Travel blog #1: Korea 2024 D-24

There are 24 days left before getting on a plane to a foreign country where I am not fully familiar with the language or culture or know my way in. Safe to say: stress has been kicking in these past few days.

Hi, my name is Anne and I will be traveling solo to South Korea in 24 days. This will be the first blog on this page that is in essence what I made this whole page for. A travel blog. Even though I haven’t even gotten on the plane yet. Planning is a big part of it and I feel this is a good moment to do a check-in and let you know how it’s going.

Until now I have mostly used this blog for throwing my knowledge on K-pop, Hallyu and Korea in general onto you. It felt kind of weird doing a travel blog without having stepped a foot outside of the country. So the content I have been making so far I made because that’s what felt good. So I am happy with the content so far and sometimes I need to remind myself that it’s okay to not have a full plan set in place and to just do what I want to do. That is mainly why I planned this whole trip and it should stay my goal for this whole trip: making some good memories and enjoying myself.

Step 1: Creating the website

However, I have put quite some work into this blog and everything connected to it. And I really need to remind myself of that for a moment, too. For the past 5 months, I think, I have been working on this website, creating it, designing it, making plans for social media content, making content plannings and everything. I have unendingly doubted myself along the way and there are days where I don’t know what I’m doing it for.

For example, when I launched my page (that decided to fully break down on the day of the launch for no reason at all), communicated the launch on my personal social media and only a handful of my close friends decided to follow my blog page’s social media channel. Or when the page views of my first 5 blogs stayed 0 even after doing social media posts on them. Or when I got so sick a week after launching the website that I couldn’t even get out of bed for a week or open my laptop and all the content planning I had been doing went down the drain immediately.

So this is a reminder to myself that I am proud of what I did and the content I have made so far!

Step 2: making pre-Korea content for the blog & socials

Really, my boyfriend has to remind me on a daily basis that I am doing this for myself, and I’m doing this because I wánt to do it (major kudos to him). I’m having daily breakdowns, my face is breaking out and when my mom messaged me today with a: “how are you doing today”, I proceeded into a full breakdown into everything I’m stressed about and what I still have to do in the next 24 days. Oh, yeah, 24 days. We were still preparing for a trip to South Korea.

In the past days I have picked up my blog again and where in the first weeks I solely made blogs about interesting Korea-related topics in my opinion, like:

I now started researching more practical things like: how do I pay with my current bank account in Korea, can I drive and rent a car there, what documents do I still need. And making blogs about some more practical things like these:

Follow-ups in this ‘practical’-series I’m thinking about are: “A practical beginners guide to Hangul” and “What to prepare for your first time in South Korea (traveler from the Netherlands edition)”

Images: (1) Example of a Kore-an Recipe blogpost; (2) the Kore-An Recipe Instagram page

Step 3: Learn Korean

And I have started feeling less and less prepared for this whole thing along the way! Not the goal here! Honestly, everyone is like: “Well, you can speak Korean, right. And you have done the math and you’re financially okay. And you have arranged a roof over your head for about 80% off the trip. You’ll be fine.” And I guess, that is all very much true… kind of.

For the speaking Korean part: I wouldn’t exactly say I can speak Korean. I have learned Korean so far through:

Duolingo (a language learning app that is very much discouraged on the ‘Learning Korean’ side of social media, but I have a streak in the app and I’m not willing to break it!);
Following a full Leidse Onderwijs Instelling (LOI) Korean course for 2 years, which was supposed to teach me about workplace Korean even. And I know about a lot of grammar, but I don’t nearly master it after the course, and don’t even get me started on my lack of vocabulary!

So, when I did the entrance test for the course I will be following in Korea through (language) travel organization EF, it said I am a beginner of beginners and I am! I know how to read hangul, say “hi”, “bye” and “I am Anne” that’s about it!

So okay, the Korean part feels… not fully mastered. But I will probably get around with some English and the whole goal here is to learn about Korean language and culture whilst being there! Other people also go on vacation there! I will be fine. Right?

Step 4: Plan the practical parts of the trip!

