Storyline: Home to home westward
Perhaps some of you want to know about our good and bad moments. I don’t think we really had bad moments, just some nuisances. And so:
Best decision
Paying the extra to stay in Mt. Cook village and Milford Sound
Best moments
Seeing Mt. Cook shining under the sun
Great weather in Milford Sound
Worst moment
The stolen phone in Bangkok and me falling on the rocks in Kaikoura, NZ
Defining moments
Crossing right through the middle of Australia with “The Ghan” luxury train
Memorable moments
Reconnecting with Alex’s cousin Mike after 51 years
Travelling with Tom (driver/story teller/singer) in New Zealand bus
Sydney Opera House performance of Giselle
Why we’d go back
New Zealand: For the scenery, greenery and fresh sea food
Australia: For the fresh sea food and the open spaces
Asia: For the fresh fruits, vegetables and street food
Favorite places
Mount Cook, New Zealand
The Australian outback from the comfort of The Ghan
Singapore
Georgetown, Malaysia
Expense distribution
The chart below shows the distribution of our expenses during the 3 months. Since we used points to fly the airfare is not included in the chart. However, the intercity airfare is included (we flew in Australia and Thailand). For a realistic representation we excluded the nights we stayed with family and friends and the few luxurious stays, which in a hindsight balanced out. We used the average daily spending in a specific country to pro-rate these days/nights.
Since the length of our stay in every country was different the only real representation is the daily expense:
And below is the expense distribution in every country:
Since we stayed more or less the same amount of time time in Australia and New Zealand, the first two charts below are comparable. Included in New Zealand transportation costs are 4 scenic tourist trains, all buses and cabs (regular taxi and Uber) and local transportation. In Australia we had 3 local flights and 2 trains, Uber and local city transportation.
In Singapore our biggest expense was for accommodation. However, the food was much cheaper than the previous two countries. Some beer and cocktails weighed on our food expenses:
Food in Malaysia was really cheap, and we didn’t have much of the even cheaper street food there. We had some high-end restaurant bills and the wine and beer weighed heavily on our bills:
In Thailand, food was even cheaper. What made our bills high was the extremely expensive, but readily available wine and cocktails. Local beer was cheap. Transportation cost looks higher in comparison to Malaysia because of the intercity flights.
Accommodations
In general, we were happy with the accommodations I had booked from home, long before the trip started. For 97 days on the road we stayed in 28 accommodations and had 2 nights on the train. Of the 28, we stayed with friends and family 3 times, I booked 3 direct, 5 were through Airbnb and 17 through Booking.com.
Given the fact that all was planned and booked a few months earlier, I made sure the accommodations had free cancellation. Airbnb takes their fee after 48 hours of confirmation, but the owner can provide free cancellation up to the last moment if they want to. So, if I were to cancel an Airbnb accommodation at the last moment, I’d lose only a small amount. And as it happened, we had to change itinerary right at the start of our trip because of a road closure and inaccessibility to the destination. Luckily these were booked through Booking, so nothing was lost.
Some may wonder why, being budget conscious, I didn’t use Airbnb more. Well, precisely for that reason. I have a post on this subject and it was not different this time.
I do a lot of research and planning and in many cases, mainly in New Zealand I found the exact same accommodations listed both in Airbnb and Booking. In Booking, the same place was cheaper, sometimes significantly. Given the free cancellation, it was a no-brainer.
There were two Airbnb hosts who cancelled on us and I had to scramble to find other places in the price range. Booking.com again came in handy. In the end it worked out well with a better price.
There is no way for a private owner to cancel through Booking. I guess they have different contracts in comparison with Airbnb. Also, with Airbnb, one deals directly with the owner. With Booking you have all the information upfront and you deal with Booking only.
Some may ask why I didn’t use Hotels.com. In general, they have a different inventory and while Booking deals with private owners, I have not found the same at the Hotels site.
Airbnb or Booking, we stayed mostly in private homes and apartments, except in Asia, where I only used hotels and aparthotels. All Asian accommodations had buffet breakfast with fantastic menus including a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Transportation
Most of the transportation was also booked from home well in advance: all trains (7), buses (10), and flights (13). There were only 4 buses in Asia to be booked on arrival there. We did not have any problem with any of our chosen means of transportation or booking the few buses on the spot. And again, the only time we had to change transportation was due the road closure on New Zealand’s South Island. We booked two more busses and canceled two that we had pre-booked.
