Budgetting for An Asian Trip

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The biggest expense that one would encounter when planning a trip is the air ticket.Here are some ideas on how to prepare for a trip to Asia based on how we did our trip planning 8 months in advance(yes,that long).

Its very generous of hubby to allow us to use all his mileage awards points to let us travel from Toronto to Manila via Europe and paying only a minimal amount that covers taxes.

So from Manila where we will spend one month, we will be flying to Singapore where we will spend another month to allow us to travel to other Asian cities.

Most budget airlines maintain hubs, and in Southeast Asia it is Singapore(Tigerairways,Jetstarasia),Kuala Lumpur(Air Asia,Firefly) and Bangkok(Thai AirAsia).To get cheap flights its best to fly from this main hubs of budget carriers. Since I have a very good experience with budget airlines in Asia most specifically in Singapore where we lived for ten years, I somehow know the approximate cost of dirt cheap tickets going to and from Singapore.

Its also a blessing that Cebu Pacific, the Philippines budget airlines has come out with seat sales in September and October 2012 for travel in 2013.Thus some of our trips are also flying out from Manila

By now, we have practically bought all our tickets going to and from Manila and Singapore to the places we will be visiting in our summer vacation.

Before starting with any vacation planning,make sure you have researched on your destinations , prepare a budget and stick to the budget that you have set for your trip. Here are the cheapest round trip tickets we purchased:

I am putting this information on my blog for my future reference and others might also use it as reference when buying their tickets going around Asia. Next is budgetting for accomodations.We won't be staying in five-star hotels and dining in fine restaurants, but we will try to soak up the culture and have a great time.

Other people save on accomodations by staying with friends and relatives, coach surfing, staying in apartments and hostels.Its your own personal preference and travelling style. But since I am at an age where we travel because I have prepared for it and dont really want to backpack, I prefer staying in hotels.

We are using our unused Marriot Asia Pacific Awards for our trip to Bali and Shanghai. Again hubbys' award points in hotel websites have helped us in getting free accomodations and discounts in most hotels we will be staying in. Right now I am using AGODA since we have free dollars there due to hubby's previous stays but Booking.com is another reliable site since they dont ask you for a downpayment and you can cancel without charge provided you dont go beyond the deadline for cancellations.