Solo in Seoul

The great irony here is that I chose to travel to Korea.

I had my biased opinion. Since Koreans have started to flock in the Philippines, I have found them quite boisterous and arrogant. Aside from that, I never grew fond of eating kimchi. I like spicy, but Kimchi for me was another thing.

What made me decide to go see Korea was the exciting thought of visiting my good friend, Anya, who took up her masters degree there. So this trip was to visit Anya and for me to experience my first Autumn season.

Fast forward to October 2013. Anya unexpectedly had to go back to the Philippines, which left me to go to Korea on my own. It gave me a mild heart attack! What?? Iiwan mo ako sa isang bansang hindi marunong magingles? (You're leaving me in a country that doesn't speak English?) Worse, I booked a 10-day trip! So imagine my horror to figure out what to do for 10 days without someone touring me around.

But instead of panicking and cancelling my trip entirely, I took it as a sign from God. He must have been saying to me: Nicole, matanda ka na. Diba gusto mo ng adventure sa buhay mo? (Didn't you want adventure in your life?) Ayan, as a birthday gift, do something exciting that you have never done before. And because I have been reading a few blogs about women doing solo travels, I took this as an opportunity that at 27 years old, I can say that even once in my life, I travelled solo. Then something magical happened! I became very enthusiastic about the trip. I wanted to see and experience what the fuss was about of why these women kept inspiring young people to travel alone. I felt giddy at the thought of the excitement and magic that was in store...like finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I felt like whatever it is that I will discover, isn't something I just stumble upon when caught up in the little, hum-drum of my routine life.

And so there I go, packed my bags and excitedly jumped on a plane bound for Seoul.

To give the readers an appreciation of my 10-day trip, I would like to thank Anya for helping me with the Itinerary! Aside from the list of places she recommended, I also gave her a list of what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go, and Anya made an itinerary complete with the cost and comments (i.e. how to get from point A to B, what to do when you get there, etc). This was super helpful especially in a country where most do not speak or are not fluent in English. But the most touching part was when she made me a Virtual Tour via powerpoint based on the Itinerary we made! I felt the love!! Oh ha! Career kung career! Pwede mo na i.career ang travel guide!

You can download the excel sheet of my Itinerary for reference, below. 

Seoul is an expensive city. But with a budget of $USD800, I only spent about $650 (about Php 28,600). [In the excel file, the total is below $650. I didn't include the pasalubongs and souvenirs.] So on hindsight, it wasn't THAT expensive as I had imagined. I thought I had to have like about Php 50,000 to enjoy my stay. 

I hope you will find the itinerary useful to give you an idea of roughly how much I spent with the different activities I did during my trip. I am sharing this because I want to encourage young people to have the courage to travel, and if possible, to travel alone at least ONCE. My travel is also proof that you don't need to break the bank in order to travel. I met people who wish to travel but have this notion that they need to save at least Php 100,000 to be able to afford to travel. I say NO. If you are the type of traveller who loves the exploration, culture, and adventure MORE than the luxury and the 4 or 5 star hotel stays, then you will have the time of your life even on a tight budget!