2022 Summer Vacation: Rollercoaster

This summer, I decided to travel to Vietnam for the first time. The country had relaxed its pandemic policies, allowing international travel without PCR tests and vaccine records.

I started planning my trip in July, basing my primary destination on available direct flights available at Daegu’s international airport. I purchased my flight to Da Nang, and then planned my hotels, Airbnbs and additional flights within the country. I wanted to see a decent amount of Vietnam within 11 days, as I was using 8 vacation days.

In case you haven’t guessed it by now, I generally enjoy having skeleton plans: a place to sleep central to many ideal sites to visit, and enough time to relax if I so desire. I always try to have 5-10 places within an area that I could visit if I so desire. I’m not a fan of tour buses with their strict schedules. However, I am also not a fan of “just winging it” without a place to sleep already secured. Therefore, I prepared a skeleton plan, allowing myself 2 nights in each hotel or Airbnb, with days open to whatever I fancied.

I was to fly out of Daegu on a Monday night, arriving in Da Nang near midnight, and returning to Daegu near 6am two Saturdays later. In between, I would spend time in Da Nang, Hanoi, Halong Bay, and Hoi An.

As the days passed, my excitement grew! However…

a good story should feel like a rollercoaster ride, and by golly, I had some ups and downs for this trip!

A few weeks prior to flying out, I had a random vacation day I had taken for other plans that were unfortunately canceled. I took this opportunity to visit my local bank’s branch to confirm that my debit card would work in Vietnam. The teller made a call, told me I needed a new card and sent me to the main branch in Daegu. I drove there, as I had already planned to visit a friend’s sandwich shop for lunch. At the main bank, I explained my situation, and asked about a new card for my travels. This teller looked at my card, (a mastercard) and said “Okay, Visa”. As I don’t speak Korean well, and the teller hadn’t asked me more questions, I assumed this meant only Visa would work in Vietnam. So, the teller began the request for a Visa card to be sent to me within the next week. As she is typing, and confirming my address and such, it hits me that maybe I should be asking more questions. So, after about 30 minutes, I said, “Vietnam, Visa only? No Mastercard?” To which, the teller hesitates, looks confused, and turns to her neighboring co-worker, and asks them about Mastercard and Vietnam. The co-worker confirmed that Mastercard definitely works in Vietnam. So, the teller smiles to me.. says everything is fine, and asks if I want to cancel the request for the new card. After canceling the request, I go about my day, driving up a remote area of Palgong Mountain, to enjoy the breeze and winding roads. Just as I am driving back down the mountain, I receive a call from the bank. The teller says there was a mistake, and that I should return to the bank. I was nearly an hour away, and the bank was going to be closing before I could arrive. She said it was fine, and to just come to the door and they would let me in.

So, I drive through traffic, wondering what’s up with my account, but also recalling my days as a bank teller, and the mistakes I had made with customers’ accounts.

I arrived to the bank, parked my car, and walked to the door as advised. 2 employees were nearby, smoking their cigarettes. They were very confused that a foreigner was demanding (albeit politely) to enter a closed bank. One finally admitted he spoke English, and was kind enough to ask me what I needed. I showed him the phone call, and explained, again, that I was told to enter the bank. Finally, he let me inside and led me to the teller. I was interrupting their end of day snack of fruits *sorry*. The teller waved, and sat down in front of me, with 2 other tellers by her side. They explained to me that they needed to open a new account for me, as my current account was not going to permit me to use my debit card outside of Korea. It was a local bank account, specific for it’s region. Although I was a little upset that this was never explained to me 2.5 years ago when I opened the account, I knew it was not their fault. They then called the national headquarters for guidance on creating a visa-holding foreigner’s second bank account. After many minutes passed by, the teller handed the phone to me. The lady on the phone explained to me, in very clear English, that they could not open a second account for me, due to my visa being less than 1 year to expiration. 

Cool…cool cool cool coooooool……

Detective Jake Peralta

As I politely left the bank, an hour after arriving, I tried to keep calm. But, my fear of being stranded in a new country without money started to grow. I drove home, going through my options: I could use my US bank card, but I don’t remember the PIN. I can’t change the PIN because I don’t have a US number to call and access it. The bank may flag my card… I can’t do a cash advance on my credit card, because INTEREST RATES on top of INTERNATIONAL FEES, also how does a cash advance actually work?! Do I just walk into a Vietnamese bank and ask for a cash advance and hand them my card? Do I go to a random ATM?? No idea. None at all. Cash Advance must be a last resort. I’ll figure this out.. right? Sure.. of course..

