Perhaps, most Filipinos like me would not forget the generosity and gratitude extended by a touching 500-over contingent of the South Korean military to the Philippines during the Rehabilitation of Tacloban City from the destructive Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013.
The first thing they did upon arrival to Tacloban was to raise the streamer with inscription “We are here to repay the sacrifice, bravery and heroism of the 7,420 Filipino soldiers who fought with us for freedom under the United Nations Command during the Korean war in 1950s.”
This most heroic role sacrificed by the Filipino soldiers (112 were killed) who stood by the South Koreans until the end of war has been very well highlighted in South Korea’s academic curriculum. Even the young Koreans of this generation knew and honor this great contribution. For me, it is a very courteous gesture.
A few quality Korean TV films like The Baker King, Coffee Prince, Jewel in the Palace, Jumong and A Hundred Year Legacy captured my heart. What even triggered my keen interest about the Korean values was the true-to-life story, “The Bridal Mask”. A historical film set in Seoul during the Japanese occupation which talks about sound good values, strong family relationships, love for country & countrymen and loyalty to friends. I recommend you get a DVD copy of this TV film if you are a fan of learning about the Japanese colonial era in the 1930s. My husband and I started and ended this series (overloaded with good vibes) in September 2012 while we were still based in Singapore.
10th July 2014. The end of curiosity.
It was my husband and I’s first travel to Korea for a week. I guess having our own travel agency would make it both reasonable and accessible for us now to visit many places as frequently as possible (if possible) – not only because we want to BUT we also need to. It will keep us and our business constantly updated and levelled-up.
I must admit that after Italy and London, my travel to Korea was superbly exciting and challenging. Because here is where my husband and I wanted to have a “different kind of travel adventure”. We wanted to explore the Stylish City of Seoul INDEPENDENTLY (without hired local guides). Exploring a country where English is not the main language is a TOUGH CHALLENGE! But we made it --- Triumphantly --- Just on OUR OWN !!
Many of you have been to Seoul (once, twice, several times) before I did –-- I knew that. What’s fascinating is that we still discover something new every time we travel to the same places over again. It’s just similar to living our usual daily routine and yet we face new and varied situations that spice up the monotony of life. So if we go back to Seoul in winter next year, we will happily anticipate for new discoveries & embrace new learning dimensions.
We carefully planned for our itinerary prior to our 7-day trip to Seoul. This is a MUST for travelers or you will end up completely disoriented and wasting the value of your travel if you don’t know where to head first and when to go as soon as you arrived in your destination. Our travel planner was surely in order::: figured out the best (not necessarily the most popular) places to go in Seoul with focus on historical and cultural sites; studied how to use the subway system; identified the cheapest but most authentic food to dine (not to miss the street foods); set a budget for spending and stick to it; pack the basic things; travel light and dress comfortably (but decently).
Here’s a look at our successful 7-day itineraries to South Korea’s Sweetest City – SEOUL. First time travelers may wish to follow the same itinerary for a start as well as frequent travelers who wish to visit the same spots on their own.
We landed Seoul’s Incheon International Airport at 7.00 hrs Korea time (an hour ahead of Manila) after a 4-hour journey. The airport was pretty simple but huge enough to accommodate daily voluminous arrivals and is attractively clean and organized. You just have to carefully take note of signage directions which are mostly confusing or lacking.
We were able to decipher the way to the airport’s subway station which travels towards the city. Since our accommodation is within very close proximity (a minute walk) to Sinchon subway station (Line 2 – Green Line), it was a 50-minute journey from the airport to Sinchon (a busy and exceptionally affordable location that is very centrally located). The airport subway is in the Blue Line which means we need to alight at a designated interchange to transfer to the Green Line to reach Sinchon station. The Seoul subway station has 9 lines connecting to various stations. This is really a huge city and with an overwhelming number of subway stations which you can see below, first time independent travel adventurers like us would most likely get lost.
