Oh my how long it's been. My apologies to anyone who has missed my ramblings and musings over the past year. However, in my defense things have been crazy here as my last full semester of school comes to a close. I've been chasing any and every job that remotely interests me; not to mention the several side projects I have going on. With all of that being said all of my ass-kickingly hard work is slowly starting to pay off. I'm not going to go into too much detail, but it has kept me from updating my personal blog. Although I must admit, it lacks a certain flair without me reporting on my travels.
Fear not, I will be embarking on a 6 week trip back to my current obsession: South East Asia. Tickets are booked, my passport has been sent out (I ran out of pages plus it's due to expire soon), and I've started getting my research on in my free time. The pre-planned (and likely to change) route after the break.
As you can see it is one enormous CF...which is fitting and just the way I like it. After looking at various places to fly into, we found the best deal to be flying into Hong Kong (leaving from San Fran). No visa required, and my dear friend N just moved there so lodging is going to be at its best (with a great friend who is familiar with the place).
It's been an interesting exercise, I'm no dummy and know that it's imperative to be flexible on a trip like this. However, my wallet is not bottomless (in fact, it's quite the opposite) so I chose a different method. We (MB and I) roughly know where we want to go and things we don't want to miss. Air Asia has the bottom line best deals about 95% of the time (sometimes Tiger or the ever-so-sketchy Indonesian budget airlines Lion Air beat AA out). You can take a gamble and buy a few days before you leave and hope to get a deal or you can do what we did and purchase six months in advance for a significant discount. For example, our flight from Singapore to Denpasar, Bali was only $40 US. Learning from experience, buying a ticket a week or even a few days in advance from KL can easily cost $150 US (for those not familiar with the region, it's about a five hour drive from Singapore; so think Boston to NYC). All in all, the plan is to make as many of the cheap flights we can and if we want or have to make adjustments on the road, so be it.
I'm one to go with the flow, so the situation really doesn't concern me; however someone planning a trip to the region needs to keep a few things in mind. It is easy if you have a few months to just go and see where things take you. I totally support this model if you are planning to visit countries with an overland boarder. However, when you are wanting to span an area from Vietnam to Indonesia (Hong Kong aside for a moment) in a mere 6 weeks the task of where to go is completely daunting. One could easily spend 6 weeks in Indonesia and hardly scratch the surface. Vietnam and Borneo were a must from day one (three years back when we decided to save up for this adventure). Needless to say for an area that is roughly half size of the US (mainly due to the large swath of territory Indonesia inhabits) it packs quite a punch. It isn't a trip you could ever do in one swing unless you have at least 6 months. Unless you like to constantly be on the run and are contempt with snapping pictures from a bus, train, or plane.
We had big goals of going to Indonesia, various places I didn't get a chance to see in Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and dabble in Thailand. A closer look proved that plan just isn't possible. I'm bummed out to say as of right now we have no plans to visit Thailand or Cambodia, but that just means I'll be returning, yet again. Not to mention it's the rainy season in those parts, which is no bueno for travel. I'm not opposed to going to these places if the opportunity feels right, but I'm a believer of taking one's time instead of racing through a place. So in the end we decided to spend around two weeks in Indonesia (keeping our travels to the Bali/Lombok region and the island of Java), two weeks in Vietnam, and cutting up the last two weeks in Malaysian Borneo, Hong Kong, and KL with a short day and a half in Singapore.
Now that I've bored you to death with simple details, I'll wrap up this post. I've got an exciting announcement to make in regards to a new project I'll be starting up this summer. No my friends...I'm NOT engaged...but I'm now aware of how gullible Facebook has made people. Details on the project to come soon so stay tuned!
Ciao,
M
Oh my how long it's been. My apologies to anyone who has missed my ramblings and musings over the past year. However, in my defense things have been crazy here as my last full semester of school comes to a close. I've been chasing any and every job that remotely interests me; not to mention the several side projects I have going on. With all of that being said all of my ass-kickingly hard work is slowly starting to pay off. I'm not going to go into too much detail, but it has kept me from updating my personal blog. Although I must admit, it lacks a certain flair without me reporting on my travels.
Fear not, I will be embarking on a 6 week trip back to my current obsession: South East Asia. Tickets are booked, my passport has been sent out (I ran out of pages plus it's due to expire soon), and I've started getting my research on in my free time. The pre-planned (and likely to change) route after the break.
As you can see it is one enormous CF...which is fitting and just the way I like it. After looking at various places to fly into, we found the best deal to be flying into Hong Kong (leaving from San Fran). No visa required, and my dear friend N just moved there so lodging is going to be at its best (with a great friend who is familiar with the place).
