Travel Diary | Part 1 - DIY Trip To Seoul, South Korea

Hi Readers!

For the sake of reminiscing, I would like to share with you my journey to Seoul, South Korea, a DIY trip for two people. For this Travel Diary to South Korea, I have decided to separate it into a few parts and I want to engrave every detail from planning, experience and budgeting here in my blog for my future reference.

If you have read my old blog posts, you might realise that I love watching K-dramas and variety shows. Also, I used to listen to many K-pop songs. Even my nickname for my blog persona is Acenana, inspired by Ace Ji-Hyo from Running Man. 🙈So, going to South Korea is always a dream of mine. I have read a lot of people sharing that it is better to go to Japan instead of South Korea, but it doesn't matter, I still want to experience South Korea myself. Every year during the Chinese New Year, my office closes for the whole week to celebrate CNY. For the first two years, I decided to spend my time at home with my family. For the last year, I decided to go on a road trip with my family to Janda Baik - Temerloh, Pahang. This year, I decided to do something a little bit extra: travel overseas. After a series of discussions with my friend, we decided to do a DIY trip to South Korea as we wanted more flexible times and places to go.

This is our second time travelling without an agent and to a place far from where we have gone, so we decided to do something simple first: explore Seoul and Nami Island. So, let us jump to my travel stories!

// My 7 days 6 nights itinerary 

I created three to four versions of the itinerary, changing them according to personal preference and accessibility. I need detailed planning for my trip, but I don't mind if the journey doesn't 100% follow the plan. So, here is my final itinerary.

I marked Day 4 until Day 6 in red colour because those days were actually public holidays. So, instead of planning to go to a non-tourist area, we chose the tourist area since those places were still open even during the public holiday. It is actually really important for you to be aware of the visited places' opening and closing times, and whether they open during weekdays or weekends, for a smooth sailing of your journey. A lot of preliminary research needs to be done if you are planning a trip without an agent. You might be able to save a lot of money because there are no agent fees, but you need to spend a lot of time researching. For your information, this itinerary was my initial plan, but I did not go to all of the listed places. Mainly because of losing time from getting lost. I will share my detailed day-to-day journey in my next posting.

// Applied K-ETA

Before applying for K-ETA, you need to book a hotel by filling in your Korean address and hotel contact number. If you are hesitating, you may book for 2 nights first and apply for K-ETA. After K-ETA approval, I bought a flight ticket. But as far as I know, currently we don't need to apply for K-ETA anymore, the arrival card is enough. But, this one is based on Malaysia, where we don't need a Visa application; others might need one. Preliminary research is important for you to prepare your journey. My K-ETA was actually approved after 1 hour I submitted the application, maybe because they were already in transition, changing to the arrival card, so K-ETA is not that difficult to get approval compared to before. By the way, you need to be alert because there are a lot of scam websites for the K-ETA application. You must apply through the official website (https://www.k-eta.go.kr/) with a fee not more than KRW 10,000 or RM 33.78 (Paid according to the latest currency during application).

// Setting out a travel budget

Since I went during the winter and public holidays, I already anticipate that my flight ticket and winter essentials that I need to buy will be higher. So, I started setting my budget a bit high, which is RM 5,000.00 per person. Below are my initial budget for the trip and my actual spending for my trip. Mind you, I spend quite a lot using Wise and keep topping up money into my Wise account, most of it because I shop a lot in Olive Young, Fwee, which they prefer to pay using the card. Even 80% of the restaurants/cafes we went to prefer cashless payment. Most of my spending in OY/Fwee was for my friends (Accidentally I was their personal shopper 😅). That was why I ended up with more than KRW 100,000+/- extra cash after the trip and only spent KRW 150,000+/- cash in South Korea. So, if you don't plan to spend too much on shopping, your budget can be less than that.

// Things I booked before the trip

Here are the things I booked before the trip:-

• Flight ticket
• Hotel
• Klook package (Nami Island tour)

// List of things I bought before the winter trip

Since I have never been on a winter trip, I need to buy a lot of things and actually need to prepare a lot. Like. A. Lot. I saw some tips online to bring just a few winter jackets to Malaysia because you will end up buying more in South Korea, which, surprisingly, I didn't buy any. Most probably because this trip I just get crazy about the skincare/makeup products instead of fashion. Even in my hostel, I stayed exactly behind Olive Young. 😂 So, these were the things I bought as my winter essentials:-

• Two winter jackets - One from Jalan-Jalan Japan, and another one I bought at JBR Bundle.
• Thermal wear - I bought three leggings and two innerwear tops. One set from uniqlo, the rest I bought from Shein/Shopee.
• One pair of winter gloves.
• I bought thick, over-the-knee socks. I already thought that I might wear two to three pairs of them at the same time because of the cold, and I was just planning to wear my Sketchers shoes.
• 250 ML vacuum tumbler for hot water. I have a bigger one, but since I spent a lot of time walking, I need to pack lightly.
• Vacuum bag.
• Knitwear - Since I am from a tropical country, I don't have a lot of thick knitwear, so I ended up buying 5 days' worth of clothes.
• One pair of cashmere scarves.
• 10 pairs Heat pack - ended up using it a lot, and bought more from the convenience store in South Korea.
• Ready-to-eat food + food warmer - I bought seven for two but got another one free from the seller, so making it four per person. I bought the brand Jasmani. I have tried Kembara and some other popular brands during my previous trips, but I don't like the taste of them because too dry.

// Medicine I brought for a winter trip

I prepared quite a lot of medicine because I was afraid that I would be sick due to the change of weather.

• Lomide: Anti-diarrhea
• Paracap: For fever and pain relief. I asked a pharmacist, and they recommended this for winter.
• Aetos Cetrizine: For dust allergies. Ate this because got an allergy 💀
• Cetrizine: Food allergy.
• Copastin: For dry cough relief.
• Gastric pill
• Caffox: For migraine. I thought I won't have migraine in winter, but no, the migraine won't leave me alone.
• Vitasen: Vitamin C supplement
• Panadol Actifast.
• Eyedrop: for dry or irritated eyes.
• Muscle relaxant.

// Money change - Cash & Card

I was planning to change KRW 250,000 cash and kept around KRW 100,000 in my Wise. But ended up using only 60% cash, and the rest I kept topped up in my Wise account. So, if you are planning to shop for skincare/makeup in South Korea, just use the card. Even a lot of cafes and restaurants only accept cashless payment.

// Travel documents preparation

For travel documents, I prepare quite a lot since I worry that I might be stuck in immigration and have to go back to Malaysia. But, you just prepare it only for a just-in-case situation. Show them the documents only when they ask. Don't make it customary to show them the documents before they ask because it might become more and more difficult to pass immigration later in the future.

• Return flight ticket.
• Hotel booking confirmation.
• Travel itinerary.
• Klook booking confirmation.
• List of foods and descriptions.
• List of medicines and descriptions.
• Some even prepare a job offer letter and pay slip to prove that we will reside in Malaysia, not planning to move to South Korea. You can prepare if you want.

I will share details of my trip in my next post. Stay tuned! Here is the sneak peek photo from my day trip to Nami Island in winter. 

Thanks for reading! 💕

-Nana