We were initially torn between free and easy or group tour. Group tour seems like an easy option since we have never been to this city, and we're both too busy to do much research. However, after paying a visit to a couple of travel agencies and looking through their itineary, we decide that free and easy is a better option. Honestly, after comparing prices, we found that free and easy aint that cheap compared to group tour. but the main reason that make us choose to go the free and easy route is itineary. Group Tours itineary are full of destinations we ain't interested in: Amethyst Factory, Ginseng Showroom, Ski Resort, Everland etc etc. We decide that we will just be a bit more hardworking and plan our own itineary and spend time in places we're really interested in.
Flying to Korea ain't cheap. Air tickets during the xmas/ny period is expensive, and regardless you're looking at Singapore Airlines/Korean Air/Asiana airlines, the tickets easily cost $1200+ to $1500++/pax. I totally feel it's not worth spending that amount of money to fly to Korea since that amount can be spent on better destinations. I was telling the husband I won't go unless we can get tickets at $500, though both of us think I'm being ridiculous since it seems impossible to get such cheap tickets, somemore during peak season.
Well, the stars aligned, and just as we were troubling about the air tickets, Scoot ran a promo, and we managed to get our tickets at $500/pax (both ways, including insurance and additional 20kg baggage!). Well, law of attraction! :) I've never been much of a hotel person, and depending on the city I'm in, if possible, I'll always opt to go for Airbnb, guesthouse or minsu for the more personal and local touch. So this time round, we stayed in a guesthouse near Hongdae. It's a pretty nice location, just 5 mins walk to the subway, though it seems to be a difficult place to locate for the cab drivers. almost none of the cab drivers we encounter manage to bring us to our guesthouse even though we passed them the address in korean. =| more about this in another post.
Decembers and January in Korea is freezing cold. It was -8 degrees when we reached, so that's quite a change from our 30degrees Singapore. Good thing that Sinagpore has been in a relatively cooling weather so it's not that drastic a change, but brrrrr...IT IS COLD.
A few key things I learnt about staying warm from this trip:
- Long Johns is important. A good long john can keep you warm. I got ours from Qoo10 (at < S$20 including shipping per set (top and bottom)), and it saved us in this freezing weather. We do not have to wear 10 layers, bundling up like a burger. All we are wearing is our long john, a knit top (the husband is wearing a turtle neck Heatech top), jeans, and an outer jacket.
- when it gets impossibly cold, ear muffs are a god saver. I used to think it is for cuteness, but no, it does wonders to keep us cold. and it doesn't mess up/flatten the hair like a hat does.
- gloves does wonders too!
- if you need, wear a face mask. our nose feels horrible in the cold, so a face mask can helps to form some kind of protection.
- some soju helps! :)
Stay tune for our itinerary and more updated and tips on our Korea trip. :)
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