Alright, I officially am making progress for my trip to South East Asia, and I've got great news:
I've bought my flight tickets to Bangkok! That's right, I've finally done it. It's official, I WILL be traveling this coming summer.
I kept track of prices for awhile and stumbled upon a price war going on between domestic carriers and the asian carriers. Tickets were all sitting at $1500-$1800 round trip, which was putting a big strain on the tight budget that I will have available. My goal was to buy my tickets for under $1200 total for the flights only, what I noticed (through other bloggers pointing this out to me) is that when buying a ticket from the mid-west US, the price is between 1/3 to 2/3 more expensive if you pick up a connecting flight.
Example:
Flying from Kansas City: $1500-$1800+
Flying from San Francisco: $1070 (this is the ticket I bought)
I'm planning on picking up either a budget ticket ($230 or less) or a greyhound ticket (currently $230) for a separate round trip to drop me right in SFO or the city in general with plenty of time to get to the airport and time to maybe couch surf a day or two before leaving on the return leg.
I'm leaving May 8th and returning July 10th. My flight transfers in Tokyo (I ended up flying Delta airlines because I wanted to save $200.. might bite me in the bum, but maybe not) and, sadly, I arrive in Thailand around midnight local time. So I'm thinking of relaxing for awhile at a coffee shop or something. (thanks wanderingEarl for that pointer).
So I have my ticket, my passport, backpack, and some of the clothes I want to take. I'm looking into getting my shots here, though I found I can get them at the red cross (aka snake farm) in Bangkok for MUCH less (have heard around $100, which is WAY better than several hundred). So that's where things stand, New backpack update soonish (busy with school, so updates come second, apologies).
Feel free to comment with questions or comments!
Showing posts with label Asia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Asia. Show all posts
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Sunday, August 26, 2012
A long time coming
Alright, Yet another update. This time, though, it's a bit of explanation.
First off: No, I didn't go anywhere over the summer. Other than moving to the small town where my university is located. I spent the last year taking classes at a small college that didn't cost me much and working to save money for my trip. The end of the school year came along and I was getting everything finalized for my move back to university and my mother discovered that she had cancer. again. I ended up staying and spending a decent bit of money on helping out her and one of my brothers. She lived with me and I was driving her 2 hours away to the doctor twice a week and after all was said and done, I had maybe $800 left after everything. Obviously not enough to go anywhere. Add that to the near tripling effect that happened to fuel prices causing flight costs to skyrocket (pun semi-intended). I was pretty much stuck. I bought a small bike to get me around town while at school and replaced my phone and that pretty much ate through the rest of my savings.
Fast forward a little bit to now, classes start tomorrow and I'm enrolled for 13 credit hours. My mother has moved in with her boyfriend and I've got a room mate to make rent easy. She's mentioned paying me back a portion of what I spent so with my grant/loan refund coming I should have enough to take a trip this coming summer.. about 8 ish months away.
I'm going to be buying my flight ticket to BKK once I find a price that isn't $1800+ (hoping for closer to $1200, which i've found a couple times). Hopefully getting that mid-september, at which point i'll be set for my way there and back and just have to save the rest.
With luck, I'll have enough money to go for most of the summer and have a budget of around $40 or so per day. From what i've heard so far, that's decent for a budget backpacker, I'll find out when I get there, right?
It's one of those things that I need to do. Once I'm finished with school, I hope that I'll still be able to travel. I plan on saving everything after next summer's trip for when I graduate and liquidating the rest of what I have so I can be easily mobile. I want to find a career outside the USA because I feel that there's too much out there that I won't get to experience and I want to see as much as I can.
First off: No, I didn't go anywhere over the summer. Other than moving to the small town where my university is located. I spent the last year taking classes at a small college that didn't cost me much and working to save money for my trip. The end of the school year came along and I was getting everything finalized for my move back to university and my mother discovered that she had cancer. again. I ended up staying and spending a decent bit of money on helping out her and one of my brothers. She lived with me and I was driving her 2 hours away to the doctor twice a week and after all was said and done, I had maybe $800 left after everything. Obviously not enough to go anywhere. Add that to the near tripling effect that happened to fuel prices causing flight costs to skyrocket (pun semi-intended). I was pretty much stuck. I bought a small bike to get me around town while at school and replaced my phone and that pretty much ate through the rest of my savings.
