Trip to Korea and Japan
Prologue:
The incident that happened last Feb 2013 haunts her every time she passes through immigration. The interrogation and the unfriendly faces of the immigration officers made her palms sweaty and heart racing. But, this doesn't stop her to see new horizons and experience foreign culture. All the more, her wanderlust grows even stronger after every trip.
December 2015, she made up her mind to set foot in The Land of the Rising Sun. It has been her dream to visit Japan since five years ago. She told her friends that by the first quarter of 2016 she will have traveled the country of her students. She read many blogs about Japan tourist visa application. As soon as she received the ITR from the company, she wasted no time to prepare the rest of the documents. She submitted them to www.relitours.ph in SM Megamall. (Check out their site, and you will know the requirements needed.) This is one of agencies accredited by the Japanese embassy. FYI, the Japanese embassy does not accept direct application, but instead you have to go through an agency. The process takes three days to a week. Since she can't go there on working days, she went there on a weekend instead to pick up her passport. (hopefully with a visa stamped on it) On that day, she was fidgeting. She had a hard time breathing. lol. Her heart raced faster than ever when the middle-aged woman before her was denied when she got her passport. She muttered a little prayer under her breath praying that it would be a YES. When it was her turn, her hands were trembling. The guy said at the counter, "You're given 15 days tourist visa." Finally, she could breathe. Her face broke into a big smile. She felt like jumping. She happily showed it to her friend who was equally happy for her.
Her friend suggested that the airline ticket was cheaper when you transit through Korea than go to Japan directly. Then, that means, she needed a Korean visa. Again, she prepared all the documents needed and submitted them to the Korean embassy. Since it was a holy week then, no work, she had to wait til next week to pick up the passport and see if she was granted a tourist visa. The day came. She went there alone. She wasn't as nervous as when she went to the Japanese agency. Her number was called. The Korean staff handed in her passport and said, "denied" without a smile. She was disappointed, upset, frustrated, and wanted an explanation. "Everything was okey. What's wrong?"
Since that day, she was filled with worry. She planned to travel on the 2nd week of the next month. She didn't have much time to figure things out. She prayed every day and every night trying to figure out how to go to Korea. She read blogs that one can go to Korea through transit as long as you have a visa from one of the five advanced countries including Japan. She has read success stories and as well as the failed ones. She badly wanted to travel, and she didn't know what to do if she couldn't travel this time. There's a little voice who kept on encouraging her telling her that she could travel to Korea and Japan even without the Korean visa. Japan visa is enough. Just trust in God and believe in Him. She chose to trust in Him. That little voice which she believes is the Holy Spirit is her source of strength and comfort.
P.S.
There were two significant people, one from Korea and one from Japan, who had helped her enormously in making this happen. A big thank you!!!
Lesson:
Trust in Him at all times. :)
Read on for Day 1.^^
The incident that happened last Feb 2013 haunts her every time she passes through immigration. The interrogation and the unfriendly faces of the immigration officers made her palms sweaty and heart racing. But, this doesn't stop her to see new horizons and experience foreign culture. All the more, her wanderlust grows even stronger after every trip.
December 2015, she made up her mind to set foot in The Land of the Rising Sun. It has been her dream to visit Japan since five years ago. She told her friends that by the first quarter of 2016 she will have traveled the country of her students. She read many blogs about Japan tourist visa application. As soon as she received the ITR from the company, she wasted no time to prepare the rest of the documents. She submitted them to www.relitours.ph in SM Megamall. (Check out their site, and you will know the requirements needed.) This is one of agencies accredited by the Japanese embassy. FYI, the Japanese embassy does not accept direct application, but instead you have to go through an agency. The process takes three days to a week. Since she can't go there on working days, she went there on a weekend instead to pick up her passport. (hopefully with a visa stamped on it) On that day, she was fidgeting. She had a hard time breathing. lol. Her heart raced faster than ever when the middle-aged woman before her was denied when she got her passport. She muttered a little prayer under her breath praying that it would be a YES. When it was her turn, her hands were trembling. The guy said at the counter, "You're given 15 days tourist visa." Finally, she could breathe. Her face broke into a big smile. She felt like jumping. She happily showed it to her friend who was equally happy for her.
Her friend suggested that the airline ticket was cheaper when you transit through Korea than go to Japan directly. Then, that means, she needed a Korean visa. Again, she prepared all the documents needed and submitted them to the Korean embassy. Since it was a holy week then, no work, she had to wait til next week to pick up the passport and see if she was granted a tourist visa. The day came. She went there alone. She wasn't as nervous as when she went to the Japanese agency. Her number was called. The Korean staff handed in her passport and said, "denied" without a smile. She was disappointed, upset, frustrated, and wanted an explanation. "Everything was okey. What's wrong?"
Since that day, she was filled with worry. She planned to travel on the 2nd week of the next month. She didn't have much time to figure things out. She prayed every day and every night trying to figure out how to go to Korea. She read blogs that one can go to Korea through transit as long as you have a visa from one of the five advanced countries including Japan. She has read success stories and as well as the failed ones. She badly wanted to travel, and she didn't know what to do if she couldn't travel this time. There's a little voice who kept on encouraging her telling her that she could travel to Korea and Japan even without the Korean visa. Japan visa is enough. Just trust in God and believe in Him. She chose to trust in Him. That little voice which she believes is the Holy Spirit is her source of strength and comfort.
P.S.
There were two significant people, one from Korea and one from Japan, who had helped her enormously in making this happen. A big thank you!!!
Lesson:
Trust in Him at all times. :)
Read on for Day 1.^^
[…] God will grant your heart’s desire when you prayed for it earnestly. God sees your heart. Trust Him. God knows how she felt before the trip. Read more about it here: Trip to Korea and Japan […]
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