How to travel cheap

Well, let me start this blog with some guide on how to travel cheap!!!

1. Be prepare for war – Staying up late at night at 12 midnight and going into war zone with thousand of warrior of AirAsia is common. I would say this is the first step of your budget travel. No doubt buying zero fare, RM 1 fare or promotional air ticket can be a suffering, with time wasted in the waiting room looking at the bees flying…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….You know what I mean if you are AirAsia warrior too…But winning the war is definitely a reward. RM 80 for 2 way KL-Bali inclusive of all taxes or RM 300 for return KL-HK is definitely worth the wait.

2. Is all about date – As a normal employee or even student, we do not have excess of time. Travelling during weekend or public holiday is not cheap and hoping a zero fare during festive season is like dreaming the star to drop onto your lap! Calculate the number of leave you have and when you are free to travel. Book travel period like Thursday – Sunday as you only need to take 2 days leave. Travelling Monday – Friday may not be a good time even though you can get extremely cheap ticket. Bear in mind, your leave (for those who work) is not cheap at all. By the way spending a weekend in oversea can be fun as there might be different crowd, different environment and different lifestyle there. So always travel with weekend in between.

3. Is all about months – Yeah date is important, but months is even important. I learn my lesson when I travel to Hong Kong in august. The weather is so hot that I personally think staying in Malaysia would be better. But again, August is the sales time in Hong Kong. So before you get your ticket, think again, which season you want to travel? Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter can bring you different feel.

4. Is all about clock – Date check, month check…but in the middle of buying air ticket you see one in early morning, one in afternoon, one in night, which would you choose? If the price have no much of different, my choice is always the earlier the better while back to Kl the latest as possible. I don’t agree on people who try to save few ringgit but end up travelling middle at night and come back to home country early in the morning. Is such a waste of time.

5. Cheap don’t mean dirty – Each place you visit there is a choice of motel, budget hotel, guesthouse or even exclusive 5 star hotel. Which would you choose? Depend on your budget and your purpose of travelling, hotel price and location play a big role A good location help a lot in saving time and transportation. There is plenty of good budget hostel that is good. All you need is log into tripadvisor.com and get more information.

6. Be local and stop being a tourist – This is my travel motto. When you travel, try not be a tourist. Being a tourist you pay tourist price. Learn some language so it make it easy for you to communicate. Being a Malaysian born Chinese, I have been mistaken as Thai Chinese when I am in Thailand, An Indon Chinese when I am in Bali and even a Vietnamese when I am in Vietnam. It give you privilege when bargain. No joke!

7. Is travel, so enjoy it and don’t suffer – Budget travelling is painful said someone. To me it is not. It is adventurous. Don’t save on check in luggage or starve yourself in hunger when travel. Get all the essential stuff you required. To me, if I can save check in luggage I will do it. I just bring enough clothing when I travel. Besides, it save time for me as I do not need to wait at luggage counter waiting for my luggage to appear, or even worst, a lost luggage!!!

8. Planning is important – Loot at the map and try save your travelling period. Don’t go to the north and south on day one and repeat the same on second day. You can split travel to north one day while second day going to south. It save your time in travelling and even cost. While I go to Macau and Hong Kong, I get my ticket from KL – Macau and HK – KL. It was expensive by just RM 30 ringgit but imagine the time I save if I have to travel back to Macau from Hong Kong and the cost I have to incur for additional ferry price. Verdict: Be smart!

9. Take advantage – There is many privileges when you travel. Do enough research. When I went to Taiwan, I get a handphone with sim card uploaded with NT$100 for free and lotsa voucher to use in the night market. If you plan to shop, always ask for tourist shopping card and you might be surprise the amount of discount you can get. Don’t forget to claim back your VAT or GST at the airport!

10. Enjoy and stop calculating your money – One way to save money is always stop calculating your money. Do a detail budgeting prior to your travel and spent within your budget. Leave some for contingencies of course. Try not to save too much that you have to cut off your meal or skip certain tourist spot. You might end up coming back without tasting their food or experience their culture.

Here are the top 10 travel smart tips. Enjoy.

Appetizer

Hi everyone…

Welcome to the world of budget travel. This blog is specially dedicated to those who love travel but with minimal budget.

Previously, outbound travelling was totally out of my mind because the air ticket is extremely expensive. Thanks to the low cost carrier especially AirAsia, the platform of tourism have change tremendously. Now most youngster will opt for travelling by air even for a short distance such as KL-Langkawi or KL-Singapore. It save time on the same time save cost as well.

Travelling is fun. Travelling with minimal budget is more fun. Why do I say so?
1. We have to bear in mind our budget at all-time thus selection of hotel, date of travelling and place of travel will take a big role.

2. Travelling required planning just like you handle a big project. I am one person who do not believe on ad-hoc trip except I have been to the place many times that I can close my eye and walk.

3. Travelling give you more idea, and let u see the world from different prespective. What you see in TV or newspaper may not be the true reflection of what it is. You know, technology such as photoshop can easily turn a bold hill to a volcano.

Anyhow, enjoy this blog (though some of the picture was taken way back in 2005) and I hope you can get a clear idea of the way I travel.
Thanks.

Panda

Note:
For those who read my personal blog ‘The Green Boring Panda’, my apologies that I will stop updating my personal blog as my life is getting bored day by day and nothing much for me to blog about.

For those who read my food blog ‘Harkausiewmai’, please stay tune as more update will be coming soon. My apologies again as the blog also turning inactive but I promise, I will revive it back.