May has two public holidays, Thursday May 5 is Childrens Day, Tues May 10 is Buddhas Birthday. This means a double long weekend. Some people get the Friday off as well, some get the Monday off as well, some get both, some get none. Lucky for me I get the Monday off so have a four day weekend. I thought this would be the perfect time to goto Jeju, Koreas largest island in the south and a popular tourist destination.

I thought it would be a good idea to fly one way and see the island and volcano by air, and take the ferry back and take the scenic slow route on return . In March I started looking for plane tickets as with everyone having potentially a six day holiday it will be very busy. The flights were already mostly gone and the only seats available were a friday nite from Daegu. Korean air is a pain to book online with popup blockers and having to install credit card payment system but eventually after many attempts the transaction went thru.

Then I found out about an organized group tour from Seoul for about $200 so wanted to join that. He kept changing the dates around, starting from wed nite for the people that had thurs/fri off. Initially he said people could join friday nite that didnt have the first half off, then he moved his whole itinerary to start from thurs so I would miss a day. I kept messaging him and he was taking forever to get back.

Finally, he told me to make my own reservations and the cheap hotels and hostels were already gone by this time. I had to book $60 hotel rooms each nite . There are plenty of motels averaging $30-$60 but they do not advertise online or have online booking and I didnt want to risk the chance of showing up on the busiest holiday weekend and finding out they were all full.

Then I was busy with so many other weekend trips I didnt think about planning the trip any further. This week by chance I was looking on the internet for train times for when I get the ferry back to Mokpo. The economy seats were sold out and only first class was showing. When I went for my Korean class downtown I went to the station to grab the first class seat, but now they were gone and it would only sell me a standing seat for the two hour train ride.

Next day I was getting panicked about the ferry seats. I had a teacher help me with the website which was all korean, and after she phoned their office we found out all the tuesday tickets were sold out and I'd have to come back on wednesday after the holiday was over .

Luckily Korean air had seats on a wednesday flights (tuesday was completely sold out again) so I took the one hour flight instead of a five hour ferry and three hour train ride which I'd have to change trains and stations in Daejeon. Luckily for me also, my wednesday classes were cancelled so we just had to get the Vice Principal to ok a day off since I'd just be sitting there doing nothing anyway.

Then they told me the schedule was wrong and I do have classes wednesday morning. I said I cant do that as its the only time I can get back from Jeju. We went to the vice principal and she didnt seem happy. She suggested I change my plans but we told her I already booked my flight going and hotels. Then she said I had to talk to the Principal and started huffing and puffing in korean.

I didnt want to goto the Principal as this was starting to get out of hand. I looked again for ferries on monday but they were all sold out, as were flights to daegu on monday . All the flights to Busan were sold out monday except for one seat on the last flight at 7pm. I grabbed that to secure my return home and avoid any problems missing school on wednesday.

Now I have two return flights home so have to call Korean air to cancel one. Lucky I also called the day of the flight to ask if I need my passport, which I did even though its a domestic flight, since it passes into international territory to get to the island.

The flight was short 50 mins. Coudnt see anything take off or landing as it was very overcast both ends. From the air, there are lots of dead grass covered volcanoes, reminds me of the burial tombs in Gyeongju. Walked from the airport to the hotel. The climate in Jeju was more humid and hawaiian feel with wide boulevards and palm trees.
 
Jeju city is not a big town. Around the hotel was a pedestrianized area with restaurants and bars. Went to a place called Fish & Grill I always see on the bus in Daegu but have never been to. They have three grilled fish for $10 which was quite a heavy meal. Tomorrow get to start exploring the island proper by day.

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I was invited back to Jeju for a Press tour in Oct/11, you can read the entry here
http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/londone7/1/1319539255/tpod.html