How to Travel Cheaply Between Asia and South America

Face it. Anyone who’s traveled between Southeast Asia and South America knows it’s a pain in the wallet to purchase air tickets. This is because there are generally few direct flights between the two continents. Also, it’s a far off dream to have a budget airline doing the flying salsa between them. That said, there are ways to get cheap flights so you don’t cry Argentina every time you see the prices.

1. Know the popular hubs

Peru and Brazil are the most popular hubs in South America thanks to their Wonders of the World status. They also have the highest Asian population that makes the staggering 30 hour haul between the two great continents.

If you’re looking for a cheap way back to Southeast Asia from Latin America, fly from either Lima or Rio de Janeiro into Hong Kong and then hop on a budget airline from Hong Kong to any Southeast Asia country. Not only do you save thousands of dollars but you also have more choices of the flight schedules that will take you back into the country.

Another choice is to scout promo flights from Lima or Rio de  Janeiro to Los Angeles or Barcelona and then to Hong Kong.

2. Budget airlines in Southeast Asia

With Hong Kong as your central hub, there are a plethora of budget flights in Southeast Asia that costs peanuts compared to South American airlines.

Choice of airlines are

The go-to Southeast Asian budget airline. Also flies to Abu Dhabi and London: Air Asia

From Singapore to Southeast Asia, India, Sri Langka and Darwin, Australia: Tiger Airways, Jetstar, Scoot,

From Thailand to Laos, Cambodia and Xian, China: Bangkok Air

From the Philippines that not only go to Southeast Asia, they also have cheap budget flights to Japan and South Korea: Cebu Pacific Air, Zest Air and Philippine Air Express.

Other resources: The Budget Airlines in Southeast Asia

3. Know when to travel: Peak Season vs the Off Season

Since they are sitting on opposite hemispheres, what’s high season in Southeast Asia is Latin America’s low season. Travelers between the two distant continents can use this to their advantage.

You can score really cheap tickets flying into South America during its slow winter season which are around May to November. This is Southeast Asia’s summer peak season. Then when returning to Southeast Asia, aim to travel during it’s off season which are generally from September to November. That said, do not travel during international global holidays like Christmas and New Year’s.

4. Do your research

Compare prices on online travel search engines like Hipmunk, Skyscanner and ITA Matrix Search. These sites have cool features that enables you to see the range of airfares in a month so you could choose the cheapest priced date. Check out Hipmunk’s price graph and Skyscanner’s calendar feature. Hipmunk also allows you to put a fare alert on your desired flight and dates so you can be notified if there’s been a price drop. This feature saved me thousands of dollars and allowed me to travel on Christmas day to Hong Kong.

5. Don’t forget your miles.

With thousands of miles covered by your Southeast Asia-Latin American flight, it’d be a shame not to register for miles. Multiple trips can eventually reward you with a short holiday spree in a neighboring country or a free flight back home.

Consider signing up as a member for either One World, Sky Team or Star Alliance. These are global airline alliances that have several airlines registered in their networks. Cathay Pacific, LAN, COPA, Singapore Airlines, KLM and United are just some of the members.

One World’s partner airlines are: Cathay Pacific, LAN, Air Berlin, American Airways, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Qantas, Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines

Star Alliance: Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asian Airlines, Austrian, Avianca/TACA, Blue1, Brussels Airlines, Copa Airlines, Croatia Airlines, Egyptair, Ehtiopian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, South African Airways, SWISS, TAM, TAP, Thai, Turkish Airlines, United, US Airways

Sky Team – Aeroflot, Aerolineas Argentinas, AeroMexico, AirEuropa, Air France, Alitalia, China Airlines, China Eastern, China Southern, Czech Airlines, DELTA, Kenya Airways, KLM, Korean air, MEA, Saudia, Taron, Vietnam Airlines

The nifty thing about these is that you can transfer and redeem your miles from one airline to another partner in their group.

With these money saving tips under your belt, it’s a guarantee you won’t be crying whenever you see those prices. Or your wallet for that matter

Photos by Well Heleed Blog and World Atlas

Scariest Border Crossing Ever in China

I returned to Zhuhai, China from the Philipppines to ship and pack up the rest of my stuff from my apartment. Currently, I’m in Chicago, USA.

We could die here.

That’s what I told Sheena as we stood surrounded by thousands of Chinese at the Macau border.

My city Zhuhai is a border town between Macau and Mainland China. Everyday millions of Chinese cross its land border Gongbei into the gambling capital of Asia, Macau.

