BOOKING OUR TRIP: 4 MONTHS IN ASIA

How did we decide where to go?

I would 100% suggest looking on Youtube at travel vlogs for inspiration when booking a trip. Everyone wants to travel for different reasons and if you're looking to hike up mountains or go on a yoga retreat their are travel vloggers out there that will hook you up with the perfect travel spots.

See my previous post 'WE'RE GOING TRAVELLING' for our planned route. We worked out how long we had to travel and then the amount of places we would be able to do in that time. You don't want to be moving everyday and have enough time to see everything. We also had to be realistic with how much we (I) could save (why did I think I would cut my Starbucks addiction?!) and how far this will get you. It's tragic that you can't afford to just eat acai bowls, drink cocktails and live in luxury penthouse in Bali for for 4 months while saving your small disposable income in London but its real life.

Booking our flights

We booked our flights from STA Travel. One Winters evening earlier in the year when we were suffering holiday blues after returning home from Cape Town we were looking for an excuse to not go to the gym, so we went in and booked our trip to SE Asia. Procrastination at its finest.

The people in STA were super helpful, most of the staff have traveled around themselves. The only flights we booked with STA were our outbound and return flights to Birmingham. We wanted to spend a few days in Dubai to see my friend so booked a layover rather than connecting flight to Bankgkok. Then a return flight from Kuala Lumpur to Birmingham for January. We paid around £700 each for all of these flights which actually worked out cheaper than Sky Scanner so definitely worth using STA.

We paid the deposit of £150 each which allows you to change your flights as much as you want, which has been an absolute lifesaver as we've changed ours about 8 times. I would 100% recommend spending a little bit extra so you have more flexibility. Our last flight change was due to booking a tour which only left on certain dates. Tours & Accommodation

We were told by a lot of people not to book STA led tours or accommodation as they are more expensive than what you can do yourself or book on something like hotels.com. Also using Hotels.com you earn a free night for every 10 nights you book. I'll do a separate blog on accommodation when we get to Chiang Mai but we were told just to book accommodation for when we arrive in Bangkok and then sort everything else over there. As an early birthday present my boyfriend has booked us a 14-day Northern Thailand trip (what a babe), just as we've never done anything like this before and we thought would be a good way to start our trip without having to faff about to organise. We booked through STA but the tour company is Tru Travels (www.trutravels.com) check their social media before booking through a third party they sometimes have 20% off deals on, we found out the hard way). I'll do a full blog on this part of our trip but we're covered for the first 13 nights accommodation of our trip/airport pick ups/transport etc.

The itinerary for the trip includes :

Khao San Road Nightlife Taling Chan Floating Markets Kayaking along the river kwai Erawan Waterfalls Bike ride around Ayutthaya temples Chaing Mai Temples 2 Day jungle trek & hill tribe village stay Half day zip lining Elephants Sanctuary Hot springs and waterfalls in Pai Lod cave & Pai Circus School Thai cooking course

We probably could of done this all cheaper ourselves but organizing and planning all of the above would of taken a lot of time and effort.

Insurance

We did actually decide to use STA for insurance, yes we probably could of saved a little money shopping around but I’ve had really bad experiences from going with cheaper insurers and being away for a few months (My Ayia Napa jelly shot girl days). I think we paid about £180.00 each for nearly 4 months insurance and everything is covered from missing flights to and you also get English speaking doctors etc. It was however like an extra £300.00 for gadget cover so we're risking our GoPro and I've paid separate with EE for phone cover. Vaccinations

For our jabs we read so much different information online which was all so confusing so we just booked ourselves in with the nurse at our NHS practice and they are pretty good with telling you what you need and where to look online in terms on malaria areas etc. We both got the Hep A & Hep B jabs, typhoid and Tetanus. They sting like a bitch but it’s over in a couple of minutes and I’m a massive needle phobe. These are covered on the NHS and have to be completed within about 28 days. We also paid for the Rabies jab. We spoke to quite a lot of people who didn’t get this but tbh I’d rather be safe than sorry. I got bit by a dog on the tube once so I feel like knowing my luck a monkey would come right at me. We paid £120 at our NHS practice for a set of 3 Rabies jab.

As mosquitoes love me (I legit had 54 bites on my body at one time when we went to Mauritius) we also paid for the Japanese Encephalitis. This was super pricey (£180 for 2 jabs, horrendous) and we shopped around but they were all this much. You had to have the second one 28 days after the first and as time was running out we didn’t really have time to debate this for too long. All I thought about was if I got ill how I’d hate myself for being lay in a bed and not out enjoying the trip. Due to the new headlines on super malaria we also got a couple of months worth of malaria tablets online. With only one more weekend before we leave it's all getting pretty real! Ordered about £600 worth of clothes in panic to ensure I have anything and will be doing a blog post on exactly what i've packed!

Any suggestions welcome! :)

AbbieJS

xxxx