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Poker
Joined: 16 Jan 2010
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 Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2010 4:21 am Post subject: How much have you spent for a vacation? |
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| Hi, I am looking to do some travelling during the winter vacation in SE Asia. Would like to know what other people generally fork out during vacation time. If you want to, could you please share your stories of trips you have done that were value for money. I'm trying to look at the [cost - "enjoyability"] factor. Thanks! |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2010 5:07 am Post subject: Re: How much have you spent for a vacation? |
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| Poker wrote: |
| Hi, I am looking to do some travelling during the winter vacation in SE Asia. Would like to know what other people generally fork out during vacation time. If you want to, could you please share your stories of trips you have done that were value for money. I'm trying to look at the [cost - "enjoyability"] factor. Thanks! |
You have 2 choices:
1) do the backpacker thing, count your pennies, pinch on the corners and squeeze by on as little as US$30/day. It is certainly do-able but it gets old fast and if you have been working for any length of time there is no need for it.
2) budget about $100 per day, enjoy your vacation without worrying about whether or not you can afford the tour that you really want to do and what do you have to give up in order to do it.
Side note: You can always bring home your extra cash. It is not like it will go bad and need to be thrown away due to mold and rot because there was no fridge to put it in.
IF you were planning on an EXTENDED trip where you would be renting by the month instead of rooms by the night your budget would be quite small by comparison but as a tourist it doesn't really work by the time you figure in tours, hotels, restaurants, attractions and evenings out.
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BoholDiver
Joined: 03 Oct 2009
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2010 5:49 am Post subject: |
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$100 a day is plenty, even with a family. The flight is killer once you have children.
We're traveling to Phil. from Dec 23-Jan 1. Even though we got amazingly cheap flights (1.12 million for all 3 of us) we're still spending about 2.7 total once we factor in food, hotels, diving, gifts/souvenirs, drinking, taxis, airport taxes, and the like. |
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interestedinhanguk
Joined: 23 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2010 8:08 am Post subject: Re: How much have you spent for a vacation? |
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[quote="ttompatz"]
| Poker wrote: |
You have 2 choices:
1) do the backpacker thing, count your pennies, pinch on the corners and squeeze by on as little as US$30/day. It is certainly do-able but it gets old fast and if you have been working for any length of time there is no need for it.
2) budget about $100 per day, enjoy your vacation without worrying about whether or not you can afford the tour that you really want to do and what do you have to give up in order to do it. |
There's also option 1.5
Don't stay in fancy places and order room service, but also don't eat instant noodles for every meal.
SE Asia is best enjoyed on the streets, anyways. Street food is cheap (and the best). You can find a decent hotel for $25/night in a lot of places. Go on your tour. Have fun. You don't have to spend $100 for a worry-free vacation. |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2010 4:14 pm Post subject: Re: How much have you spent for a vacation? |
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| interestedinhanguk wrote: |
| ttompatz wrote: |
You have 2 choices:
1) do the backpacker thing, count your pennies, pinch on the corners and squeeze by on as little as US$30/day. It is certainly do-able but it gets old fast and if you have been working for any length of time there is no need for it.
2) budget about $100 per day, enjoy your vacation without worrying about whether or not you can afford the tour that you really want to do and what do you have to give up in order to do it. |
There's also option 1.5
Don't stay in fancy places and order room service, but also don't eat instant noodles for every meal.
SE Asia is best enjoyed on the streets, anyways. Street food is cheap (and the best). You can find a decent hotel for $25/night in a lot of places. Go on your tour. Have fun. You don't have to spend $100 for a worry-free vacation. |
I DIDN'T SAY SPEND $100 - I SAID BUDGET $100.
You can always bring your extra cash home.
It SUCKS to be on vacation and have to start counting pennies/pesos/baht/ringgits/etc.
If you really think about it, $25 for hotel. $25 for daytime fun activities (diving or elephant treking anyone?), and $25 for evening/bar/entertainment (double that if you add a lady friend/date to the mix) and all of a sudden you, AS A TOURIST rapidly approach $100 per day.
If you are working as a teacher in Korea and have a take-home pay of about $25k with minimal housing costs and very low living expenses, why on Ghods green earth would you want to do the penniless backpacker thing if you don't have to.
This is doubly true if you are a short time tourist and only have 4-10 days for your vacation. Spend the cash to be comfortable and secure. Enjoy your adventure because you are unlikely to ever return after you get back to your home country.
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2010 6:10 pm Post subject: Re: How much have you spent for a vacation? |
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[quote="interestedinhanguk"]
| ttompatz wrote: |
| Poker wrote: |
You have 2 choices:
1) do the backpacker thing, count your pennies, pinch on the corners and squeeze by on as little as US$30/day. It is certainly do-able but it gets old fast and if you have been working for any length of time there is no need for it.
2) budget about $100 per day, enjoy your vacation without worrying about whether or not you can afford the tour that you really want to do and what do you have to give up in order to do it. |
There's also option 1.5
Don't stay in fancy places and order room service, but also don't eat instant noodles for every meal.