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The problem still exist. After alighting at Sinchon station which has 8 exits, we were holding our printed map to locate the nearest exit towards our accommodation. Since there’s not much of English translation on signage boards, we started to have that blank face again. One Korean lady, who just finished her class (she’s a teacher at a Korean University) approached us and asked “Are you trying to find your way? Can I help?” Wow, we just thought that it could be the real culture of Koreans. Then she helped us to contact the hotel using her Samsung mobile and spoke (in Korean) to the hotel receptionist. She then accompanied us until the nearby road and upon seeing the hotel name (only a minute walk indeed), we thanked the lady, had a little chat and exchanged contacts with her. We were confident that we will never get lost from day 1 with this generous kind of attitude the locals have. I also noticed that displaying a travel map on your hands attracts fast attention and assistance.
The much awaited part --- we finally arrived at our Guest House. We wanted to make things different for our Korea trip and that includes the type of accommodation we should stay. A Guest House type is the most popular, cheaper and very traditional type of accommodation in Korea. We can always opt for the convenience of premium hotel facilities but we knew we can always enjoy it in other places of the world at any time. Since we wanted to feel the real Korean atmosphere, we chose the Guest House type.
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In Korea, they usually want to do chores on their own and we also want to do it on our own as tourist while in Korea. This Guest House is just a perfect fit for us. The house also serves daily continental breakfast (already inclusive in the room rates) at the dining hall (level 4). Our room is at level 3 so we take the stairs. It’s really a typical “feel at home, home away from home” super clean ambiance.
The house owners, a young married couple (the guy is Korean, the lady is Taiwanese but fluent in Korean) are great, warm people. We ended up exchanging contacts and building friendships as days passed. They gave us many friendly useful tips on our daily tours.
We spent few hours settling in the room and enjoying the atmosphere first after missing many hours of sleep from final packing in Manila, to checking-in and boarding at the airport, to traveling in the plane, to arrival in Seoul, to exploring and getting lost a number of times – all these happened in just Day 1 of our tour.
Our trip to Seoul comes with a business purpose at some days. After networking and exploring potential partnerships with some local travel & leisure companies in the morning, we started our Day 2 Tour from Seoul subway station.
At the Traditional "Bukchon Hanok Village" (nearest subway station is Anguk or Chungmuro)
This is our real and most important travel adventure in Seoul. The main objective of why I want to visit Korea is to experience first- hand the ancient traditions of Korea and the heritage villages the country has deeply preserved. We did a whole day walkathon in the most loved, huged & super hilly Bukchon Hanok Village. A lot of Koreans still live here with their elders. Very typical Korean values of being closely-knitted with their families. Very Filipino!! I love this village a lot and the village folks are so polite. What a perfect learning experience!!
The Namsan Tower
After hearing the Holy Sunday Mass at Myeongdong Catholic Cathedral, we crossed the road and started hiking towards The Namsan Tower – An Iconic Tourist Spot. You can choose to hike or take the cable car to reach the tower. However, I can't take cable rides. Besides fear of heights, one cable car is jam-packed. We got a captivating view of the entire City of Seoul seen from the top on a foggy afternoon.
Gangnam District
So curious about why the "Gangnam Style" song became an international hit and why was this song composed after this place. We explored the Gangnam district today and for me, it's the most beautiful part of Seoul down South. By subway, it took us 18 stations to Gangnam from Sinchon station. Gangnam is popular for its futuristic buildings as well as hilly commercial & residential areas. The bus stations that will pass by the popular Han River Bridge are situated in Gangnam.
A breakfast at "A Twosome Place" (the top local cafe house in Seoul) is certainly a "must try" for travelers. There is one near our Guest House (about 5-minute walk along Sinchon). Korea's own version of Eclair is a delight in this cafe house. My coffee addiction has been served with total satisfaction. South Korea can produce a variety of quality coffee beans given its mostly freezing weather year round. The coffee beans are usually for local consumption and occasionally for exports. The Koreans are definitely the government's priority in many aspects.
Back to Incheon International Airport to homeward bound. Our flight is at 11.30 hrs back to Manila but we chose to arrive earlier to explore the Duty Free shops at the departure area. There aren’t much shops to see but many high quality Korean brands are reasonably priced. Coffee and dine-in shops are only a handful but there are quite a number of food stalls inside the boarding gates.