It's been an interesting exercise, I'm no dummy and know that it's imperative to be flexible on a trip like this. However, my wallet is not bottomless (in fact, it's quite the opposite) so I chose a different method. We (MB and I) roughly know where we want to go and things we don't want to miss. Air Asia has the bottom line best deals about 95% of the time (sometimes Tiger or the ever-so-sketchy Indonesian budget airlines Lion Air beat AA out). You can take a gamble and buy a few days before you leave and hope to get a deal or you can do what we did and purchase six months in advance for a significant discount. For example, our flight from Singapore to Denpasar, Bali was only $40 US. Learning from experience, buying a ticket a week or even a few days in advance from KL can easily cost $150 US (for those not familiar with the region, it's about a five hour drive from Singapore; so think Boston to NYC). All in all, the plan is to make as many of the cheap flights we can and if we want or have to make adjustments on the road, so be it.
I'm one to go with the flow, so the situation really doesn't concern me; however someone planning a trip to the region needs to keep a few things in mind. It is easy if you have a few months to just go and see where things take you. I totally support this model if you are planning to visit countries with an overland boarder. However, when you are wanting to span an area from Vietnam to Indonesia (Hong Kong aside for a moment) in a mere 6 weeks the task of where to go is completely daunting. One could easily spend 6 weeks in Indonesia and hardly scratch the surface. Vietnam and Borneo were a must from day one (three years back when we decided to save up for this adventure). Needless to say for an area that is roughly half size of the US (mainly due to the large swath of territory Indonesia inhabits) it packs quite a punch. It isn't a trip you could ever do in one swing unless you have at least 6 months. Unless you like to constantly be on the run and are contempt with snapping pictures from a bus, train, or plane.
We had big goals of going to Indonesia, various places I didn't get a chance to see in Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and dabble in Thailand. A closer look proved that plan just isn't possible. I'm bummed out to say as of right now we have no plans to visit Thailand or Cambodia, but that just means I'll be returning, yet again. Not to mention it's the rainy season in those parts, which is no bueno for travel. I'm not opposed to going to these places if the opportunity feels right, but I'm a believer of taking one's time instead of racing through a place. So in the end we decided to spend around two weeks in Indonesia (keeping our travels to the Bali/Lombok region and the island of Java), two weeks in Vietnam, and cutting up the last two weeks in Malaysian Borneo, Hong Kong, and KL with a short day and a half in Singapore.
Now that I've bored you to death with simple details, I'll wrap up this post. I've got an exciting announcement to make in regards to a new project I'll be starting up this summer. No my friends...I'm NOT engaged...but I'm now aware of how gullible Facebook has made people. Details on the project to come soon so stay tuned!
Ciao,
M
Oh my how long it's been. My apologies to anyone who has missed my ramblings and musings over the past year. However, in my defense things have been crazy here as my last full semester of school comes to a close. I've been chasing any and every job that remotely interests me; not to mention the several side projects I have going on. With all of that being said all of my ass-kickingly hard work is slowly starting to pay off. I'm not going to go into too much detail, but it has kept me from updating my personal blog. Although I must admit, it lacks a certain flair without me reporting on my travels.
Fear not, I will be embarking on a 6 week trip back to my current obsession: South East Asia. Tickets are booked, my passport has been sent out (I ran out of pages plus it's due to expire soon), and I've started getting my research on in my free time. The pre-planned (and likely to change) route after the break.
As you can see it is one enormous CF...which is fitting and just the way I like it. After looking at various places to fly into, we found the best deal to be flying into Hong Kong (leaving from San Fran). No visa required, and my dear friend N just moved there so lodging is going to be at its best (with a great friend who is familiar with the place).
It's been an interesting exercise, I'm no dummy and know that it's imperative to be flexible on a trip like this. However, my wallet is not bottomless (in fact, it's quite the opposite) so I chose a different method. We (MB and I) roughly know where we want to go and things we don't want to miss. Air Asia has the bottom line best deals about 95% of the time (sometimes Tiger or the ever-so-sketchy Indonesian budget airlines Lion Air beat AA out). You can take a gamble and buy a few days before you leave and hope to get a deal or you can do what we did and purchase six months in advance for a significant discount. For example, our flight from Singapore to Denpasar, Bali was only $40 US. Learning from experience, buying a ticket a week or even a few days in advance from KL can easily cost $150 US (for those not familiar with the region, it's about a five hour drive from Singapore; so think Boston to NYC). All in all, the plan is to make as many of the cheap flights we can and if we want or have to make adjustments on the road, so be it.
I'm one to go with the flow, so the situation really doesn't concern me; however someone planning a trip to the region needs to keep a few things in mind. It is easy if you have a few months to just go and see where things take you. I totally support this model if you are planning to visit countries with an overland boarder. However, when you are wanting to span an area from Vietnam to Indonesia (Hong Kong aside for a moment) in a mere 6 weeks the task of where to go is completely daunting. One could easily spend 6 weeks in Indonesia and hardly scratch the surface. Vietnam and Borneo were a must from day one (three years back when we decided to save up for this adventure). Needless to say for an area that is roughly half size of the US (mainly due to the large swath of territory Indonesia inhabits) it packs quite a punch. It isn't a trip you could ever do in one swing unless you have at least 6 months. Unless you like to constantly be on the run and are contempt with snapping pictures from a bus, train, or plane.
