Are BTS members allowed to travel by themselves with friends and family?

Unfortunately, no. BTS members are so famous, that every travel abroad must be approved by BigHit. I am not talking about official BTS travel. Tough protection is justified there. We can see what’s going on in the airports when BTS travel on business. But even there, it seems sometimes that the protection is extreme; it amounts to isolation:

On their first appearance at Grammy, BTS were so heavily guarded that media wrote about paranoia of Koreans. BTS had several managers sitting behind them and several bodyguards who stood in a circle (literally) around BTS during each break. Media justly pointed out that there were much more famous celebrities in the audience who had no bodyguards.

But what about private travel?

Even several years ago, when they were far less famous than now, Jimin and Jungkook had to go to BigHit and get an approval for their trip to Japan. You can read about it in BTS book.

2. RM travels more than any other member. You can see that he always has a manager/bodyguard with him.

The guys are somewhat less constricted when in Korea:

You see Jungkook going out with his ’97 friends, with apparently no bodyguards in sight. [There are almost always paparazzi lurking nearby, but it is another story…]
But at the same time, you see V attending a football match surrounded by his military buddies (in Korea!), and – managers and bodyguards from BigHit were there with him.
There was an incident when a woman in her 30ties entered an elevator with V (in his home) and tried to persuade V to sign a marriage certificate! The certificate was no joke – the woman entered her legal name and address, V’s legal name and address, and it was on a legal form. ( She was arrested later, but I do not know what was the outcome.) After this, more and more voices in Korea asked for a better protection of BTS guys.

How do I feel about it? I want the guys to be protected, and I know that there is a number of crazy people out there. On the other hand, I want the guys to have a modicum of privacy. An unsolvable problem, I am afraid. 🙁