No Such Thing as a Free Lunch?

You know when something just sounds too good to be true.... it probably isn't, right? Well, I find myself in one of those situations right now (as does CATHERINE MC GUINNESS, CATHERINE MC GUINNESS, CATHERINE MC GUINNESS!!!) with the F1 Korean Grand Prix coming up on Sunday. Some time last week I noticed a group on facebook (actually thanks to Ritchie and Stephen for pointing it out) offering FREE Grand Prix tickets to foreigners. I was, obviously, skeptical. Nonetheless I clicked 'attending'. What's the harm? What could I possibly risk by just clicking a button on facebook? As the days passed, the issue of whether or not this 'free' tickets scheme was for real became less and less clear to the point where it started becoming more of a hassle than a help. The guy who was organising it seemed totally unwilling to give any information beyond "meet at car park 5 (now 7) between 11.45am and 12pm on Sunday". For people who would be traveling at least four hours from Seoul to Yeongam, this wasn't much to go on. In the end up, it seemed as though we had left it too late to book tickets and transport and I had given up on the idea of going last night, which was extremely frustrating, and led in some part to a stupid row with Ji about us never doing anything, getting things organised, etc., etc.

However, it seems that today has changed things round. A guy called William Cho from Discover Korea seems to have taken the bull b the horns and got things moving. Not only is he organising a bus from Seoul (here), but he has made a few calls and, without getting too optimistic, appears to have confirmed the 'free tickets' story (here). The situation for us right now is that we have three seats on a bus to the circuit, the possibility of two free tickets (unlucky on being Korean, Ji) and I'll go 50-50 on a ticket with Ji on the day (if we can't wangle her in some other way first). Worst case scenario we get there, there are no free tickets, we buy tickets to the race, we have a potentially once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The upshot for you, if you're in Korea, is that it might just be worth taking a punt on getting a free ticket for yourself and getting yourself to the track on Sunday. Apparently the organiser got 65 tickets (approximately) but it now seems that the uncertainty of the situation has put a lot of people off going. There's a new event page (here) trying to get a better idea of the number of actual attendees. At the moment, it's at 225. Quite a discrepancy... It'll be interesting to see what happens on the day. Offering free tickets to foreigners only for the first ever Korean Grand Prix? Well, that's another blog all by itself...