Last week my husband and I went to South Korea. We booked our flights three months ahead. Because I didn’t want to get too excited for the trip, the planning took a backseat. Everything happened at the last minute. The embassy announced their 2015 New Visa Requirements effective March 1st. I applied for a visa on March 2nd. 

 

I didn’t have time to go to the embassy so I decided to apply through a travel agency. A tourist visa to Korea is generally FREE but since I applied through a travel agency, I paid a fee of P800.00 for the processing. I got my passport and visa 7 days after submitting all the requirements. My husband didn’t need to apply for one since he has a Taiwan passport. Lucky him. 

 Nobody was available to take us to the airport. We had no choice but to use the NAIA Terminal 3’s covered parking lot. The fee is P300.00 for overnight parking and P40.00 for 23 hours. What a big jump right?! 

  

  

I recommend that you take pictures of your car for security purposes. We came back with a flat tire. I’m not saying somebody did it but at least I had pictures to prove it was alright when we left it.

The parking lot is connected to the Departure and Arrival Halls so it was so convenient for us. 

To prepare for the trip, I downloaded some free apps to assist us while in Korea. I also monitored the weather in Korea just so I know what type of clothes to bring.

iTourSeoul works even without wifi or internet connection.

 

 
 

I also downloaded the Seoul Subway Map. To tell you the truth, we were not able to use any of these apps since I already printed some guides on how to get from point A to point B. 

 

 
 

What I found useful was this GenieTalk application I downloaded.

 

 
 

Not all parts in Seoul have free wifi. What I did was type all the things I wanted to say to a cab driver and just showed it to him.

 
 

I booked our hotel 5 days before the flight through agoda.com. My coworker recommended that we stay at the JHill Hotel located in Myeongdong. I was glad I took her advise. It was totally worth it.  

*TIP. If you’re booking a hotel and some days of your trip happens to fall on a weekend, try booking your stay in two separate transactions- one for weekdays (e.g. Monday-Thursday) and one transaction for weekends (e.g. Friday- Sunday.) The rate on weekdays is a lot cheaper compared to booking it in one straight transaction. (e.g. Friday-Thursday of the following week. The rate for weekends will also be the same price as the weekdays.)