Korean Job Discussion Forums

schieft · Joined: 23 Nov 2011

My girlfriend and I are considering moving to Korea to teach, with one of the pulls being the possibility for travel.

In doing research, it seems like vacation time is a real premium (which is understandable, as teaching is a full-time job).

So, based upon your experience, what kinds of travelling and to what destinations have been possible for you while teaching in Korea? Were you at a public or private school? Any other thoughts?

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

bbud656 · Joined: 15 Jun 2010

One thing to note, Hagwons seem to give the standard 10 days of vacations, but sometimes that includes days that are holidays like lunar new year. Also, most Hagwons and some public schools (depending on their winter camps) will give you the first week of august and the lunar new year, usually at the end of January off. If these are your only two weeks of vacation you will pay a fortune for flights as everyone in Korea has this time off it seems.

My time in Public school I kind of got screwed out of one vacation because they switched around summer camps on me and I was faced with super expensive flights everywhere. PS also give you lots of little holidays like the school's birthday or if Chuseok falls in the middle of the week. Its usually not long enough to warrant leaving Korea, but its a good time to take a trip down to busan or maybe to Japan since its too expensive to vacation there long anyway.

Universities give 2-3 months of paid vacations a year. If you can get a job there somehow, I got one my second year sans masters, you can basically get all your traveling paid for.

peter07 · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Location: Gwangmyeong

iselynjenniep · Joined: 01 Jul 2010 Location: bundang

i work in a kindergarten hagwon so i can travel 4 times a year: summer vacation, winter vacation, chuseok holiday, and lunar new year holiday. summer and winter vacation i have 9 days and the holidays are 3-6 day weekends depending on how lucky you get that year with the lunar calendar. the thing that sucks about working in a kindergarten hagwon with set vacation times is that those are peak travel times so flights are more expensive. plan ahead!!

my boyfriend has worked in hagwons where he gets to pick his 2 vacation weeks so he can travel in the off-season and get cheap plane tickets. what sucks about our situation is that he is not allowed to take off at summer and christmas because that is their busy intensive time. so we have to travel separately!

public schools are the way to go if all you care about is traveling because you get way more vacation days! there are other pros and cons of course.

i have been to japan, taiwan, malaysia, thailand, china, and home for christmas in the last 1.5 years. i am about to go to singapore and bali for christmas this year and the philippines for lunar new year. i always get relatively cheap plane tickets beacause i book them way ahead of time so keep that in mind!

AtmaWeapon · Joined: 30 Jun 2011

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

AtmaWeapon · Joined: 30 Jun 2011

jfromtheway · Joined: 20 Nov 2010

Tom is a man with a plethora of knowledge concerning foreign teachers in Asia, and he's an ace regarding the Philippines, Thailand, etc. I've traveled fairly extensively in (mostly SE) Asia and got back from a trip to the Philippines last week. Twas sublime. I plan to return there when my summer vacation comes about. I think that's a premier destination from Korea. Affordable, scenic, and the perfect quick getaway, IMO. There are many other wonderful and affordable destinations, however.

Working at a Hagwon, you're not going to have very many opportunities to get away, nothing compared to public schools or universities. I gave a big middle finger to the hagwon that flew me over a few months into my contract-- it just wasn't going to cut it. And with 8-10 vacation days, you won't have many opportunities to escape.

Of course, you can get out for a few days during Chuseok or other holidays (which looked to be diminished last time I looked at the 2012 red days); but if you're working at a hagwon, you'll likely be content unwinding at home for those 3-4 days, instead of trying to hit up Japan or HK for a brief visit.

If you're budgeting and can get good airfare prices, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, and maybe Vietnam would be my list, and in that order. Haven't been to Indonesia yet, China's visa is a bit expensive last time I checked, and Japan is a pretty expensive country. I might also look into working at a Chinese university. Wages aren't high but I believe you get a fair amount of vacation time. Could be wrong on that, though.

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

AtmaWeapon · Joined: 30 Jun 2011

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

AtmaWeapon · Joined: 30 Jun 2011

re:cursive · Joined: 04 Jan 2006

Traveling around Asia is much more affordable now since Airasia started flying from Korea. You can get return flights to KL for between 100,000-250,000 won these days and from there it is easy to get to other destinations. Book far enough in advance and even a short Hagwon vacation is manageable and affordable.

Working in Korea has given me enough money to travel abroad at least twice a year since first arriving here. Everything from a 10 day trip to 18 months on the road.

The ability to travel is one of the biggest perks of the teaching gig.

warmachinenkorea · Joined: 12 Oct 2008

I haven't been many places but I would say visit Palau. My wife, a friend and I went in Feb 2011. We come from rural West TN so this place was like another world to us. It's not cheap but worth the visit.