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The festive holidays may mean doing some travelling to take a breather from the hectic work schedule or to visit relatives or friends in a different state or across the borders. Usually, holidays are a time that tends to cost a lot of money. By following the tips below, you can save money as well as have an enjoyable holiday. 

Save on travel. Holiday season is a peak-period of travel it is hard to find cheap tickets especially when you book late. A little legwork on your part during the holidays can help you to save money on travel. Keep a budget on your travel expenses, accommodation, food and petrol if travelling overland. Search for holiday deals or super saver airline prices. 

Use the Internet. Check several travel websites and compare prices to find the best deal on airline tickets. Consider travelling with a cheaper airline or even taking the budget airplane such as Jetstar, Lion and Tiger Airways. Start looking at prices several months before the holidays. Book when the tickets fall to a price that you can afford. However, if you keep waiting and expecting the prices to fall more, you may wait too long and have to buy tickets at a higher price.

Travel at odd times or off days. If you fly on the days that are known as the busiest travel days, you’ll pay more. Be willing to fly in and out of your destination on less-traveled days such as Monday to Wednesday or at inconvenient times such as late night or early morning to save money on travel during the holidays.

Look at more than one airport. It may be worth driving to a smaller regional airport if you can get cheaper tickets.

Consider driving. If you are travelling with your family and it is close enough to drive in a day or two, consider driving to your destination instead of taking the domestic plane. This saves money and you can make it a fun family trip through beautiful countryside at the same time. The only hassle is to put up in a motel. If need be, my advice is to check out good rates and book a room for the whole family early.

You can save money by doing some legwork and planning ahead before your trip. Travelling to the countryside or to the road less travelled is a good holiday destination at this time. If you are visiting relatives or friends in a foreign town or city, consider the traffic congestion during the festive period. Plan your route well and your travel timing. Above all, budget your expenses to avoid burning a hole in your pocket. Look for alternatives and make the right choices while you travel. Happy Holidays! 

Recently, a friend of mine came back from a backpacking trip in Asia and gave me valuable backpacking tips which I’d like to share with you.

We know things  in some Asian countries are cheap in terms of commodities, food, transport and accommodation. Don’t get blinded by cheap goods. You will end up spending more than what you planned on in the first place! One of the pitfalls of backpacking, my friend commented,  is spending too much money without thinking. Plan your budget and be practical when buying things in the bazaars. Don’t be taken in by the array of products and their astonishingly cheap, negotiable prices. This will result in you being short of cash and having to cut down on your activities and having to travel back home a few weeks earlier or worse still, having someone to transfer money to your account.

Here are some simple steps on how to backpack on a budget:

Accommodation:
Choose a hostel instead of a hotel because it’s your cheapest option where you share a room with up to 6 people. Meals are often not included in the price, but that shouldn’t be a problem because buying groceries in Asia is fairly cheap. You can prepare your own sandwich or cup noodles within the hostel premises.
Hostels are very affordable, convenient and a great place to meet other travellers. Have in mind that hostels are popular among young backpackers and even families, so the rooms fill up quickly. My friend’s advice is to travel during the off-peak seasons. But if you want to backpack during the high or peak season and you’re planning to stay at tourist-packed hotspots like Koh Phi Phi in Thailand or Siem Reap in Cambodia, remember to book a room way in advance. If you don’t do this and all the budget places are fully-booked, you will likely have to crash at an expensive 5-star hotel as a last resort.

Food and Drinks:
Avoid eating at road side food stalls or buying food from food vendors if your stomach is not used to it. There are basically food stalls and cheap restaurants everywhere in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and India. But be careful when choosing a place to eat — take note of the hygiene and the way food is prepared before you make a choice.

Transport:
Ask the staff at the guesthouse or hostel where you can find cheap transport and how much it should cost. This way you will avoid being tricked by local taxi drivers.  It is a good idea like the public bus and train that charge standard fares.

Shopping:
Looking for cheap shopping? Where you shop is as important as bargaining. Shopping at the local markets is often cheaper than the huge malls. But have in mind that most of the markets are popular tourist spots, so they’re usually crowded. It’s usually harder to bargain at these places because the sellers know that if YOU don’t buy their products - someone else will.

Bargaining is the key to cheap shopping. But before you do that, I recommend that you stroll around to compare prices. If it’s your first time in a foreign country, it’s sometimes hard to know what things should cost. You can’t bargain for something when you even don’t know if it’s cheap/expensive. Bargaining is an art. You have to know how to bargain to get the best prices.

