Snapshot/Tips:
Planning
Packing
Flights
Visa
How we planned:
The Joker from the Dark Knight pretty much sums up our planning philosophy in one quote-
" Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it. You know, I just.... do things. "
Alissa and I decided over 7 months ago to do at least one year abroad in Asia together before coming back to the U.S. to pursue her dreams to become a star vocalist and for me to focus on getting business experience. We had that planned out, but as for our year abroad... we left it to be spontaneous and wild.
One week before we were leaving, we had no idea where we were going or what we would be doing. It was a form of calculated chaos, we had the date set with nothing else planned and strangely, we weren't too nervous, only excited. Once it came closer to our planned deadline to leave, here's what we did:
First and foremost, we asked ourselves- "what do we want to accomplish during our year abroad?". That's where our challenge list came about to make sure we weren't just being typical tourists but that we were pushing ourselves to learn, grow and challenge ourselves. After all, we will have SO much time and we want to fill it with meaningful experiences and learn new skills along our journey. So we packed according to this list of things we wanted to accomplish, such as her recording equipment for singing.
Second, we marked what countries we were interested in traveling to, what countries were recommended to us to visit, and which countries we wanted/need to stay away from (either because of political unrest or lack of safety in general).
Third, we created a budget to see how much money we could spend per day and about how many different places we could travel to without blowing away all of our money on plane flights.
Fourth, we booked a hostel in advance so we didn't have to worry once the plane landed on where we were staying. We almost always use Hostelworld.com or Airbnb.com to find good places. I prefer hostels because they are very cheap but you also get the added bonus of meeting new travelers almost every day who will be staying there too.
How we packed:
We each used our 44 liter Osprey backpacks to pack our clothes in, I brought an extra backpack for my camera and extra storage when we bought stuff abroad and Alissa brought her recording equipment. For packing clothes, we knew we had to travel light, we laid all of our clothes out and tossed as many out as we could until we had just enough variety of shirts, pants, shorts, etc. that would fit in our backpacks and serve as clothes that we'd be wearing for basically the next year.
How we planned our flight:
Kayak.com + Skyscanner.com
Skyscanner is a great website that will find the cheapest flights from one country to another and which city is cheapest to fly to and from. This is a tool that I used in Europe and it was very useful for us on our flight over from the US.
Kayak has one of the most useful travel tools on it's website that has a map of the world with flight prices. We used this to find that is was cheapest to fly to Asia from LAX. From LAX, the cheapest destinations were Manila, Philippines and Ho Chi Minh City.
We chose to fly to Ho Chi Minh since it was a more central location with lots of cheap airlines flying into and out of it, even with the visa requirement it was a lot cheaper to fly there than other countries. From there we could easily jump on a train, bus or flight to a close neighboring country for very cheap. We flew on Asiana Airlines, one of the best in the world and it proved to be so once we got on- great service, clean, spacious, great food and good movie selection.
Visa
We realized we needed a visa... and fast, since we were leaving in only 5 days. We were urged to go through the Vietnam embassy located in D.C. and either mail them (which took 5 business days to process) or go in person (which we were in California...). So we decided to use the Visa on Arrival route. Basically you go through a third party to have your visa application ready upon arrival at the airport, it was quicker and cheaper to do it this way. We went through myvietnamvisa.com and everything worked out smoothly, it only took us 10 minutes for it to process once we filled out the paperwork at the airport. The only things we needed were to print out a copy of letter they send us by e-mail as well as one passport sized photo each to put on the paperwork. If you didn't have the passport sized photo they will take it at the airport for you for a $2 fee.
And just like that, our "planning" was over and it was time for us to begin our journey.
Planning
- What is that...?
Packing
- PACK LIGHT!!! Be as minimal as possible, most people have so many clothes and belongings that they don't know what to do with themselves. 7-9 shirts, 2-3 shorts, 1-2 pants, shorts, socks, underwear and a light jacket is all we packed for clothes.