Do note that when spending for the cost of calling to your home country, it’s cheaper to buy international call cards than registering for an international roaming feature in your mobile. One international call card cost 10,000 won (only 0.042 in PHP) and you can already use 40 minutes of calls. We made 5 comfortable quick calls and we still have remaining 29 minutes left unused just when we were about to board the plane back to Manila. The call card is valid for 2 years from the date of purchase. It only means that we can still use it when we return to Seoul in Winter of 2015.
Keep receipts for every purchases you make - whether dining-in, buying train tickets, tour tickets, at groceries and exchanging currency notes so you can have references and ideas when planning a budget for your next trip to Seoul. Make sure you do the same with your trips to other countries.
The Philippines is not exempted from procuring a Visa to enter the Republic of South Korea among other countries. But because of the strong economic ties and friendship between the two countries, Filipinos don’t have to pay for the cost of Tourist Visa if the length of stay in South Korea does not exceed 59 days.
As usual, we were also excited to file for the Visa application on our own so we can learn the actual proceedings as much as learning from the hurdles that come with the application. You must produce and compile all the requirements listed at the Embassy’s website . Similarly, application forms can be downloaded from the same site. Please be sure to write legibly. The processing time is between 3-5 working days. here
Since it’s our first time to apply for a Korean Tourist Visa, we were expecting for a pretty strict consideration from the Visa Officer. We have seen a number of applications getting rejected or being asked for further supporting documents while we were still on queue at the Embassy. Another tricky part is that if they don’t’ request for any supporting documents, they will still hand over a slip to you indicating the date and time of your passport collection. Initially, you would think that you can successfully get the visa on the day of your return but it didn’t applied to all.
This is exactly what happened to a number of applicants who returned on the day of our scheduled return as well to collect our passports. Some applicants were required to submit additional information after receiving their passports. Most of them are full-time employees who were complaining about a wasted filed leave for a day. When our queue number was flashed and upon approaching the Visa Officer who handed our Passports, Lo and Behold, our Visas were already stamped on our passports. No further questions. No further requirements. We got the Visa. Period.
I’m not sure if I can credit our owning a travel agency and the genuine purpose of our visit to Seoul which made us got the Visa fast and smooth enough. The sure thing was there's been a DIVINE INTERVENTION and we were officially JET SETTING.
As a gentle reminder, be mindfully prepared to gather all the requirements and complete it factually. Please also produce photocopies (even if it's not stated) for each of the original requirements you will bring along. The act of anticipation is a good disposition which yields fruitful effects. In our experience, as long as you comply and bring all the valid requirements with you, it isn’t too tough to get the Visa even if it’s your first time. Convince the Visa Officer with your genuine actions, that as tourists, you will not overstay in South Korea for other purposes beyond tourism.
Jitrrie Travel & Tours can also assist to secure your Tourist Visas to South Korea if you want to avoid hassles since we already have the first-hand experience on the protocols. Just give us a call or drop us a note for further discussions about this.
I’m happy to exchange thoughts and tips with those who have already explored Seoul as well. Do drop me a note at the comments section below and let’s start a healthy conversation. This also applies to interested parties who want to visit Seoul in the near future and would like to seek clarifications from me.
I wanted to inform my valued readers and followers that it is always possible to explore tours on your own so as to make the most of your travel. My husband and I purposely did not engage the services of local tour guides in Seoul to avoid unnecessary trips.
Of course nothing against tour guides (remember I have a travel agency too and I offer local tours to foreign visitors although mine is a completely different approach) but trips like stopover at souvenir shops are not necessary especially if tourists (like me) are not into shopping. I prefer the shopping part to be left at the discretion of the tourists and at their own pace and time.
After a fun-filled educational trip, Jitrrie Travel & Tours created this promo package tour for you to experience the same meaningful journeys we had at Seoul, South Korea. This was recently posted on our Facebook page.
Jitrrie Travel & Tours can provide you with the most affordable transportation and accommodation needs for your overseas trips and at the same time give you as much useful advice on how you can explore tours on your own in order to SAVE MORE. Speak to us Now. GOD Speed.