Trip to Korea (Seoul)(OCT25)
// Financials // (excluding Airfare+Hotel)
Allocated:
Food: 1.5K / EKB Shopping: 1.2K / Tickets: .5K / Trans+Int: .25K
Total: 3.45K
Offsets:
KP Offset: .25K / EP Offset: .25K / BP Offset: .15K / Korea Offset: .4K
Total Offset: 1.05K
Total Alloc+Offset: 4.5K
AUD COH: 1K
// Remaining //
Offsets:
Korea Offset: .4K / Korea Buffer: .5K
Total Offset: .9K
AUD COH: 700
1.05K+1K=2.05K-.9K-700=450 [Over]
// Korea Expenses //
Korea Food Expenses were surprisingly expensive and very similar to Sydney. Brunch/Lunch we average 30-35, and Dinner we average 55-70. The rest were snacks, drinks, and other food we purchased along the way, they easily added up to 20-30/day. If you compare our Japan trip expenses, we actually spent more in Korea than we did in Japan. Japan was cheaper by about 20%. Although Japan we mainly had Curry, and there’s only so much Japanese Curry rice you could eat, but the total food expenses in Korea is more expensive.
As for shopping, really depends on where we shopped at. Most department retail stores, a men’s shirt averages 20. Only the ones in discounted bins were about 10. However, women clothing weren’t cheap. Averages 25-35. The more stylish ones averages 100+. Best place and most affordable place we shopped at was the GOTO Mall at the Express Bus Terminal. We didn’t even feel like we were even at the Bus Terminal either. Everything there was mostly cheap if not affordable. My men’s pair of socks averages 700-1K wan. Bought about 10-15 pairs of socks. Exclusive of the GOTO Mall shopping, I did manage to purchase a few pairs of sneakers. However, average price was 150-175. Not the best deal, but definitely cheaper than in Sydney.
For Korean BBQ, definitely cheaper than in Sydney. We averaged 55, even though we had min 2x orders, and everything averaged 20-25 per order. Sydney averages 30-40 per order, depending on what we order, but the average bill is about 85-100.
Budgeting by Category using WISE jars work. Although it required daily reconciling, using the jars as transfers and AUD reconciling allowed for us to track and budget by category. Once we did the cash withdrawals got trickier, but we did allocate most of our cash withdrawals with Food so that was easier to track.
// Currency and FX //
Korea is much more cash driven even though we relied on WISE so many times. There were many places that required cash only, and only the bigger shops and restaurants took WISE. Otherwise, we had to use Cash. WISE is awesome as it allowed for Cash Withdrawals. Our first withdrawal was 400 AUD at under 1% fee. Another transaction we did was 300 AUD at 1.5% fee. Give or take, best not to withdraw under 300 AUD due to withdrawal fees.
As for FX, we brought 1K AUD Cash. We exchanged 300 AUD at the Incheon Airport. However, after the airport exchange, many FX Currency places in Seoul did not accept AUD as an FX Currency, as they accepted USD, EUR, YEN, and CNY. That’s interesting and disappointing. Glad we had WISE.
