I meant to throw up another post in addition to this one, but I’ve been far too busy this week finishing up English camp and and preparing to take off for vacation.

My school has allowed me to leave the plantation for a couple of weeks and I’ll be spending that time in Thailand. The cold in Busan has been annoying as of late so the beach and sun will be a welcomed (and much needed) change-up.

I’m normally horrible at preparing for trips. When coming to Korea, I barely made it out of the country on time on account that on the day of my departure, I was still bringing clothes and other crap from my apartment to stash in my  mother’s basement. I didn’t call my bank to notify them that I was coming to Korea until I was about to board the plane. I still have yet to suspend my cell phone account. It’s that bad.

Getting prepared for Thailand has been somewhat different though. To my own surprise, I’ve been able to take care of all the loose ends in fairly organized fashion, and since I’m proud of myself for doing so, I thought I’d share a few tips on vacation preparation for those planning on jumping ship for vacation. Keep in mind these are all things I almost never do, so I’m probably the wrong person to be lecturing on the subject. Nonetheless, it’s my blog and I need to write about something before I go on my two-week hiatus.

#1 Sure Up the Money Source
This may seem like a no brainer, but I’ve read several accounts of people taking off  from the peninsula and having absolutely no access to their money once they’ve reached their destination. If you’re bringing along your Korean bank card, make sure your shit will work in OUTSIDE of Korea. Many bank cards are completely useless once yo leave the peninsula, but several banks offer global cards that at the very least  will allow you to withdraw money from the ATM in another country (usually you won’t be able to make purchases with it). I bank with KEB and had my co-teacher call them several times yesterday to make sure my card would work in Thailand. After reading a few threads on Waygook.org and Koreabridge.com, I was convinced I had nothing to worry about. Still, I wanted to double check. Turns out the card I had wasn’t going to work, and with only a half an hour till the bank closed, I had to run back home, grab my passport, and get to the bank to exchange my normal card for a global card. I made it there just as they were about to close the front gates. Payday is coming up and I would have been shit out of luck had I not double checked. Of course you could avoid this whole dilemma by transferring money to your account from back home, but if payday will occur after you depart for vacation and you have no way to set up a scheduled transfer, you might still be screwed.

#2 Clean Out the Refrigerator
Trust me, you do not want to come back to an apartment that smells like old man farts. Look in your fridge and take out anything that could (or as in my case, already has) gone bad. There is no point in holding on to those few extra oranges that will only be rotten by the time you make it back. If you really want them, take them with and eat them on the plane.

Don’t want to waste food that you’ve spent your hard earned money on?

Start eating that shit early in the week before you leave so you won’t have to toss anything out. This tip may be mute for some, because obviously not everyone cooks (a good idea considering how it’s often cheaper to eat out), but if you normally keep your fridge stocked, make sure you empty it before leaving, along with the trash.

#3 Wash the Clothes
No point in having to go commando for a day due to a shortage of clean undies. Do yourself a favor and throw in a couple loads of laundry before heading off. Now for some of you, this might not be an option. You may not even have clean clothes to bring WITH you on vacation, but if you’ve already picked out your vacation wardrobe, take some time to wash up the clothes you are leaving behind. If nothing else it will make your apartment look cleaner and should you fail to clean the out the fridge the smell won’t be compounded by stinky laundry–not that your dirty laundry stinks in the first place.

Yes I know all of this is common sense and probably does not need to be mentioned, but I have suffered from not doing one or all of the tips mentioned above so it comes from the heart.

I could go on and on with other tips (originally, I wanted to do a list of at least five), but I have a flight to catch and I still need to swing by Family Mart to pick up some plane snacks.

I doubt I’ll be posting while on vacation so this might be the last you hear from me for a couple of weeks, but then again you never know. I might decide to pop in to let you know I’m still alive and haven’t been arrested.

Ciao,

Kimchi Dreadlocks