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My Experience Staying with An Awesome Korean Guide - An Alternative to DocFinder and going alone


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You guys may have seen my post on my head augmentation surgery here:

# In that review, you may have noticed that I mentioned “Tony” a lot and about how awesome he was at making my trip enjoyable and painless.

At first I’ll admit that I was terrified of going to a new country by myself for PS where very few people spoke good English. I did a lot of research on purseblog and found that I’d have to pay good money for a translator or use DocFinder to get by. This felt very unnatural and generally untrustworthy to me.

A really awesome forum member called
@kkpeobee reached out and suggested I book an Airbnb with Tony. She explained that everything would be taken care of by just booking my stay with him. So, I listened to her and booked my stay with Tony. On his Airbnb profile page, I noticed that he studied in an American university! I valued his ability to look at a situation from the POV of both a Korean and an American. But most importantly, I felt VERY COMFORTABLE with him, and that’s all that matters.

He reached out via KakaoTalk and asked me about any clinics I was interested in since I wrote to him that I would be visiting Korea for PS. He said he was well connected to many doctors in Seoul through his family. He took the time and effort to schedule the clinic consultations. I found this so helpful because he calculated the distance, rush hour periods, and time and made the perfect schedule to follow with appropriate breakfast and lunch breaks in between so I didn’t starve. This guy also knew the BEST restaurants in Korea for any kind of food you liked.

Tony arranged my airport pickup knowing that I’ll be tired and confused. We met an hour before our first consult with JJHong Jin Joo and he took me to my first Korean restaurant for noodles for our breakfast. And then on, we systematically went from clinic to clinic for my consultation on the head augmentation surgery. He accompanied me, translated everything for me, related my information for me, and transported me around FOR FREE. He also bargained for the best prices and got me a price 18% below the already bargained quote. So my head augmentation was quoted to be at $6500 USD including VAT. I bargained to get it to $6100. But Tony eventually got me a price at $5300 including VAT. This is a big difference!

He also took me around to various tourist areas in Seoul such as Itewon, Coex, and Buddhist Temple and many other areas. I came alone, and so he introduced me to two other girls that were at his other Airbnb rental that came from Canada for PS. I felt super comfortable as we mingled well and went out to Gwangjang Traditional Market to eat some traditional Korean food :P

He took care of EVERYTHING at the cost of the Airbnb rent which is pretty affordable (62 bucks a night). I bought him lunch just so I didn’t feel like I was taking advantage of him.

A bit about him and why he’s doing this:

He’s slightly over 50 years old, but he’s got a lot of stamina and life and he's very fit. He’s got an awesome wife and 2 kids. He’s interested in making a healing house for PS patients by leveraging his rental properties. He’s got like 5 nice apartments and he’s looking to expand a bit more. He’s super wise, caring, and knowledgable. He comes from a family of doctors so he’s well connected to the Medical Industry. Also, his age gets him far in Korea as in Korean culture, the older you are the more respect you can gain.

I promised to help him out by writing this review and make him more known for other people to try out the experience with him. I know other people who have used his help and enjoyed their PS experience in Seoul too. I know I would’ve had a much harder time if I didn’t have him by my side.


His kakaoTalk id is “TonyOppa82”
His Airbnb link is here:
https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/14064617

You can hit me up on KakaoTalk at “ashl117” if you want ask me any questions.

I believe he’s going to make a KakaoGroup thread for everyone to ask questions and mingle with each other. I think that would help a lot.

Hope you guys found this helpful!


Pictures with Tony:
This was a group pic with the 2 Canadian girls and me along with Tony at Itaewon
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Me with Tony during a day after Christmas at Coex

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Me with Tony at the Buddhist Temple
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I'm hoping to go to Korea later this year and I was referred to him and briefly spoke with him a few days ago, this review just strengthens why I think I will book with him! Did you ask him to pick you up and help you with your consultations or did he just offer? I'm also going alone and quite nervous.
 
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Thanks! I really hope he’s not booked for the time I want to go because I’ve been looking to book with him since I heard about his services. I went to Korea alone last time and it was absolutely fine for me, but I would love a source of transportation post op as well as help grocery shopping, booking consults, and bargaining haha. He really goes the extra mile, doesn’t he!
 
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I don't think he actively offers to do this because Incheon is pretty far away from Seoul. Not only is the commute like 2 hours as the traffic is crazy, but there are also toll fees.
I got lucky with the airport pickup because Tony happened to be near Incheon for personal reasons. I still paid him for the toll fees though which isn't too much.
He may want to charge for the pickup (which I don't blame him for...try asking him) or maybe you try KakaoTaxi.
Or maybe you could use the airport bus to land near Gangam area and have Tony pick you up for free. That's an option too.
 
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You're welcome! Yes. He does go the extra mile. Very unique guy. He's got a lot of experience and wisdom so that definitely counts for a lot.
 
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  • 1 month later...
Me me! Hahaha it will be my first visit and surgery in korea... its would be nice to have travel buddy... going in end of march or early april tho..
 
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  • 2 months later...
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