I never thought my first post-pandemic trip out of the country would be a trip to Korea. I wasn’t keen on visiting immediately nor was I a fan of it. I know it’s a lovely country but it’s not really on top of my destination list, but after my trip, it quickly became part of my must-visit-again-and-again country.
When my friend from work invited me to join their tour, I told her I wasn’t sure if I could come and if I had the time, especially knowing that I had to apply for a tourist visa and prepare documents. I wanted my first post-pandemic trip outside the country to be chill, visa-free, and hassle-free.
My number one problem? My passport was expired.
Everything just happened so fast and I found myself booking a flight to Davao to renew my passport back in August last year. There were no more appointment slots in Cebu and nearby cities, and Davao was the nearest one I could get with relatively cheaper airfare, so off I went.
By the way, those two nights were time well spent since I got to hang out with my college best friends again.
Also: PASSPORT RENEWAL DONE. Mission accomplished.
Our trip was scheduled on October 27-31, 2022 (5D4N Tour), so I still had enough time to process my visa. The visa application was a bit of a personal struggle but thanks to Wow Travel and More Agency, I was able to submit my requirements on time despite some hiccups along the way. At one point, I was convinced I couldn’t make it in time for visa processing. I was so ready to give up.
One of the visa requirements was (and still is) a bank certificate addressed to the Consulate of the Republic of Korea in Cebu. I went to UnionBank to get mine and was told that they don’t allow customizing the bank certificate because it’s already a template. They couldn’t (or wouldn’t even though I requested) simply add or type the address on top of the document and also couldn’t include the Average Daily Balance. Both were required.
I was immediately disappointed because I specifically used that bank account for my travel funds. The agency told me that some of their clients were able to request to customize it. I had an inkling it might be different from branch to branch but I wasn’t going to spend my time calling all UB branches to see which of them would grant my request.
The good thing was that I still have another bank account – with BPI. Thankfully, that bank account also has enough funds and bank transactions. Off to the branch near me, I went. To my disappointment, they also didn’t allow customization. 🙁
I asked the agency if they thought the Consulate would accept a bank certificate with no address since the banks wouldn’t allow it. They told me that Korea is really strict with the requirements and we have to make sure we follow what they ask.
I was already going to give up and just accepted my defeat, haha! I only have 2 bank accounts with money so if BPI couldn’t customize my certificate, I really didn’t have any other option. I’m glad I told my friend about my situation because through her I found out that her friend was able to customize her bank certificate at the BPI Ayala Cebu Branch.
So with a sliver of hope left within me, I went to Ayala and requested a certificate again. AND YES, THEY CUSTOMIZED IT! Yay finally. I was so relieved that I did not keep my funds in one bank account only. Whew!
I submitted all my requirements to our travel agent and hoped for the best. 🤞Two weeks after the time of my application, my visa got approved. YAY again!
About a week later, I discovered that my vaccination records were still not uploaded online and I needed the certificate for my travel. In lieu of the vax cert, I had to get the yellow International Certificate of Vaccination from the Bureau of Quarantine. I scrambled to schedule an appointment for fear of not getting an open slot. Thankfully, there were still a lot of slots open in Cebu (at the BOQ in Robinson’s Galleria).
My friend’s situation was even more challenging because she’s not from Cebu so the agency still would have to send her documents to Manila. She was told that it would be easier to walk into the embassy to submit the application. On the day she flew to Cebu, she found out that the embassy had just released an announcement that they were no longer accepting walk-ins because of so many pending applications.
The agency looked for another agency in Manila that would still accept applications. My friend had to redo all her documents and send them to the Manila agency with no assurance of the visa getting processed. STRESSED was the word. HAHA.
BUT! Her visa was approved after one week and just about the same time mine got approved. Talk about RELIEVED yeah?
Fast forward to the week of our trip, it was raining non-stop every single day because of Typhoon Paeng and the Korean Air aircraft that crashed landed in Mactan Airport. So many flights were already canceled including the ones to and from Korea. Ours weren’t canceled yet at that time but I was getting a bit anxious because I don’t like delayed or canceled trips. They trip me out (pun not intended) and throw off my entire life schedule. Lol.
The day before our departure came and it was still raining so hard. I was growing more and more anxious. I went to SM Seaside to buy additional stuff for the trip, went home for the day, and it was still raining. My clothes were still damp so I had to blow-dry them first before packing.
On the day of the trip (our flight would be at 12:35 PM PHT) – OUR TRIP WAS CONFIRMED TO BE CANCELED. What a bummer. It’s also the first time in my life that my flight got canceled. Yup, you can say I’m always blessed with 95% on-time flights. The only consolation was that the cancelation was announced before we went to the airport. It would have been terrible to be at the airport or be inside the aircraft (yes this happens) and be sent home because we couldn’t fly.
Naturally, our group tour would have to be canceled and rescheduled too. We had the option to join the next tour by the end of November or early December. It wouldn’t be autumn anymore by then and it seemed like the new schedule wouldn’t work for me (and my friends).
My friend/workmate called me to ask if I wanted to push through our trip and go on a DIY tour instead. Since her friends already arrived from CDO to Cebu, it would be (again) just sad to cancel the trip. We were so ready to go! SO WE SAID YES LET’S DO IT!!! We moved our departure date to October 28 and extended our return flight to November 2 so that we could still take advantage of our 5-day tour.
Before I knew it, everything was settled. We asked for a full refund so that we could use the money to rebook. Thanks to my dear friend Tiny who helped us manage everything from contacting Wow Travel for flight and hotel rebooking to printing all the needed documents for our small group of 8. The agency helped us rebook from Cebu Pacific to Jeju Air and change our travel insurance dates.
The next morning at 2 AM, we were already at the airport EVEN THOUGH IT’S BEEN RAINING AGAIN. Our flight was at 7 AM PHT. Caps lock because yes, it was an intense battle with time and nature. Haha. I was legit getting anxious because in my mind “what if this flight gets canceled again?!”
Thankfully, time and nature were in our favor. As usual, lining up in the immigration lane can be taxing. I was the first in line in our group. After showing my flight tickets, tour itinerary, visa, and travel insurance, a few questions were asked including:
Are you on a tour?
Who paid for your travel?
Can I see the receipt for your payment?
Did you book through an agency?
How many of you are on the tour?
Can I ask for your company ID?
I’m technically a freelancer/independent contractor but my friend, Tiny the lifesaver, printed our company/client ID beforehand so at least I didn’t have to explain too much.
THEN WE’RE ALL IN. YEY!!! Finally, we made it to the boarding gate – hungry, tired, and excited. It was still raining hard when we boarded, and yes, I was still anxious about the possibility of getting deplaned. Still, I just left it up to the universe to decide. Not to be dramatic, haha, but we all did what we could – even shelled out a couple more bucks (I did not count anymore but it definitely got more expensive from the original tour price of PHP 48,888).
The rain never stopped. We took off. NDRRMC’s rainfall warning text message alerted all Filipino passengers at the same time so just imagine about half the plane was buzzing with alerts, LOL. If you’re in the Philippines and regularly get that alert, you know what I’m talking about and you know how loud that gets.
We were informed to sit tight because of “severe turbulence” (yup, that’s the term the flight attendant used) and after I swear about an hour of turbulence, we finally saw sunshine. ☀️ But because we were all SO SLEEPY with the early flight, I’d say we managed to sleep through the turbulence a bit. We could still feel it obviously but the urge to sleep was stronger.
After about 4 hours, we landed safely in South Korea. 💗 Annyeonghaseyo!
