Welcome to Travel Diaries, a Refinery29 series where we tag alongside actual women who embark on journeys around the sector and track their travel charges all the way down to the closing cent. Here, we offer an in-depth, intimate account of while, wherein, and how our friends spend their excursion days and disposable earnings: all the food, adventures, indulgences, setbacks, and surprises. This week’s travel diary: A 28-yr-antique content material creator from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, visits South Korea’s Jeju Island and indulges in K splendor and sightseeing. Editor’s word: All charges were transformed to U.S. Bucks. For questions, remarks, or if you’re interested in monitoring your journey expenses at some point of an upcoming ride, e-mail us at traveldiary@refinery29.Com.
Age: 28
Occupation: Content Writer
Salary: $14,500
Travel Companion: My first-rate buddy of 9 years, B
Hometown: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Trip Location: Jeju Island, South Korea
Trip Length: 6 days
Annual # Of Vacation Days: sixteen days
Companion’s # of Vacation Days: 22 days
Transportation
Costs: Direct return flight through AirAsia. We departed from Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2) and landed at Jeju International Airport. Flight duration turned into 6 hours. AirAsia returns to flight with bags ($a hundred forty-five). Since it became a 6-hour flight, we brought food, a hard and fast meal for our departing and returning flight ($11).
In Seogwipo, we stayed at Winston Hotel, $108 (along with 10% tax) for three nights. We stayed collectively in a widespread twin room and split the price. So I paid $54, in my opinion. In Jeju–si, we stayed at Ellui Hotel Jeju, $ sixty-six (including 10% tax) for two nights. We stayed collectively in a deluxe twin room and cut up the cost. So I paid $33, in my opinion.
Total: $87
Pre-holiday spending: Got a foldable seashore tent online for $12
Day One
three.30 a.M. – My sister, who occurs to be my resident driver because I tour a lot, is another time type enough to send me off. I am lucky as it’s pretty hard to discover transportation like Grab (South East Asia’s equivalent to Uber) that early in the morning, and I shop myself a $sixteen charge. My tour buddy B is already at the airport after I arrive. Our flight is at 6:00 a.M. So we test in our baggage and self-print our boarding passes so we will begin to undergo security. We both ate before leaving home, so there was no want to buy breakfast that early at the airport. Plus, we’ve got food looking ahead to us on the aircraft!
5:00 a.M. – We get to our terminal and wait to board the plane.
1:50 p.M. – A 6-hour flight that capabilities us to consume Häagen-Dazs0 ice cream while watching Netflix eventually takes us to Jeju International Airport. After passing through immigration, we lease a portable WiFi router for six days ($2.Eight in line with day) to percentage because we want to live updated on the ‘gram. It is half of the price of purchasing a sim card and might join up to a few gadgets. You depart your credit score card details and the fee for your card once you return the WiFi router.
Since we plan to journey through the superb bus gadget, we purchase a public transport card known as T–Money on the airport’s 7-Eleven. We split the shipping cash that includes a $3 card fee and $forty worth of money for the both of us to travel around ($21.50). Tip: the T-Money card can also be used for taxi rides. We board the airport bus limousine ($four. five deducted from T–Money card) parked right outside the airport arrival door to head to the south part of the island called Seogwipo, which takes around 40 minutes. $21.50 5.30 p.M. – After a brief shower at our exceptional hotel called Winston, we take a ten-minute walk to the central shopping district of Seogwipo, near the food market.
We opt for a dinner of Korean stir fry called dak galbi wherein the chef cooks rice, greens, chicken, and a unique highly spiced sauce in a large grill in the front of you, served with side kimchi, of course. I ordered a few bottles of soju ($four) to accompany my meal, and we cut up the rate of the dakgalbi ($11). The friendly proprietor of the stir fry place indicates a dessert joint down the road referred to as Sulbing. We nibble on a few Korean toast and custard buns within the form of fish ($3). $18.
8.00 p.M. – We spend time after dessert just on foot around town as our motel is near the Seogwipo Maeil Olle Market that sells Korean snacks and culmination. Since we’re going hiking the next day, we inventory up on a few snacks like water, bread, and some other bottle of soju (I need a nighttime cap) from a mini-mart earlier than heading back. If you ever enter a community mini-mart in Korea, go directly to the tea segment and be amazed. So many types of tea infused with elements like oranges and ginger. I get the only with ginger ($6 a field) because I want to remedy my tummy. $8.60