|
Denver huh? Guess you had a good 4 20 day
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2016 14:01
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 13, 2024 02:35 |
|
|
its 7am and im still up writing my high thoughts down on internet forums, so id say it was a big success
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2016 14:08
|
|
|
Denver huh? Guess you had a good 4 20 day
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2016 14:41
|
|
|
I LIKE COOKIE posted:man maybe im just high but thats one of the first big things I've noticed about america that I dont like. Personal space. People here in denver are just -in general at all times- seemingly more spread out. in Saigon your just straight up closer to others in your vicinity. Maybe for some people that takes some getting used to. When dealing with vendors and engaging with people who you do not share a common language with, you tend to use your hands a lot. And trying to communicate with locals by your core set of go-to hand gestures, that you've performed so many times by now its almost like a secret "drug deal" type interaction, of words, pointing, gestures, yeah. its harder, but definitely more personal. But your crammed into these tight spots half the time and your just physically closer than you would be compared to a cashier behind a nice big counter. I got closer with my neighbors and food ladies in 2 months living in one place than I've gotten with really any neighbor or cashier I typically see in passing. The smiles and waving and them teaching me how to say coconut, and me sucking but then getting the tonal part right or whatever the gently caress and them all excited that I can say it and suddenly Its time for more words but, they realize we cant really talk. sometimes I can see that exact expression on Vietnamese peoples faces. like, the look when it just dawns on them for the first time that no matter how much they babble at me I cant understand, sometimes they seem almost sad that we'll forever be stuck in this limbo of mutual silence. and maybe I am too. But we go on doing what we can and make it work.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2016 17:12
|
|
|
duckmaster posted:
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2016 22:42
|
|
|
Goony McGoons, I've been thinking of saying 'gently caress it' and going travelling in the near future (I.e. The end of this year/early next year) for a variety of reasons. Is it actually true that you can get by on $50USD (averaged obviously) per day in most of SE Asia? If so, do you guys think there's any sort of 'minimum' term that one should need to travel around SE Asia (assuming this is a once in a lifetime trip that I'll likely never take again, or at least not for as lengthy as it may be)? I've been to Bali (Ausgoon) a few times so I'm not entirely unfamiliar with how cheap some things can be, but if I'm going to be honest I spent an absolute gently caress load in Bali (particularly on accommodation), so it's almost unbelievable that its this cheap. Also, what's the go with currency's? Obviously each country is different and a lot of Asian countries AFAIK generally use cash, so do you guys generally just get cash out of the ATM in each new country and carry around a few USD in the event of an emergency?
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2016 23:39
|
|
|
That's 1500 a month so sure, you can live on that in the US. Are you going to be living a luxurious life? Not a chance, but maybe that's not your interest. You can get a small condo for a month to month basis for a few hundred and then have most of the money left over for other things.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2016 23:52
|
|
|
Open a Schwab checking account and use that debit card so you can use whatever ATM you want without worrying about fees.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 00:08
|
|
|
Woke up to saw that Prince had died, misread the headline and thought I might get the day off of work, on closer inspection I was actually heartbroken. But I still have to go to work.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 00:15
|
|
|
air- posted:Open a Schwab checking account and use that debit card so you can use whatever ATM you want without worrying about fees. air- posted:Open a Schwab checking account and use that debit card so you can use whatever ATM you want without worrying about fees. I live in Australia 
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 00:42
|
|
|
Guni posted:I live in Australia Get yourself one of these: https://www.citibank.com.au/aus/banking/everyday_banking/citibank_plus.htm They don't charge ATM fees, so it's free withdrawals at Citibank ATMs (reasonably common in most countries) or the typical $2-$5 ATM fee for non-Citi ATMs, and unlike most banks they don't charge you a % fee for international withdrawals. No annual fee or account-keeping fee either, though I think you have to have a minimum of like $50 AUD in there at all times. And it comes with a Visa debit card so you're sorted for both cash and card transactions. If you're intent on taking a credit card with you as well, you're probably best off with a 28 Degrees Mastercard. It's not quite as good as it used to be, but there's still no annual fee, no currency conversion fees, and no international transaction fees. And for God's sake, if any card terminal ever offers you the option of paying in your "home" currency DON'T take it. Always pay in the local currency. All the merchants have a huge scam going where they give you a super-lovely exchange rate in your own currency (like, worse than changing money at the airport lovely) and pocket the difference. Whereas if you pay in the local currency, it just gets charged at the local market rate.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 01:42
|
|
|
webmeister posted:Get yourself one of these: Thanks! Definitely aware of the 'own currency' bullshit.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 02:11
|
|
|
Atlas Hugged posted:Woke up to saw that Prince had died, misread the headline and thought I might get the day off of work, on closer inspection I was actually heartbroken. But I still have to go to work. Messed up that in some countries you could be arrested for making this post when it made me laugh as much as it did.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 03:43
|
|
|
ReindeerF posted:What part of CM are you renting in and how much are you paying in rent in this scenario?
