Ok so I packed up my life and headed off on my big adventure. I'm going to write about stuff that I think will help other travellers who might be following in my foot steps.
The main concern for most travellers is currency exchange. Do I exchange to cash, traveller's cheques or use my card?
Well it's always good to have a main source and to also carry a backup.
So I took cash as my backup and I have a "Wizard Clear Advantage" Mastercard. It's a no frills credit card. Which has minimal fees but their customer service isn't particularly great. What they do have is no "foreign transaction fee". Which means you can purchase something overseas and not get slogged with an extra fee. Another thing you can do with this card is withdraw cash overseas. You can do this without incurring interest or fees by overloading your card with your own money.
So hypothetically lets say my credit limit is AU$2000. I would pay the credit card up so it has a $0 balance and then load up an extra AU$500 for my trip. So when I log into the credit card's web site I would see Available cash: $2500. I would then rock up to any ATM which accepts Mastercard and then withdraw the funds I needed.
One thing to note, some ATMs will charge you a fee. I wasn't fully aware of this before I landed in Thailand. Most ATMs in Thailand will charge you a 150baht fee. But there is one bank/company which doesn't. Look for AEON ATMs they are usually near Lotus supermarkets. They didn't charge me a fee when I withdrew money from their ATM. But all other ATMs that I used did.
Having said all that. Thailand and Malaysia do have very good exchange rates in those small booths. So bringing cash works quite well in those countries. Countries like the UK and Japan don't have great exchange rates out on the street and for these countries I would recommend my Card method of exchange.
The exchange rate at Aussie exchange booths back at home are terrible. They're ok for small exchanges but if you are going for a long period then I would use the card method. Having said that it's always good to have a little foreign currency to get out of the airport. As exchange booths at airports are far worse.
Another thing to take note of and research are vaccinations. You can just go to your family doctor and get jabbed for everything but you might find that you don't actually need them. Do the research and you might save yourself some money (and a little pain).
The cheapest travel insurance that I have been using over the last 6 years is "Defence Health" travel insurance. I found them while I was serving with the Army Reserves but they also sell policies to civvies. They are the cheapest for international travel insurance (that I could find). But again do your own due diligence. One thing of note, especially for those heading over for long periods like myself. They don't refund your policy pro-rata if you return early. And your policy ends when you set foot back on Australian soil. So if you have a 12 month policy and you come home to visit family 6 months in. Your 12 month policy ends and you don't get any refund for the unused portion. You will need to take out another policy before you return overseas. So what you can do is take out a short policy and then extend the policy up to 12 months. But please check this as their policies might change.
Make sure you read the fine details of your insurance policy to cover you against the activities you plan to do. I know it sounds like simple common sense. But you'll be surprised at what activities you are NOT covered for.
More to come...
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Chan's trip since 1st July 2010
Ok, sorry for not posting earlier but internet access was somewhat slow off GPRS.
My flight from Melbourne to KL on 1 July 2010 was pretty uneventful. But it was late by about 30mins which ate into my 2 hour transfer time to my next flight from KL to Bangkok. Luckily that flight was delayed due to weather anyway so I had plenty of time. But LCCT, KL airport's budget terminal can be a bit of a nightmare for the uninitiated even for the veteran traveller. I'm happy to report that AirAsia's new seats are a big improvement over the previous version. More room and you can actually lean your seat back. Although they don't have power points for every seat anymore. Which for an IT guy is a bit of a pain. Luckily I have 5 mobile phone batteries and 2 seasons of Lost to keep me sain. The lay flat seats were actually lay flat. Close but not quite. I'm considering upgrading my seat just for the power point so I can watch movies on the flight from KL to London. I'll have to see how my finances are like.
My flight from KL to Bangkok as mentioned was late due to weather which was a blessing and a pain. It meant my Aunty and Uncle had to wait until about 11pm for me which obviously isn't good. And the approach to Bangkok airport was some what turbulent so much so that the flight host/hostess's had to drop to the floor and there were a few screems from the passengers. It was actually kinda fun. Oh and the lady sitting next to me had a bottle of water in her handbag which exploded due to the decreased pressure. This of course meant that there was water dripping down from teh overhead compartment. Fun and joys of traveling through south east Asia I suppose.