We had big goals of going to Indonesia, various places I didn't get a chance to see in Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and dabble in Thailand. A closer look proved that plan just isn't possible. I'm bummed out to say as of right now we have no plans to visit Thailand or Cambodia, but that just means I'll be returning, yet again. Not to mention it's the rainy season in those parts, which is no bueno for travel. I'm not opposed to going to these places if the opportunity feels right, but I'm a believer of taking one's time instead of racing through a place. So in the end we decided to spend around two weeks in Indonesia (keeping our travels to the Bali/Lombok region and the island of Java), two weeks in Vietnam, and cutting up the last two weeks in Malaysian Borneo, Hong Kong, and KL with a short day and a half in Singapore.
Now that I've bored you to death with simple details, I'll wrap up this post. I've got an exciting announcement to make in regards to a new project I'll be starting up this summer. No my friends...I'm NOT engaged...but I'm now aware of how gullible Facebook has made people. Details on the project to come soon so stay tuned!
Ciao,
M
Oh my how long it's been. My apologies to anyone who has missed my ramblings and musings over the past year. However, in my defense things have been crazy here as my last full semester of school comes to a close. I've been chasing any and every job that remotely interests me; not to mention the several side projects I have going on. With all of that being said all of my ass-kickingly hard work is slowly starting to pay off. I'm not going to go into too much detail, but it has kept me from updating my personal blog. Although I must admit, it lacks a certain flair without me reporting on my travels.
Fear not, I will be embarking on a 6 week trip back to my current obsession: South East Asia. Tickets are booked, my passport has been sent out (I ran out of pages plus it's due to expire soon), and I've started getting my research on in my free time. The pre-planned (and likely to change) route after the break.
As you can see it is one enormous CF...which is fitting and just the way I like it. After looking at various places to fly into, we found the best deal to be flying into Hong Kong (leaving from San Fran). No visa required, and my dear friend N just moved there so lodging is going to be at its best (with a great friend who is familiar with the place).
It's been an interesting exercise, I'm no dummy and know that it's imperative to be flexible on a trip like this. However, my wallet is not bottomless (in fact, it's quite the opposite) so I chose a different method. We (MB and I) roughly know where we want to go and things we don't want to miss. Air Asia has the bottom line best deals about 95% of the time (sometimes Tiger or the ever-so-sketchy Indonesian budget airlines Lion Air beat AA out). You can take a gamble and buy a few days before you leave and hope to get a deal or you can do what we did and purchase six months in advance for a significant discount. For example, our flight from Singapore to Denpasar, Bali was only $40 US. Learning from experience, buying a ticket a week or even a few days in advance from KL can easily cost $150 US (for those not familiar with the region, it's about a five hour drive from Singapore; so think Boston to NYC). All in all, the plan is to make as many of the cheap flights we can and if we want or have to make adjustments on the road, so be it.
I'm one to go with the flow, so the situation really doesn't concern me; however someone planning a trip to the region needs to keep a few things in mind. It is easy if you have a few months to just go and see where things take you. I totally support this model if you are planning to visit countries with an overland boarder. However, when you are wanting to span an area from Vietnam to Indonesia (Hong Kong aside for a moment) in a mere 6 weeks the task of where to go is completely daunting. One could easily spend 6 weeks in Indonesia and hardly scratch the surface. Vietnam and Borneo were a must from day one (three years back when we decided to save up for this adventure). Needless to say for an area that is roughly half size of the US (mainly due to the large swath of territory Indonesia inhabits) it packs quite a punch. It isn't a trip you could ever do in one swing unless you have at least 6 months. Unless you like to constantly be on the run and are contempt with snapping pictures from a bus, train, or plane.
We had big goals of going to Indonesia, various places I didn't get a chance to see in Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and dabble in Thailand. A closer look proved that plan just isn't possible. I'm bummed out to say as of right now we have no plans to visit Thailand or Cambodia, but that just means I'll be returning, yet again. Not to mention it's the rainy season in those parts, which is no bueno for travel. I'm not opposed to going to these places if the opportunity feels right, but I'm a believer of taking one's time instead of racing through a place. So in the end we decided to spend around two weeks in Indonesia (keeping our travels to the Bali/Lombok region and the island of Java), two weeks in Vietnam, and cutting up the last two weeks in Malaysian Borneo, Hong Kong, and KL with a short day and a half in Singapore.
Now that I've bored you to death with simple details, I'll wrap up this post. I've got an exciting announcement to make in regards to a new project I'll be starting up this summer. No my friends...I'm NOT engaged...but I'm now aware of how gullible Facebook has made people. Details on the project to come soon so stay tuned!
Ciao,
M
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