Winter Doldrums

Hi folks, 

It being winter now, and 140ish days away from my trip, I've found that I'm in a bit of a "winter doldrums" state. I'm excited for my trip, but the immediate excitement of having bought the tickets, made sure my passport is good to go, and making sure I've got my money set aside (or will be set aside once I get the rest of it), most of that excitement has worn off. I'm left in the "concerned" state that's left over.

The concerns of "am I not planning enough? am I crazy for having done this? Am I even going to make it through this trip alive?" every little comment from friends and family are in my head because I'm into my winter break and have nothing better to think about. I've triple checked my flight reservation, my bus ticket is right next to me with my passport and extra copies. I've got my backpack ready to go, some little things packed in it already (extra bits and the dry-sacks, stuff I don't need for daily life). I think I'm just having too much time to think about the trip while actively trying not to think about it.

Right now, I'm looking at (hoping to have) about $2000 to spend for everything while I'm there. My transport in and out of country are covered already, bringing the total for the trip to about $3500 (1250 flights/bus, 250 insurance, 2000 in country money). I'm looking at $33-37 per day for accommodation and food and things to do. From what I've been told, this will be fine for Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam  I would LOVE to pick up a motorbike in Vietnam and ride from one end to the other, which I've also been told is doable, but I'd need to take some more money. either way, this is looking to be an amazing trip, and I'm just sitting here over-thinking things. 

In my personal life, I managed to get good grades in my university classes, so that's going well. I'm double majoring in Environmental Geology and Comprehensive Crisis Response with an idea of going to the US Peace Corps after graduation. This trip will be a good test of whether or not I can handle a headfirst dive into a culture different from my own while still leaving me a safety net of sorts. 

anyway, happy holidays or whatever doesn't offend you and may you find tranquility in the new year.

-An Effort in Tranquility  

Progress!

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!

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.

My Official Destination for Summer 2012

I know that I've changed my mind a few times about what destination I'll be headed to for my big trip. First it was Australia, then it was Europe, until I realized that not only was I leaving out the area of the world I want to see the most, I was leaving it out because I thought it was somewhere I couldn't go.

Once I started to seriously look into south east Asia as a viable option, it became clear that not only is it an amazing alternative, it's also VERY within my budget. My reasoning that it wasn't an option were as follows:

1: An airline ticket to south east asia is MUCH more expensive than to Europe:

FALSE -Airline tickets on the same day (May 21, 2012, my estimated departure date) from St Louis cost nearly the same! $700 to London and $850 to Bangkok. If you're looking for the cheapest airfare, you need to take into account which airports are most commonly flown to, or can handle the large airliner traffic. Flying into Vietnam or Italy directly can cost much more. The easiest way I found to pick somewhere was to take a look at what stopovers there are in the area. Set your flight to where you're wanting to go and look at the stopovers. From the US to EU the most common one I found was London. To SE Asia, it was Hong Kong and Bangkok. Since China isn't on my itinerary at the moment, though it may change since I can stop in Hong Kong and check out a little of China on my way back home, I chose to fly into Bangkok even though where I want to go is Cambodia, Vietnam, and possibly Bali.

2: SE Asia will be more expensive than Europe:

FALSE -This was a pretty ridiculous notion in the first place. SE Asia contains many nations that are considered third world and as such have MUCH lower costs of living as well as some VERY cheap options for housing. As I started looking at the options for budgeting I was given average statistics:

For Europe I was suggested a bare bones budget of €50 (or about $75 USD) per day. Thats staying at the cheapest hostels, eating two small meals a day either from the cheapest restaurants or going to a market and living off food I make myself. Not using any private transit unless its a bicycle and not taking taxi's pretty much at all. This includes paying for very cheap activities if any and limiting any kind of museum visits. Add into this that I'd be traveling during the peak tourist season and it can be more expensive since I've been told that the cheaper hostels can fill up quickly. Even more so, the 2012 summer olympics are in London so that will be something else that has the possibility to stretch my budget even thinner. Though my budget can make it at that level, its not the most ideal situation.

For SE Asia I was suggested a budget of around 1000 Thai Baht ($33-35 USD) per day. This includes staying at hostels, guest houses, though in some areas can include low end hotels (though still not your expensive rooms). Eating food from vendors and cheaper restaurants, taking public or some minor cheap private transportation. So with the budget I have in mind, This is a MUCH better alternative, I can leave open the option for the occasional treat or if I really need a good night a decent hotel, I can spring for it. Plus it leaves open options for cheap domestic flights around the area if needed or desired (some are around $70 or less). This all adds up to being able to do much more with the same budget, more flexibility, and all around ease of mind.

3: SE Asia is dangerous to travel through. Especially for Americans

FALSE: -The Vietnam war is over. Its cliché for me to go to that as my argument, but it is something that came to mind. I've been reading and getting information from people traveling in the same areas right now. They've been saying that its a pretty amazing locale that isn't nearly as dangerous as other areas they'd been to (ex: south africa, areas of south america, etc) and that I should “definitely make the trip.” Another person suggested “As an american traveling with some aussies, I've noticed that people can pick you out simply by the gear you wear. Avoid North Face like the plague, it tags you as an american.”

Now that I've fully decided on SE Asia as my official destination, I'm working out what to take, where to go, and what to do once I get there. Look out for upcoming posts on Gear, Itineraries, as well as Ideas on what I'm going to do. For now though, 300 more days until the big trip!

-Greg