6 month trip to SE Asia

Four of a kind

Hi everyone,

Myself and my girlfriend will be heading to SE. Asia in June for 6 months in total. I would like to use this thread to ask questions regarding itineary, travel info, money issues and other general stuff.

First off, we are from Ireland. And we've been asked by some close friends to go to their wedding in Singapore at the start of june. So we aim to head to Singapore and then start our trip after the wedding.

Thing is, we are not sure if its better to fly in and out of Bangkok, and then get a flight to singapore, or to fly in/out of kuala lumpur and travel by bus/train to Singapore?

Regarding money, after we pay for our flights/insurance/vaccines etc, we will have $12,000 between the two of us for the 6 month trip. Will this be enough? We are not party animals and don't drink much. We like basic accommodation as long as its safe, clean and comfortable. The odd bit of flashpacking isn't out of the question

At this stage, we are just beginning to research/plan our trip by looking up the likes of travelfish and other forums for info.

One issue we already are very concerned about is the money one. As in how do we bring our money?
From what I've read their seems to be different opinions on how to bring your money - traveller cheques/band cards/credit cards......

I have no problem bringing bank cards but then we will get hammered with transaction fees every time we withdraw, and also the possibility of the bank card getting damaged etc..and not been able to withdraw.

Does anyone know what banks provide the best/cheapest international rates for withdrawls?

We are experienced travellers, but never been to Asia before. We travelled Africa for 3 months last year, but we brought all our money with us in US dollars and exchanged it as we went...., but we don't want to do that for this trip for obvious reasons.

Any help you guys/girls can provide will be appreciated, and will be a big help in kick starting our 5 months of research.

Ohh, forgot to mention where we would like to visit/travel....

Thailand,
Vietnam,
Laos,
Cambodia,
Singapore,
Malaysia(some of it)
Indonesia(some of it)


Thanks again

Badgermonkey

http://www.cashpassport.com/1/en/au/

Used this in SE Asia, all atm transactions were free with the exception of Thailand for some reason.

Lost one of my two cards in Bangkok and was impressed by their emergency support.

Air:
http://www.airasia.com/my/en/home.html

http://www.tigerairways.com/

http://www.jetstar.com/gx/en/index.aspx

Rail:
http://www.seat61.com/

Four of a kind

Badgermonkey wrote: »

http://www.cashpassport.com/1/en/au/

Used this in SE Asia, all atm transactions were free with the exception of Thailand for some reason.

Lost one of my two cards in Bangkok and was impressed by their emergency support.

Air:
http://www.airasia.com/my/en/home.html

http://www.tigerairways.com/

http://www.jetstar.com/gx/en/index.aspx

Rail:
http://www.seat61.com/

Excellent dude. Thanks for the informative reply

geoffraffe

Keep an online account and put money onto your credit card so that you're in credit. Use this as your ATM card as the transaction fees are much less than a regular bank card. DO NOT TAKE ALL YOUR CASH WITH YOU TO ASIA. A lot of places you might stay wouldn't be the most secure i.e huts close to the beach have very basic locks. That's not to say that they are dangerous, but you need to be sure. Lock all you possessions in you bag when you leave your room each time.

Myself and my gf basically budgeted $30 a day each in Asia and we had more than enough with that. airasia.com are a cheap airline that hit all the main spots in asia and you can fly most places from Singapore. I wouldn't stay around there for too long if you don't have to. Not much there except shopping. The Gili island in off Lomboc, which is off Bali are great, no they are paradise, well my version of it anyway. The diving is spectacular and the island life is amazing. Worth a week or 2 imho. KL is a sh1t hole and should be avoided. Nothing there and a dirtier version of Singapore (which is v clean btw). Laos and Cambodia are amazing. PM me if you want the email of a great guide for Ankor Wat, well worth the $20 a day fee for the both of you.

travelfish.org was our bible website. Great tips on Asia and unlike a guide book, it's updated by people who live there constantly so what you read is usually what you'll find.

Enjoy

Four of a kind

geoffraffe wrote: »

Keep an online account and put money onto your credit card so that you're in credit. Use this as your ATM card as the transaction fees are much less than a regular bank card. DO NOT TAKE ALL YOUR CASH WITH YOU TO ASIA. A lot of places you might stay wouldn't be the most secure i.e huts close to the beach have very basic locks. That's not to say that they are dangerous, but you need to be sure. Lock all you possessions in you bag when you leave your room each time.

