Preparation for Your Arrival

Alright, so after putting down all that precious cash on your flight reservation you may be wondering, "What's next?" Well, that's a good question. Now, you need to start preparing for your arrival in Seoul.

One of the main things that I want to address is that all important of subjects- money. Now, you'll probably be advised to exchange money into Korean Won before you even get on the plane. In my opinion, that's not necessarily true. Before I left I was advised to exchange several hundred dollars to tide me over until I could get a wire transfer. Well, I did, which was a huge mistake and here's why. Local banks, especially in the U.S., will likely give an atrocious exchange rate on the won well below what the market exchange rate. In my case, it was almost a hundred won per dollar lower, which can really add up when exchanging that much money. So my recommendation is this: at most exchange 50 dollars at your local bank, enough to buy a drink and meal upon your arrival, and carry as much cash as you feel comfortable carrying on you to be able to exchange at the airport or get to an ATM. You'll have no problem doing either since at Incheon International Airport you can find exchange booths and ATMs directly on the arrivals floor and they will give you better rates to boot.

Another thing you need to figure out ahead of time is how you're going to get to your university. If your program is like mine your host university might send someone to pick you up. If they don't, or if you feel adventurous enough to take your chances, you will have to find your own transportation. Most flights into Seoul will generally go to Incheon International Airport, which is about an hour west of Seoul. From Incheon Airport you have several options. The first is to take a taxi from the airport, however that will likely cost you around 60,000 won and up depending on where in Seoul you need to go. The second is to take an airport limousine bus, which will cost you 10,000 won and you will need to check with your host university about which bus number to get on. A third option is to hop on the Airport Express on the first sub-level of the airport. This will cost you around 5,000 won and will take you an hour to get to Seoul Station, where you can then transfer to the Seoul Metro and get virtually anywhere in Seoul. If you're still not sure, I would suggest getting in touch with your Korean university and getting their opinion or you can click here for more info.

I will cover the Seoul Metro and how to get around Seoul in greater detail in a later post. For now, take care.

John.