Preparing & Over Packing

Trip Start Nov 13, 2008

Trip End Dec 01, 2008

Loading Map

Map your own trip!

Map Options

Show trip route

Hide lines

Flag of United States Chicago, Illinois, United States
Monday, November 10, 2008

Hi, my name is Denise and I am an over packer. Ok, I feel better now that I have that off my chest.

As I start preparing for our adventure, I realize that my back pack is not as big as I remember. This trip is a rather difficult one to pack for - we go from 40 degree weather in Beijing to 90 degree weather in Kuala Lumpur. Looks like I will be wearing the same sun dress a few days in a row!

This year, Frank, Nathan & I are headed to China, Malaysia & Thailand. Last year when we were on our Europe trip, we decided that we wanted to visit every continent, minus Antarctica obviously. We decided to start with Asia in 2008. Our itinerary has changed many times since we first started talking about the trip in the Spring.

Initially, we were going to go to Beijing, Hong Kong, Phuket & Bangkok. Once we bought our big ticket over there, we started planning out the connecting flights/trains and found the logistics to be rather difficult & expensive. Being the cheap travelers we are, we were not happy that our connecting flights were totaling over $1,000! That was just not acceptable. We were shocked that Asia didn't have a low cost carrier. How could they not have a Southwest or Easy Jet equivalent? Just when I started to accept the fact that I was going to have to give up my first born for these connecting flights, we found our gem - Air Asia!

After reading a few travel blogs from fellow cheap travelers, one girl mentioned an airline we haven't looked into yet. And Jackpot - Asia's low cost carrier, Air Asia! Air Asia did not fly from Beijing to Hong Kong, so we switched it up and decided to go to Shanghai. Plus, Nathan, who was planning Hong Kong, wasn't thrilled about the lack of stuff to do there so it worked out well. Then, the only flight out of Shanghai was to Kuala Lumpur, so that's how Malaysia came about. From KL, we are flying to Phuket and then we will fly to Bangkok. Total cost for connecting flights: $303! The only piece we are missing is getting from Beijing to Shanghai. We are going to take a train, but have decided to wait to book it until we get there. We are going to take the train from Beijing to Xi-an to see the Terracotta warriors and then take the train from there to Shanghai. We are hoping that the train will be roughly $150-ish. The total cost for all our connections will be about $450. MUCH better than the initial $1,000 we were going to cough up!

As far as planning what to do in each city, we decided to stick with the same plan as last year where each person plans a city. This plan really worked out well for us last time. One person is in charge of the city and the other 2 sit back and enjoy the ride, aka. no complaining. I am planning Beijing & Seoul (we have a day layover in Seoul on our way back). Nathan is planning Shanghai & Kuala Lumpur. And Frank has Phuket & Bangkok.

Some things that we have planned: Great Wall of China, Terracotta Warriors, Rain Forest Hike, White Water Rafting, Elephant Trekking , Safari Tour, Phi Phi Island Excursion, Bath Houses, Thai Massages, etc.

I am really looking forward to this trip! It will be amazing and I know we will come back with so many memories - and great stories. Although, none will top "That's it? That's all I did?" from last year :)

Now all I have to do is get all my stuff to fit into my bag...wish me luck!

Cheers,
Denise