I’m not sure what the significance of the number “two” was for my family, but, no matter where we traveled, our vacations would always last for two weeks––and two weeks only.
Cancun? Two weeks. Hawaii? Two weeks. South Korea? You guessed it, two weeks. Out of the three times in my life I’ve been to Korea, I’ve never made it past the two-week mark. And now, I’m proud to say that I’m about to pass this stubborn, persistent mark––in mandatory quarantine, that is.
It’s my eleventh day in South Korea, and my friends haven’t failed to message me, asking how my amazing trip has been going. They picture me walking along the Han River, eating street food, and taking in all that Korea has to offer. Trust me, I picture that too: from the comfort of my government facility quarantine room.
South Korea has a mandatory 14-day quarantine for most travelers. Some travelers may stay with family, in an approved Airbnb, or commonly a government facility arranged by the South Korean government. In my case, I chose to go with the government facility route. A few days before I’m writing this, the government announced that they would lift this quarantine for some fully vaccinated travelers beginning July 1. And, with my luck, I arrived about two weeks before that announcement.
But before I dive into my whole quarantine experience, let’s start from the beginning: departure day. On June 10, I drove to the LAX airport and embarked on my 13-hour trip to Korea at 11 p.m. After fighting inconsistent sleeping patterns, I finally found myself at Incheon Airport in South Korea.
At Incheon Airport, I went through five or six (or maybe four, the lack of sleep was really kicking in) stations related to COVID-19. I communicated where I was planning to stay during my mandatory quarantine, downloaded an application to report my body temperature and health status, signed multiple papers, and more. Although it was a long process, the employees were all kind, and it comforted me to know how seriously South Korea is handling the COVID-19 situation.
Somehow, nearing the two-hour mark of my stay at Incheon Airport, I found myself on a bench in a waiting area with several other people. I had no clear idea of where I was going, or what I was waiting for, but I came to the consensus that we were all waiting for a bus to take us to a government facility.
In about one or two hours, a worker quickly summoned me to a shuttle bus outside, where I threw in my luggage and wandered inside––not sure the destination but happy to be moving onto the next step.
Fifteen minutes passed. Thirty. Forty-five. An hour. Typically, when I would take a bus from Incheon Airport to Seoul, I would look outside the window and see tall buildings, city life: everything you would picture when you think of Seoul. However, looking up from my phone after an hour passed, all I could see were thousands and thousands of trees. Looking up my location on Naver Map––a common GPS application in Korea––I found that I was currently in a mountain. My first thought? I’m sleeping in the forest.
But luckily, the bus eventually stopped in front of a promising hotel, the government facility that I would be staying at. An employee escorted us passengers off of the bus and into the hotel. After giving us general instructions––including instructions on downloading a different phone application for health status updates in quarantine––we were sent off to our rooms.
Stumbling with my two suitcases, I managed to make it to the front of my room door: the last door I would be opening in the next two weeks. In mandatory quarantine, you are not allowed to exit your designated quarantine location until your 14 days are over. With that in mind, I nervously opened my door to be greeted with a clean, quality-looking room.
My room looked exactly like what you would picture a first-rate hotel room to look like. A wide sink was stationed to my left, a bathroom on my right, and revealed in front of me was a “living room” with two master beds fixed before a flatscreen television. At the very end of my room was an extensive window with a lively view of the place I was staying at. It might be a 14-day quarantine, but at least the room I would be living in during those two weeks would be a room I wouldn’t want to leave.
The first thing I noticed was my hunger. Travelers cannot order food from outside restaurants but instead must eat the food provided by the government facility. In my case, breakfast was served at 8 a.m., lunch at noon, and dinner at 6 p.m.––or, in other words, the times that I would soon find to become the highlights of my day.
Each meal would be different every day with the exceptions of a few repeat foods. Breakfast would typically entail a sandwich of some sort, yogurt, fruit, cereal, a chocolatey snack (my favorite), and a boiled egg. Lunch and dinner would retain a similar format, both being served in a doshirak-like way (doshirak meaning lunch box in Korean). The two meals would come with two black trays: one tray with three slots for banchan (or Korean side dish) and a salad, and the other with the coveted entree and lots and lots of rice. Lunch and dinner would also usually come with a banana, a drink, and a small container of soup.
Every meal I’ve had was amazing, and I was satisfied with each and every one of them. To give more of an idea of what I ate today, some of the foods I ate were a hot dog, french fries, pork cutlet, Korean beef, some amazing pineapples, and my favorite crackers.
But, I knew I had to find something to fill my days up with besides just mealtimes. My ultimate plan was to come to quarantine and start on all of the productive tasks that I’ve been thinking of––working on my resume, practicing Korean, and more. And well, let’s just say, that the ultimate plan hasn’t been working out as amazing as I planned. With the combination of a flatscreen TV, Netflix, and a comfortable bed, I can proudly say that I’ve been productive––just in different ways (does finally completing Gilmore Girls count?).
One thing that I have picked up in quarantine that I never expected to pick up in my life is exercise. Since I walk a total of about 50 steps per day (since you are not able to leave your room), I decided that I had to do something to move my body. So, I searched for some at-home exercises on YouTube and have been doing a few exercises a day to keep my body from absolutely decaying.
Although you can’t order outside food, you can order packaged goods from a market. I took it upon myself to order chocolate-flavored Turtle chips (꼬북칩), a flavor that I’ve always wanted to try but have never found in America, from the market, along with an transformer to charge one of my devices. Pro tip: Korea uses different outlets than America (different in terms of shape, voltage, and more), so if you’re planning to travel here, make sure you bring an adapter to charge your phone, laptop, and any other device. The goods came after about two days of ordering them.
I got the lucky chance of interacting with another person for the first time on the last full day of my quarantine––in my pajamas, half asleep, and mildly confused. I woke up to a door knock and was greeted at the door by an employee who took my COVID-19 test, ensuring that I was negative before sending me off to the “real world.”
And finally, D-Day arrived. After about half an hour of waiting for the hotel to figure out departure logistics, I was able to take my first breath of South Korean air (masked version). My relative was generous enough to drive me from there to the Lotte Department Store where I had a fun-filled day of shopping and eating.
Now that I’m officially out of quarantine, I’m excited for what’s to come!
