Planning Stage

Since September, South Korea dropped its Covid testing and quarantine requirements for all entries into the country. Now all you have to do before entering Korea is doing its K-ETA application 72 hours before your plane ride and its Q-Code for health monitoring purposes.

I also need to reach Dalian, China as my final destination, so South Korea is a perfect choice for me to transfer, since laying over in South Korea is almost 10 times cheaper than flying straight to Beijing.

I first purchased a ticket flying to Korea set on November 4th, 2022. I was waiting for an eBay shipment which the seller did not want to ship at all. However, I soon discovered that ICN (Incheon International Airport) does not offer flights to Dalian (DLC) every day, and if I am to fly on November 4th, I will have to stay in Korea for over 5 days, something I didn’t want to do because I don’t know what to do for those extra two days in Seoul.

That’s when I cancelled my tickets. My tickets were still processing when I tried to cancel it, so it was a full refund. I immediately booked the tickets for LAX to ICN to October 31st, and ICN to DLC to November 4th. This way, I stay in Korea for 2 full days (72 hours total) and do one PCR test each day.

Calculation based on currency of November 5th. (1 USD = 7.18 RMB = 1404.11 KRW)

Plane Tickets & Hotel Stay

First Flight

October 31st, 2021

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) —TO— Incheon International Airport (ICN)

12:00 (Oct. 31) — 17:30 (Nov. 1)

Asiana Airlines, OZ 201

¥6327, or $880

Hotel Stay

Hotel PJ

November 1st — November 4th

Address: 71 Mareunnae-ro, Jung-gu, Jung-gu, Seoul

Address in Korean: 04548 서울특별시 중구 마른내로 71(인현동 2가 73-1) 오일관광㈜

¥1876.51, or $261.17

Second Flight

Incheon International Airport (ICN) —TO— Dalian International Airport (DLC)

13:00 (Nov. 4) — 13:25 (Nov. 4)

Korean Air, KE 869

¥1885, or $262.35

I have also booked both PCR tests on two different facilities’ websites. I made the mistake of not separating them by 24 hours, and not putting the second PCR test within 24 hours of my second flight’s departure time. I fixed them.

PCR Tests Bookings

First PCR Test

November 2nd, 2022

Seegene Medical Foundation (씨젠의료재단)

Address: 1F, 320, Cheonho-daero, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, 04805, Republic of Korea

Address in Korean: 서울특별시 성동구 천호대로 320(용답동 2-3)

10:00 AM

Price: 25000 KRW, or $17.8

Website: https://direct.seegenemedical.com/main/

Second PCR Test

November 3rd, 2022

Ewha Medical Center (이화검사센터)

Address: 1228-6, Gaepo-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Address in Korean: 서울특별시 강남구 개포동 1228-6

13:30 PM

Price: 65000 KRW, or $46.28

Website: http://home.ewhalab.co.kr/

K-ETA Website:

https://www.k-eta.go.kr/portal/apply/index.do

Note: Do this 72 hours before your flight date

Q-Code Website:

https://cov19ent.kdca.go.kr/cpassportal/biz/beffatstmnt/main.do?lang=en

Note: You can only start to input health information 48 hours until your flight date

After planning out these essential stuff for my travel to China, I decided to wing it and decide what to do when I am there. Very risky stuff to do for a foreigner, but equally fun.