When coming to Korea, make sure to bring along some starter money as you will likely not receive any pay for the first month of your time here. For ease of transport, peace of mind, and ease of exchange, I recommend using American dollar travelers cheques (checks) and bringing a couple hundred dollars to exchange into Won when you first arrive - the airport is generally the worst place to get a good exchange rate but sometimes you just have to deal.
Personally I recommend coming with about $500 in TC (Travelers Cheques) and another $200 in cash to change at the airport.
Travelers cheques (checks) are safe but be sure to only have one signature on them... some has made the mistake of signing both areas... not a smart move.
Note, if you arrive on a weekend, be sure to change money at the airport to ensure you have some cash until the banks open. As I mentioned, you will need enough to get you by for the first month. I would suggest between $500-800 US. It should be more than enough to keep you fed and entertained. That is, of course, unless you have an aversion to Korean food (as Western food is generally quite expensive), or if you plan on doing quite a bit of shopping or exploring of the country in your first few weeks. If you think any of these might be the case, bring more money.
As mentioned in the banking article, Korea is a cash economy so having cash on you is a basic requirement. As things are generally inexpensive (with the exception of clothing, foreign toiletries, and Western food), you don't need to carry very much with you during the course of a day. Really, if you have 50,000-100,000 won on you, you're likely more than covered for any eventualities. I generally carry quite a bit less on me, so the figures mentioned above are pretty generous.
As a basic rule, one can interpret 1000 Won as equalling $1, whether you're Canadian, American, Kiwi or Aussie, not sure on the pound but suspect the American dollar works for most people. The exchange rates obviously are a bit different for each country and they fluctuate, but this makes for an easy reference point for quick conversions in your head, something you will likely do with a fair amount of frequency. I highly recommend bringing a calculator with you until you get good talking about the currency in Korean (believe it or not you will learn quickly - you have to - and it's easy).
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“I'd like to start off by saying that my choice to teach abroad in Korea was one I know I will never regret! Footprints made it very easy to communicate with the school regarding details of where I'd be living and what I'd be teaching as well as taking care of my flight information. At the airport the morning we left, my boyfriend and I encountered overweight bags and extremely long lines at security, and we missed our flight by literally one minute. As we watched our plane pull from the gate, we just about lost our minds and any hope that we'd make the long journey we'd been planning for so long. We made one simple phone call to the travel agent, Claus, that Footprints set us up with. It was 6AM where he was on a Monday morning when we called in a panic. He said, "Stay by your phone," and we knew that he would fix this fiasco for us. Luckily, while Claus was searching for a solution, a woman from United Airlines was able to book us on another flight so that we would make our connection out of the U.S. to Seoul. We would like to thank Claus and Laina at Footprints for all their help in getting us to Korea!
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