About Global Trip Plan
Hi, I’m Mina — the person behind Global Trip Plan. I’m Korean, based in Korea, and this site is where I write practical travel guides for international visitors coming to my country.
If you’ve ever read a Korea travel article and thought “this looks AI-generated and probably outdated,” I get it. That’s exactly the frustration that pushed me to start this site. Most English-language Korea guides recycle the same information from years ago, miss the recent rule changes (visa updates, ticket pricing, new transit policies), or skip the small practical details that actually matter when you’re standing in a Korean ticket machine for the first time.
Global Trip Plan is my attempt to do this better.
Why I Started This Site
Over the past few years, I’ve helped a steady stream of foreign friends and acquaintances navigate Korea — visa renewals at the immigration office, K-beauty shopping runs in Myeongdong, day trips out to Everland and the coast, late-night airport transfers, the works. The same questions kept coming up, often with answers that weren’t easy to find in English anywhere reliable:
“Wait, do I still need K-ETA?” “Which terminal is Asiana at now?” “What’s the actual tax refund minimum at Olive Young this year?” “Can I use my Korail Pass on the Sea Train?” “Is the rose festival worth the trip from Seoul?”
The answers to these change every year. The internet doesn’t always keep up. I do — partly because I have to, since I’m the one telling my friends in real-time, and partly because I find the research enjoyable.
So in 2025 I started turning those answers into a proper site. Each article here is the kind of guide I wish I could have just sent my friends instead of writing the same email five times.
How I Write These Guides
A few principles I try to stick to:
I verify everything against official Korean sources. Korean immigration policy comes from Korea Immigration Service (HiKorea), train info from Korail, airport info from airport.kr, festival dates from official organizers. If I can’t verify something, I leave it out rather than guess. This sounds obvious but you’d be surprised how often English-language Korea content is just translated rumor.
I include actual prices in both Korean won and US dollars. Korean travel content in English often forgets that “₩30,000” means nothing to most readers without context. I always include the dollar equivalent for the rough purchasing power comparison.
I’m honest about what’s worth your time. Not every Korean attraction is worth a 3-hour train ride for a 4-day visitor. Some of the things Koreans love are genuinely confusing or uncomfortable for international tourists. I try to say so when it’s relevant, rather than puff up every destination to keep readers happy.
I update guides when the underlying facts change. When Asiana moved to Terminal 2 in January 2026, I updated the airport guide. When the tax refund minimum dropped from ₩30,000 to ₩15,000 in 2026, the Olive Young guide got rewritten. Outdated information is worse than no information when you’re traveling.
I’m a real person, not a content farm. Every article on this site is written by me, with my own observations and the experience of having actually used most of these services as someone who lives here.
What You’ll Find Here
City guides for Seoul, Busan, Jeju, and more. Practical walking routes, where to eat, what’s worth your time, what’s a tourist trap.
Day trips and itineraries. Everland, Nami Island, Jeonju, Paju DMZ, the Korea Sea Train route, the lesser-known islands near Seoul. With honest takes on which ones are worth the travel time.
Practical travel info. The boring-but-essential stuff: Incheon Airport tips, K-ETA vs e-Arrival Card, T-money and tax refunds, the apps you’ll actually use day-to-day.
Visa and immigration. Updates on K-ETA, e-Arrival Card, and longer-term visas like the D-10 job seeker visa. This area changes constantly and there’s a lot of misinformation around, so I try to keep current.
Shopping and culture. K-beauty (especially Olive Young), what’s actually worth buying as gifts, how to navigate Korean shopping etiquette.
Seasonal events. Cherry blossoms, the rose festival, autumn foliage routes — the things worth timing a trip around.
A Note on Honesty and Money
This site plans to run ads (probably Google AdSense, as is standard for content sites). I also occasionally mention services like Klook when they’re genuinely the best option for international visitors — sometimes these include affiliate links that earn the site a small commission at no additional cost to you.
What this means for you: I never recommend something I don’t actually think is the best option, regardless of whether there’s a commission involved. When I say “Klook is significantly cheaper than the gate price for Everland tickets,” that’s because it’s true, not because I’m being paid to say it. If something I once recommended stops being the best option, I update or remove the recommendation. The site has to be useful first, monetizable second.
A Few Articles to Start With
If you’ve just landed on the site and aren’t sure where to begin, these are the guides most readers come back to:
— Incheon Airport Complete Guide 2026 — start here if you’re flying in soon
— D-10 Job Seeker Visa Guide — for foreign students and professionals
— Olive Young Shopping Guide — K-beauty tax refund and must-buys
— Everland Rose Festival 2026 — 50th anniversary year
— Jeonju Hanok Village Guide — traditional Korean village day trip from Seoul
— Korea Sea Train Guide — the ondol-heated tourist train
Get in Touch
If you spot something inaccurate or outdated, please tell me. Korean travel info changes faster than any one person can track, and corrections from real travelers are genuinely useful. Likewise if there’s a topic you’d want covered and can’t find — I’m always looking for guide ideas that aren’t being served well by the existing English-language Korea content.
Email: [email protected]
For specific articles, you can also leave a comment on the post itself — I read them.
Thanks for reading. I hope this saves you some of the headaches I used to spend afternoons untangling for friends.
— Mina
Global Trip Plan is an independent travel blog focused on Korea. All articles are written and edited by Mina. Information is verified against official sources at the time of publication, but Korean policies and prices change frequently — always confirm time-sensitive details (visas, ticket prices, schedules) with the original source before traveling.