Ireland to OZ but with many stops.

ShiverinEskimo

Hi,

I'm looking at doing a bit of travelling taking 3 weeks to a month between Ireland and Oz going by the following itinerary and was hoping someone could recommend the best way to go about booking flights and is there such a thing as a ticket that lets you fly in open-ended style but with varying destinations.

Ireland
Honk Kong (with a stop in Heathrow or Amsterdam I reckon obviously)
(Hanoi - Vietnam)
Bangkok
Koala Lumpur or Singapore
(Bali)
Oz - either Perth or Sydney

The ones in brackets are desirable but not essential destinations.

Has anyone done this sort of route or travelled in a such a way on their way over?

Looking for the best/cheapest way to go about booking flights or even an airline/travel agency that can organiseit all at a decent price. Looking to spend 5 days to a week in each place.

All input/ideas welcome.

Aiming to head in November-ish

general_x

To be honest, I would cut out a couple of those stop offs and just head for 2 or 3 good spots. (Hong Kong, Saigon, Cambodia). Don't bother with Singapore or Kuala Lumper. You'll have more than enough pollution and noise in Saigon/Bangkok!

As far as airline tickets are concerned, it depends on when you're coming home and if you want to incorperate the return flights into this..

ShiverinEskimo

Nope - all 1-way.

With more thinking and research i've narrowed it down to

Ireland - Honk Kong - Hanoi - KohSamui - Singapore - Sydney.

This costs ~1500 flights only through last minute.com but it will only allow 3 destinations on a multi-stop search so I'll have to tinker around all the possibilities to find the cheapest multistop.

Is 1500 too much? would I do better to shop round each airline on its own?

general_x

It's been a while since I've gone looking for long haul flights like that but it looks very expensive for what you're getting to be honest.. If I were you, I'd go and have a chat with someone in Trailfinders or USIT and I guarentee you they'll be cheaper. I would definately leave out Ko Samui and Singapore as there are far nicer alternatives to these places in the region.

ShiverinEskimo

USIT is a great idea. Thanks.

Where abouts in Thailand would you recommend instead of Ko Samui?

PunyHuman

I recommend forgetting about the beaches and going to Cambodia instead. Angkor is better than a Thai island any day. Plenty of flights from Siem Reap and Phnom Penh to Singapore as well.

general_x

Yeah I would agree with that completely. If you really wanna see nice beaches Cambodia is where you wanna go anyway. Sihanoukville is a really nice spot in the South.. Extremely cheap, friendly locals, and much fewer tourists than a Thai beach.

gerire

Having been to most of the places you are looking to head to, Id avoid HK and go to singapore instead. And then up to northern Thailand, Chang mai/Pai. You are very tight for time, I know its a nice idea to hit Oz asap and get a base set up etc. but you will just look back and wonder why you didnt stay for longer, especially when you look in your wallet.

ShiverinEskimo

Thanks for the advice gerire - but Hong Kong is a must as I have two friends living there that I'm visiting. The only thing rushing me to Oz is wanting to have a place and be semi settled by christmas.

The hardest part right now is where to go between HK and Oz! Loads of good suggestions. Its a bitch - everyone thats been to that corner of the world loved where they were and so recommend above other places in the same region. What I'm looking for is unspoiled places (isn't everyone) that wont break the bank but at the same time wont require crocodile dundee style survival techniques. Is there such a place? :rolleyes:

gerire

Laos, yes loads have been there and will continue to go. But there is a reason people go. Its amazin

ShiverinEskimo

Do you need a seperate visa for each country in that region? I mean if we were to fly into say saigon and then travel down through laos into cambodia or thailand would we be shafted for visas?

PunyHuman

Assuming you're Irish, you need a visa for every continental SE Asian country except Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. You can certainly get visas in Bangkok, and most likely in Saigon and Hanoi too. Search Lonely Planet's thorn tree forum for more information.

If you want unspoiled (and cheap) SE Asia, forget about Thailand and go to Cambodia or Laos. The Khmers get my vote.

gerire

All the SE asian countries except for Vietnam issue a visa on arrival at the border/airport.

Bangkok has a 500Bhat departure tax too. Just something small to keep a note of when leaving

PunyHuman

Just to clarify:

gerire wrote:

All the SE asian countries except for Vietnam issue a visa on arrival at the border/airport.

You can't get a Laotian or Cambodian tourist visa at all border crossings.

gerire wrote:

Bangkok has a 500Bhat departure tax too.

