Upcoming Trip: South Korea

Long awaited trip to South Korea is coming up. I spotted  a cheap ticket early 2023- around 29556 INR Mumbai to Busan on Singapore Air and instantly booked. To set this into perspective, Managluru-Delhi return ticket costs 19-20k, Delhi-Leh return ticket costs 35k these days. So 6000 kms oneway, 12000 kms return flight on full service airline for 30k is pretty cheap at 2.5 INR per km. There are cheaper options to South Korea with Air Asia and VietJet, around 6 to 8k cheaper than Singapore Air, but I decided to try Singapore Air due to multiple reasons- food, checked bags and entertainment is included, Aircraft was A380 between Mumbai and Singapore and Changi is a great place to transit.

South Korea is home to several brands we use- Samsung, LG, Hyundai, Kia, South Korea geographically and culturally sits in between China and Japan, the country is pretty huge and has several attractions spread over different parts. So I had to make a plan to optimize what all I can explore within the short time I have. Many friends love to visit South Korea because of K Drama series. 

Historically South Korea had to fight regularly with North Korea. Busan is a popular port city in the series. I had also seen on Air Crash Investigation Russia shooting down a Korean Air flight. Jeju is a popular island on the south- if you wish to visit Jeju alone, you may qualify for visa free entry.

I couldn’t afford months- planned for 10 days including 2 weekends and a holiday, so that I can manage with 5 days leave. October seemed like a good season to plan. Not too cold.

Budget: I was hoping to manage within INR 1 lakh, but looks like I might have to extend till 1.2-1.3 lakhs total

• Flight- Mumbai-Busan return: 30000 INR
• Stay for 9 nights, hostels: 12000 INR
• Korea domestic flights: 15000 INR
• Visa cost: 5000 (VFS fee) + 6000 (travel to BLR for visa & other expenses)
• Udupi-Mumbai travel & stay: 5000 INR
• Food, local attractions, travel & other miscellaneous expenses: 5000 INR per day or 50000 for 10 days- hoping actual spend will be little less.

Total around 1.25 lakhs INR.

While planning the South Korea trip I came across few travel agencies selling South Korea 6N/7D package for 1.8 lakhs. (plus many things not included)

While I drafted my plans, studied visa process and prepared for the South Korean trip, a lot has happened in between

• Informed many friends about the cheap ticket, few of them decided to join. So I will have some company on this trip.
• Multiple wars going on around the world- Ukraine, Russia, Israel- had to assume family my trip is away from these war zones
• Singapore air suspended A380 service to Mumbai. Right now my onward flight is changed from A380 to A350, return flight still showing A380. Hope to travel in Super Jumbo at least once. My last trip on the A380 was between New York and Dubai back in 2012.
• Visa process took longer than expected. Will plan a separate post on getting South Korean visa from South India.

I’ve planned 2 days in Busan, 4 days in Jeju, 2 days in capital Seoul and one last day in Busan before returning to India.

No one sells South Korean currency in India (KRW), so have to buy USD and convert on arrival
Apparently Google map doesn’t work in South Korea- have to install local maps
Like China, finding veg food could be tricky in South Korea, so preparing to carry some ready to eat food and cook in hostel as plan B

Looking forward to visiting South Korea as Country number 50. Will keep you posted.

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