I’ll admit it – I’ve been mentally planning my trip to Southeast Asia ever since I read ‘Eat. Pray. Love.’ Reading that book made me long to wander the beaches of Bali, meditate in an ashram in India and just generally live out my wildest hippie dreams. Actually, I think that’s when my obsession with finding inner peace really started to go into overdrive.
Just one year later, I’m planning my trip to Southeast Asia for real. I’m not expecting it to be the mystical, soul-searching experience I’d once envisioned since I’m going with my roommates and it’s more of a four week whistle-stop tour than a spiritual pilgrimage. Still, it’s Southeast Asia nonetheless!
Getting Around
Originally I’d imagined travelling Southeast Asia by land and hopping from place to place as the mood took me. However, my roommates wanted a more organised plan and felt that flying between different countries would be the most time-effective way of getting around.
We used Skyscanner to book all of our flights to ensure we got the best deals. After all, why pay £500 for your flight to Bangkok when you could pay £300 instead? It’s just good sense.
A small hiccup we came across was making sure our luggage allowance was consistent throughout the entire trip. Different airlines give you different luggage allowances and it would be no good to start off with a generous allowance of 25kg only to find that three flights later you’re restricted to 7kg with a different airline. I’m not planing on taking a lot with me, but boy am I planning on buying a lot of souvenirs while I’m there. We ended up purchasing additional luggage with some of the budget airlines like Air Asia just to make sure we weren’t caught out at the airport.
Hotels, Hostels and Some Questionable Living Quarters
We did all our hotel and hostel bookings through booking.com. Again, it’s a nifty way to save money if you’re on a budget as they offer discounted rates on rooms. Also, most rooms have free cancellation and there’s often no need to pay upfront.
We tried to keep our accommodation as budget-friendly as possible and, since Southeast Asia is generally a pretty cheap place to stay, we’ve managed to find ourselves some lovely looking rooms at great prices. The one exception was in Singapore AKA the world’s most expensive city. Our hostel there is not only the most expensive places we’re staying at, but also the least attractive looking. In fact, it straight-up looks like something out of a horror movie. Wish us luck with that one!
The Itinerary
We’re not making it to all the places we wanted to this time round, but I think we’ve got a pretty good-looking itinerary.
Bangkok – 4 days
Chiang Mai – 6 days
Phuket – 5 days
Kaula Lumpar – 2 days
Singapore – 3 days
Ubud – 3 days
Nusa Lembongan Island – 2 days
Hanoi – 4 days
Of course we’re planning on making the rounds of the must-see tourist attractions like The Grand Palace in Bangkok, Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpar and a quick Singapore Sling in Raffles hotel, but there are certain parts of the trip that are going to be super duper special.
We’re going to spend two days at Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai. At this point the excitement is keeping me up at night because that’s been top of my travel bucket list for longer than I can remember. Also, while we’re in Hanoi we’re planning on taking the night train to Sapa to explore the rice terraces, which should be a really special experience.
With just a few more days left until we embark on our big adventure, I can barely believe I’m actually going to be lying on the beaches in Bali and watching the elephants in Thailand. And who knows? Maybe I will get my own ‘Eat. Pray. Love.’ moment after all.
