Having covered some basic practical “pre-trip” questions in part 1, I will now focus on the experience (and restrictions) within the DPRK itself—ie. what you can expert in terms of freedom (or lack thereof,) food, accommodations, access to communication channels, etc.

The lobby of the Ryanggang hotel in Pyongyang. Who says the DPRK isn’t colorful?

I will touch on many of these questions in greater details in subsequent posts, but the following Q&A will set the stage if you’re curious about what travel to the DPRK involves—for example, often people I talk to are surprised to hear that one isn’t allowed to walk around freely on the streets… indeed that’s correct, and it’s probably something to know ahead of time 🙂

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So, how about a little trip to the DPRK?  There’s a special deal on Expedia.com!  Well, not exactly.  Traveling to the “North” isn’t quite like booking a vacation to Hawaii. Yet, in many regards, planning is surprisingly easy since you don’t have to (read: can’t) do much yourself and have to go through an agency.

TripIt.com humor… Thanks, TripIt, but it doesn’t quite work like that!

In this series of two posts, I’ll paint a broad picture in a Q&A form on how to go north of the DMZ and what it involves. I’ll drill further into some of these topics in future posts—this Q&A is intended as a quick and unofficial reference, should you be planning a trip yourself or simply wondering how the magic happens.

In part 1, I’ll focus mostly on how to get to the DPRK, while in part 2, I’ll answer questions around what to expect once there.

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