Myself and my gf basically budgeted $30 a day each in Asia and we had more than enough with that. airasia.com are a cheap airline that hit all the main spots in asia and you can fly most places from Singapore. I wouldn't stay around there for too long if you don't have to. Not much there except shopping. The Gili island in off Lomboc, which is off Bali are great, no they are paradise, well my version of it anyway. The diving is spectacular and the island life is amazing. Worth a week or 2 imho. KL is a sh1t hole and should be avoided. Nothing there and a dirtier version of Singapore (which is v clean btw). Laos and Cambodia are amazing. PM me if you want the email of a great guide for Ankor Wat, well worth the $20 a day fee for the both of you.

travelfish.org was our bible website. Great tips on Asia and unlike a guide book, it's updated by people who live there constantly so what you read is usually what you'll find.

Enjoy

Thanks for the reply dude. PM sent.

cagefactor

KL is a ****hole ? LMAO. Then god knows what you think about Bangkok, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh, Manila.... KL is nice and clean where I was anyways but I don't be in backpacker den's for 2 euro's a night.

Singapore - 3 days is enough to stay there, you'll blow alot of cash in singapre.
KL - 3 days max but plenty to see outside KL.

dory

cagefactor wrote: »

KL is a ****hole ? LMAO. Then god knows what you think about Bangkok, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh, Manila.... KL is nice and clean where I was anyways but I don't be in backpacker den's for 2 euro's a night.

Singapore - 3 days is enough to stay there, you'll blow alot of cash in singapre.
KL - 3 days max but plenty to see outside KL.

Agreed, I loved KL! Amazing for buying electronics.

One thing about the credit card idea (which I also used): you're not covered by your credit card company for the money on it that is in credit (this is what I've been told anyway). So if you put €300 on it, your card gets stolen and they use your CC for €1000, you get €700 back. So only do small amounts at a time.

Is it American dollars you're talking about? I'm more familiar with Euro, but I'd say it's definitely enough.

Four of a kind

dory wrote: »

Agreed, I loved KL! Amazing for buying electronics.

One thing about the credit card idea (which I also used): you're not covered by your credit card company for the money on it that is in credit (this is what I've been told anyway). So if you put €300 on it, your card gets stolen and they use your CC for €1000, you get €700 back. So only do small amounts at a time.

Is it American dollars you're talking about? I'm more familiar with Euro, but I'd say it's definitely enough.

Hey,

Its €12,000 that I'll have for the trip. I'm thinking of just opening a joint account with OH and that way we'll have two bank cards. Alot of the folks on travelfish said that using just credit card to withdraw will cost alot more than bank cards? So much confusion on that subject its hard to know what to do.

How do you work things out while on your travels?

dory

This is how I do it.

First of all online banking is essential to avoid bank charges so make sure you have that set up! You should have at least current account and credit card account on it. And the 7 day one I mention below is an added bonus.

I have my cash in the 7 Day account thing. If you're AIB you should do it, got €100 interest there a while back. But you can also do this with a current account.

Step 1: You put all your money into you current account (Skip to Step 3 if you're going to keep it in your current account).

Step 2: Set up the online 7 day notice account and put about €11,000 in there.

Step 3: Keep €500 in your current account and move €500 to your credit card.

Step 4: Go on your trip with some cash to do you til you find an ATM. Then at the ATM take out whatever you want up to €500. You'll only get charged if you go over this as you only have €500 in credit. You'll have to work out how much €480 is in the local currency - I did €20 under just to be sure they don't give you a crap exchange rate and you end up taking out €505 and get charged back charges.


It might sound confusing but you'll get used to it very soon. It beats paying €3 every time you need money! You just need to plan a little. Like, when you move over from current to credit - I'm not sure how long exactly it takes but it's not instananeous. You can see online that it has come out of your current. Then a day or so later it will be on your credit account.

Hope that makes some sense!

Step 5: If you're organized, plan ahead 7 days and move some more money from 7 day account to current. Just what you'll need for the next week or two. Then some of that to credit card, and take it out from there.

Four of a kind

dory wrote: »

This is how I do it.

First of all online banking is essential to avoid bank charges so make sure you have that set up! You should have at least current account and credit card account on it. And the 7 day one I mention below is an added bonus.

I have my cash in the 7 Day account thing. If you're AIB you should do it, got €100 interest there a while back. But you can also do this with a current account.

Step 1: You put all your money into you current account (Skip to Step 3 if you're going to keep it in your current account).

Step 2: Set up the online 7 day notice account and put about €11,000 in there.

Step 3: Keep €500 in your current account and move €500 to your credit card.

Step 4: Go on your trip with some cash to do you til you find an ATM. Then at the ATM take out whatever you want up to €500. You'll only get charged if you go over this as you only have €500 in credit. You'll have to work out how much €480 is in the local currency - I did €20 under just to be sure they don't give you a crap exchange rate and you end up taking out €505 and get charged back charges.


