Travel Log Korea – Entry 1

Today was quite a day. We began by packing and getting the house ready for departure. Once it came time to locate our passports we ran into difficulty though. Emily had lost hers. She researched what she could do on the interweb lickity-split and set off to the Taipei Immigration Office, then on to  the American Institute in Taiwan (aka USA embassy) and then back to the Taipei Immigration Office securing her temporary passport in the nick of time.

We decided to screw the cheaper option of taking the bus to the airport and took a taxi instead (I hate shelling out money) because of the time crunch we were now under.

Once we got to the airport we got through everything just fine with time to spare and boarded the Korean Air flight without any more problems.

After the million hour flights from the US to Taiwan this measely little 2 hour 20 min flight to Incheon International Airport outside of Seoul, South Korea was nothing.

After touchdown we got through immigration and customs no problem. Then we tried to use our credit card at an ATM to get some more cash as we only had a little bit. Here is where the next fiasco overtook us. Neither of us could get our credit cards to work in the ATM because we couldn’t remember our PIN numbers. So without much cash we got on our free shuttle from the Airport to the Airport Backpacker Guesthouse where we are staying tonight. After 2 minutes in the car we got to our hostel. It is really really really nice and is only $35ish USD a night for two people….I am very impressed.

I got on the internet and made some international phone calls on my cell phone (I am not looking forward to seeing the bill) to get the credit card situation sorted out. After talking to VISA representatives it seems as though I’ll be able to get cash without my PIN by going to banks and showing my passport. They also told me I shouldn’t have a problem using it for purchases so hopefully we’ll be okay.

Those few hours thinking we were stuck in Korea for the next week without any money or way of getting any was quite the stress-test though. Needless to say we recommend everyone to locate their passports and double-check their methods of obtaining cash before traveling by at least 24 hours if not more.

On a pleasant note: Its great here. Our plane got in after dark so I can’t really see much but stepping outside of the airport into the cold winter air made me feel like I was home. It was real winter air where you could see your breath and needed a coat. It felt great!

We are excited to greet tomorrow, fix the money situation and make our triumphal entry into Seoul.