Seoul, South Korea | My first out of the country trip! Yes, this is my first time to travel outside the Philippines. I thought travelling abroad wouldn’t be possible for me, but thanked God I was able to do it.
K Drama has such a big impact in this trip. Our eagerness to experience the K Drama ambiance made us decide to visit this country. We started to look for cheap tickets last May and thanks to “seat sales” we were able to book our flights. We got our tickets from Cebu Pacific. After booking our flights, we looked for a good place to stay in Seoul. We were able to book a very nice and spacious place in Songpa-gu via Airbnb.
We looked for best places to visit and started creating our itinerary for this much awaited DIY trip to Seoul, South Korea. (I’ll be posting a separate blog for this itinerary alone to serve as a guide for those who are also planning to visit Seoul). It took us a couple of months to finish the itinerary. We had to research the subway stations, subway fare, exits, landmarks and entrance fees.
Our flights were booked on October 23, 2017 so we scheduled our Visa Application last September 18, 2017. This is to give an ample time to prepare our requirements. Luckily, I’ve got a multiple entry for 3 years (Thanks to BDO Visa Gold… Teehee!). It’s better to visit Korean Embassy official website to get the list of visa requirements.
My friends and I had a hard time looking for Money changers with KRW so we decided to have our money changed to USD thru BDO. The bank required us to submit a TIN # and copy of Passport. You also need to have an active bank account to be able to change your money.
October 23, 2017 | Our flight via Cebu Pacific was at 3PM (GMT+8) but due to a lot of plane arrivals on that day we were able to leave NAIA Terminal 3 around 3:45 PM. We arrived at Incheon International Airport at 8:08 PM (GMT+9) (Korea is 1 hour ahead of Philippine Time). Incheon International Airport is huge and fabulous (I just wish our Philippine airports are like this too…)
Most of the international flights arrive in Terminal A of Incheon International Airport. We had to take a free shuttle train to transfer to the main terminal where the immigration and arrival halls are situated.
We decided to exchange $50 at KEB (this is inside the Incheon International Airport - main terminal) just to have an ample amount of money to spend in buying T Money, T Money Load and food. According to some blogs, it’s better to change your money to KRW in Myeong-dong, Dongdaemun and Itaewon.
You can buy T Money cards in a convenient store inside the airport. I just can't remember the name of the store hehehe...We got this very cute card for KRW4,000.
Incheon Airport is connected to Seoul Station through the Airport Railroad. We traveled an hour and a half from Incheon Airport to Gongdeok Station (Line 1) then transferred to Line 5 to get to Geoyeo Station. We arrived in our place in Songpa-gu almost 12MN. Take note, we haven't eaten any decent meal that time since we arrived in Incheon. Good thing there was a 7-eleven near our place and we were able to eat something and buy our breakfast for the following morning.
Below is our place in Songpa-gu:
Our place is 3 minutes away from Geoyeo Station. There are a couple of marts, convenience stores and restaurants right beside the house. Our unit is located in the 4th floor of the building. The place is very spacious for a group of 10. The unit has 4 bedrooms, kitchen (complete with utensils and kitchen wares), 2 bathrooms, wireless internet, cable TV (TV for each room plus the living room), central heating system, air conditioner, etc. This place is perfect for a large group or family vacation. The host, Byeong is also very accommodating.
