South Korea Countdown

This is not a countdown for an upcoming South Korea trip, but a countdown for a past South Korea trip. Who counts down to the past? I do. 

I booked a one-way ticket ten months in advance. I wasn't coming back. Just kidding. (But if I could, I would!) I was just waiting for a cheaper fare for my return via another city. I had months until the next promo fare to decide how long I would spend in South Korea, but in the end, it was the cheapest fare that decided my length of stay. I am a slave to the airline.

South Korea has nine provinces (Chungcheongbuk, Chungcheongnam, Gangwon, Gyeonggi, Gyeongsangbuk, Gyeongsangnam, Jeju, Jeollabuk, Jeollanam) and eight special cities (Busan, Daegu, Daejeon, Gwangju, Incheon, Sejong, Seoul, Ulsan). I want to visit all of them! But...

My cheap return ticket, bought six months after I bought my one way ticket to South Korea, dictated that I would only have eight whole days in the country. How should I spend it? Where should I go? What should I do? I had four months to iron out my 8-day itinerary. But did I start planning for the trip after I had sealed the deal with my return ticket? No. Procrastinator is my name.

I hustled three weeks before I had to fly out. I scrambled for places to see, for directions, for accommodations. I ended up with a long list of places, places scattered all over South Korea. Definitely unattainable in just eight days. By process of elimination (Too far? Too time consuming? Too expensive? Delete. Delete. Delete.) I trimmed it down to just seven cities: Incheon, Seoul, Suwon, Paju, Daegu, Changwon, Busan. All others, including Jeju, would have to wait.

My scramble for places to see, for directions, for accommodations led me to download several travel apps. On the trip itself, I ended up using just six of the apps: Visit Korea, Booking.com, Google My Maps, Weather, Seoul Subway, Korea Subway (for other cities).

I have seven Korean friends. Two in Seoul, one in Gyeonggi, four in Busan. I sent them all a warning that I would be in their country. Five friends did not heed the warning and I happily cleared some days on my itinerary to spend with them. Two friends went into hiding. (The two had an important company event on the day I had scheduled to be in their city, and there was no way I could change my schedule as my outgoing flight was from there.)

With my itinerary ironed out, I had four modes of transportation to wrap my head around: airplane, subway, bus, KTX (South Korea's high-speed train). Taxi was out; too expensive.

Maybe it's my friends. Maybe it's the kindness of strangers. Maybe it's the culture and history interspersed in a modern city. Maybe it's all these that has tugged at my shoelaces and purse strings the third time.

I jammed my things into two bags. My 33L backpack (my constant travel companion) and a duffel bag. If I had a big backpack, one that would make me look like a walking backpack, I might have used just one bag. But my back says no, I wouldn't have survived; I would have toppled backward.