Flights
- Kayak.com + Skyscanner.com = lifesaver
- If you have planned out when you are returning, booking round trip flights are almost always cheaper
- If you have found a cheap flight, check if they charge you for checked bags and their carry on restrictions
Visa
- If a visa is required, check if your country gives VOA's (visas on arrival) where you pick them up from the airport. Our Vietnamese visa was faster and cheaper to get directly at the airport. Watch out for scam websites though.
How we planned:
The Joker from the Dark Knight pretty much sums up our planning philosophy in one quote-
" Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it. You know, I just.... do things. "
Alissa and I decided over 7 months ago to do at least one year abroad in Asia together before coming back to the U.S. to pursue her dreams to become a star vocalist and for me to focus on getting business experience. We had that planned out, but as for our year abroad... we left it to be spontaneous and wild.
One week before we were leaving, we had no idea where we were going or what we would be doing. It was a form of calculated chaos, we had the date set with nothing else planned and strangely, we weren't too nervous, only excited. Once it came closer to our planned deadline to leave, here's what we did:
First and foremost, we asked ourselves- "what do we want to accomplish during our year abroad?". That's where our challenge list came about to make sure we weren't just being typical tourists but that we were pushing ourselves to learn, grow and challenge ourselves. After all, we will have SO much time and we want to fill it with meaningful experiences and learn new skills along our journey. So we packed according to this list of things we wanted to accomplish, such as her recording equipment for singing.
Second, we marked what countries we were interested in traveling to, what countries were recommended to us to visit, and which countries we wanted/need to stay away from (either because of political unrest or lack of safety in general).
Third, we created a budget to see how much money we could spend per day and about how many different places we could travel to without blowing away all of our money on plane flights.
Fourth, we booked a hostel in advance so we didn't have to worry once the plane landed on where we were staying. We almost always use Hostelworld.com or Airbnb.com to find good places. I prefer hostels because they are very cheap but you also get the added bonus of meeting new travelers almost every day who will be staying there too.
How we packed:
We each used our 44 liter Osprey backpacks to pack our clothes in, I brought an extra backpack for my camera and extra storage when we bought stuff abroad and Alissa brought her recording equipment. For packing clothes, we knew we had to travel light, we laid all of our clothes out and tossed as many out as we could until we had just enough variety of shirts, pants, shorts, etc. that would fit in our backpacks and serve as clothes that we'd be wearing for basically the next year.
How we planned our flight:
Kayak.com + Skyscanner.com
Skyscanner is a great website that will find the cheapest flights from one country to another and which city is cheapest to fly to and from. This is a tool that I used in Europe and it was very useful for us on our flight over from the US.
Kayak has one of the most useful travel tools on it's website that has a map of the world with flight prices. We used this to find that is was cheapest to fly to Asia from LAX. From LAX, the cheapest destinations were Manila, Philippines and Ho Chi Minh City.
We chose to fly to Ho Chi Minh since it was a more central location with lots of cheap airlines flying into and out of it, even with the visa requirement it was a lot cheaper to fly there than other countries. From there we could easily jump on a train, bus or flight to a close neighboring country for very cheap. We flew on Asiana Airlines, one of the best in the world and it proved to be so once we got on- great service, clean, spacious, great food and good movie selection.
Visa
We realized we needed a visa... and fast, since we were leaving in only 5 days. We were urged to go through the Vietnam embassy located in D.C. and either mail them (which took 5 business days to process) or go in person (which we were in California...). So we decided to use the Visa on Arrival route. Basically you go through a third party to have your visa application ready upon arrival at the airport, it was quicker and cheaper to do it this way. We went through myvietnamvisa.com and everything worked out smoothly, it only took us 10 minutes for it to process once we filled out the paperwork at the airport. The only things we needed were to print out a copy of letter they send us by e-mail as well as one passport sized photo each to put on the paperwork. If you didn't have the passport sized photo they will take it at the airport for you for a $2 fee.
And just like that, our "planning" was over and it was time for us to begin our journey.