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 04:15
|
|
|
I do understand the need to save, but what are you going to be exactly doing when you are living in a condo for a month and not spend money? I guess it's a base to earn money on the side for more trips? Long mini excursions to the country side (but why not just back pack?) When you become too cheap you just don't do anything or go anywhere. Might as well just live in mom's basement back homeGuni posted:Goony McGoons, Honestly, you live in Australia so going around SEA is super easy. You can always take shorter trips and pick and choose. If you really want that "life long trip" I would consider other continents like South America or Africa.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 04:46
|
|
|
That's what I said, I just worked out some basic costs. If you wanted to actually do stuff it costs more.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 04:56
|
|
|
Honestly SEA is as cheap or expensive as you want to make it. You can have a super-expensive trip if you stay in Western chain hotels, eat at restaurants 3x per day, hit up every museum, buy a bunch of souvenirs and do a lot of shopping, fly between all your destinations, drink like an NRL player every night etc. But if you're staying in hostels, eating street food, picking & choosing your museums/whatever, getting public transport or flying at odd times to take advantage of cheap airfares then yeah it's going to be cheap. My wife & I spent a shitload in Bali as well, but that's because we were on our honeymoon and staying in a $1000/night villa and mostly eating/drinking at the (high-end) resort for a week. But we travelled across Malaysia for 2 weeks very comfortably on $100/day between us - staying in okay accommodation, eating mostly local/street food and doing free-ish activities. Time-wise, I guess it just depends on what you want to get out of it. Maybe you want to spend a few days in each place, see the highlights and move on - or maybe you want to really immerse yourself in a few places and stay a month or longer. For what it's worth, my wife and I are expecting to spend basically 6 months travelling around SEA later this year. In that we're aiming to cover basically all of it: Bali, Lombok, Komodo, Yogyakarta, Borneo, Brunei, Philippines, Thailand, Burma, Laos, maybe northern Vietnam and maybe a bit of peninsula Malaysia. We'll be skipping Cambodia, Singapore and northern Malaysia as we've already been, and my wife did a long trip through Vietnam before she met me so we'll likely only do a couple of bits there. I feel like six months is a good amount of time for the above at a reasonably relaxed pace. And tbh I disagree with the idea of doing shorter trips (unless you mean renting a place in Bangkok and branching out for short trips from there). I know Australia's right next to SEA, but if you're in Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane it's still 7-9 hours flying time to Bangkok/Singapore/KL. Doing that a bunch of times in a year would get pretty tiresome imo.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 05:14
|
|
|
So I'm about to pull the trigger on a one way flight from France to BKK in the middle of July. I've been reading up on flying one way into Thailand. Some people say they did it without a return ticket or proof of onward travel without issue, other people say you should always have it. If I buy a cheap AirAsia ticket from BKK to Laos or Vietnam that departs before 30 days of my arrival, do you guys think I'll have any issues? Or do airlines want you to have a return ticket? Never traveled internationally before. If it makes any difference, I'll be traveling on a British passport, which i've read lets me have a visa free 30 days in Thailand? Would that change anything? I was also looking at the 60 day tourist visa, but the thai embassy website says I need proof of a round trip ticket, can I get it without a one way into thailand and a one way out? Thanks
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 05:43
|
|
|
Christ 7 to 9 hours to Singapore ? Thought it was only 5ish. I have only been to oz once so I can't really comment. Its location on the map is so sneaky. And here I think I can move to Singapore and take "short trips" to Melbourne flying on poo poo star airlines. That's too bad caberham fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Apr 22, 2016 |
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 05:46
|
|
|
