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8 Reasons Why Flying to Seoul to See BTS in March 2022 Isn’t a Good Idea Right Now

After the successful four-day “Permission to Dance on Stage” in Los Angeles attended by 200,000 fans, it looks like the biggest band in the world is gearing up for another live concert. This time, it’s in their home country, South Korea for BTS in Seoul, March 2022.

ARMY is ecstatic. Another in-person concert so soon? Fans who couldn’t fly to L.A. might actually get the chance to see BTS perform live. PTD ON STAGE has a special place in everyone’s hearts since it was the first time after two years that RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook performed in front of a live audience. And now it looks like we’ll have more of those face-to-face performances in the year to come. But for Filipino ARMYs literally shaking from excitement, you might want to hold your horses. Flying to South Korea might not be such a good idea right now and here’s why.

 

There’s a quarantine period of 10 days after you land in South Korea

Because of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant, South Korea has once again tightened its health and safety measures. Once you land in the county, you’d have to spend a mandatory 10 days in quarantine with expenses out of your own pocket. Even BTS members who just arrived from L.A. aren’t safe from the new policy. Not only does that spell expensive, but it’s also a waste of time. A 10-day quarantine would mean you’d have to spend at least two weeks in the country locked in a hotel room. Days you could’ve spent exploring what the country has to offer and capping it off with the concert.

 


South Korea doesn’t allow tourists at the moment

Via Source

Let’s say you’ve got money enough to last you a 10-day quarantine in the country. That’s nice. The only problem is you can’t actually land in Korea since they aren’t allowing foreigners or tourists from the Philippines at the moment. According to Philippine Airlines, unless you have a Korean passport or you’re married to a Korean national, you can’t enter South Korea.

 

South Korea’s vaccine system recognition is delicate

At the moment, South Korea only recognizes fully vaccinated individuals who (a) got their vaccines in the country and (b) are Koreans. These people get privileges such as dining in public, entering buildings, and more just by scanning their vaccine passes. But foreign nationals who have been vaccinated overseas aren’t given the same treatment. It won’t matter if you have the complete vaccine doses with papers to prove it. If you’re not Korean or you didn’t get inoculated in South Korea, you can’t register those doses ergo they’re useless. This is why embassies are currently urging the South Korean embassy to change their policy, stirring talks of discrimination. But it looks like that’s not happening anytime soon.

 

They’re going on a world tour anyway

BTS has yet to confirm their world tour but every ARMY knows it’s coming. Many even anticipated the tour to be announced after PTD Day 4. We got the Seoul, March 2022 teaser instead, but everyone knows that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

ARMY isn’t exactly pulling these speculations out of nowhere and manifesting a tour out of the sheer desire to see the boys. BTS themselves gave their fans solid hints. In one of their interviews at iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball 2021, a reporter asked them to “blink three times” if we should be expecting a new album and a 2022 world tour. Here’s what they did:

We must’ve counted 77 blinks. Kings of comedy? Subtlety? Even Namjoon’s “Only God knows” can’t save them. There’s a world tour coming, folks. If you can’t join them for the Seoul, March 2022 event, maybe you can in another country on the world tour.

 

BTS has a concert ticket lottery system (which you might not win)

In the Philippines, there are two ways to buy a concert ticket: line up in person at ticketing booths or try your luck booking tickets online. But for BTS concert tickets in South Korea, the process is a bit tricky and nerve-wracking. The ticketing system is a lottery and it comes in waves. First, you have to have an ARMY Membership ($22/roughly P1,109.56) that completely matches your valid ID details. In the event that you win a ticket, you’d have to present both to claim it.

There are two waves of raffles based on previous BTS concerts. The first one is the Fan Club Raffle that’s mostly for floor and first-level tickets. Once you win here, you get to claim a ticket and pay for it. And then there’s the Fan Club Early Reservation where those with ARMY Membership get to reserve tickets not claimed in the raffle. After this, the seats are opened for the general public who will snap it up in seconds. This system is supposed to encourage fair ticketing circumstances so scalpers can’t hoard tickets.

If you want to have good seats, you’ll want to join the lottery. (Although I’d argue that any seat at a BTS concert is a good seat.) But if you’ve never won a raffle your whole life, it’s going to be disappointing.

 


Ever-changing global pandemic landscape

The state of the global pandemic is a lottery as much as BTS tickets are. Everyone thought we were slowly successfully burying COVID-19 underneath millions of fully vaccinated individuals around the world. But then news of a new variant came — Omicron, a strain that scientists are saying might not fully work against our vaccines. Borders are once again closing and the stock market is plummeting. One thing is for sure — while we’re in the middle of the pandemic, nothing is certain. Flying out puts you at risk of not only contracting the virus but also being stuck out there with no way back home. If you have a choice between safety and security or following your whims, you should know better.

 

It will probably have online streaming

We bet our left kidneys there will be an official online streaming ticket purchase for whatever’s happening in March 2022. BTS knows how much fans all over the world want to attend their concerts so they make it as accessible as possible, albeit online. Just like the fourth day of their PTD stage in L.A., you can trust that they’ll open online streaming too. Besides the fact that you can’t see the boys face to face, an online concert is still awesome. It’s convenient and the multiview option gives you six camera angles that are undoubtedly the best seats in the house.

 

Because you’ll live even if you don’t see them in Seoul, March 2022

ARMY, we feel you. We understand the visceral desire to see BTS in the flesh and to be part of that purple ocean at least once in our lives. But this isn’t the right time to fly to Seoul just yet. Hold on a little longer and maybe the upcoming world tour lands them in cities that are better for tourists. Or maybe, *just maybe,* they’ll consider stopping in the Philippines. A girl can dream, right?

But even if you don’t get to see BTS in person, that doesn’t make you any less of a fan. Just dance your feelings out to Jin’s “Super Tuna” and you’ll be alright.

 

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Kyzia spends most of her time capturing the world around her through photos, paragraphs, and playlists. She is constantly on the hunt for the perfect chocolate chip cookie, and a great paperback thriller to pair with it.

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