I watched ticket prices for a couple months and at the very end both tickets from Seoul to Hanoi and to Bangkok dropped a hundred dollars so I figured it was time to make one mine. Through the planning process there was a slight change in plan, meeting my boyfriend in Laos in October instead of November made me rethink flying into Hanoi.
In the end I decided it was better to fly into Bangkok and spend a 4-5 weeks traveling from southern Thailand to the north then crossing the boarder into Laos where I will meet up with my boyfriend for two weeks then continue on in Laos for another two weeks or so onto Cambodia for about 10 days then into southern Vietnam where I will spend a month working my way north to Hanoi and home for the holidays.
As for my return ticket I still have not purchased that as of yet but already having looking into Thailand's rules on entry I know that I do not have a problem if I do not buy my ticket before I arrive. I also discovered, after looking more closely at return tickets noticed flights from Hanoi to Boston and Providence were cheaper than from Bangkok but they are also longer with far more layovers. I definitely want to be home for Christmas so I am now thinking of cutting my trip 5 days short as the flight takes give or take 35 hours!!!! I definitely don't want anything to go wrong and I want to feel good for my first Christmas in 2 years, not jet lagged.
Prices on return tickets remain stagnant but the travel duration time differs. I want to make sure I get a ticket that has the shortest travel time possible. Right now they are all priced the same but the shorter travel times will go faster. I am waiting because I am receiving money in place of a return ticket home from Korea which I have written into my contract, and since my contract doesn't end till the end of August I do not have a ton of disposable income to go ahead and make that purchase. Also I want to be sure that nothing goes wrong.
Next step is looking into guide books. I like to read up a bit before I go just to have a general idea of things to do and places I want to see, of course this always changes and develops as I arrive at places and meet new people. I usually go for Lonely planet books but I am currently torn between the Southeast Asia book, which has way more countries than I need and getting the Thailand book to start then picking up once I am down there, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and the Greater Mekong. On the road there are always travelers willing to swap books, or there are book exchanges or you can buy them on the street in Thailand. I know Lonely Planet does not like to hear that but there are many cheap good condition bootlegged LP's for sale. I think I will order the Thailand book from Amazon to start my research because it is smaller and more descriptive and I don't need a ton of information on countries I do not need.
Also, I am starting to think about travel insurance. This is something that is super important and will talk more about later. Just starting my research for the time being.
Finally the last thing I am thinking about at the moment is finding a travel clinic here in S. Korea because I would like to get a polio vaccine and a prescription for Cipro which they give a lot of travelers for diarrhea, UTI's and respiratory infections, which is always handy. Just the things on my mind at the moment.....
Monday, 7 June 2010
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Tickets tickets tickets
I have been racking my brain where to fly into and where to fly out of. I have been using kayak.com because they allow you to sign up for daily email alerts. Since I am living in Korea I have been following the cost of flights from Seoul to Bangkok, Hanoi, and Phuket. I looked into the costs on a couple different days of the week. It tends to be cheaper flying Tuesday-Thursday and more expensive on Friday-Sunday etc. They are currently all about the same price mid-week and since Hanoi is looking like a better option for me I have also started watching Seoul to Hanoi the month prior to the date I want to fly to see if it changes so I can try to predict the trend.
I have been watching the prices for about a month now and they seem to be pretty stagnant only moving up or down a couple dollars here and there. I will follow for another month or so and make sure the dates work for me and that the tickets will not go down any further then I will purchase a one way ticket to Southeast Asia, mostly likely Hanoi. I have already gone ahead to make sure that this will not be a problem with visas and entering Vietnam. I will need to apply for a multi-entry visa and show proof of funds and possibly onward travel.
As for my return tickets I have also been watching ticket prices for December. I plan on traveling until about the 20th of December. I have found that that time of year the tickets are all the same from one day to the next, Sunday to Saturday but they differ depending where you fly out of and where you fly into. I am from Rhode Island so I have been looking at flying into Boston, my usual destination and Providence which is more accessible.
