What you need to know before going to Jeju, South Korea

If you intend to ONLY visit Jeju, South Korea, a visa is NOT needed. However, this comes with one condition:

You must book a direct flight to and from Jeju only, otherwise you’ll be asked to present a visa.

(For Philippine passport holders only.)

I certainly know it because my husband unfortunately cancelled our trip to Jeju this morning due to this rule that turns out we weren’t aware of. Not that we didn’t check beforehand. We did. He read it somewhere online (I didn’t mind to ask which site, it was in Korean and I believed it was a reliable source.) 

For you to understand what I mean, this was our flight:

February 24, 2017=     Japan ➡ Jeju

February 27, 2017=     Jeju ➡ Gimhae (International Airport) ➡ Japan

We believed that a visa was not required (for me) even for our trip back to Japan since it was supposed to be a layover. And I happened to read this part from the embassy of Korea in the Philippines website:

Visa exemptions are as follows:

If transiting only and going to the U.S., Canada, Australia, or New Zealand.  But must not stay beyond 30 days and with confirmed onward ticket to the 3rd country.

I read this again and again on our way back home with a heavy heart. Now that I am a little calm, I realize that I misunderstood the 2nd sentence. As I read “3rd country”, I instantly referred it to Japan which I forgot (or just missed the point) that it isn’t included on the list in the 1st sentence. How on earth did I miss that? No wonder why the airline staff seemed to be surprised when I told her that I read the rule just a few days ago. With her calmness and professionalism, she stood by her previous statement that I needed a visa. She even tried to help us out by suggesting something that’s impossible for the husband to do. Change our flight on the 27th. He just can’t compromise his work which I totally understand.

It’s such a shame that I missed the trip to the place I’ve been meaning to visit. Again. Yeah, this isn’t the first time. Wanna know what happened before? 😀 Kindly read it here.

I said to myself,

“Again? Maybe Jeju isn’t for you. Stop dreaming about it already. You’ve been to Korea anyway. That’s enough.”

Self-comforting, man! Haha! I think, the key is…. don’t be stupid. LOL 😜

Shit happens. Life goes on. Plan another trip. Smile, because tomorrow is another day! 🙂

I hope this will serve as a lesson for you and me. 😀