Finally, I started thinking clearly and decided my best option was to exchange some Korean won to Vietnamese dong prior to my trip, even though I would lose money in bank fees and such. It was a safer bet, so I would have cash with me at all times.

I withdrew a sufficient amount of cash that I believed should get me through at least 3 days in Vietnam, exchanged it successfully at the Daegu airport, and then withdrew more Korean won to keep with me on the trip, to exchange as needed. (By the way, this plan worked really well!!)

I had money, I shouldn’t get stranded in the rain, on a dark street in the middle of nowhere because I couldn’t pay for a taxi. I was able to breathe and relax again. All was well.

Fast forward to five days prior to my scheduled flight to Da Nang…

I wake up, and as always, start my morning preforming the healthy practice of looking at my phone for way too long. The very first thing I see is a message from the airline that my Daegu-Da Nang flights have been canceled.

¿¿¿¿¿Por quéééééééééééééééééééé?????

My mind spiraled.. Will I have to cancel everything? Why did they cancel? When is that money coming back into my account? WTAF, airline?! How can I fix this? Maybe I can fly direct from Busan? Flying from Incheon will be a hassle. I don’t want hassle. Nah, Busan doesn’t have anything available either. Is there another airport closer than Incheon? Ugh.. I guess I have to give in and fly from Incheon.

After I was thinking straight, at school, and finished with my 2 small lessons for the day, I logged in to my hotel booking for Da Nang, and changed the dates to be 2 nights rather than 3. I then booked my flights from Incheon direct to Da Nang, The flights were cheaper, by nearly $50, and removing 1 night from my hotel saved me about $50. I then booked my train ticket to Seoul Station (accidentally booking a 3 hour train rather than a 2 hour train), and started figuring out where in Seoul I could get my required PCR test upon my return to Korea. I also booked a hotel for the single evening I would be in Incheon before my flight.

*Full disclosure* I had many friends, mostly Korean, giving me suggestions and helping calm my nerves about all these sudden changes about debit cards and PCR tests in Seoul.

With all that had happened, instead of flying out of Daegu on Monday night, I was taking the train to Seoul. Okay, cool. Things were focusing again. It was all working out.

Monday came ‘round. I had everything packed. I went to work, did my desk warming, and counting the million hours before I would be free to rush home to start my vacation. At 4:09:59, I turned off my computer, grabbed my bag and car keys, and ran out the door with a quick “안녕히게세요!”

The drive home from school is less than 10 minutes. By 4:25 I had my packed bag on my back, and was hopping in a taxi to the train station. When I arrived at the train station 30 minutes later, I booked an earlier train (again making the same mistake of 3 hour train instead of 2 hour train) and finally settled in my train seat to relax.

As we were making our way into Seoul City, the skies opened, and a record rainfall began. Our train slowed and stopped for nearly an hour, and as I looked out the window, I could see streets flooding below. Korean trains are rarely delayed, so this was a big deal. I was thinking of the movie Parasite, when the main family’s home is completely submerged under water after a terrible storm.

According to reports, by Tuesday night, there were nearly 17 inches of rainfall measured. This rain caused a great deal of flooding, and unfortunately some people died of drowning, lightning or mud slides. If you want more information about this tragic record breaking rainfall, this Korea Herald article is a good start: Heaviest rainfall in 115 years wreaks havoc on Greater Seoul

Although I saw the rain falling, I was unaware of the havoc it was wreaking. I was selfishly concerning myself with thoughts like “Will Seoul Station still be running trains into Incheon or should I spend $50 on a taxi?” or “I hope my flight isn’t canceled tomorrow morning.”

The train arrived in Seoul Station four hours after departing from Daegu. I then hustled to get downstairs to get on a train to Incheon, where my hotel was. An hour later, I arrive in Incheon, and walk to my hotel, luckily no rain falling on me. I showered, and got into bed, excited for the next day.

The next morning, I left the hotel at 5:30, and rode the train about 20 minutes to Incheon International Airport. I checked in for my flight, went through security, and waited patiently.

Finally, it was time to board! This was my first time flying with Vietnam Airlines. It was a pleasant enough experience.

My favorite part was the safety instructions video they played for each flight:
Vietnam Airlines Safety Instructions Video
The traditional clothing they featured in the video represents various indigenous groups of Vietnam.

Four and a half hours after take-off, we landed in Da Nang.

As all good rollercoasters must come to an end, I think this is a great place to stop. Stay tuned for adventures in Vietnam!