I am currently checking tickets for departure out of Bangkok, Vientiane and Hanoi into both Boston and Providence and found that Hanoi is the cheapest home, surprisingly. I was also happily surprised that the ticket price is the same to fly into Boston and Providence from Hanoi which benefits me because Providence is definitely easier. When comparing Boston to Providence I also am taking into consideration the length of the trip, if its more than 4 hours longer to fly into Providence it is actually more time efficient for me to just go to Boston anyways.
It's important to take into consideration the length of time from airport time, layovers and flight time to arrival. You may think you are getting a good deal and a cheaper ticket but sometimes if you look at the flight time there could be anywhere from 1 hour to 24 hours difference, which many times is not worth the slightly cheaper price. Also look at the departure times. Cheaper tickets many times have very difficult departure times, make sure it is safe and possible to get to the airport at the time you are looking to fly out.
Things to consider:
One-way tickets (visa issues)
Return tickets
Prices
Flight times
Different airport options
Different days of the week
I have been watching the prices for about a month now and they seem to be pretty stagnant only moving up or down a couple dollars here and there. I will follow for another month or so and make sure the dates work for me and that the tickets will not go down any further then I will purchase a one way ticket to Southeast Asia, mostly likely Hanoi. I have already gone ahead to make sure that this will not be a problem with visas and entering Vietnam. I will need to apply for a multi-entry visa and show proof of funds and possibly onward travel.
As for my return tickets I have also been watching ticket prices for December. I plan on traveling until about the 20th of December. I have found that that time of year the tickets are all the same from one day to the next, Sunday to Saturday but they differ depending where you fly out of and where you fly into. I am from Rhode Island so I have been looking at flying into Boston, my usual destination and Providence which is more accessible.
I am currently checking tickets for departure out of Bangkok, Vientiane and Hanoi into both Boston and Providence and found that Hanoi is the cheapest home, surprisingly. I was also happily surprised that the ticket price is the same to fly into Boston and Providence from Hanoi which benefits me because Providence is definitely easier. When comparing Boston to Providence I also am taking into consideration the length of the trip, if its more than 4 hours longer to fly into Providence it is actually more time efficient for me to just go to Boston anyways.
It's important to take into consideration the length of time from airport time, layovers and flight time to arrival. You may think you are getting a good deal and a cheaper ticket but sometimes if you look at the flight time there could be anywhere from 1 hour to 24 hours difference, which many times is not worth the slightly cheaper price. Also look at the departure times. Cheaper tickets many times have very difficult departure times, make sure it is safe and possible to get to the airport at the time you are looking to fly out.
Things to consider:
One-way tickets (visa issues)
Return tickets
Prices
Flight times
Different airport options
Different days of the week
Monday, 19 April 2010
Step two: Location
Location:
Location was something I thought about after my initial decision on time frame. I thought Southeast Asia was an automatic shoe in because I haven’t been there and it would be a no brainer because I am currently living in South Korea but it was still stressful and required some thought. I have never seen Vietnam, Lao, Thailand or Cambodia and wanted to see them but I also finished reading Shantaram which is an awesome book by Gregory David Roberts about India. This new painted picture of India for me made me want to include India as well.
Brake! Stop…three and a half months is not long enough to see SE Asia and India. India would be at least 2 months in itself for me, so I was thinking about leaving SE Asia and doing just India instead. So I looked at some plane ticket prices to see what cost factors would help me decide and realized that it was pretty much the same. So I started researching and talking to friends about both. India is a developing and changing country and I wanted to see it while it’s still raw and not yet a developed tourist destination. Thailand and Southeast Asia is a pretty beaten tourist destination, except for Vietnam and Laos which are still more undeveloped. Hmmm. After talking with friends who have been to both places they believed that Vietnam was changing faster than India so I should see that in the next couple years first.
Done!
