My Travelling 101

Travelling is an expensive hobby. I have to admit that. But..it give me the meaning of life. My routine day is wake up as early as 5.30am in the morning, prepare breakfast, send the kids to school, go to the office, come back after 9-10 hours of working (most of the time non stop without lunch break), pick up the kids at my parents' house, arrive at my house, cook for dinner, feed the kids, monitor their homework, teach iqra' and sleep. It's a tiring daily journey and of course in addition my house is 40km from my office make the situation even worse. The traffic in Kuala Lumpur is unpredictable. Travelling to Kuala Lumpur from Shah Alam and vice versa may take 45 minutes to 1 hour++. With that depressing daily life, I need to pull the hand break.

Started working at 24 years old (quite late for Malaysian), at first my salary was only to pay the bills, loans and daily consumption. Saving is almost impossible especially after I had a child. But slowly, thru time, I learned that by hook or by crook, I need to have saving to energize my life and of course for future.

As a normal human being, I need to channel my negative energy somewhere.  So I started googling. TRAVEL TO SEE THE WORLD is the answer! Initiated saving and now it's on repeat. Work, Save and Travel..

So penciling the notes for reference..here we go:

1. Set a wish list:  There are 7 continents and 195 countries in the world. And each country has a lot of places to cover. What is the preferred activities? Shopping, Hiking, Snorkeling, Staycation, Jungle trekking, Birding, Fishing and many others. You cannot get all things at one time unless you don't have constraint on budget and time.
2. Set budget: After you have you target, it's easier to plan your financial. Set aside a travel fund from your salary. 
3. Start working on itinerary: This is the fun part. Make your own itinerary so that you can work around with  your budget, focus on free entrance place if budget is still the constraint. As a starter, you can just choose a place which 1-2 hours from your house even. Google will be a great helper for you to do the itinerary. Keyword like "Things to do in Agra" or "Attraction in Osaka" or even "3 days itinerary in Beijing". Google the image of the preferred place and location, distance from each other, potential accommodation, mode of transport, cost of car rental, toll charges, parking charges, places to eat, any entrance charges etc. Every information is possible with the existence of internet. Use MS excel to tabulate all obtained information. 
4. Be alert on airline ticket and lodging promotion: Subscribe to news from airline, download apps i.e. Skyscanner, Cheapflight, Expedia and start monitor the price for your target location. For hotel, Agoda and Airbnb is quite competitive as compared to booking.com. If travelling with family (more than 3 pax) it is advisable to rent a home stay so you can save on accommodation and food (self cook will give major saving). It is advisable to do all the booking on Tuesday and Wednesday as the price will drop by at least 5%. Don't forget to clear your cache each time you visit the site!
5. Read and read and read: Read other travellers' review on tripadvisor so that you can set your expectation, know the do's and the don't s and in fact other travellers' experience can help your judgement whether the place is worth a visit or not. It is common that the pictures in the google is lying to you just to promote the place. So just take your time to read people's opinion :)
6. Study the map: Google Earth and Google Map can help! To build a good itinerary, you need to check the distance between each place and suitable mode of transport.
7. Be realistic, know your constraint and capability: It's really subjective. Travelling with kids or elder people will give certain constraint. Solo traveller will have their own constraint. Constraint can be in the form of for example, you have 2 kids with you riding on a strollers. So you might not have enough people to carry the luggage especially if you are using public transport. So other option for this constraint maybe to bring more people or to rent a car so you won't be carrying the luggage to and fro train station. Know your travelling partner. Your kids maybe will not have sufficient energy to go for jungle trekking. Your mother might not fit for hiking. Your partner perhaps always have stomachache in the morning. Thus your itinerary must suit your travelling partner as well. Not to tight itinerary, just a realistic itinerary so that everybody can enjoy the vacation and return home without injury.
8. Getting Ready: Prepare your baggage. Make sure you are aware of the weather and forecast temperature for the whole duration of your vacation so that you can pack a suitable clothes for your family. Bring some canned food, pre-cooked food or at least bite food for your 1st day just in case if emergency happen i.e. flight delay ruin your plan which make you arrive at midnight and no nearby restaurant open at midnight. If you bring kids, please make sure you have their favourite biscuit or chocolate in your handbag. They might throw tantrum due to long hours in the flight and long queue at the immigration. Make sure you read immigration rules at the particular country prior to your departure. If you wish to rent a car, read from the internet on the requirement of driving license. Some countries require International Driving License. Do check on the visa requirement or else you will not be able to board the plane!



Malaysia International Driving License

9. Bon Voyage: Enjoy your holiday to the max. Open your eyes for other countries' cultures,    respect them. Be grateful and lower your expectation. Things might not go well as what you plan but just enjoy your holiday...