Thailand/ Vietnam

Hey everyone,

Looking to get some advice on Thailand and Vietnam!

Planning on heading there mid next year, spending a month in Thailand, a month in Vietnam and then a couple of weeks in Bali, providing visa limitations can accommodate that? Not sure if there is a way to spend longer in Thailand?

Going to opt for hostels over hotels as from experience it's easier to meet people along the way in hostels, so if anyone has any recommendations that would be great.

Would also like a rough idea of day to day costs, average spending etc? I know it is quite a broad subject but any help would be awesome!

At some point I would like to do a scuba dive, I have heard the Phi Phi islands are ideal for this?

Literally any help anyone has on the above or on anything else that may be beneficial would be brilliant!!

Thanks in advance

Grant

Hi Grant,

If you stay in Vietnam for a month, you can visit a lot of destinations there. Last year I went to Vietnam for 3 weeks, and this was my trip: I flew to Hanoi, then went to Halong Bay to take a cruise for 2 days 1 night, then came back to Hanoi to take a night train to Hue. We spent 7 days exploring Hue, Hoian, Danang, and Quy Nhon then flew to Saigon. We spent more than a week discovering Saigon, Cai Be, Can Tho, Ben Tre. The floating markets and fruit farms were so interesting! Our travel was quite slow, and we had a great time there!

In Halong, we went squid fishing, and it was so funny! You should try it. And in mid-year, the weather there will be really hot.

Hi Grace,

Awesome!! Thank you for that, sounds like a month should be enough time to see and do some cool stuff!! What out of what you have listed did you have booked before you arrived? Or was it all done on the day sort of thing?

Can you remember a rough idea of costs, trips, meals etc?

Thanks

Grant

"Can you remember a rough idea of costs, trips, meals etc?"

What you do is look over your savings for this trip. After you factor in the cost of your plane tickets from home and between distant locations and return home you see what is left for hotels and other expenses. Then you plan a daily budget based on how much you have available. Fit YOUR spending to how much you can afford! If sometimes when you see you can only afford really crappy places to sleep and eat at you might want to consider staying overseas for a shorter amount of time.

You can not work overseas, not legally, without a work permit. So the money you have now is what you live off of.

For Thailand, you can enter free for 30 days providing you have a booked flight out of the country before 30 days is up. This requirement may be enforced at your first departure airport in your home country. If you need to stay in Thailand longer (at home) you can apply for and pay for a tourist visa that you can later extend. Pull below link up on a computer and read it over.
https://thailand971.wordpress.com/

Using a computer do a Google search for "daily budget for Thailand visit" or words like that and see what you get. (Sample below.)

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=daily+budget+for+thailand+visit

(If above link doesn't open just do your own Google search.)

Normal stuff. Got a passport with sufficient time left on it for your trip? If first time traveling with a passport keep it dry, don't tear pages out, do not scribble in it or damage it in any way! Otherwise you may not be able to travel!

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/uk-woman-refused-entry-to-thailand-after-ripping-out-passport-pages-to-use-for-toilet-paper/news-story/59e3ab17f322443b1b662fa30e43030b

My advice is to have more than one credit card, have more than one debit card for ATM cash withdrawals. (If you plan on having only one card that card could be damaged or lost or even stolen because you were careless.) Make Google your friend and you will get some advice to look over for how to handle your money overseas.

For Thailand you can bring UK cash currency with you, stick with the 50 pound notes. No writing on the bills, no rips or tears. (Google up how to use ATMs in Thailand and how to change your currency.)

Some expat forums will have specific information for the countries you intend to visit. For Bali research the weather for the month you intend to visit. Maybe save Bali for another time??

Suggestion. From the UK flying round trip to Bangkok might be cheaper than flying one way to Bangkok and one way home from "somewhere" in Asia. Do the math and compare! It is easy to get from Thailand to Vietnam. Discount airlines are available at good rates.

You can pull up your favorite airlines on the web and enter dates and times and get prices for flights. When you visit will affect the cost of your flights. (High season, low season, etc.) For Thailand tourists visit every day of the year, no matter if rainy season, hot season or high season.

Up to you.

[ Edit: Edited on 13-Nov-2019, 13:17 GMT by karazyal ]

Quoting TheFatFox

Hi Grace,

Awesome!! Thank you for that, sounds like a month should be enough time to see and do some cool stuff!! What out of what you have listed did you have booked before you arrived? Or was it all done on the day sort of thing?

Can you remember a rough idea of costs, trips, meals etc?

Thanks

Grant

You should book air tickets before and remember to search for some information about transportation, for example, train and bus before you go.

Sorry, I forget the costs of the whole trip but you must ask and bargain before buying anything or ordering food in restaurants. I was really disappointed about this thing in Vietnam, some of the sellers were very very greedy.
And when you come to a restaurant, you will need suggestions from waiters, as some of the Vietnamese dishes were hard to eat, really.

"...how can i book tickets to vietnam?"

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If you have no idea on how to use a computer to connect with your favorite airline go to a local travel agency in your hometown. They probably see lots of people who do not know how to buy plane tickets.

• * You will need a passport!

"...what i mean is a promo ticket."

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Will you be posting again with a "just discovered" deal that everyone could benefit from??