Usually the immigration area is filled with a fair amount of Chinese (relatively speaking. If you’re Australian or Singaporean or you’re from one of those countries with a low birth rate- a fair amount means a 90% Clearance sale at a mall).

But this particular Sunday, the huge hallway was packed. Every bit of space was filled with a skinny Chinese spitting, yelling or picking his nose. It was like the whole population of my city was packed in this room.

And we had chosen this particular Sunday to ship my things to the Philippines.

People were yelling, shoving and cutting in line. Mob fights broke out, immigration officers were screaming, the police came. Worse, when all this commotion happened, the people shoved each other forward, craning their necks, trying to see what’s happening. They have to know no matter if it risks other people’s lives.

Sheena and I were getting crushed by the overwhelming throng of bodies. We could barely breath by such enclosed space and people pushing, threatening to turn my body into a think sheet of dough.

One false alarm of fire and there’d be a mad stampede of ignorant rice farmers rushing to save their hides crushing whoever stood in their way.

We could die here.

I heard sharp screams. More scuffling. Clothes being ripped. Camera clicking. Videos being recorded. Blood spilt to cake the asphalt floor.

The mob smelled it and shouted. The rest heard the clamor and followed suit, not knowing why everyone was yelling but that they should because they don’t want to be left out.

We were there for four hours on both sides of the border –Macau and Mainland China.

That is a flight from Hong Kong to the Philippines and back.

That is a flight from Thailand to Indonesia.

And through it all, we survived, emerging at 9 pm, our faces haggard from the battle, our knees about to give way from standing so long from being famished as we had not had a proper meal since 11 am.

Worse, I was so exhausted from the ordeal, I let my guard down and had my bag stolen from me.

Thankfully, it only contains copies of important documents. The originals were at home.

And this was supposed to be my “last” day in China.

Sometimes some expats get lucky on their last day like my friend, Roey who won HKD 25,000 (equivalent to roughly USD 5,000) in Macau;. Others aren’t quite so lucky like me and my friend Brett who traveled via train and metro from Zhuhai to Guangzhou to Shenzhen in a span of 7 hours (when it could’ve taken 2 hours) in the height of Spring Festival – China at its busiest.

My last meal was chicken nuggets from McDonald’s the only restaurant open at 10 pm at that fateful border crossing day.

Why does China spat out those leaving her like pus out of a festering wound? Is it because we’ve had enough of her? Is it because she feels we’ve shunned her for a new lover?

I don’t feel any dislike towards you China. You’ve been like a mother who’ve nurtured and made me stronger. Through you, I’ve met my second family. But I feel I should explore beyond your borders and grow up. Seven years, I feel I’ve been with you long enough. Some would say too long.

I don’t think of it as good-bye. It’s been proven many expats return to you. They miss the shao kao (street food), the cheap massages, the Wild East. Before you know it, I’ll be back. I just want to chase this impractical foolish dream of mine.

This foolish dream involves the next leg of my journey –USA.

I just had my longest flight ever – from HK – Bangkok- Delhi- Frankfurt and finally Chicago where I’m at now. For the next few weeks, I’ll be traveling around the US seeing friends. If any of you reading this are in the area and want to meet up, I’ll be in these places:

July 19-20   Minneapolis, Minnesota

July 20-22   Duluth, Minnesota

July 23-25   Minneapolis, Minnesota

July 25-30   Fort Lauderdale and Miami, Florida

And finally to end this, I would like to express my utmost gratitude to my close friend, Sheena in helping me pack and ship my things and sharing the experience in one of the worst border crossing in China. I could not be here in this place without you. I know China is wearing on you and I hope like me, you find that thing that pushes you to get out of the country. I hope you find that thing you’re looking for Sheena because once you do, you’ll be unstoppable. You’re going to go full speed ahead till you get to your destination.

And together with me, we would live each of our day as a brand new adventure.

Photo by Lonely Planet

Read the rest of my journey:

I QUIT!

North Korea is the Real Matrix- the DPRK tour

Whale Shark Attack in the Philippines

 

How To Prepare for Your Trip the Lazy Way

It’s been a while since I posted a how-to post since I’ve been caught up in my writing.

Photo by rockin_the-free_world

Preparing for your trip can be a serious hazard to your stress level. Believe me, I’ve been there. But guess what? It doesn’t have to be.