It might sound confusing but you'll get used to it very soon. It beats paying €3 every time you need money! You just need to plan a little. Like, when you move over from current to credit - I'm not sure how long exactly it takes but it's not instananeous. You can see online that it has come out of your current. Then a day or so later it will be on your credit account.

Hope that makes some sense!

Step 5: If you're organized, plan ahead 7 days and move some more money from 7 day account to current. Just what you'll need for the next week or two. Then some of that to credit card, and take it out from there.

Kinda lost but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

I don't understand this 7 day notice account?? I'm with BOI and always have been, and have my online banking set up just this week.

dory

Forget the 7 day account thing then. I have a thing called a 7 day notice account. Which is like a deposit account but I have to give 7 days notice to take my money out. Forget it!

Just get internet banking if you want to avoid charges.

Keep it all in your current account. Then a few days before you're going to take out money move it to your credit card and take it out. That's how I do it with AIB, and I've heard of friends with BOI doing it too.

Four of a kind

dory wrote: »

Forget the 7 day account thing then. I have a thing called a 7 day notice account. Which is like a deposit account but I have to give 7 days notice to take my money out. Forget it!

Just get internet banking if you want to avoid charges.

Keep it all in your current account. Then a few days before you're going to take out money move it to your credit card and take it out. That's how I do it with AIB, and I've heard of friends with BOI doing it too.

Thanks Dory!

So you don't get charged ATM fee's by moving your money onto your credit card and then withdrawing it from any ATM?

olieph

I am from Indonesia, so let me know if you want to visit some places in Indonesia,hopefully i can give you some information.

Four of a kind

olieph wrote: »

I am from Indonesia, so let me know if you want to visit some places in Indonesia,hopefully i can give you some information.

Will be flying into bali on 12th june and will spend a few days there before heading to Gili trawangan

olieph

Four of a kind wrote: »

Will be flying into bali on 12th june and will spend a few days there before heading to Gili trawangan

i will recommend Scallywags to stay in Gili Trawangan. If you book the hotel just make sure the hotel has the normal water,not salty water for shower.
All the hotels close to harbor will have a lot of "happening" event in the night.

If you stay only couple days in bali, visit Ubud and Kintamani. You can find a lot of nice resto and good food in Jimbaran. If you want to try local food, Anthony Bourdain Recommends Ibu Oka Babi Guling In Ubud (tasty grilled pork)

olieph

make sure you withdraw cash in bali, as in Gili Trawangan only has 4 ATM machine... (just in case all of them out of service :P).

some tips: always take Blue Bird Taxi when you are in Bali and have enough change to pay to avoid the driver said they don't have change for your money.

Four of a kind

olieph wrote: »

make sure you withdraw cash in bali, as in Gili Trawangan only has 4 ATM machine... (just in case all of them out of service :P).

some tips: always take Blue Bird Taxi when you are in Bali and have enough change to pay to avoid the driver said they don't have change for your money.

Thanks very much for the information. If you have any more tips/places to see/things to do, then please let me know !

Regards.

Thinspired

I've been doing research myself for an upcoming long trip and if you load your credit card up with cash you won't be charged a cash advance fee at ATM. But you will be charged a currency conversion fee (think it's called a Forex charge), which varies according to the bank and credit card.

Withdrawing pre-loaded cash on credit card outside eurozone:
AIB Mastercard: 2.14% charge on every transaction
AIB Visa: 2.75% charge on every transaction

Bank of Ireland Mastercard: 1.75% on every transaction.

Permanent TSB Visa debit: 3.5% per transaction up to a maximum of €11.43.

All the laser cards I looked at were more expensive to use abroad. AIB said they charged up to 3% of the total withdrawal but then on the website there's some mention of a commission too (1% of value up to max of €6.35) and a Mastercard scheme charge of .39% of the transaction so using the AIB laser sounds pretty costly. (correct me if I'm wrong as the info on laser cards was a bit confusing).

Oh and obviously if you're getting a cash advance on your CC then you get charged a separate cash advance fee in addition to the currency conversion fee.

As far as I can see BoI Mastercard is the best value at 1.75%. I said it to the helpful AIB man on the phone and he totally agreed with me that BoI was better value.

But if anyone has cheaper suggestions I'd be very glad to hear them!

Four of a kind

Your correct, in that BOI mastercard is the cheapest option for us. I got the same info from my research as you did, and the AIB staff also agreed that the BOI mastercard was the best value full stop.

I'm also aware that local ATM charges (like €3.40 in Thailand on every withdrawal) will also eat into the fees. But I'm told that thread local fees are only charged in Thailand and no other country in Asia charges for withdrawing from ATM's!