Travel? In 2021? Are you mad?
Perhaps a little. Here's my lowdown of government mandated quarantine in South Korea if you are looking to travel there for ✨tourist purposes✨. I say this because I was the first tourist in Seoul many people had met in nearly two years. The ladies working in the tourist information centres practically had cobwebs on them.
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| Genuinely in the corridor on the way to our quarantine hotel room |
What you will need to enter Korea as a mythical tourist:
- Flights (or a ferry)
- Negative PCR test (within 48 or 72 hours of arrival), print this out and highlight the word 'negative'
- KETA form: this can be filled in on the KETA app, but I printed out the certificate for customs
- An address in Korea where you will stay post-quarantine
- A Korean resident or national to act as a reference (they will get called and asked if they know you are coming)
- I did not have to arrange a visa because Brits have a 90 day tourist visa automatically
- Travel Insurance - I got asked for this at the airport, I had it but it wasn't printed out which seemed to be a bit of an issue
The airport procedure
This is where is gets a bit Squid Game, although I am loathe to say it, mostly because of the hazmat suits. Disembark your plane and collect your luggage, and then as you approach customs, non-Korean citizens are separated into a different queue where your temperature and paperwork will be checked for quarantine.
Prepare to be shuffled around the airport to various cordoned off locations, it passes the time and helps you feel like there is progress. Don't bother asking any of the airport staff helping you which hotel you will end up at, it's a total lottery and they don't know.
One thing I missed at Incheon airport was the SIM card stand - there aren't many places to get SIM cards in Korea if you are not a Korean resident. If you have a recent enough phone model, you can purchase an e-sim through Trazy.com or LG U+ online. This will add a virtual SIM to your phone, giving you a Korean number and data to use. I would recommend getting the data+voice e-SIM rather than just data, as you will need a telephone number to check into shops and restaurants to abide by Covid regulations. The benefits are you don't have to do the fiddly work of trying to open up your phone and there's no risk of losing your regular SIM card, too. If your mobile is an older model, look out for the SIM card stall (likely SKT) in the airport to get a short term SIM.
Next was the bus - at this point you are shepherded by people in full hazmat suits and you are not allowed to remove your mask. One very irate smoker was determined to test this in the few moments we had outside loading our luggage into the bus: it did not end well for the smoker and I wonder if he had any plans to go cold turkey for 10 days before going to Korea.
The Hotel
At the hotel I had another PCR test, filled in more forms and paid for my "stay".
The forms are essentially an agreement not to leave the room for the allotted time and to take health tests (this involves taking your temperature twice a day, everyday, and logging it on a health app). We had to download another app. If I remember correctly, the app on the left was downloaded at the airport, and app on the left at the hotel.
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| I don't know the difference so I uploaded my temperature info into both apps |
You are able to quarantine with another person so long as they are a family member (I'm not sure how far this extends beyond immediate family - sorry cousins!) and your spouse. I got a discount on the quarantine fees by staying in a joint room for 10 days: approx £1136 for the two of us, which if I remember correctly is a discount of 40% each compared to staying in separate rooms.
As it is South Korea, I was banking on there being excellent internet connection in the hotel: I was not disappointed. There were two of us on international video calls (an absolute mare in one room) with no problems.
Weird features of the stay include speaker announcements inside the room three times a day reminding guests to NEVER LEAVE THEIR ROOM, to not open the window too wide, and to not smoke.
Highlights of the quarantine was definitely the view. Although balcony-less and unable to open the window fully without a finger-wagging from the policeman below - I was able to watch the sunrise over Incheon in the East and set over the island we were on in the West, all the time tracking its way over the ocean and Incheon bridge. The outside became another world, like the other side of a mirror, full of observable but unreachable tiny figures, birds, and, occasionally, some cats.
Food
There were "no beef", "no pork" and vegetarian options available when checking into the quarantine hotel. If you are vegetarian - prepare to have protein sources replaced by bread rolls. I have included a photo below of the four-carb dinner comprised of boiled rice, potato curry, a hash brown and a bread roll.
It's surreal to hear the doorbell ring at the same time each day, and have bags of food mystically appear outside. Food was generally good - lots of pickles - and in a good quantity so you won't go hungry.
We did need to order extra water via the telephone as we were given one 500ml bottle of water per meal, which was not enough for this thirsty ho.
Leaving
Departing the hotel was a rather unceremonious affair. Of course, the first time I had been outside in 10 days and it was pouring with rain.
A few days before release, we were given the options of having either, some one collect us from the hotel in a vehicle, or get dropped off at a nearby train station by the hotel minibus. We plumped for the public transport option. On the 10th day of quarantine, I was packed and ready to say goodbye to my prison cell hotel room at the pre-allotted time of 8am. And from the moment you leave the room, it's face masks all the way.
Given that so much paper work is needed to enter the hotel, it felt very strange to be leaving without even a signature. And with that, we were off into the big, wide world of South Korea.
Let me know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer. Although I will caveat that this experience is time-bound to late 2021 and travel restrictions and regulations will change.
