As I said last time out, we left Taipei for Singapore on the 29th of March. This was the first leg of the 'journey of a lifetime'. At least, that's what it feels like to us. Basically, we are going to travel across South East Asia and see if it's as beautiful as everyone says; purely for research of course.
The trip is going to consist of (if the money lasts) Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and China. We might end up going through some places kind of quick and we had to take some countries out of the trip to make room for others but I think we should be able to see what we want to in each place.
We had been planning on visiting Indonesia and a much larger part of China but we couldn't find the extra time or cash.
Also, having been on the road for about a month now we've realized that you should be in transit as little as possible on a trip like this. We want to actually enjoy seeing the places, not just spend loads of time traveling between each one and looking out the window at them.
The itinerary we've decided on is really about making the most of the resources available to us, particularly time and money.
Obviously, an awful lot of planning has to go into a trip like this. I don't know how useful it will be to people but I'll give a brief account of what we did and how went about it.
We were by no means perfect but we made about as many lists as the Dail does each year so some of them must be helpful to someone.
Where to start?
I suppose the first thing is saving. Myself and Katie could never be described as great savers. Most of the pay cheques I've ever gotten in my life have usually been well spent by the time the next one came around. I just can't help spending money when I have it - there always seems to be something to buy or some night out to have.
So, when I say I have no money it's actually true!
We managed to save a fair bit for this trip while we were in Taiwan though. The main reason was probably because the cost of living is much lower than in Ireland so our salaries went much further. But it was also because we made a plan for ourselves.
We had a figure we wanted to save so we came up with ways to achieve that goal. This meant having weekly budgets for our living expenses and making sure we set aside a certain amount each week.
For us, it was easier to start with smaller amounts, then slowly building up the amount we were putting aside as time went on. It meant being relatively frugal at the end but not being complete tight arses for the whole time!
I know this is obvious but you HAVE to make sure whatever budgets you make have luxuries included. You'll go bloody mad without at least some of the stuff you just want (beer and chocolate).
The next thing we did was plan what we wanted to bring. This was actually quite difficult when you've been living away from home for a while. The most important thing for us was to pack as light as possible. What's the point in hauling around a load of stuff you won't use?
The main problem this threw up for us was what to do with the stuff we didn't want to bring with us. You build up an insane amount of crap in only six months. Seriously, where does all this stuff come from?
If we were at home we could have just shoved it in a wardrobe and worried about it later (a bit like we did before we left Ireland). However, we had to try and dispose of our things in whichever way was most appropriate. This was kind of our biggest concern for the last few weeks in Taiwan. We ended up selling some stuff, giving some stuff away and binning the rest.
The hardest thing to decide on was clothes. It's really hard to find the balance between what you need and overfilling your bag. I'd call myself a 'contingency packer' - I pack shed loads of stuff 'just in case'.
In packing for this trip I had to turn that whole philosophy on its head. We had to be really ruthless and ended up throwing out some stuff we quite liked but just couldn't justify hauling around with us.
If we need something we can buy it on the way because Asia is sooo cheap. Well, hopefully…
I pretty much packed two of everything - one to wear while the other is being washed. The only exception to this was underwear and t- shirts. I brought a fair few of those because they don't take up much room and having to wear dirty underwear/t-shirt is gross.
When our packing decisions were out of the way we had two things left: the route and the daily budget.
We decided on both of these by using the internet. The user forum on the Lonely Planet website and another site called travelfish.org were the handiest things for this. The main consideration for both of these things was how long we decided to spend on the road.
They kind of go hand in hand because you need to know where you're going in order know how much you should budget for. We settled on a kind of whistle stop tour of South East Asia to try and get in as much as we could in the time we had available. This meant starting in Singapore and going overland to Hong Kong.
Trust me, that was how vague our route was when we left Taiwan. Kind of knew the order of the countries but were't too sure. We said we'd just decide as we went and use advice we picked up on the way. It was a liberating thought.
BUT it's not as easy as that. There are certain things you need to plan for, visas for example, which mean you should have vague dates and places in mind. This meant that we put a more concrete plan together during a free day in KL when we had the internet. This has actually put us (me) way more at ease.
It's still a pretty vague route but it gives us a much better idea of where we'll be at certain times. We basically took the route from Travelfish and added some other places we were advised to go. It means we'll hit about 30 places in 17 weeks or so which is kind of hectic but doable.
Route decided, we moved on to daily budgets. Again, we had a vague idea of this before we left but we couldn't get a feel for the real cost of things until we were actually traveling.
From advice on the internet we settled on an average of 50 euro a day for both of us (25 each) - all in. Now, this is an average so it's obviously going to fluctuate some days. And it won't work for certain countries. For example, Singapore was woefully expensive so we spent a good bit more there - our accommodation alone was 30 quid for 2 beds in a 12 bed dorm!
We managed to do parts of Malaysia well under the 50 but I expect Thailand to be bit more expensive because we'll be in touristy areas. We're banking on Laos and Cambodia being cheap so we can spend a bit more later on in China.
One thing which has been really helpful with the daily budgets is actually writing how much we've spent each day. It's a bit boring sometimes but it means we know if the budget is working or not - can we get away with less or do we need more? It also means we know where the money goes and we aren't just spending blindly.
Overall, I think the first month has gone pretty well after all our planning. We've got a better handle on what we're doing but the stuff we did beforehand has helped a lot.
Even though we were pretty ruthless with the packing I've actually ended up throwing out some more stuff which I haven't used; namely shirt, some underwear and a pair of runners. You just don't need proper shoes here - it's flip flops all the way!
And with that lovely thought I'll sign off. I hope this hasn't been too boring but I figured it might help someone out if they're planning on going traveling. Sure isn't the spirit of backpacking all about loving one an another and helping each other out?