Money:
Avoid exchanging money at the airports. If you do this, you will get the lowest rate of exchange. Go to a bank instead as they can give you the best exchange rates available. My advice is to change enough for your stay before you travel. That will save you the hassle of finding a money changer or losing out on low exchange rates.
If you’re planning on travelling to several neighboring countries, avoid exchanging too much money if you’re leaving the country in just a few days. You may not have enough time to spend it.

Communication:
Instead of using your mobile phone for international calls, you should use Skype at an internet café. To save money on domestic calls, don’t use your mobile phone with your original SIM-card. I suggest you buy a local SIM-card. Have the owner from where you bought the card from help you activate the SIM-card.

Tours:
Visiting some attractions? Skip the package tours and rent a bike or taxi for a day. If you decide to rent a bike, it’s cheaper and you get to see the things you want to see in your own pace. For free information on history and sights, ask the local staff at the guesthouse or a fellow traveler. Otherwise, you can print it out from the internet. A couple of print-outs are cheaper and lightweight than a book.

My backpacker friend advises that you plan your backpacking trips carefully and check out how to get to destinations in the country. The internet is full of information at your fingertips. Happy backpacking!

 If you are in need to shop for leather products or silver jewellery, Bangkok is one of the best places in the world to get them. In Bangkok, you don’t just get quality products but also a wide variety at amazingly cheap prices. One can bargain at selected shopping malls and at the bazaars.

I just returned from a trip to Bangkok and was overwhelmed by the leather products there. Such products include wallets, shoes and bags. If you aren’t after brand names, then Bangkok is the mecca for genuine and quality locally-made leather goods. I would recommend Chatuchak Market and Suan Lum Night Bazaar for great bargains. The former is only open on the weekends, Saturday and Sunday from 7am until late while the latter functions for business from 5pm to midnight.

Here you can haggle for the best prices and shop to your heart’s content. Bags, wallets, shoes and silver jewellery of all kinds are found here and usually they are one-of-a-kind. Apart from leather products, you can find Thai handicrafts, Thai silk, tableware, clothes and paintings. Start low when you bargain and then slowly increase your asking price till you strike a deal.  There is no need t bring along a calculator to convert prices as the shop keepers will proffer you one to show the price offered for a particular product.   

If you are in the heart of the city, Mah Boon Krong (MBK) mall is a good place to shop for bargain goods of all kinds. At eight stories high and 330 metres long, with 2,500 shops using a total selling area of 89,000 square metres, this shopping mall used to be one of the biggest malls in Asia, when it was first founded in 1985. Here, you can find fashion outlets that cover everything from jeans, outsized clothing (for the ‘larger’ Western frame), trendy apparel as well as shoes, handbags, Thai silk, Polo T-shirts, accessories and jewellery. You can strike a bargain on products sold at some of the stores in the mall. After some effort at bargaining, I managed to buy two silver rings, one studded with sapphire and the other citrine, for US$68. What a good deal! Take advantage of sales in fixed-priced stores. I managed to get two genuine sting ray skin products (a key chain with coin pouch and a wallet) for US$53 after a 20% discount off the original price.

A bonus advantage that MBK Mall offers is the Tourist Discount Card. Apply for it at the information kiosks on the first and second levels. You need to produce your passport. Armed with this card you will be entitled of discounts between 5 and 30% on selected merchandise and at some restaurants. A list of participating stores will be provided when you apply for the card.

Check the internet for information on accommodation, shopping and transport. Plan your itinerary and route carefully.  It is convenient to use the Bangkok Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), the underground metro system to hop from one destination to another.  Be familiar with MRT routes. Alternatively you can hire a metered cab but be prepared to get stuck in the continuous traffic congestion.  I do not recommend taking the ubiquitous motorized rickshaws called tuk-tuk if you are not familiar with the route and have no idea about the cost of the journey.         

If you need to shop for clothing, leather products or silver jewellery at great bargains, Bangkok is one place I strongly recommend. I would suggest a three to four-day shopping tour that focuses on selected shopping areas like the above-mentioned. Check out the best packaged deals for flight to and from Bangkok and accommodation in the city and plan your trip well. Bangkok is one of the cheapest destinations for the budget shopper and traveller looking for good deals.