Then the finances. I guess this would be everyone’s main stress point before an extended trip, but I have just never done this to this extent before. Yes, everything is calculated at least 20 times over, but every time I look at it again, I see some new gaps and issues (that I am probably making far too big issues in my head).

It also doesn’t help when you lose your job 2 months before your flight is set to take off and you suddenly also have to do these things for finding a new job. I won’t bore you with the details, I have kind of decided to actively work on it, but keep it a bit more chill until at least I am in Korea and have settled there a bit.

Then a roof over my head: for those of you who know, I will be staying with a host family for the first 10 weeks of my stay, but as of now I can only go there on the 3rd of March and my flight lands on the 2nd of March, so I will have to find a place to stay for 1 day. With a (justifiable or not) limited budget due to above mentioned worries, not ideal, but surmountable.

Then I am good for the next 10 weeks (keep reminding yourself of this, Anne, please do!). And then from my birthday: May 11th, it will be a bit less certain again. My boyfriend will fly over to South Korea and we’ll vacation there for 2 weeks.

Up until now I have kind of delayed setting anything in place for these last 2 weeks: hotels, AirBnb’s, cities we’ll visit, tourist attractions we’ll go to, everything. Again, the budget!

Step 5: contemplate your life decisions

At this point I am just really asking myself why I am doing this and on the other hand it fully reminds me of the last time I did this, which turned out to be one of the best experiences in my life! Because, I did this before! I can do this! I went to LA all by myself, got around the city, with the help of Uber, public transportation (not a recommendation) and some newly made friends (yes, Elizabeth, Ihssan, Arely & Vanessa I am talking about you).

I totally broke down on my first day there, but I managed, and even look back on it as a good experience that shaped me into something better than I was before the trip. So much so that immediately after I decided I wanted to do it again and that is why we are here today: doing it again, although a bit bigger (Go big, or go home!).

Image: me, Anne, in Los Angeles at the BTS Permission To Dance concert in 2021

Step 6: finally make some practical decisions

And now we have arrived at today: 24 days before D-day. I should start attacking all standing issues the way I usually do and am used to. Making a list and checking things off the list. So here we go: I’m going to do it right here, right now. Not delaying this anymore. Accepting is fixing half the issue right?

Pre-Korea 2024 to do list:

Priority

Get in touch with EF travel agency to verify your arrival date
If it doesn’t work out: book a hotel for 1 night, you’re gonna have to pay for it anyway. get over it! (Remember: Don’t rush when you get to Incheon Airport, you will probably only be able to check in from 15:00 and your flight arrives at 10:00. You’ll have some time to spare to figure everything out at the airport! Like: how to get to Seoul city centre, what to do with your luggage, etc.)
Get some money exchanged for Korean won! (mostly: decide how much)
Get a K-ETA, not necessary for Dutch travelers, but it will let you skip some lines apparently, so just do it!
Empty your laptop, phone and memory card so you can fill them all over again in Korea!

A bit less priority

Book a hotel for the 1st 2 nights after boyfriend arrives in Seoul (It’s half May, you’ll be fine!)
Book the train to Busan and a hotel for 4 days (3 nights) there! (Don’t forget you’ll have to take all your luggage, so not too much shopping before May 11th, this is also beneficial for your budget!)
Decide on if you want to go to Jeju island after Busan, if not: also arrange the train back to Seoul, otherwise get a plane ticket to Jeju!
If so: get your driver’s license approved for Korea (this is easier and cheaper than expected)
Decide if you álso will go to Nami island (this will be a full day trip, just to be prepared)
Write some blogs about all these practical themes, so you will feel fully prepared, whilst also putting the info out there for other travelers (from the Netherlands)

Ending message from a stressed travel blogger

Honestly, try convincing yourself that all this is a good idea whilst also convincing everyone around you that it is! Realization is hitting that I will have to miss my family, friends and (most supportive) boyfriend for 10 weeks and will be missing all kinds of exciting birthdays, big life altering happenings, parties and other things back home. I really hope that this is a healthy kind of tension.

But if you have any tips on how to stop delaying some of these essential travel things, or if you can share in or downplay my stress, tell me everyone goes through this or it will be fine: Please, send me a message. Some decision making and other problem solving help is much appreciated!