When I arrived by air, no one ever asked me for any documents or proof of financial ability to stay in Thailand. This was at the height of the 2014 panic when people were claiming they were being turned away if they couldn't demonstrate that they had a minimum of 20,000 baht in cash or in a bank account. When I renewed my initial tourist visa, I don't think they even asked if I had proof of onward travel. The only time it mattered was when I applied for the 60 day visa in the first place. To get it, I had to show I was leaving in 60 days (I wasn't), so I dropped $50 or whatever on a ticket I never used.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 05:48
|
|
|
Perth to Bangkok is an expensive 7hr direct flight on Thai airways or 9-10 with a late night stop on a low cost carrier and you're looking at around $5-600 return which is a lot of money you could be spending in SEA. Using an Asian city as a base is more practical. Chiang Mai to Hong Kong return cost me 3700 baht which is about $120. Taipei is about $20 more. If you're traveling you won't spend your whole time in an apartment but shared dorms and hotel rooms do get old. In Chiang Mai you could easily fill your time volunteering at elephant camps, hill tribe villages etc Negligent fucked around with this message at 06:01 on Apr 22, 2016 |
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 05:52
|
|
|
caberham posted:Christ 7 to 9 hours to Singapore ? Thought it was only 5ish. I have only been to oz once so I can't really comment. Its location on the map is so sneaky.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 05:54
|
|
|
Oh god what am i doing. So stoked.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 06:01
|
|
|
I've literally never been asked for proof of onward travel and I have multiple pages of entry stamps. Most recently went through immigration in December 2015.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 06:04
|
|
|
Thanks for all the advice thus far goons. I guess the biggest question will be whether or not I'm prepared to give up my job to do a 'once in a lifetime trip'. I'm also extremely interested in hiking around Nepal on a couple of trips (each between 15-20 days) so I think 6months all up would probably be ideal (which is obviously not going to fly with work).
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 06:04
|
|
|
I decided to purchase a ticket from DMK to Laos 25 days after I land in Bankok, was only $48, which I'd rather just throw away then be told I can't board my flight to BKK. Maybe I might actually use the ticket, who knows. Guni I'm basically in the same boat as you. I'm quitting my long time well paying job in a week because I felt like I was slowly rotting away in good ol' Idaho. It was a terrifying thing to do, but as soon as I booked my ticket out of the US and gave my work notice, it was a great feeling. I say go for it, life is what you make out of it and there will always be another job you can find when you get tired of traveling. ddiddles fucked around with this message at 06:27 on Apr 22, 2016 |
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 06:25
|
|
|
ddiddles posted:Guni I'm basically in the same boat as you. I'm quitting my long time well paying job in a week because I felt like I was slowly rotting away in good ol' Idaho. It was a terrifying thing to do, but as soon as I booked my ticket out of the US and gave my work notice, it was a great feeling. I say go for it, life is what you make out of it and there will always be another job you can find when you get tired of traveling. Thanks dude! It will come down to a couple things (one of course being savings - but that shouldn't be an issue TBH). I'm more than likely going to see my friend in Germany for Christmas, so that might be a great time to just say gently caress it and do my own thing for a bit - I've never really had a break longer than a week since I graduated high school (I'm 23 now) and I'm still young enough that I can easily recover from a 6month employment gap.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 06:32
|
|
|
caberham posted:Christ 7 to 9 hours to Singapore ? Thought it was only 5ish. I have only been to oz once so I can't really comment. Its location on the map is so sneaky. Yeah Singapore -> Melbourne is like 8 hours dude. I actually just double-checked and Bangkok is about 9.5 hours from Sydney. It's the most annoying poo poo when you watch a couple of movies, eat dinner, then look out the window 5 hours into the flight and realise you still haven't loving left Australian airspace.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 06:34
|
|
|
For future reference the cheapest proof of onward journey is buying a train ticket online from Hat Yai to Padang Badar. It costs 5 Malaysian Ringgit which is about $1.50.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 06:36
|
|
|
