Who would have thunk that after watching Boys Over Flowers I would be itching to see Seoul, Korea? I have seen Lovers in Paris before (was it way back 2006 or earlier?) and even Fireworks and Hotelier but never got fully hooked to Koreanovelas, until BOF, that is.
Besides, my top-5 must visit countries are (not in any particular order) Ireland, Spain, US, New Zealand and Germany.
Ireland, because I’d like to think that I used to be Celtic (thanks to the influence of my historical romance novels). Spain because of our Kastilaloy roots (at least from the Rosellas side hehe) and US, New Zealand and Germany because I have relatives there so that means I could easily save up on accommodations and food expenses hehehe.
Anywho, as a result of my addiction to Koreanovelas, touring Seoul became a dream early 2009. By June 2009, I started imagining stalking my favourite actors and actresses and having endless photo-ops in the various filming locations of my favourite series. As early as August, I‘ve researched about all the interesting places Korea has to offer and I’ve even downloaded materials so I can learn Hangeul.
My target was to tour Korea by the second week of January 2010. I figured, by December, I’d be able to apply for a tourist visa and providing financial documents would not be a problem thanks to the incentives from our office.
When there was a seat-sale from Cebu Pacific for Manila-Incheon-Manila in late October, I hesitated booking a seat. Imagine, the 2 way fare then was just around P8,000. But since I was not confident enough to get a tourist visa (although my sister has been telling me that those various visa stamps from our previous travels would be big factor for my approval), I still did not buy a seat.
In November, when my auntie-slash-boss decided to tour Korea by December 2009 with my uncle and cousins and invited some of her staff to join them, one part of me immediately became excited at the opportunity.
But I almost didn’t join them. The catch, of course, is paying P18,000 plus for the 2-way ticket. No more Go-fares by then. But my sister Chi, who was going with my niece Sophia, managed to convince me to go with them since it would be better to tour in a group.
You see, as an added incentive, my officemates (who are mostly my relatives) and our families gets to tour various Asian countries. From December 2006 up to 2008, we have been to Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand. Our airfare, accommodation and even meal and transportation allowance, of course, was shouldered by the company.
So despite fears of risking almost P20k (if you include all travel taxes and airport fees) in case my visa application gets denied, my sister still booked and paid my ticket. My auntie even booked and paid for our hotel even before we started applying for our visa.
She was that confident that our application will be approved since she, thru her company, has been sponsoring our overseas trips since 2006. We can certainly prove that, individually, we (1) have enough financial resources to cover our trip; (2) have stable jobs waiting for us; and, (3) we love to travel as can be seen thru the many visas stamped in our passports.
So, aside from (individually) passing those visa requirements, our generous tita-slash-boss also wrote the Consul and vouched for us. And one week later, we finally got the visa stamp we need for entering South Korea.
And two of the many highlights of our trip, of course, are… drum roll please!
1. Playing fan girl by visiting some of the filming locations of my favorite series; and,
2. Getting to experience my first Snow… lamiiiiig!
To Be Continued…
But still, no matter how conscious and careful I am of what I write and post, I still find some misspelled or misused words. Sometimes, even using the F7 on Word is impossible since I write directly online (no time for drafts).