Fast forward a little bit to now, classes start tomorrow and I'm enrolled for 13 credit hours. My mother has moved in with her boyfriend and I've got a room mate to make rent easy. She's mentioned paying me back a portion of what I spent so with my grant/loan refund coming I should have enough to take a trip this coming summer.. about 8 ish months away.
I'm going to be buying my flight ticket to BKK once I find a price that isn't $1800+ (hoping for closer to $1200, which i've found a couple times). Hopefully getting that mid-september, at which point i'll be set for my way there and back and just have to save the rest.
With luck, I'll have enough money to go for most of the summer and have a budget of around $40 or so per day. From what i've heard so far, that's decent for a budget backpacker, I'll find out when I get there, right?
It's one of those things that I need to do. Once I'm finished with school, I hope that I'll still be able to travel. I plan on saving everything after next summer's trip for when I graduate and liquidating the rest of what I have so I can be easily mobile. I want to find a career outside the USA because I feel that there's too much out there that I won't get to experience and I want to see as much as I can.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Japan Tourism board to give away 10,000 flights
According to various news outlets, the Japan Tourism Board is giving away 10,000 free round-trip flights to aid in bringing back their now suffering tourism. Since the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident have caused people to have fear of traveling there. Myself? I'd TOTALLY go to Japan if my flight were covered free of charge. My reasons for not going to Japan on my current trip idea are only because the yen to dollar ratio isn't the greatest, and prices are a bit higher in general.
My plan was to make it to Japan when I have a larger/better income and savings. Though, now I completely plan on applying for one of these free flights as soon as the application system opens up. Yes, I realize that the chances of me actually winning one of these special trips is slim to none, but even so, that's better than my chances at a free flight if I don't apply, right? The conditions are that you have to post pictures and write about your experience in country either during your trip or after. Hmm, isn't that what I'm doing with this site anyway? YES INDEED!
To be honest, I'd love to travel to Japan, climb mount Fuji (its an easy-ish trail) It's actually on my bucket list of things to do before I die. I'd hit Tokyo (of course), then probably Mount Fuji, I'd actually be thrilled to go see the areas affected by the tsunami. I'd also like to see your standard "touristy" things: sumo wrestling, a bunraku show, things like that. I'd like to see the blend of the traditional Japanese style mixed with the newer age. Overall, if I were to win a free flight to Japan, I'd change my travel plans to go there next summer instead of Thailand. I'd just delay the Thailand trip for the following christmas break or following summer.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Alright, this is just a quick update about the free flights to japan thing that's in the news. I've been very busy with school lately, so my post on the "tourist day" in columbia, mo has been a long time coming. It's coming though, I promise!
what do you think about the Japanese Tourism Board giving away 10,000 free flights? Will you apply? feel free to comment below.
My plan was to make it to Japan when I have a larger/better income and savings. Though, now I completely plan on applying for one of these free flights as soon as the application system opens up. Yes, I realize that the chances of me actually winning one of these special trips is slim to none, but even so, that's better than my chances at a free flight if I don't apply, right? The conditions are that you have to post pictures and write about your experience in country either during your trip or after. Hmm, isn't that what I'm doing with this site anyway? YES INDEED!
To be honest, I'd love to travel to Japan, climb mount Fuji (its an easy-ish trail) It's actually on my bucket list of things to do before I die. I'd hit Tokyo (of course), then probably Mount Fuji, I'd actually be thrilled to go see the areas affected by the tsunami. I'd also like to see your standard "touristy" things: sumo wrestling, a bunraku show, things like that. I'd like to see the blend of the traditional Japanese style mixed with the newer age. Overall, if I were to win a free flight to Japan, I'd change my travel plans to go there next summer instead of Thailand. I'd just delay the Thailand trip for the following christmas break or following summer.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Alright, this is just a quick update about the free flights to japan thing that's in the news. I've been very busy with school lately, so my post on the "tourist day" in columbia, mo has been a long time coming. It's coming though, I promise!
what do you think about the Japanese Tourism Board giving away 10,000 free flights? Will you apply? feel free to comment below.
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