**A quick disclaimer: Everything seemed to be going wrong this day. This blog post is not meant to talk bad about any company or entity. It is also quite negative. I just wanted to note my experiences and what happened that day.
I recently treated myself to a solo trip to Thailand as a goodbye gift to myself after living in South Korea for 3 years. I had done a lot of research and thought that the trip to Thailand was going to be smooth and simple. However, so many things went wrong that it ended up being anything but that.
First of all, Thailand announced that they were going to impose stricter laws for incoming travelers. This was due to the fact that China had finally lifted it’s strict “zero-COVID” policy after 3 years of complete isolation and the increase of people coming into Thailand for the lunar new year. However, after lots of backlash from the people in Thailand (who depend on tourists) and outside, the Thai government decided that they would not make it harder. They were planning to require tourists to have traveler’s health insurance that covered COVID, covid tests from those coming from China, and at least 2 shots of an approved COVID vaccine. Here is an article in the Bangkok post. And there were a lot of expat YouTubers in Thailand who were talking about the new entrance rules . Here are some videos:
I started panicking as soon as I heard the news and went ahead and bought the travel insurance. It wasn’t too expensive and I bought the one that covered 1 month as I was planning to be in Thailand for a little over 2 weeks. But, the government decided to not impose the new entrance requirements a few days later so I was covered even though it was no longer required. But I wasn’t upset about it. I thought it was better to have coverage than no coverage.
Troubles the Day Before Departure.
Banking Issues.
The next issue was the day before departure. I went to the bank because my card didn’t work overseas. I needed it to work overseas. But it didn’t. So I went to a branch in Seoul and they were super nice but couldn’t resolve the issue for me. It turns out, since my main banking branch was a “regional” branch, they could only make a union pay card for me, which doesn’t work in most countries. And since my visa was almost over, I couldn’t change my banking account or get a new card. So I spent over an hour with them trying to resolve the issue but I wasn’t able to and ended up just withdrawing a large sum of cash that I could exchange when I arrive in Thailand.
Cell Phone Issues.
After moving to Korea in 2020, I bought a new phone with my phone provider, KT. I wasn’t sure if this phone was unlocked or not. I needed to know if I would be able to use my phone overseas as it was the only way I was going to be able to get around Thailand.
I feel like it’s really common to talk about “locked” and “unlocked” phones in the US. But, in Korea, no one knew what I was talking about. I went to Itaewon since there was a global store there but it turns out they didn’t speak English and didn’t know anything. I was able to explain the situation with my Korean though so I was able to communicate with him but he didn’t know anything about it or how to check. He did try checking my account on his computer but he said there was no information. So he redirected me to the KT roaming desk at Incheon Airport.
I was going to go to Incheon Airport next anyways so I didn’t mind. I took the airport train to Incheon airport and talked to the KT roaming desk technicians but they also didn’t know if my phone was locked or unlocked. But they gave me a helpful pamphlet with KT phone numbers that I could call from Thailand if a Thai Sim card didn’t work on my phone. I would not be charged roaming fees if I called the KT roaming line from Thailand. Thankfully, my phone was unlocked and I was able to use a prepaid AIS SIM card.
The next issue was completely my fault. I have only traveled once overseas and that was when I moved to Korea. I thought that we were able to check in 24 hours before our departure time. However, when they say we can check in 24 hours before our flight, they mean online ONLY! But no one mentioned this when I looked at my ticket online. The airline would not let me check in online (it turned out it didn’t let anyone). So I was at the airport way too early and would have to sleep there for the night as I didn’t want to do a 2-4 hour ride back home just to come back a few hours later. And I would have to be there at around 3-4AM to check in and that was nearly impossible since I lived in the countryside and there will 100% be no taxis available at that time.
So I spent my whole day traveling to Seoul and Incheon only to be left with disappointment, not getting anything resolved, and starving since I hadn’t eaten anything all day. I finally got an acai bowl from Jamba Juice after not being able to check in for my flight.
Also, to top it all off, I forgot my iPad which I needed to edit photos of a model that I had recently just taken photos of. So everything just ended up being a fail that day. I ended up sleeping on one of these benches all night. And the bench didn’t even have a back support like the middle photo above so I couldn’t even lean back. It was a super uncomfortable night.
To my surprise, I wasn’t the only that this happened to. There were a lot of people going to Thailand and Vietnam that was in the same boat. So the entire floor was packed with people the entire night. And often times, it was hard to find a seat to sleep in as there was so many people. I was just happy I found a bench that I could finally rest on.
After checking in and going through security, I was finally able to get some food the next morning. But sadly, it was too early in the morning and most restaurants were still closed. But the ones that were open were almost completely sold out or the lines were extremely long! It was 5-6AM in the morning! I couldn’t believe that they already sold out of most things. The only place where I managed to find food was at this pho fusion restaurant. I ordered the pho shrimp wonton soup. It was sadly not a good combination. It tasted like wonton soup and pho mixed so it was a bit of a weird combination for me. And, if you have ever lived in Korea, most of the Thai/Vietnamese restaurants in Korea only sold Korean versions of the food. So it was an even weirder combination for me as it wasn’t exactly the Vietnamese pho that I recognize from home. Also, they pair it with things like lemon, picked radish, picked garlic, etc. It was a disappointment but I was starving at this point. I only had the Jamba Juice smoothie bowl at the airport the night earlier.
And to top off this wild journey to Thailand, my flight was delayed.
Now that I look back at this day, I learned a lot. I really went out of my comfort zone to address issues with my bank and my phone provider. I also learned not to go to the airport too early because I won’t be able to check in and will be stuck lugging my luggage. I also learned to buy and bring my own food because food at airports can be unreliable or may not fit my taste. It really taught me a lot and helped me prepare for my flight back home to the US.
The flight to Thailand was thankfully uneventful. Everything went as planned. We arrived when we were supposed to. I was able to go through immigration quickly and get my duffel bag.
Thank you so much for reading this long post about my difficulties getting to Thailand. It was a rough 24 hours.
Jessica's Travelogue 
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