There Are Finally Some Low Airfares From the US to Japan And South Korea Showing Up

I check the airfares from my hometown to both South Korea and Japan every day. I am always looking for a price too good to pass up. Recently I have been seeing some discount airfares to both South Korea (ICN) and Japan (NRT). I usually start out by checking Travelocity and trying out a few dates. I always put in a time around the end of October which is my favorite time of year to travel. If I find something interesting on Travelocity, I will usually check out an individual airline's website if I see a good discount. Sometimes the airline's website will be cheaper.

A sample airfare for today is a flight from Houston to Japan in late October and early November. The price is $890 on Korean Air. That is not a bad price. You probably could get a slightly better price later but I wouldn't count on it. The flight travels from Houston to Seoul. Then, after a short layover it travels to Tokyo. You would think that the airfare would be even cheaper if you only travelled from Houston to Seoul. That would seem logical but for some reason the airfare costs another $500!!! And this is the exact same plane on both trips. The only difference is the flight that costs the least involves an additional short flight from Seoul to Tokyo.

I am a big fan of Flipboard and one of the magazines that I subscribe to is about bargain travel. I have been seeing flights from the US to Japan or South Korea as low as $450 lately. They are usually short lived and only from select cities but those prices do pop up occasionally and if you check often you might get lucky!

I am going back to either South Korea or Japan next year. My mother in law in South Korea will have her 80th birthday next year. Most likely she will fly to the US and she can then spend time with my wife and her son who lives in California. If that happens then I will go to Japan in late October. If she is not able to travel here then we will fly to Seoul to celebrate. I will be happy no matter where I end up next year. I love travelling in both Japan and South Korea. They are very different from each other but both are fun.

It is not that expensive to travel from the US to either Japan or South Korea. I save $100 a month and put it in my travel fund. I save several times this every month just by taking my lunch from home most days. Plus, I tend to eat much healthier. A sample $2400 budget for Japan would look like this.

$900 Airfare (current as of today)
$600 Hotels ($75 per night for 8 days in a business hotel)
$900 Food and Local Transportation for 8 days
You should have plenty of money left for shopping

For Seoul, your airfare would be a little higher, more like $1000 to $1100. Your hotels would be cheaper though. It is also a little cheaper for food and local transportation. Seoul is a little less expensive but not by much.