This of course is an airport departure tax. If you leave the country overland, you pay nothing.

empirix

While i found Angkor amazing too, it can be hard going in places like Cambodia, especially if doing it overland, i would personally go to Phi Phi and chill out and maybe fly into Angkor for a few days - since your only planning a 3 week stint in SEA. Tis brilliant but 3 weeks is asking a bit much, you will be tired if you try and do more than 3 countries in 3 weeks - even if flying. You got to keep in mind the adjusting to the humidity/sun, food, pollution and mossies
A month/ 3 weeks in each country is ideal

ShiverinEskimo

This is all good stuff folks - thanks a million. I've mentioned it to the other 3 people coming with me and we're going to discuss it and see what we think.

PunyHuman thanks a mill for that lonely planet link. Buckets of info.


Keep the suggestions/advice coming - anything to make our trip easier will be appreciated.

MazStar

If you're wanting to go to some Thai islands- dont choose Koh Samui, I've been to most of them and by far Phi Phi was the best. Fabulous beaches and great nightlife. Laos was amazingly beautiful and Angkor was well worth a visit. Vietnam visa is an expensive one (if you'll only be there a few days), think it was $50. If you choose KL and Singapore you'll only need a few days to see them, nice cities but not that much to do.
I did Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore it was a bit of a whirlwind tour but enjoyed every minute of it.
Feel free to ask any more questions, i was always on thorntree forum (lonely planet) before I went- its a great resource.

ShiverinEskimo

Thanks MazStar,

I'm going in a group of 4 and one of my party had friends who were in Koh Samui who recommended so she has her heart set on Koh Samui. As its a group thing I don't want to become the dictator of travel so we're going to try to get to as many of the places we all want to go even if it means spending an extra bit of time there.

I'd love to visit Laos and Cambodia from what you people have said about it on here.

Whats it like crossing the borders on land? Is it really as much grief at the borders as people make out?

I suppose the only options to travel between these countries is to fly or to bus or am I wrong? Are the buses ****e?

Loads of questions I know. I'm going to have another look through the thorntree forum and pick up as much as I can. We'll be booking our flights now in about 2/3 weeks.

PunyHuman

The main Thailand-Cambodia border at Aranyaprathet is the subject of many horror stories, from scams and abandonments to huge queues and long delays to lousy roads and corrupt officials. Because of this, I didn't go that way.

Crossing into Cambodia at any of the other crossings is supposed to be better - certainly we had no hassle or delays at Pailin / Ban Laem near Trat. Crossing Cambodia-Vietnam, Vietnam-Laos and Laos-Thailand were all trouble-free as well.

The buses aren't that bad anywhere. Thai state buses are very comfy and you get food and movies. In Laos and Cambodia it's more basic; they're mostly private companies but the coaches are fine and have bucket seats and a/c. It's just that every journey ends up taking all day even if it's supposed to be three hours.

The train network in Cambodia and Laos is non-existent. There are a few budget airlines flying around the area that might be a better bet if you're short on time.

www.talesofasia.com

ShiverinEskimo

great link PunyHuman. Thanks.

So much to think about. Gettin a nosebleed trying to work out how to squeeze it all in.

daveg

I havn't read the whole thread but we are just back from a RTW trip. We booked flights, through trailfinders, with B.A. (7 stop RTW). We paid approx E1400.

One of our stops was in Hong Kong. Fantastic place. Wouldn't recommend it for shopping though. Was overhyped for me anyway. We stayed in the Harbour view renaissance hotel. Was superb. One of the best hotels we have ever stayed in.

MazStar

Would you not go for 2 months and see everything you want to see? I managed to squeeze all the countries I said earlier into 2 months. Border crossings were all fine for me. We got the slow boat from North Thailand down to Luang Prabang in Laos. It took 2 days but was a great experience (take lots of beer laos with you!). Flew from Vientienne (Laos) to Hanoi because that border crossing is supposed to be a nightmare (22hr bus journey). The road from Siem Riep(Cambodia) to Thailand was pretty crappy but we were in a minibus so wasnt too bad. Transport is so cheap over there that you can get a nice a/c mini bus or coach for so little.

PunyHuman

MazStar wrote:

Flew from Vientienne (Laos) to Hanoi because that border crossing is supposed to be a nightmare (22hr bus journey).

For me, that border crossing itself was OK: it was the journey that was the nightmare, because our bus abandoned us at immigration. So we had to hustle all the way to Vientiane, which took another 24 hours. A nightmare at the time, but fun in retrospect.