I will use my cash. For the ATMs, there's a lot of options. Research for the one with the cheapest foreign exchange rate. During my last Seoul trip, I went to exchange my USD at KOBE Currency Exchange at the airport (1 USD = 1,094 KRW). However upon exiting the airport, I found Wooribank that had a more competitive exchange rate (1 USD = 1,100KRW).
- Bring a power adapter. The power sockets in South Korea are Type C and Type F so be sure you have the compatible adapter for your devices.
- Check the weather during your trip. I always go to AccuWeather to check the weather temperature range during the days of my trip. I get cold easily so knowing the weather would help me prepare what kind of outfit I would need to bring.
During the Trip
- Learn and use their local language. Not everyone knows how to speak English so it will be very useful if you know a phrase or two to be able to communicate, if hand gestures cannot convey what you want. Also, speaking their language shows respect to their culture.
- Learn the transportation system. Fortunately, it's very easy now to navigate the subway with the help of various phone apps. What I used was the KakaoMetro app. Also, get a T-money card! This is a must-have when traveling on the subway because this is what you use for payment. The card is also accepted as payment in bus, taxi, and selected grocery stores.
- Walk around to explore. I love walking at a leisurely pace during vacations. Especially if your itinerary is just DIY, you don't really have the time pressure to be in a specific place so you can go window shopping if you see interesting shops along the way. This is my favorite part of traveling -- discovering hidden gems while strolling the streets.
- Be food adventurous! If you don't have a sensitive stomach, it's a lot of fun and an enriching experience to try the local food. It's all part of the cultural experience that you shouldn't miss. 😁
These are some of the tips that really helped me make my vacation less stressful and more fun! It's been a while since I last visited Seoul, so I think I really need to be back soon. 🌸