South East Asia

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I finally decided to give a taste of my extensive Budget Travel Planning skills on “Shoe-String Budget” to my wife. The least cost effective option for this kind of ‘Dangerous Experiment’ with minimum risk factor turned out to beSouth East Asia. When we think ofSouth East Asia, it’s an enormous task to decide on exactly which countries to cover and which ones to be left out. After careful research on the subject, we decided on two countries very different from each other in all aspects –Singapore and Malaysia. Both these places emerged clear winners to host our budget gourmets. They are in our backyards (access is economical and convenient), first World (but cut-price), easy to navigate (using punctual and thrifty Metro System) and the accommodation was surprisingly reasonable (not to mention a friend’s place in Singapore).

The planning aspects commenced about two months in advance. In the beginning was the Budget, and the Budget was with God, and then the Budget was itself God. Finally, the Budget smiled from the corner of its mouth, giving out the verdict that my wife & I would positively go for our first ‘phoren’ holiday. But this was no easy task, after all, our frugal budget (no more than 70 – 80 K all inclusive for both of us) would make backpackers blush.Mission Impossible? No way. We could do it, and we didn’t even have to rob a bank.

Months in advance, we searched on the internet till our fingers were sore and we scoured travel magazines (special mention for Outlook Traveller) till our eyes started paining. We selected and rejected repeatedly – all kinds of PackageDeals offered to us by various Tour & Travel agencies. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but we swore to cut down on all possible unnecessary expenditure. And so emerged the flesh made word : The Itinerary. And may I emphasize, a very detailed & exhaustive itinerary, down to the last ‘crab claw’. So when we packed our bags, we left our worries behind and soaked in loads of extra energies to have a trip of our lifetime. And then we were off, on a whim and a prayer, aboard the cheapest flight available (Tiger Airways…anyone heard about it?) that could be taken without a hijacking.

The actual trip details are coming up in next two Blogs.....Happy Reading !!!!

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