SE Asia is best enjoyed on the streets, anyways. Street food is cheap (and the best). You can find a decent hotel for $25/night in a lot of places. Go on your tour. Have fun. You don't have to spend $100 for a worry-free vacation. |
This is how I did SEA for most of my time and this is how I enjoyed it the most. I think the only time I ever spent $100 in a day was when I went to Bobby Chinn's restaurant in Hanoi. |
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Poker
Joined: 16 Jan 2010
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| Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2010 4:15 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you for the advice  I have a pretty good idea now of how much I will be spending, cheers |
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Capo
Joined: 09 Sep 2007
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| Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2010 7:37 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm planning on 6 million won for 3 weeks. |
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jomiro
Joined: 10 Jan 2010
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| Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 10:11 am Post subject: |
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japan... a buttload of money. every time i went, it was for 4 - 5 days. didnt need accomodation, just the flight and food/recreational activities i had to pay for. but never went under 1.000.000 krw.
china... a lot cheaper. spent about 2000 rmb for a long weekend i was there. not including the flight. the flight was at around 350.000 krw. (that was last year may around may holidays in china).
thailand... cant say anything about the recreational activity costs there yet. have yet to go. but i dont expect to be paying more than 1.500.000 krw for two weeks (including an over-land trip to cambodia). accomodation will be free, flight was 640.000 krw. |
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JBomb
Joined: 16 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 4:29 pm Post subject: |
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Japan on 4 different occasions: A lot for couple of day stints. Heading to Tokyo with some buddies for Christmas
Rhine River down from Amsterdam to Germany and back up through Belgium: 700 000 Won plane ticket, 600 000 train pass, 2 mil spending.
China and North Korea: 300 000 Plane ticket to Beijing, 2 mil for everything else.
Cebu and Bohol for Chuseok: like 1 mil for everything
This winter heading to Malaysia and up through Southern Thailand before looping back to KL. Should be about 1.5 mil spending. Got the plane ticket for cheap. |
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blackjack
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: anyang
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| Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 4:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Capo wrote: |
| I'm planning on 6 million won for 3 weeks. |
yes but you are not going to SE asia so quit showing off |
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nomad-ish
Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Location: On the bottom of the food chain
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| Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 5:39 pm Post subject: |
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flights are another deal, but for a daily budget in SE asia, i usually spend about $16-25 on a private room in either a hostel, b&b, or hotel (that usually includes breakfast and i aim for free internet or wifi). food, water and snacks for the day is probably around $10 (i don't tend to go to restaurants, i'll grab a sandwich from a convenience store or some fruit from a stand). transportation costs really depend on where and what i'm planning to see for the day.
also, remember to factor in admission costs for temples, unesco sites, whatever you want to visit. it's important to remember that admission isn't going to be cheap for foreigners.
i'd say in total i spend about $35-50 a day and i'm totally comfortable. you can do it a lot cheaper though if you don't go with a private room and just stay in a hostel dorm room. |
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alwaysbeclosing100
Joined: 07 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 11:48 pm Post subject: re |
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im doing $50 per day(not including plane and train tickets) for India, Indonesia and Bangladesh....but these are 3 of the cheapest countries in Asia.....total plane/train tickets plus 4(of 21) nights hotel was about $1000
though i have a healthy budget for the last day or two in KUL before flying back to Incheon |
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AsiaESLbound
Joined: 07 Jan 2010
Location: Truck Stop Missouri
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| Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 12:49 am Post subject: |
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| Capo wrote: |
| I'm planning on 6 million won for 3 weeks. |
Oh goodness, you will live like a king. I brought $2,000 for a 17 day vacation, 3 days Bangkok and 14 days in Myanmar Burma, but spent only $1100 despite drinking beer, hiring drivers, getting massages, paying cash for 3 domestic flights to enjoy more time at the destinations, buying really nice souvenirs, and eating steak, catfish, and lasagna in the best high classy restaurants they have. Since it was a fairly short semi flashpacking adventure, I did and enjoyed things well above the bare minimum, but stayed in budget guesthouses and walked in the streets and hiked huge hill temples without a tour guide company using local drivers instead. You can enjoy that special steak and lasagna after being on the road in the field a while eating rice, because you are on vacation!
I'm going for 15 days in January and expect to spend $1,000 after airfare. I want to go to Myanmar again since it's supposed to be really really most beautiful in January, but need to get a travel agent to process the visa soon. Also was ambivalent on the political situation, but it's noticeably improving so it's looking like a go more and more each day. Indonesia and India are in my sights, but they need more time and this isn't the best season for Indonesia touring, but our Winter is the very best time for SE Asia according to reliable climatologists and travel writers reporting their findings in the field. Had to get all geeky on you there. 
You can live for slightly less than $10 a day in Thailand, but you wouldn't get to do much. Thailand is great for chilling out and enjoying more amenities such as delicious breakfast menus with menu books offering upwards of 200 choices and organized day trips, but Myanmar is awesome for culture and arts in a place where their real world stuck in a past time era beats the pants off of any museum exhibiting the past or Thai tour service offering staged bullock cart rides and enslaved Burmese Karen long neck refugees on display. The real deal in a real 3rd world country isn't nearly as comfortable, but it's a golden experience for those foregoing the comforts of mass commercialized tourism. I guess you have to ask question, "What do I hope to achieve this trip and for how much?" |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:22 am Post subject: Re: re |
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| alwaysbeclosing100 wrote: |
im doing $50 per day(not including plane and train tickets) for India, Indonesia and Bangladesh....but these are 3 of the cheapest countries in Asia.....total plane/train tickets plus 4(of 21) nights hotel was about $1000
though i have a healthy budget for the last day or two in KUL before flying back to Incheon |
50 bucks a day for bangladesh? I budgeted $30/day and I think I spent more like $10-15 a day. That place is about as cheap as anywhere in the world. It's so cheap that many things in India are twice as expensive as they are in Bangladesh. On the other hand, I was there in 2007 so perhaps things have changed a bit. |
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