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 Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 10:50 am
I'm from U.S. and about to graduate, and my plan is to go to SKorea!! Then, when I get there I think I want to hop around other countries. I plan to stay for a year or so~
I want to travel to Singapore, China, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, etc!
I do have some questions about when I get to Korea how to set up phone services and bank accounts, if anyone has ever been or can provide some insight~ I'm also very bad at traveling, using maps, figuring out public transportation haha
If I don't get to go to Korea, then I want to visit Thailand with a friend who is Thai and we may decide to also hop the countries :3 I really really want to eat and take pictures and explore!
So, that's my long-winded first thread in this subform. Nice to meet you xd
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Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 3:59 am
I don't even want to imagine how much a one year tour through Asia would cost. xD
However, I don't think you'd have to open a new bank account over there to survive that one year, regarding that you might not be able to access your account from the different countries in Asia (in Europe it costs a pretty damn high fee to withdraw money outside of the country that provides your bank account). Instead, a credit card might be handy. There are some which don't cost a fee to withdraw money or pay outside of your home country.
The phone service you need depends on who you want to call/text. Communicating to the US might be pretty expensive any way, so you should consider to just take a laptop (or tablet) to keep in touch with friends and family via Facebook, Skype, whatsoever.
To call locals over there I'd suggest a prepaid SIM card. 3nodding You should probably Google that yourself.
Oh and don't forget to get a plug adapter before you leave. scream The sockets are different.
//I've never been to Asia myself by the way but this is how it usually goes when leaving the continent for more than some weeks. rofl
You could also look up how Au pairs get ready for their job in Asia and how they handle phone service and bank accounts. 3nodding
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Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 11:52 am
So you're planning on living (i.e., working or studying) in South Korea and doing short trips in other Asian countries on your time off? Or are you just using South Korea as a starting point for a long tour? If the former, a bank account and phone plan is good; if the latter, it's unnecessary and probably not very useful.
For the latter--get a bank account at home that has lots of overseas partners. I hear Bank of America does. This way you can withdraw fee-free from the partner ATMs. A credit card with no foreign transaction fees is also incredibly useful--CapitalOne does this. I know there is also a Southwest credit card that has no foreign transaction fees. Obviously there are more out there, but these are the ones I know. Make sure you inform your card companies you will be abroad before using them, and keep the phone numbers for the cards somewhere easily accessible in case they get stolen (like your email).
For phones, get an unlocked phone, preferably quad or at least tri band, and buy prepaid sim cards as you visit each country. That is, if you even need to use a phone. Unless you are trying to meet up with specific people or something, you probably won't even need it.
I've lived in Hong Kong for about a year, and have visited China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Laos (if you have country-specific questions.) I haven't lived in South Korea though, so I can't help you there.
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