Planning, planning, and planning. Plan your trip ahead!
(Sounds easy? uh no?)
Apart from accommodation, transportation is another important aspect that travelers look into their budget planning. However, we sometime get too tired to plan and wish to just go with the flow. (Once in a while, why not?) =P
Tips 1: Consider a Budget Airline
Budget airlines such as AirAsia, JetStay, TigerAirline, Firefly often offer great deals to travel when you book within certain date. It is a very good idea to subscribe and get the best deal in town. Apart from that, your network (Facebook, Twitter) play an important role to notify you about latest promotion so that you will not miss any of them, make sure you have generous friends that willing to share the news rather than keeping everything in themselves!
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| AirAsia flying from Kota Kinabalu to Taipei |
Everyone say that budget airline have super small seats onboard, lousy services, and pay-for-every-addons-services. You can imagine squeezing your big ass (If you have one) into a small seat for 7hours if you're traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Tokyo. It sounds terrible but it is a good experience to try on, and trust me, everyone will get use to it sooner or later. About the extra add on services, you can choose not to pay for any. Lessen your luggage to avoid check-in luggage, have your meal before flight, and thats it, JUST PAY FOR YOUR FLIGHT TICKET and end of the story. I Fly one-way from Kuala Lumpur to Tokyo for RM350, Kuala Lumpur to Seoul RM400, Kota Kinabalu to Taipei RM350, Kuala Lumpur to Osaka for RM400, I don't think you can find such deal with MalaysiaAirline, they are simply too "luxury" for me.
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| Flew from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan for less than RM20/way |
Sometime flying is not the only option available to travel from one place to another place. Most of the time it is cheaper to travel domestically than internationally even though the distance is fairly close. For an example, it will be cheaper to travel from Brunei to Kota Kinabalu by Bus/Ferry and fly to Sandakan than taking a flight directly from Brunei to Sandakan. Some may say it involve more time to travel, if your concern is to arrive your destination as soon as possible disregarding the expenses, then you have just enter the wrong website.
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| Welcome sign in HoaLomPhone train station @ Bangkok |
Furthermore, riding a bus or taking a train can be another good alternatives over taking a flight. Train and bus services are becoming so convenient and affordable to many travelers. From Bangkok HoaLomPhong train station to Aranyaprathet (Boarder of Thailand crossing Cambodia), only cost 48 Baht (RM5). From Aranyaprathet, take a mini bus that cost 10USD (RM32) to reach Siem Reap. In total RM37 from Bangkok - Siem Reap. It might take more time, but think again, you can experience the life of the local people that restrain from limited budget. In addition, it allows you to live, like a local.
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| Travel in train, like a local =) |
Oh, and don't forget you can take a bus to save on your budget. Buses that travel from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan will cost RM40-RM45 depending on the tavel company. Though, you can also take a flight, but make sure you already got a clear plan to follows.
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| Price you have to pay if you buy next-day-ticket. |
If you fail to plan in advance, and make you booking accordingly, the price you have to pay, can be rather too expensive.
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| Price you have to pay if you book a month in advance. |
Tips 3: Use various search engine to help you make a booking.
Always remember that not all search engine for flight ticket have unbiased fare. Because these site is often belong to some of the airline to promote their website. Thus, the best search engine is the one without any affiliation with other airlines. Personally i like to use Skyscanner, and Fleapy.com. It allow me to find which day is cheaper, so that i can manage my schedule accordingly.
Tips 4: Be Flexible with your Time
Airline tickets price can be vary depending on the day of the week, month of the year. New Year's Eve, Christmas New Year, July-August is the busiest time in Europe, as many people go on vacation, and by those time things will be mark up Its' always cheaper to travel in the middle of the weekday than in weekend. Because most of the people travel on weekend and the airline will hike up the price on weekend. Before commit to purchase a ticket, double check the time, date, and particulars.
In addition, always make sure that you got the cheapest deal of the day you wan to travel, if not, wait until another day that offer cheaper flight ticket and travel on that day. Even the difference of a day can mean hundreds of dollars in savings.
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| Tung Ma is quite comfy to travel with too! *But KK-Sandakan road is too bumpy.. |
Comment below, Thanks!
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