Atlas Hugged posted:Woke up to saw that Prince had died, misread the headline and thought I might get the day off of work, on closer inspection I was actually heartbroken. But I still have to go to work. Yo if the prince died the world's already most interesting region politically would turn into some next level supernatural War Games psych poo poo
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 06:52
|
|
|
webmeister posted:Honestly SEA is as cheap or expensive as you want to make it. You can have a super-expensive trip if you stay in Western chain hotels, eat at restaurants 3x per day, hit up every museum, buy a bunch of souvenirs and do a lot of shopping, fly between all your destinations, drink like an NRL player every night etc. I don't think I could spend more than 40 bucks a day in Trat even if I really tried. Bangkok however I could go through thousands a day and still not feel like I was hitting any major ceilings.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 06:53
|
|
|
Guni posted:Thanks for all the advice thus far goons. I guess the biggest question will be whether or not I'm prepared to give up my job to do a 'once in a lifetime trip'. I'm also extremely interested in hiking around Nepal on a couple of trips (each between 15-20 days) so I think 6months all up would probably be ideal (which is obviously not going to fly with work). Safe trip and please buy travel insurance
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 07:26
|
|
|
Speaking of travel insurance, do you have to have standard health insurance before you purchase travel insurance? I'm looking at plans that are about 150 for six months, and they make no mention of having to have primary insurance.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 07:36
|
|
|
Not the UK or HK, check with the policy provider in your home country.
simplefish fucked around with this message at 07:51 on Apr 22, 2016 |
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 07:49
|
|
|
Not in Australia either, AFAIK
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 07:51
|
|
|
Negligent posted:For future reference the cheapest proof of onward journey is buying a train ticket online from Hat Yai to Padang Badar. It costs 5 Malaysian Ringgit which is about $1.50. This is an incredible nugget of knowledge. Thank you. Unlike others I have indeed been asked for proof of onward travel. Most recently from Phnom Penh to Saigon (if you fly this route you're either dumb, rich, or like me had to fly into the country to collect my visa.) But I was asked to show that I was leaving so I handed over a printout of a $300 business class flight from Saigon to PP, and then upon arrival took advantage of the free refund policy on the business class ticket. Been in Nam since March. Mixed feelings.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 08:01
|
|
|
poo poo, I thought I answered that last night, must not have hit submit. With a visa you never need proof of anything and you have a much longer possible period of stay. Do try to get a multiple entry visa in your home country just in case. Each entry can be extended by 30 days and you can re-enter for the last entry up to the expiry date on the visa. Without a visa, it's unlikely you'll be asked for proof of onward travel in Thailand, but some airlines in some cities do ask before letting you board. It's happened to me flying ANA out of Chicago and THAI our of Sydney.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 13:13
|
|
|
I flew into Bangkok from Myanmar and one of the officers was being trained so I got the full "Where have you come from" "Why are you here" "How long are you staying". I just said "Myanmar, changing airports, one day" and was given a 30 day stamp anyway. I wonder if that earned her a parachute assault badge or whatever the gently caress that thing is.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 18:41
|
|
|
Yeah, I was reading that the countries immigration usually doesn't give a poo poo about onward travel, it's the airlines that'll check before you board, as it's their responsibility to get you out of the country if you overstay your welcome.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 19:18
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 13, 2024 02:35 |
|
|
Yes, it was by the airlines. Immigration has not given a gently caress in any of Laos, Cambodia, or Thailand. Though Laos to Cambodia I did overland, and that was a fun hoot in the sun. Sweaty dirt road outpost. Edit: the Minsk is a rolling heap of laughs. Always make sure you tighten every goddamn bolt on these bikes, or you'll end up with a center stand attempting to tear our the sidewall on your rear tire for example. For no goddamn apparent reason other than "it's a Minsk." Ally McBeal Wiki fucked around with this message at 22:39 on Apr 22, 2016 |
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2016 22:14
|
|