Me and my girlfriend we just bought our fabulous, amazing 7 months trip.... help us with suggestions!
Hey what's up everybody,
I'm pretty excited cause next August me and gf we are gonna realize a dream, traveling from California to Asia and we'll visit 12 different countries in about 7 months...
Now we are wondering about the budget we should consider and that's why I'm actually starting this topic, confident some of you will help us out with tips and suggestions.... 😊
This is a list of the places we will hit and the approximate time of stay:
Shanghai:January 5>9
Beijing: January 9> 12
Beijing-Ulanbator via train: January 12>28
Yangon: January 28>February 14
Kathmandu: February 15> March 2
Lhasa: March 2>15
New Delhi: March 16> May 14 (2 months in India from North to South)
Colombo: May 14>27
Kuala Lumpur: May 27> June 14
Singapore: June 14>17
Bali: June 17>30
End of the trip... 😞
Would you please suggest me how much should we consider per person every day, given the country and season?
Any impression, comment and invite is quite welcome!
Thank you so much for reading and help me planning my adventure...!!
😊
Reply to this Hello Marco and welcome to Travelblog!
Nice itinerary, but I would suggest reversing your Indian journey - start in the south and head north. Once you hit April, in most of India the weather can become oppressive (due to humidity), especially in the south. April/May would be the best time to escape to Kathmandu and Lhasa.
Thus I would fly from Yangon to Sri Lanka, head to the south of India (which is an easier introduction to the country than arriving in the more touristed north) and head north, culminating in the mountains region around April/May. From there head to Malaysia - start with Langkawi or Penang (international flights go to both) and then head south towards Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
Just to labour the point, I used to live in a sub-tropical climate in Australia (similar to Florida) and by March the weather in the south was very muggy. I was okay, but those not used to it were struggling. I met some people from Europe/UK late February in Kerala, and for them, the weather was so uncomfortable that they spent their days just sitting at the hotel, and only ventured out late afternoon.
If you have any further questions, please ask.
Reply to this Welcome to Travelblog! Your trip sounds like an incredible adventure.
In general, Asia is incredibly cheap compared to the United States and Europe, so your money will go far. Daily budget depends on your comfort level; the less comfort the less cost. Cheap travel means eating street food instead of in restarants, staying in hostels instead of hotels, taking trains/busses when possible instead of flying, and passing up most expensive activities. You'll meet more locals and experience more local culture that way too. Of course, this also means you might spend an entire day packed into a bus that feels like a sardine can and is so old it may explode, as a few bloggers have documented. On my own trips I do a mixture, several cheap days to each relatively luxourious one.
For specific costs, guidebooks can povide a general guideline. For more specific data, find frequent forum posters who have been where you are headed and send then a message.
Reply to this Hey
Sounds like a great route. I take it you are flying between a lot of the countries?
In answer to your cost question, Singapore looks like it will be one of your most expensive countries. It's UK prices there now. I've also heard that Burma has increased in price a lot recently and that $15 a night only gets you a crappy room.
Bloggers like
The Road is calling and
Beata and Tomek give useful information in their blogs about the cost of things.
[Edited: 2013 Mar 13 06:04 - Rat on the Road:23681 ]
Reply to this I certainly won't claim to be an expert on a lot of these places but I have been readin a lot of blogs lately. Beats and topic seem to be travelling through the most of Asia on around 55 for 2 people everyday. However this seems to be a little on the cheap, although they seem to be having such an amazing time. It's always best to increase your budget and decrease your time away so you don't force yourself to miss out on great experiences because he budget wouldn't allow for it. So I would say a safe bet through the majority of your trip except Singapore would be around 75 per day as a couple. This would include accommodation, meals, drinks, transport, and visas. But not including long haul flights, travel insurance or a contingency fund. This should see you staying at basic double accommodation with sometimes a private bathroom and sometime a shared, and mostly eating street food and cheaper restaurants. Also splashing out on a couple of beers a day. Again this is a rough guide in US dollars and only from what I have been reading from others experiences. Although my wife and I are planning 6 months in SE Asia next year and are budgeting 70 a day for the 2 of us.
Hope this helps as a starting point.
Reply to this Really gotta turn that autocorrect off on my iPad! *Beata and Tomek.
[Edited: 2013 Mar 14 12:29 - Vince n Suz:118935 - Typos]
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