Backpacking around South East Asia (because I don't want to grow up)
As all good stories begin, Dave and I were stoned. We had both recently graduated from university and were discussing the lives we had ahead of us. We quickly came to the conclusion that we were no where near ready to grow up and be serious about life.
Dave suggested travelling - something I had long dreamt of - and told me of his friend who went to Thailand for 3 months on £3000. Of course, we had no idea that this was probably merely spending and flights, and there are many other expenses involved (I'll get there later). We both agreed to get jobs, save up some money and flee from our impending adulthood.
We made one or two mistakes along the way* (quitting jobs/getting made redundant and living it up in Amsterdam wasn't the brightest idea) but now, a year and a half later and we've curbed our spending habits and are saving hard. The flights are booked and the trip is, finally, planned.
*Tip #1: Save hard. Budget yourself. If you can, give your savings to someone trusted to keep them from yourself.
Step 1: Booking the Flights
Tip #2: DON'T DO IT IN THIS ORDER. Plan the trip first, or learn the hard (and sometimes expensive) way.
So, first up, we booked a flight to Bangkok... 4 months before it departed, with no other money apart from that for the flights saved up. A solid idea, I know. There was method in the madness though, this really made us get out asses into gear over the saving malarkey, and the planning too.
The planning was a long and arduous chore. We could have copied any route from a travel blog, but we felt none of them really fully catered to our needs, and that we wanted to put the effort in to do our own route. Twats.
Planning also threw up a number of other hurdles* like Visas, Vaccinations, Insurance, Travel Money, Packing lists... my god does the list go on, but here are some details about things you have to sort before you go away.
*Tip #3: Know about these things. I'd never been out of Europe, I thought visas were only needed if you were planning to work. Twat.
Step 2: Sort out all this stuff
Visas
We are travelling through 6 countries (Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia) and luckily as UK citizens, we don't need visas for most of these countries (or we just get them on the border for an average fee of $35). Vietnam however, is not so easy. Due to recently changed laws, you can get a tourist visa on arrival, but these only last for 14 days. If you want to stay for longer, you have to obtain a full tourist visa before you get there.
I've left it in Daves' capable hands to print off the visa forms for us all to fill in, so no doubt in a month or so I'll get a phone call off Dave saying he's got his hand stuck in a printer trying to print said forms. I can always count on Dave...
Apparently though, we print off these forms, fill them in and send them off with our passports and visa fee to the Vietnamese embassy in London.
Vaccinations
Most of these are on the NHS, your GP can tell you what you need. I had a Diptheria and Hep A shot for free, Dave a Hep B shot on top of this. We were both told we would have to pay for a Rabies shot and Malerone tablets. The Rabies shot is optional, but probably worth it. It costs £140. Malerone tablets are also optional, but probably still best to be safe. We only need to take Malerone through Laos and Cambodia, so 6 weeks worth is required, which costs around £100. These are expensive drugs!
Insurance
Loads of sites recommend World Nomad. But they don't cover my personal cash, and are about £100 more expensive than many other insurers. Maybe they're better for longer trips? I don't know.
We reckon we're looking at about £85 each on insurance for 4 months. That's with a £60 excess, gadgets insured up to £1000, £5m medical and personal cash up to £300. This is with Alpha Insurance.
Tip #4: Research the insurance, check how you're covered, what your excess is, what activities you can do, IF YOUR GADGET IS COVERED - A lot of the insurers only cover electronics to £1-200, a pitiful amount.
Travel Money
After much debate we have to decided to take out a credit with Halifax, which seems to be the best one for currency exchange. This credit card also does not charge a fee for cash withdrawals, though it will charge interest if you don't pay it off in time. We feel that our money is better protected using a credit card.
We are also taking a prepaid Caxton mastercard. These will cost you a £10 deposit which is refunded straight into your Caxton account. You can control your Caxton account and the currencies you have on there using an app, which allows you to watch the exchange rates and buy at the best price. These prepaid cards however, are as good as cash. If you lose it, report it immediately as you will be liable for the first £50 of stolen money (if there is any).
Packing to come...
Step 3: Plan your trip
Of course, we had already spent plenty of time pouring over backpacking routes around Asia, dreaming of finally setting off, however formulating this into a route required a little more effort.
We eventually managed to muster enough motivation to plan a route together. This proved to be relatively easy, until we tried to plan in the travelling times, then things got awkward, but we sorted it.
Tip #5: We found planning to be much more productive when we worked together, discussing all the possible destinations.
We would get together with our phones and google the shit out of places. It may sound silly, but remember to actually write this stuff down, or your time will be wasted. There are many times Dave and I did this, then had to redo it later because we could barely remember more than 'that waterfall in Laos'.
Tip #6 Goatsontheroad and Myfunkytravel are excellent and informative travel blogs for those planning a trip... unlike this one.
The Route
Thailand (1st Leg) - yellow
Laos - purple
Vietnam - green
Cambodia - blue
Thailand (2nd Leg) - pink
Malaysia - orange
Indondesia - light blue
35. Jakarta 36. Yogyakarta 37. Kalibaru 38. Bali 39. Gili Islands 40. Komodo National Park
For the overland travel route including buses/trains and border crossing information, see here.
With time, I will turn each of these destinations into links to blogposts on those areas (hopefully both before I go and whilst I am out there).
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