Korea 2023 1/15 - First Traveling Abroad Since Pandemic, Finally!

June 24, 2024

Korea 2023 1/15 - First Traveling Abroad Since Pandemic, Finally!

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.
Live the life you have imagined."
- Henry David Thoreau

so good to see you again, my favorite passport case :)

I haven't traveling abroad since pandemic so I thought during national holiday (Idul Fitri), I would like to go somewhere this time. I have several options, to be honest I prefer to go to a new country so these were some options at that time, Turkey, Laos - Myanmar but I checked all the tickets were too expensive. And apparently I have Krisflyer points that haven't expired yet just found out that it can be exchanged to flight ticket with Singapore Airlines, so thinking about going back to South Korea while I still have valid multiple visa that will expired next year in Jan 2024, thus I booked my flight back from Seoul to Jakarta by redeemed 27,000 miles Krisflyer and paid for the tax etc (KRW 36,900 equal around Rp 445k). I chose redeemed for flight ticket to go home because with Singaporean Air, I got 30kgs baggage.

Now, I need to find flight to go there, I found cheapest alternative using Xiamen Air and booked impulsively for Rp 3,630,600 via tiket.com with 27 hours 36 minutes transit. I read that I might need visa for transit so I changed my mind and cancelled the flight yet I booked another flight, CGK - KUL using TransNusa (new route Rp 1,644,600) and KUL - ICN using Air Asia X with additional baggage 20 kg (Rp 3,035,667) via tiket.com. I submitted the refund for Xiamen Air and got Rp 2,010,600 back and loss around Rp 1.6mio, all process via OTA apps.

I spent around 2 weeks in South Korea (April 24 - May 9, 2023), as usual I didn't have fixed itinerary, I planned to go to some cities that I never visited before. Aside Seoul, this time I would like to visit Gyeongju, Daegu, Busan and going back to Nonsan because the last time I went there, the main attraction was closed so I would love to visit again when open.

This time I went solo to South Korea, I spent initially 5 nights in Seoul but I changed my mind because suddenly there was this Korean Music Festival so I spent another night in Seoul. I actually booked a hostel already in Daegu for ome nigjt but I cancelled. My hostel in Seoul was fully booked for another night so I decided to look for another hostel around Myeongdong area.

Anyway since my Korean multiple visa was on my previous passport and due to expiry of my passport I need to get a new one, so I need to update my Korean Visa with updating passport number, so don't forget to update your visa, it's free, easy and via online but spare some time to do it because it still needs some kind of approval. Before I arrived in Seoul, since it's just after Covid, I still need to fill some kind of form for medical purpose like are you fit enough to enter Seoul etc.

Day 1 - Monday, April 24, 2023

I was looking forward for this trip and finally it's D-Day. My flight to Kuala Lumpur was at 7 AM from Soekarno Hatta International Airport, the journey took 2 hours 10 minutes, I got free 15 kg baggage. Anyway I felt so excited to go this time, it's my first time going abroad since pandemic. I also booked Capsule Transit KLIA 2 so I can lay down before catching my flight, I booked the one that I can stay max. 12 hours (Rp 515,820). It's located inside the airport but still need to pass immigration, I told them I only transit there. Once I arrived at KLIA, I remember I walked too much on that day, that I felt exhausted. I need to take an airport bus to go to immigration after I landed, such a long way to go. Passing immigration, took my baggage then I went to my capsule.

inside TransNusa, off to Kuala Lumpur

taking train, I bought the ticket with cc

I was so tiring that I just laying down in my capsule room, my clothes were wet due to sweating and walked too much from early morning, beside I also carry my laptop and it's just made heavier. Aside it's national holiday like one week, in addition I only took three annual leaves and I asked permission to work from Korea for three days. So I got more than two weeks for Korean trip.

here is the Capsule Transit, I stayed few times

so comfy to just laying down before taking the next flight

lunch timee

I only went out for lunch and looking around a little at some stores there, anyway I found a cute dress in H&M but hesitated to buy so I decided not to buy it because I didn't want to put more in my bag. I love this Capsule Hotel and with their facilities, they gave me sandals which I forgot to bring mine, so that's good. My next flight would be at 10:20 PM so I took shower first before checking in. Anyway I had massage chair before taking my flight, my body was feeling quite unwell on that night and the massage helped me a lot. My flight to Korea was late night flight so I need to sleep on the plane which I am not sure if I can sleep or not and yes, I didn't sleep well on the plane. But the good thing was, the middle seat was empty so I can have spare space on the plane even though it's still uncomfortable but what do you expect for low cost airline, at least I can still go to Korea, yuhuuu can't wait!