Now this opens a whole other can of worms….one way flights, visas, vaccines, ticket costs and how am I going to roughly plan how I am going to do my route while hitting everything I want to see, getting a cheap ticket out and meeting my boyfriend in Laos for three weeks in November, which is the most inopportune time and difficult place because I want a month in Vietnam and a month in Laos. Still working on this one…
Location was something I thought about after my initial decision on time frame. I thought Southeast Asia was an automatic shoe in because I haven’t been there and it would be a no brainer because I am currently living in South Korea but it was still stressful and required some thought. I have never seen Vietnam, Lao, Thailand or Cambodia and wanted to see them but I also finished reading Shantaram which is an awesome book by Gregory David Roberts about India. This new painted picture of India for me made me want to include India as well.
Brake! Stop…three and a half months is not long enough to see SE Asia and India. India would be at least 2 months in itself for me, so I was thinking about leaving SE Asia and doing just India instead. So I looked at some plane ticket prices to see what cost factors would help me decide and realized that it was pretty much the same. So I started researching and talking to friends about both. India is a developing and changing country and I wanted to see it while it’s still raw and not yet a developed tourist destination. Thailand and Southeast Asia is a pretty beaten tourist destination, except for Vietnam and Laos which are still more undeveloped. Hmmm. After talking with friends who have been to both places they believed that Vietnam was changing faster than India so I should see that in the next couple years first.
Done!
Now this opens a whole other can of worms….one way flights, visas, vaccines, ticket costs and how am I going to roughly plan how I am going to do my route while hitting everything I want to see, getting a cheap ticket out and meeting my boyfriend in Laos for three weeks in November, which is the most inopportune time and difficult place because I want a month in Vietnam and a month in Laos. Still working on this one…
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
Step one: Time
Everyone starts their trip planning slightly differently and probably has their own insight into what works and doesn’t work for them. When I was preparing for my first trip I was anxious and worried and thankfully had a well seasoned traveling mother to help me through the packing and planning stages. I was grateful for the help but in the end I had to make my own decisions.
Almost two years ago now, when I was 25 I left for South America for 6.5 months. Each stage of planning brought new idea’s and worries about what was to come and eventually when traveling brought things into perspective and also contributed to new ideas that had not occurred to me so I wanted to put together my thoughts as I plan for my next trip.
I want to break down fully how I plan a trip so you can get an idea of how I make decisions and plan for a big trip.
Time:
First, I decide on an area and an approximate length of time. Included in this is the time of year I want to go and whether or not it suits the locations I want to go. The past year I have been living and teaching in South Korea so it was a no brainer for me to stick on this side of the globe. My contract ends August 31 so starting the first week of September made perfect sense. Additionally, I have not been home for Christmas in two years so I am determined to be back right before Christmas. That gives me about three and a half months, give or take, to work with.
In the past I have not worried about time and bought a ticket to a destination and traveled until I was tired or low on funds and found a return ticket home. This is the first time I am restricted by the length of time. Now that I have an idea of the approximate time the next step is location or destination.
Almost two years ago now, when I was 25 I left for South America for 6.5 months. Each stage of planning brought new idea’s and worries about what was to come and eventually when traveling brought things into perspective and also contributed to new ideas that had not occurred to me so I wanted to put together my thoughts as I plan for my next trip.
I want to break down fully how I plan a trip so you can get an idea of how I make decisions and plan for a big trip.
Time:
First, I decide on an area and an approximate length of time. Included in this is the time of year I want to go and whether or not it suits the locations I want to go. The past year I have been living and teaching in South Korea so it was a no brainer for me to stick on this side of the globe. My contract ends August 31 so starting the first week of September made perfect sense. Additionally, I have not been home for Christmas in two years so I am determined to be back right before Christmas. That gives me about three and a half months, give or take, to work with.
In the past I have not worried about time and bought a ticket to a destination and traveled until I was tired or low on funds and found a return ticket home. This is the first time I am restricted by the length of time. Now that I have an idea of the approximate time the next step is location or destination.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)