Flights and Packing

Flights: 

You will get an email from Miju Travel Agency, which will book the flights on your behalf. The email is phrased a bit spam-ily so check your spam because it might be flagged as suspicious. I received mine December 12.

Connie, the representative from Miju Travel Agency, asks for your:

• legal name shown in your passport

• birthday info

• departure airport name

• seat preference

• cell phone number

• Korean Air or Delta airlines frequent flier number if you have one (Delta was used for the domestic flights, Korean Air for the international flights).

Let me just say: Connie is a STAR. I sent her my information at noon and she had booked my flight by 4pm the same day. What a queen. (Other grantees reported experiencing the same wonderfully quick turnaround)

Once you confirm the flight details, it may take a few days to receive the actual ticket through email. Mine came through Dec 16th 6p EST, but Connie does them in batches, so some ETAs got theirs a few days later, some a few days earlier. 

My flights were as follows: Houston -> LAX, LAX -> Seoul. 

Some notes to keep in mind: 

• I received two free checked bags (50lbs ea) for the Korea Air (international) leg but not the Delta (domestic) leg. Fulbright provides a $350 coverage for baggage costs, but is only handed out after completion of the grant (aka after your year in Korea is successfully completed)

• If switching airlines for different flights, you will need to collect your bags at each juncture. This means if you have a layover after your Delta flight to Los Angeles, you will need to collect your bags at baggage claim and [re]check in for your Korean Air flight to Korea. Don’t accidentally leave your bags in the States; different airlines do not automatically transfer your bags to different airlines even if you have a connection! It is not a ‘connection’ to them, it is a different flight unaffiliated with them

Once we ETAs got our flight info, we made a poll to see who would be on the same flights so we could make group chats, share seat info, and get to know each other. Always nice to have some familiar faces, especially if you have a long layover or long flight together!

If you haven't been on a long haul flight before, here are some items to be sure to bring in your personal bag:

• Layers! No way to know if the plane cabin will be super hot or super cold. Plus, it saves bulk from your suitcase and can double as a blanket/pillow/cushion

• Extra socks (fuzzy!)

• Eye cover

• Earbuds/earphones (make sure to bring wired ones because the in-plane screens don't have bluetooth) (Download podcasts, your favorite music, white noise, and calm background music for sleeping and shutting out the crying baby sitting behind you) (Noise-cancelling headphones aren't a must but are a plus)

• Charger

• Lots of things to entertain you without internet (books, downloaded shows, games)

• Snacks (nuts, crackers, granola bars)

• [empty] water bottle

• Any important documents/items that would be devastating to lose if your checked baggage somehow gets lost in transit

• Antacids or motion sickness tabs (if applicable)

• Compression socks (if applicable)

Packing for the year:

Click here for a nice packing list (not sure who made it but I'll update with the proper credit when I find out)

Here's another packing list by a previous ETA named Connie!

An important note: make sure to unlock your carrier before going abroad. Many ETAs had to purchase a second phone because they couldn't switch their sim card/carrier once in Korea. Also, no need to get a Korean sim plan in advance; within the first couple of days at your placement city, your co-teacher will help you get a sim card/plan and a bank account.

Packing gifts:

An important cultural norm, more for the gesture than the value of the gift. Check out page 16 of this handbook for more in-depth information on packing and gift-giving as an ETA

Expect to give gifts to: principal, vice principal, co-teachers, host family (if applicable), and teachers during orientation. So bring a ton (but I may have gone a bit overboard hehe)

I brought: tiny maple leaf candies, little jars of honey/jams with weird “American” flavors (smokey bacon maple?), coasters with the American flag, a fancily decorated/wrapped soap bar, holiday/thank you/nice to meet you cards, tiny glass jars of saffron from my time in Spain, mini bottles of supplements (Vitamin C, Lutein), a mini leaf bottle of maple syrup, fancy animal ornaments from India from my parents, and some spicy hot sauces and hot chocolate disks from my time in Mexico.

Note as of April 20, 2024: Supplements were a perfect gift and widely applicable for various relationship levels with the person you might be gifting to. My homestay family loved the Mexican hot chocolate and the flag coaster. I haven't really used much of the other gifts yet aside from the ornaments which I gave to my VPs and Ps (I was placed at multiple schools this year). However, so far, it seems I didn't need to bring as many specialized gifts as I did. Why, you ask? Because it's more about the gesture than the gift itself, and honestly, bringing someone an americano, or a little bread from Paris Baguette (for example) is also a perfectly acceptable and happily received gift. For meeting people for the first time as a US representative, yes, bring some nice souvenirs from home. But for gifts to coworkers or other gestures throughout the year, you can buy a little pastry or something from a local shop and that works great. Just thought I would add this note so you don't overpack (ha)!