Well, that's what I hear from Bob Marley in every bar I go into anyway.
The trip is going to consist of (if the money lasts) Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and China. We might end up going through some places kind of quick and we had to take some countries out of the trip to make room for others but I think we should be able to see what we want to in each place.
We had been planning on visiting Indonesia and a much larger part of China but we couldn't find the extra time or cash.
Also, having been on the road for about a month now we've realized that you should be in transit as little as possible on a trip like this. We want to actually enjoy seeing the places, not just spend loads of time traveling between each one and looking out the window at them.
The itinerary we've decided on is really about making the most of the resources available to us, particularly time and money.
Obviously, an awful lot of planning has to go into a trip like this. I don't know how useful it will be to people but I'll give a brief account of what we did and how went about it.
We were by no means perfect but we made about as many lists as the Dail does each year so some of them must be helpful to someone.
Where to start?
I suppose the first thing is saving. Myself and Katie could never be described as great savers. Most of the pay cheques I've ever gotten in my life have usually been well spent by the time the next one came around. I just can't help spending money when I have it - there always seems to be something to buy or some night out to have.
So, when I say I have no money it's actually true!
We managed to save a fair bit for this trip while we were in Taiwan though. The main reason was probably because the cost of living is much lower than in Ireland so our salaries went much further. But it was also because we made a plan for ourselves.
We had a figure we wanted to save so we came up with ways to achieve that goal. This meant having weekly budgets for our living expenses and making sure we set aside a certain amount each week.
For us, it was easier to start with smaller amounts, then slowly building up the amount we were putting aside as time went on. It meant being relatively frugal at the end but not being complete tight arses for the whole time!
I know this is obvious but you HAVE to make sure whatever budgets you make have luxuries included. You'll go bloody mad without at least some of the stuff you just want (beer and chocolate).
The next thing we did was plan what we wanted to bring. This was actually quite difficult when you've been living away from home for a while. The most important thing for us was to pack as light as possible. What's the point in hauling around a load of stuff you won't use?
The main problem this threw up for us was what to do with the stuff we didn't want to bring with us. You build up an insane amount of crap in only six months. Seriously, where does all this stuff come from?
If we were at home we could have just shoved it in a wardrobe and worried about it later (a bit like we did before we left Ireland). However, we had to try and dispose of our things in whichever way was most appropriate. This was kind of our biggest concern for the last few weeks in Taiwan. We ended up selling some stuff, giving some stuff away and binning the rest.
The hardest thing to decide on was clothes. It's really hard to find the balance between what you need and overfilling your bag. I'd call myself a 'contingency packer' - I pack shed loads of stuff 'just in case'.
In packing for this trip I had to turn that whole philosophy on its head. We had to be really ruthless and ended up throwing out some stuff we quite liked but just couldn't justify hauling around with us.
If we need something we can buy it on the way because Asia is sooo cheap. Well, hopefully…
I pretty much packed two of everything - one to wear while the other is being washed. The only exception to this was underwear and t- shirts. I brought a fair few of those because they don't take up much room and having to wear dirty underwear/t-shirt is gross.
When our packing decisions were out of the way we had two things left: the route and the daily budget.
We decided on both of these by using the internet. The user forum on the Lonely Planet website and another site called travelfish.org were the handiest things for this. The main consideration for both of these things was how long we decided to spend on the road.
They kind of go hand in hand because you need to know where you're going in order know how much you should budget for. We settled on a kind of whistle stop tour of South East Asia to try and get in as much as we could in the time we had available. This meant starting in Singapore and going overland to Hong Kong.
Trust me, that was how vague our route was when we left Taiwan. Kind of knew the order of the countries but were't too sure. We said we'd just decide as we went and use advice we picked up on the way. It was a liberating thought.
BUT it's not as easy as that. There are certain things you need to plan for, visas for example, which mean you should have vague dates and places in mind. This meant that we put a more concrete plan together during a free day in KL when we had the internet. This has actually put us (me) way more at ease.
It's still a pretty vague route but it gives us a much better idea of where we'll be at certain times. We basically took the route from Travelfish and added some other places we were advised to go. It means we'll hit about 30 places in 17 weeks or so which is kind of hectic but doable.
Route decided, we moved on to daily budgets. Again, we had a vague idea of this before we left but we couldn't get a feel for the real cost of things until we were actually traveling.
From advice on the internet we settled on an average of 50 euro a day for both of us (25 each) - all in. Now, this is an average so it's obviously going to fluctuate some days. And it won't work for certain countries. For example, Singapore was woefully expensive so we spent a good bit more there - our accommodation alone was 30 quid for 2 beds in a 12 bed dorm!
We managed to do parts of Malaysia well under the 50 but I expect Thailand to be bit more expensive because we'll be in touristy areas. We're banking on Laos and Cambodia being cheap so we can spend a bit more later on in China.
One thing which has been really helpful with the daily budgets is actually writing how much we've spent each day. It's a bit boring sometimes but it means we know if the budget is working or not - can we get away with less or do we need more? It also means we know where the money goes and we aren't just spending blindly.
Overall, I think the first month has gone pretty well after all our planning. We've got a better handle on what we're doing but the stuff we did beforehand has helped a lot.
Even though we were pretty ruthless with the packing I've actually ended up throwing out some more stuff which I haven't used; namely shirt, some underwear and a pair of runners. You just don't need proper shoes here - it's flip flops all the way!
And with that lovely thought I'll sign off. I hope this hasn't been too boring but I figured it might help someone out if they're planning on going traveling. Sure isn't the spirit of backpacking all about loving one an another and helping each other out?
Well, that's what I hear from Bob Marley in every bar I go into anyway.