I spent 6 days with my Aunty Namtip, uncle Bong and cousin Tana. I have high hopes for Tana. His English is pretty much as good as a native speaker and he's a bright kid. My time with my family was quite busy. My grandfather was in hospital recovering from an operation so we spent a bit of time with him there. I also spent a bit of time wondering around central Bangkok window shopping and also checking out the damage caused by the recent riots. I'm glad to report that there isn't any more unrest and things are pretty much back to normal. Although there are some buildings that were burnt most places are up and running as per usual.
I attended a ceremony for my father on the 6th of July. It was a very quick one as my step mom and sisters had to go to work and school respectively.
I met up with Jocelin and Adrian on the 6th of July for our flight from Bangkok to Koh Samui. The flight was in a turbo prop plain which means the propellers were exposed. This is my first time in this kind of aircraft so it was a little exciting. It was a pretty small plane but it did the job.
We arrived in Koh Samui and were picked up by the resort transfer guy. We stayed in a resort called "The Kala". It was a pretty flash resort. I think I will be taking Anna back there at some stage. Although there were two things that weren't so good. First was the location being a few kilometres from the nearest eatery and there was no Wifi internet. But the views were to die for. Definately made the trip that much easier.
We expected good diving off Koh Saumi. But we found that although there were heaps of dive shops there wasn't actually any dive sites off Koh Samui. It appears people use it as a launching point to go to Koh Tao. We did how ever do one day of diving from Koh Samui on a site called Sail Rock. It was ok but the vis was poor by my standard. Joz and Adrian loved it though. We also spent half a day snorkelling off Lamai beach. I sustained a few cuts when I slipped off some rocks but nothing that a few days of healing won't mend.
So we've now arrived in Koh Tao. We took the Lomprayah Catamaran from Koh Samui to Koh Tao. It made two stops in between where some of the passengers got off. Apparently one of our bags which contained all of our snorkeling gear was mistakenly offloaded in one of these stops. So the lesson learnt was to keep an eye on your bags and make sure it's not offloaded. I was hoping the crew would know what they were doing... But this is South East Asia... We arrived in Koh Samui at 10am and they told us to come back at 3pm to collect the bag. Oh well. Lets hope it is in fact our bag... And it arrives.
We are currently staying in a place called "Simple Life Resort". So far it's been good. It looks clean and spacious.
More to follow....
My flight from Melbourne to KL on 1 July 2010 was pretty uneventful. But it was late by about 30mins which ate into my 2 hour transfer time to my next flight from KL to Bangkok. Luckily that flight was delayed due to weather anyway so I had plenty of time. But LCCT, KL airport's budget terminal can be a bit of a nightmare for the uninitiated even for the veteran traveller. I'm happy to report that AirAsia's new seats are a big improvement over the previous version. More room and you can actually lean your seat back. Although they don't have power points for every seat anymore. Which for an IT guy is a bit of a pain. Luckily I have 5 mobile phone batteries and 2 seasons of Lost to keep me sain. The lay flat seats were actually lay flat. Close but not quite. I'm considering upgrading my seat just for the power point so I can watch movies on the flight from KL to London. I'll have to see how my finances are like.
My flight from KL to Bangkok as mentioned was late due to weather which was a blessing and a pain. It meant my Aunty and Uncle had to wait until about 11pm for me which obviously isn't good. And the approach to Bangkok airport was some what turbulent so much so that the flight host/hostess's had to drop to the floor and there were a few screems from the passengers. It was actually kinda fun. Oh and the lady sitting next to me had a bottle of water in her handbag which exploded due to the decreased pressure. This of course meant that there was water dripping down from teh overhead compartment. Fun and joys of traveling through south east Asia I suppose.
I spent 6 days with my Aunty Namtip, uncle Bong and cousin Tana. I have high hopes for Tana. His English is pretty much as good as a native speaker and he's a bright kid. My time with my family was quite busy. My grandfather was in hospital recovering from an operation so we spent a bit of time with him there. I also spent a bit of time wondering around central Bangkok window shopping and also checking out the damage caused by the recent riots. I'm glad to report that there isn't any more unrest and things are pretty much back to normal. Although there are some buildings that were burnt most places are up and running as per usual.
I attended a ceremony for my father on the 6th of July. It was a very quick one as my step mom and sisters had to go to work and school respectively.
I met up with Jocelin and Adrian on the 6th of July for our flight from Bangkok to Koh Samui. The flight was in a turbo prop plain which means the propellers were exposed. This is my first time in this kind of aircraft so it was a little exciting. It was a pretty small plane but it did the job.
