Travel Addict: Planning Your Trip

Summer 2015 took me to Republic of Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina. Now I am proud to announce that I already ticked one of my bucket lists. The 7-days and 6-nights adventure was definitely a wonderful experience that I will cherish in my memory forever. 

Plitvice Lake in Croatia

          

Where 2015 takes you to?

Travel can be expensive if you do not plan your trip well. Deciding where you should go for your coming adventure may be a difficult subject if you never step out from your home country before. "When is the right time" is another big question to be answered. To be honest, there will be many other questions strike you later such as; "How many days you should spend? How much money do you need? How do you get around the places? What language do people speak there?" etc. Well, let’s try our best to keep things as simple as possible without leaving the adventurous element aside. 

When Should I Go?

 

  Photo: Credit to Google

Some people may face a difficulty when it comes to deciding the right time for an adventure especially if you are enthusiastic worker who rarely take a leave from work. But if you are a university or college student, you may have some breaks from your hectic academic schedule and this is the best time for you to explore the world. Take a few days for your adventure but make sure you return a day or two before the class commences for quick recharge.

First step; take out your annual planner / diary. Check out when your next holiday is and how long it is going to be. Do you have a week off? A week vacation should be sufficient if you are planning to visit one big country such as Italy or maybe two to three famous cities in different countries. But, if you only have three to four days for a quick trip, you may have to consider visiting one city only, such as Stockholm or Paris. It would be ideal if you can avoid the peak holiday season especially summer. During summer, most people will be travelling out from their home countries for a nice vacation. Most cities like Dubrovnik, Paris, Barcelona and etc will be crowded with tourists around summer time. This is the time when the price of accommodations and flight tickets rise like crazy. That is why a good planning becomes very essential in securing a wonderful adventure during peak season. Okay, the word "secure" may sound too ideal. But if summer is the only time you have, just go ahead with the trip. You have nothing to lose.

Marking Your Destination

  

Photo: Credit to Google

Have a dreamed place to go in your mind? Now it is time to mark your calendar and move to next step: Flight ticket.

No place in your mind yet but excited to set up an adventure? Allow me to share you a few tips:

Junibacken (Children Museum) in Stockholm

Some countries such Sweden, Norway and Denmark are best visit during summer unless you are hunting for aurora or skiing. Sweden will be like a frozen land during winter, where the sun never sets for part of each winter, particularly in North Artic Circle. In Stockholm, daylight lasts for more than 18 hours in late June and only around 6 hours in late December. So, the best time to explore the Scandinavia countries would be around summer when you have the longest daylight and more time for strolling around the city. However, Scandinavia countries are ranked among the top ten of the most expensive countries to visit. Business Insider ranked Norway as number 5, Denmark as number 7 and Sweden as number 8. Flights to Scandinavia countries can be relatively cheap, but those countries do offer expensive goods and service costs. I do have a few good tricks that may save you from becoming broke in the middle of your trip in Sweden. I will share those in later post.

If snow and skiing are your main goal, winter is an ideal time for your trip. Switzerland is a world-known country for ski. But it is also known as the number one most expensive country to visit. Just make sure you have packed enough cash before you fly to Switzerland. But if you still want to ski and looking for a cheaper option, why not try Prague or Eastern Europe such as Slovenia, Montenegro. Otherwise, you can find some skiing spots in Canada, Colorado, France, Italy or New Zealand.

Fancy some kind of wild nature adventure and cultures? How about South America or Africa or perhaps Asia countries? Countries in Africa, such as Tanzania, are famous with safari and you will be able to watch wild animals without any cage. They also have interesting cultures to be learned. I have never been to any countries in Africa but safari does sound appealing to me. South America is also rich with wild nature and culture. From my reading, Colombia and Bolivia are among the cheapest destinations to visit and worth exploring.

Momo: a must-try Nepali dish

I cannot deny how essential for you to have your own travel fund prior to a trip. Flights, accommodation, food and activities travelling can be really expensive. However, a trip does not leave you totally broke. Good news for the low budget traveller, some world destinations are relatively cheap and budget-friendly especially Asia countries. 

Me enjoying local Nepali cuisine

Cambodia is not only rich with beautiful nature, but also history with its most popular well-preserved Angkor Wat temple. Lonely Planet listed Nepal as among the cheapest countries to visit, but that only apply if you stay in a budget accommodation and stick to eating local Nepali cuisine. Nepal has lots of UNESCO world heritage temples and stupas. Sadly, most of monuments are severely damaged from the earthquakes in early 2015 and recovery phase is very slow to progress. To be honest, I personally did find the entrance fees to those heritage places were very expensive. Some places cost foreign tourist 10 times more than local people should pay. My worst experience in Nepal was when a random self-acclaimed best tour guide approached me and my friend to offer his expensive service (which would cost us more than the entrance fee itself) and tagged us along after we rejected him. Sometimes you just need to be firm and furiously say “No” to some people. Rest assured, not every Nepali people acts like that. Most people are warm and friendly.

Thailand and Indonesia also offer you cheap exotic experiences if you are willing to explore those countries more. The multicultural Malaysia is another hotspot for tourists from around the world. I am not being biased here, but you can find most things in Malaysia, depending on what your interest whether food, nature, history, architectural or culture. Each state in Malaysia has different amazing things to offer to you. According to www.sportdiver.com, among top 50 destinations for snorkeling and scuba diving in world include Sipadan and Mabul islands. I don’t know how to dive, but from my

Perhentian Island

experience snorkeling in Perhentian Island, I would recommend Perhentian Island as another beautiful spot for snorkeling. Terengganu and Kelantan are the two popular states in Malaysia that produce amazing batik. I only had one experience in batik painting and I can say that batik requires a higher level of painting skill (which I have not accquire yet).

 If you do want a real, tough adventure, here is my bold suggestion: Buy the cheapest flight ticket that you can find in your favourite airline websites and pack your stuff for your randomly selected adventure. I have wanted to do that in my life, at least once. But my dear friend would never allow that to happen if I decide to go alone.

I do hope this post does help you to plan for your adventure, even a tiny bit. Tell me what topic do you want me to share in my next post and I’ll do my best to cover it for you.

P/s: I did not expect that this entry would take more two pages of MS Word at the beginning. Sorry for the long post! 

P/s: They are all my photos taken during my trip to those amazing places (except for the calendar and the globe-> credit to Google).