Travel Packages

As queen of the seasons, one senses movement in nature to the point of overflowing during the month of May. The fields and mountains turn a vivid green and show off the peak of beauty. There is no better time to discover nature with your family. Even for parents who have difficulty going on outings when the weather is too hot or cold, now is a great time to spend long hours outside.

Diversified Tourism Shopping-

If it is difficult for you to go to a travel agency because of a busy work schedule, you can go on TV shopping channels or Internet shopping malls.

These companies have various travel packages for Family Month. The packages include trips with children, trips for couples, and trips with parents, with all sorts of different purposes.

Types vary as well. There are tours such as traveling through the southern provinces of Gyeonggi Province, as well as trips examining insects in the forest, or fruit-picking trips like strawberry picking, or event-oriented trips like going to see famous singers’ concerts--more types than you can count!

There are also short-term overseas trips for those with time and money. They aren’t even that expensive. There are trips that cost millions of won, but there are also more than a few packages that only cost 20 to 30,000 won per person.

Internet shopping mall “d&shop” marketing director Oh Seung-taek, says, “We are seeing a high volume of reservations for family packages for Family Month,” adding “if you want to take a trip in May or June, you’d better hurry with your reservations.”

Doubling the fun of your trip-

In trips with children, it is important to foster a sense of family teamwork and give them an incentive to travel. An impromptu or one-sided trip that begins with “Tomorrow is a holiday so let’s go somewhere together,” is a perfect recipe for disaster. These days, children do not want to spend hours inside a boring car to go suffer in a place in which they have no interest, and consider such outings painful. They would rather play computer games at home.

To avoid this, you should let the children pick the trip. This means giving them an incentive.

Second, you should leave the planning to the children also. Let them enjoy the power of organizing the trip so that they become the focus. At first you might get an absurd plan, but if you put your heads together and do some thinking, you will refine it into a rational plan. The fun of the trip starts with the planning.

Third, it is important to leave souvenirs. It doesn’t end with seeing and enjoying, but let’s help with putting up a personal blog or website detailing your trip. You can put up photos, videos, and notes as supporting material.

When considering filial trips with parents, the most important aspect to consider is safety. Don’t choose an itinerary that is too straining. Also, before booking a tour package, examine the itinerary carefully.

If you need to get hospital treatment during an overseas trip, there are services through which you can contact Korean doctors who are on call through roaming phones with for on-the-spot care or help with conversations (SK Telecom has 24-hour emergency care numbers plus translation services).

Seung-Ha Cho Jae-Seong Hwang summer@donga.com jsonhng@donga.com