Korean Job Discussion Forums

[balzor]

So I'm gonna be with SMOE this year and will finally have some vacation time since my last year was at a Hagwon where I was given like 5 days vacation. My options this year include but arn't limited to:

1. fly to Moscow, spend a week or so(maybe go to St Petersburg) then take the train cross country to Vladivostok then ferry to Japan for a week or down to beijing for a week.

2. Athens and the Greek Isles. a week or so in Athens then a week exploring the islands. Would like to hit the beach for sure, tho not a huge party person which Athens is known for

3. Switzerland. Great weather, lots to see, very easy to get around, but expensive

4. Singapore/Malaysia. gonna hit Thailand in the winter so I'm kinda trying to avoid an Asian summer vacation as well


Lastly, being a 1st year SMOE person, am I gonna get stuck doing summer camps and such which will hurt my vacation plans?

[banjois]

[Mr. BlackCat]

You'll have to do a 3 week camp in the summer, leaving approximately 2-3 weeks for vacation. I'd love to go to Moscow and St. Petersburg. I've been planning the trans-Siberian for 4 years now leading me to Turkey. Now I just need the time and money. Anyway, good luck and bon voyage.

[SeoulMan99]

[Dan_84]

As another poster correctly pointed out, according to current policy, you will be required to work at least a 3-week "camp" during summer break. Policies change, and people come and go, so this could get shortened-- though if anything, it may get even longer. Don't make any firm plans until you officially get your vacation days, since that could lead to unpleasant, mis-communicative meetings between you, your co-teacher, and your principal, should your pre-planned vacation overlap with camp dates.

Also, if you read your contract carefully, you can technically be made to split up your vacation days, according to the school and camp schedule. Many co-teachers will be sympathetic and helpful, and they will try to keep this from happening. But, it's technically a possibility.

Oh, and you only get the vacation days stipulated in your contract, meaning that even if you're not required to come into work, if you aren't using an "official" vacation day, you can be called and asked to come in for some sort of business the next day (doesn't happen a lot, I hear, but it could). If you're unavailable (i.e. out of country or city), then there may be consequences, including having vacation days taken out of your next vacation period to cover your absence.

Sorry, I didn't mean for this post to sound like a downer, but these are things to consider when planning such a complicated travel itinerary. I like having my plans done well in advance, too, but as you no doubt know, much is done in Korea at the last minute...

[JBomb]

This past summer I took 2 weeks in Amsterdam before heading down the Rhine in Germany and back up through Belgium. Did a ton of sight seeing, stayed over night in a castle, drank a lot of amazing beers, escaped the humidity. Bought myself a rail pass and a plane ticket all for about 1.2 million Won all together. I then loaded up a backpack, rented bikes to get around, and stayed at some awesome little backpacker, and bed and breakfast places for cheap. I even scrimped and saved enough to afford to eat out fancy a couple of times. This was done with great effect in Cologne on a terrace overlooking the cathedral. This summer I am thinking about Helsinki as Finnair just signed an agreement with Korea. I have already seen some deals posted at some of the travel agents for there and other northern/eastern Europe destinations through them. It is also good to heed the advice of other posters in planning your trip. Luckily my co-teacher is pretty cool about communicating with me, so once May/June rolled around I asked some questions about summer camps so I would have time to get ready and then slipped in the vacation time question after that. Within a week they had a scedule for me and I booked my flights. I just made sure to emphasize the summer camp planning thing.

[lizlemon]

maybe its just me, but switzerland was really boring...

[balzor]

[madtownhustl]

i was thinking about taking my 2 week vacation during the summer in Europe as well... from what i've read, its do able.. anyone know of cheap destinations in Europe to fly to from Incheon??

[kiwigirl :O)]

check out turkish air
they often offer cheap deals to european destinations via istanbul
I went to Manchester for the Winter Vacation and paid 847,000 won r/t

I did use xanadu to book this for me, so I am not sure about applying directly