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 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-year-old-antique content 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 during 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 and a hard and fast meal for our departing and returning flight ($11).
In Seogwipo, we stayed at Winston Hotel for $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 for two nights for $ sixty-six (including 10% tax). 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: I got a foldable seashore tent online for $12
Day One
three.30 a.M. – My sister, who is 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 is early in the morning, and I shop myself at a $sixteen charge. My tour buddy B will be 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 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 allows 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 the day) to percentage because we want to live updated on the ‘gram. It is half the price of a SIM card and might add 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 called 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 the money card) parked outside the airport arrival door to head to the south part of the island called Seogwipo, which takes around 40 minutes. $21.50 5.30 p.M. – After a brief shower at our exceptional Winston hotel, we take a ten-minute walk to the central shopping district of Seogwipo, near the food market.
We opt for a Korean stir fry dinner called dak galbi, wherein the chef cooks rice, greens, chicken, and a unique, highly spiced sauce on a large grill in front of you, served with side kimchi. I ordered a few bottles of soju ($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 in 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, which sells Korean snacks and culmination. Since we’re hiking the next day, we inventory snacks like water, bread, and some other bottles of soju (I need a nighttime cap) from a mini-mart before returning. 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 got the only one with ginger ($6 a field) because I want to remedy my tummy. $8.60