Planning my Vacation as a Budget Traveler..

I've been tempted to go to Thailand for a vacation since I opened Bayu Buana's web page in November '07 and they offered a tour to Bangkok, Phuket & Pattaya starting from USD 582. I was chatting with my friend, Srie, and told her about the tour. But not to my luck the offer is only valid from June-Aug '07 and they still have no new offer yet.


On December Airasia sent me an e-mail for their newest offering : IDR 16.000 (around USD 1.75) to KL one way (after tax would be IDR 246.000 or USD 25), I immediately open their site and found very very good prices and called my friend about the offer and we planned for a trip on May '08, our route is : KL - Bangkok - Phuket - KL, for all the route it cost me IDR 1.550.242 (around USD 170). My intention to stop by KL is to visit my BF's sister & her baby daughter which I haven't seen yet since she was born.

I tried to gather round information about hotels, interesting places to visit, good places to eat, maps, transportation in Bangkok, Phuket & KL from the net, it really was an interesting experience trying to schedule a trip for a week in 3 different places. My favorite site to check for travel info are from virtualtourist.com and blogs either from other traveler or locals. But in the last week before going I got really fed up with the plan, 'coz it really made me felt like I'm there already for so many times by planning it only (hehehe.... 5 months of planning :P)

In the end for some reasons we changed our vacation route to be :

KL (18-19 May) - Bangkok (19-21 May) - Singapore (21-23 May) - KL (23-25 May).
This adds the ticket cost for around IDR 1,4 mill (USD 150), for Bangkok - S'pore using Air Asia and S'pore - KL using Tiger Air.
Before deciding to use airplane from S'pore to KL I have thought of the opt of using bus, but after knowing the cost of the business class bus (SGD 63) being the same as using airplane (SGD 65), the long hour ride (around 5 hours) and the hassle at immigration JB (Johor Baru) of having to get down from the bus and bringing all our luggage along and having the risk of being left by our bus there and having to take the next bus coming (from the same company) plus hearing about the high criminal rate at JB, it's just not worth it.

Our plan was using public transportation such as MRT, bus and taxi except if in Phuket we would rent a car along with its driver, as this would be much cheaper and convenient than to use taxi (around THB 1500 per day - info from virtualtourist).

For our first night in KL we would sleep at a hostel called Anjung KL 2 in Bukit Bintang area this is by recommendation of Dina, my friend from kindergarten, this costs RM 70 per night (for a double room, including breakfast) being near to the famous jalan Alor for it's hawker food and near to monorail station, in Bangkok we would sleep at Hotel Asia as this hotel is really close to the BTS (Bangkok Sky Train - local MRT) and has it's own bridge connecting to the Ratchatewi station this costs USD 72 per night including breakfast (I bought it from a travel agent), in Singapore we would sleep at Lucky Plaza apartment which costs us SGD 70 per night for a double room (2 years ago I slept at the same type of room it cost me SGD 50) I chose this as it's strategic location being in the famous Orchard Road area and close by the Orchard MRT station. And for our last visit to KL we would be sleeping at my BF's sister place.
If we were to go to Phuket I would've chosen to sleep at Club Andaman, as for May they give a very good offer than the usual price (low season)
For hotel rates by travel agent, they would be available around 3 months before visit, prior to that they would say that they don't have the newest price yet and even on our last days they still say that the price is subject to change??? (very strange to me, esp if the hotel voucher is in my hands already).

For food I budgeted in KL would be RM 25 per meal, for Bangkok THB 300 and as for Singapore SGD 15. This amount would be sufficient if you are OK to eat at food courts or local hawker center, which I always think as the best way to eat becoz there would be lots of locals eating there.

For places to visit I have planned to just using our own knowledge or local tourist guide except if we had gone through our first plan in Phuket we would use a tour from the net for going to PhiPhi and other islands plus snorkeling & lunch it would cost THB 3100.

All in all, the ticket costs : IDR 2.940.058 (including the unused Bangkok-Phuket & Phuket-KL ticket), hotel/hostel costs : IDR 1.348.400 (KL 1 night, Bkk 2 nights, S'pore 1 night) per person (for 2 people) = IDR 4.288.458

Oh and 1 more tip : don't forget to call your CreditCard company and info them 1-2 days prior your departure about your trip schedule, be as detail as possible and tell them the possibility of you using the cards in those country, so it would be easier to use it (sometimes they would reject abroad transaction without this prior notice).

Preparation to be done before leaving : do a little check up with your doctor and ask for meds if you've got some problems and make sure ask for prescription as some countries could have a problem with the meds you're bringing. Bring your vitamins as this is a great help to take care of your health condition while traveling.
Be honest with your traveling partner about the sickness that you have, as they would be the first one to help you, and tell them about your abnormality such as sleepwalking, snoring, drooling (hihihi...) so they won't be shocked :D

After all of this... just enjoy your holiday and have lots and lots of great FUN!!!!

P.S : after planning this trip, it made me think of opening a travel agent hehehe... anybody interested?