We also used Grab, the Asian version of Uber. Mostly in Malaysia. It is very popular there, but in Thailand it was a different story. We used it once from the airport in Bangkok and then found out that it was cheaper to use metered taxi (you can read more in our Thailand posts). In Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai we mainly used tuk-tuk and the “red bus/truck” – locally called “songthaew”.
All in all, moving around with public transportation was quite easy.
Every bus station in Asia had an information desk and they will give you the best option for your route and wallet?
Packing
This time we decided to check our bags right from the start, since everywhere on our itinerary (flights and trains) one could only have 1 carry-on of 7kg. And then I squeezed in more clothes and Alex’s camera equipment. For our “no checked bags” standard we significantly overpacked. Still carry-on sizes, but they were over 10kg each.
For those interested in what we packed:
| 2 checked carry-ons and 2 backpacks |
| Diana
5 pair of pants (2 blue jeans, 2 light summer, 1 capris) 2 skirts 2 dresses 7 short sleeved t-shirts +1 silk top 3 under layers (can be used as t-shirts) 1 sleeveless turtleneck 2 long sleeved t-shirts 2 long sleeved shirts 2 light sweaters 1 fleece jacket 1 middle layer jacket with hood 1 summer raincoat 2 vests (1 down and 1 light with travelling pockets) 6 underwear 4 bras 6 pair of socks + 1 nylons Scarf 1 large-brimmed hat 1 cap mainly for rain protection 3 pairs of running shoes, including a heavy Gore-Tex one 2 pairs of sandals Flip-flops 1 pair of slippers 1 pair of ballet flat (total pairs of shoes for Diana – 7) 1 PJ Poncho Bathing suit Gloves |
Alex
3 pairs of trousers (2 convertible to shorts) 4 shirts (3 long sleeved, 1 short sleeved) 5 T-shirts 2 light sweaters 1 middle layer jacket with hood 1 light rain jacket 2 vests (1 down + 1 light) 6 underwear 5 pairs of socks 1 PJ 1 pair running shoes 1 pair of light shoes 1 pair of sandals Poncho 2 hats – heavy cotton (Tilley) + a cap Bathing suit Gloves
|
| Toiletries, Technology and more
Additional bags packed in the carry-ons: Diana’s big purse (handbag) A small day backpack 1 small self-packable spare backpack + 1 small self-packable shopping bag Technology: 2 laptops 3 cameras: Alex’s mirrorless + 2 lenses, GoPro and 1 point-and-shoot Chargers, spare camera batteries, SD cards, USB Keys, electricity converters and plugs Heavy tripod (1.5kg) [Alex: that’s light for a tripod] Go pro stick, tripod and accessories 2 cell phones 2 pairs of headphones Toiletry and drugs: 2 pairs of spare glasses Min 10 pocket packs of Kleenex 1 little soap, 1 box of soap sheets Big cube with drugs, plaster + 2 smaller drug bags Razor, small scissors, sawing kit 3 cortisone and other dry skin creams Polysporin 2 face creams (one with sun protection), 1 small bottle of body lotion 1 tube of Vaseline 1 sun protection cream 1 after sun bottle Lip balm Toothpicks and flosses 4 toothbrushes 4 toothpaste tubes Cotton (used as earplugs too) Cotton swabs Glasses cleaning wipes for the entire trip + multiple cloth glasses cleaners Hair brush and combs 2 hand sanitizers 1 bug repellent spray 1 tube of bug repellent 2 nose sprays for the plain Other: Water purifier 3 notebooks and many pens Printed documentation, tickets, passports, bank cards, cash, money belts, etc. 1 neck pillow, blindfolds for airplane Backpack rain covers and many garbage bags different sizes used as rain protectors Ziploc bags different sizes Carabiners~10 2 laundry lines 1 flashlight 2 water bottles 3 gift bottles of maple syrup (50ml) 1 box of tea bags 1 pack of coffee Electronic luggage scale |
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