We arrived in Koh Samui and were picked up by the resort transfer guy. We stayed in a resort called "The Kala". It was a pretty flash resort. I think I will be taking Anna back there at some stage. Although there were two things that weren't so good. First was the location being a few kilometres from the nearest eatery and there was no Wifi internet. But the views were to die for. Definately made the trip that much easier.
We expected good diving off Koh Saumi. But we found that although there were heaps of dive shops there wasn't actually any dive sites off Koh Samui. It appears people use it as a launching point to go to Koh Tao. We did how ever do one day of diving from Koh Samui on a site called Sail Rock. It was ok but the vis was poor by my standard. Joz and Adrian loved it though. We also spent half a day snorkelling off Lamai beach. I sustained a few cuts when I slipped off some rocks but nothing that a few days of healing won't mend.
So we've now arrived in Koh Tao. We took the Lomprayah Catamaran from Koh Samui to Koh Tao. It made two stops in between where some of the passengers got off. Apparently one of our bags which contained all of our snorkeling gear was mistakenly offloaded in one of these stops. So the lesson learnt was to keep an eye on your bags and make sure it's not offloaded. I was hoping the crew would know what they were doing... But this is South East Asia... We arrived in Koh Samui at 10am and they told us to come back at 3pm to collect the bag. Oh well. Lets hope it is in fact our bag... And it arrives.
We are currently staying in a place called "Simple Life Resort". So far it's been good. It looks clean and spacious.
More to follow....
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Crazy couple of weeks
The last couple of weeks have been something else. Little sleep. Lots of packing and cleaning. I've got way too much stuff for my own good. I'll definately choose wisely before I buy my next gadget.
I still can't believe I got it all done. I sold my Nissan Pulsar today just in time. I didn't get as much for it as I would have hoped but I suppose you have to take the good and the bad.
I'm currently staying at the Hilton Melbourne Airport. Not bad, kind of small and the blinds need maintenance. But acceptable to my standards. That's not really saying much though.
My flight plans are as follows:
Melbourne to KL:
Flight: D72725
Departing:
Melbourne (MEL)
Melbourne Airport
01 Jul 2010
1225 hrs
Arriving
Kuala Lumpur (KUL)
LCC Terminal
01 Jul 2010
1840 hrs
Then dash for the connecting flight:
Flight: FD3576
Departing:
Kuala Lumpur (KUL)
LCC Terminal
01 Jul 2010
2055 hrs
Arriving:
Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK)
01 Jul 2010
2155 hrs
I hope there aren't any delays. I might have cut this one a little close...
Wish me luck everyone!
I still can't believe I got it all done. I sold my Nissan Pulsar today just in time. I didn't get as much for it as I would have hoped but I suppose you have to take the good and the bad.
I'm currently staying at the Hilton Melbourne Airport. Not bad, kind of small and the blinds need maintenance. But acceptable to my standards. That's not really saying much though.
My flight plans are as follows:
Melbourne to KL:
Flight: D72725
Departing:
Melbourne (MEL)
Melbourne Airport
01 Jul 2010
1225 hrs
Arriving
Kuala Lumpur (KUL)
LCC Terminal
01 Jul 2010
1840 hrs
Then dash for the connecting flight:
Flight: FD3576
Departing:
Kuala Lumpur (KUL)
LCC Terminal
01 Jul 2010
2055 hrs
Arriving:
Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK)
01 Jul 2010
2155 hrs
I hope there aren't any delays. I might have cut this one a little close...
Wish me luck everyone!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
SMS Spam
How annoying. I got two SMS's last night at about 3:30am (+10 GMT). Both from 19706970
First SMS:
>REPLY with OK<< 2get porno name! SP GlobalBilling.help1300558851$5.00 pmsg 2p/week Mobile VIP subscription signup $10.00 Txt stop 2stop >>REPLY OK<
Second:
(FreeMsg)>>>Reply with YES<<< to confirm your mobile number! >>>Reply YES<<< Mobile VIP SP Global Billing.Help1300558851$5p/msg 3p/week to sub
What should you do if you also find these a nuisance? Report them to the ACMA: http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_310294
By forwarding the SMS to: 0429 999 888
First SMS:
Second:
(FreeMsg)>>>Reply with YES<<< to confirm your mobile number! >>>Reply YES<<< Mobile VIP SP Global Billing.Help1300558851$5p/msg 3p/week to sub
What should you do if you also find these a nuisance? Report them to the ACMA: http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_310294
By forwarding the SMS to: 0429 999 888
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