I did the anal route when I planned for my previous vacation trips to Thailand and Indonesia. You know, the endless googling of hostels, clicking one random link to another taking me god knows where, the incessant perusing of Lonely Planet. It’s often the research that kills me. It’s so passive you could’ve used your five hours of surfing for packing, buying those tickets or even making a reservation to your hostel instead of warming up your ass.

For my trip to Vietnam and Cambodia next month, I decided to just chill. Forget about extensive surfing and cramming every last bit of detail into your notes. This is preparing your trip the lazy way.

Below are some of the steps I did in order to prepare for the trip.

1. Let’s say you already picked a country and a date. Check if you need a visa to go to that particular country. You can go to projectvisa for that.
2. Get a copy of the Lonely Planet edition or any travel guide of your destination.
3. Book your tickets. Read your guide book for better cheap flights to your country or check out Expedia.com although its prices are sometimes not reliable and end up being way too expensive. Since I’m cheap, I usually take budget flights. Around East and Southeast Asia, Tiger Airways, Air Asia, Jet Air and Cebu Pacific (warning: Cebu Pacific is often delayed but awfully cheap) are some of the prime choices. Since they’re budget, there are no free meals or flight entertainment on board. Don’t take Cebu Pacific if you’ve got a connecting flight to your home country in Hong Kong or Singapore. I saw some Brits who missed their expensive connecting flights to London because the plane got delayed. Since it’s budget, the airline wasn’t willing to give them a refund or pay for their stay at the hotel.
4. Check your country’s time zone, current exchange rates, plugs and voltage temperature/climate and current events (before I went to Bangkok, there was a bombing two days before I was due to leave. Yup, you guessed it. That still didn’t stop me from going. I draw the line on going to East Timor though). Below are the list of site you can go to check these out:

Time zone-
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

Exchange rate- www.xe.com

Plugs and voltage-
http://whatplug.info/

Temperature and climate-
http://www.worldclimate.com/

Current events – www.cnn.com,

1. Make a reservation to your hotel or guesthouse or hovel. Keep a copy of your plane tickets nearby when you do this. Check if you’ve got any friends staying in that area. I usually get stuck here googling for reviews. Always check out pictures of the place and its location. Is it convenient? Is the area it’s in noisy? Does the guesthouse have many floors that you have to take the stairs? In my trip to Indonesia, I got stuck in a shady dump with rude guests that garnered rave reviews on Travelfish (your guide to Southeast Asia) so don’t trust them reviews! This time for my Vet/Cam trip —and herein lies the essence of the lazy way— I forego all surfing and just go straight to the source: FRIENDS. I asked them for hostel recommendations. Friends can give you hands down honest to goodness reviews not to mention their experiences, maps, lend you their LP guides and scams they encountered. If you don’t have any friends who have been to an obscure country you’re going to (say Azarbaijan) visit or post questions to travel forums.
2. Plan your itinerary (for a lazy way to plan one, click here). Again I buzzed over like a parasite to my friends and leeched them for information on their prepared itineraries or suggestions of top places to go to.

It’s also great to check out travel blogs because they usually write a blow by blow sometimes heart stopping achingly funny riveting storytelling about their travel experiences. You also get to know which places are not worth going and cross them out of your itinerary. No use wasting money. Here are some I usually check out:

Ally’s Trip- Europe and Asia. Hilarious stories!

Ivan About Town – Southeast Asia, backpacking in the Philippines, some parts of Europe and America. Straightforward writing but just don’t mind the annoying ubiquitous Hehe! that he injects in his entries.

1. Pack. See My Quick Pack List.
2. Plan your to-do list and reminder list for your country. List only the vital to-dos. E.g. in my Vet/Cam to-do: buy souvenirs for family, book a bus to cross to Phnom Penh Cambodia, visit travel agent, buy 3 day temple pass and so on.

You don’t need to follow to follow this list strictly by order. Play around with it but always do Step No. 1 first, of course. You don’t want to be sent back by immigration with tears in your eyes. This is happened to someone I know who went to India assuming she didn’t need a visa and was sent back home.

Remember, the magical thing about the trip is not that everything that goes according to plan but the surprises that sweep you away. That for me, is what makes a trip memorable.

Other related posts:

The Quick Pack List

Sample Travel Itinerary

The Real Travel Itinerary- What Really Happened

Spirit Possession in Cambodia- The Real Travel Itinerary 2

Your Passport Might Not Let You Travel- A Cautionary Tale in Immigration