In March this year I went to Italy together with five family members for 9 days and 8 nights, swinging through seven lovely cities: Rome, Siena, Lucca, Pisa, San Gimignano, Florence and Venice. It cost each of us RM 3500.
Welcome to frugal travel. Or affordable travel. Or clever travel. Whatever.
No trick. It's all in: flight, food, sleep, bus, train, boat, car, insurance. Everything except museums. No, we didn't fly Afghan Air. We flew on Etihad, voted best airlines last year.
Frugal travel is a psychological triumph over the financial trials of travelling. Not to mention the physical pleasure of defeating the tyranny of the travel industry. It felt like you'd just beaten up a road bully at their own game.
Not only that. Your travel is more fulfilling and relaxing and liberating because you're in total control. No bus waiting at 6 am sharp to ferry you to the next country. No need to hold that pee for two hours just because you don't want your travel buddies to know the state of your prostate. No stops at extortionate souvenir shops owned by a younger brother of the bus driver.
You can stop anytime anywhere, change your itinerary, avoid towns with difficult names like Cocking (England) or Pussy (France), stop at fruit stalls to buy peaches and pomegranates, or look out for pretty mosques in unlikely places. The freedom, flexibility and possibility are endless.
Not only that. Your travel is more fulfilling and relaxing and liberating because you're in total control. No bus waiting at 6 am sharp to ferry you to the next country. No need to hold that pee for two hours just because you don't want your travel buddies to know the state of your prostate. No stops at extortionate souvenir shops owned by a younger brother of the bus driver.
You can stop anytime anywhere, change your itinerary, avoid towns with difficult names like Cocking (England) or Pussy (France), stop at fruit stalls to buy peaches and pomegranates, or look out for pretty mosques in unlikely places. The freedom, flexibility and possibility are endless.
Frugal travel is frugal only in strict accounting sense. The value and experience is anything but frugal. It's more inspiring and enduring than any of the mom-and-pop tours pitched by Poto Travel or Parlo Travel. We slept in a rustic farmhouse deep in timeless Tuscany for three nights. We walked on the Normandy beach where the Allied Forces had landed on D-Day to storm the Germans (It's so surreal that you could almost hear the gunfire). No local travel agent can offer you such experience.
As a retiree with loads of time to kill, I've been travelling quite a bit, not as broadly as Bourdain, but enough to learn a few tricks, which I want to pass on to you for free. I know it's hard to believe anything free these days, but who can blame you. With GST now in full swing, Ringgit free falling and billions in ghost accounts, you've lost all hopes.
This guide is conceived on the premise that you're a typical economic person, meaning: 1. You're not Donald Trump, and 2. You want to travel anywhere for free.
My top travel tips:
1. Travel Off-Season
As a retiree with loads of time to kill, I've been travelling quite a bit, not as broadly as Bourdain, but enough to learn a few tricks, which I want to pass on to you for free. I know it's hard to believe anything free these days, but who can blame you. With GST now in full swing, Ringgit free falling and billions in ghost accounts, you've lost all hopes.
This guide is conceived on the premise that you're a typical economic person, meaning: 1. You're not Donald Trump, and 2. You want to travel anywhere for free.
My top travel tips:
1. Travel Off-Season
Don't travel during school holidays. Flights are scarce, prices are steep and passengers are noisy. Summer travel is nice for its high dose of daylight, but you've to compete head on with the thick-pocket Japanese and Swedish vacationers. With ringgit rate now higher than your CGPA, you'll lose easily. So go in Spring or Fall. Don't worry about kids skipping school. They can miss one week of classes and will still grow up to be gynaecologists. Or politicians.
2. Tailor Your Tour
Celebrate your personal tastes. Don't heed the herd. Our country is teeming with travel agencies (400 as at this morning) offering a wide range of tour gimmicks preying on lazy retirees. These packages come with hilarious names like Sonata Korea, Nostalgia Norway and Romantika Hanoi. Don't fall for any of these. Hanoi is communist.
A friend recently splurged RM10,000 on a tour of the Balkan states. Unless it's part of your annual money laundering, spending ten grand for the privilege of seeing Albania is hard to explain.
The better option is to draw your own tour. Buy a la carte instead of package. Shop for the cheapest flights, hotels and rental cars, dream up your itinerary, personalise your destinations and routes, load up your food supply, choose your travel companions, and so on. All on your own. More fun this way.
3. Buy Tickets At Least 6 Years Ahead
Six months ahead. But it sure feels like six years. For Italy, we bought nine months ahead, at RM2057. For Paris in 2012, we bought 15 months ahead (RM 1500) on AirAsia, and it's so long that my younger son got bored and decided to get married in the meantime. For London in 2010, it's one full year ahead (RM1200), also AirAsia. For Melbourne in 2011 it's six months ahead (RM430), you guess which airline.
There's a real risk, of course, because of the long lead time. You can easily develop early Alzheimer's and forget your flight dates. Ridiculous tickets normally come with ridiculous conditions. For example, our Rome tickets allow full refunds only in the event of the ticket-holder's death. But it wasn't clear who'll actually get the refund. Wife? Son? Penang government?
But there can be unforeseen upsides. We're booked on low-cost AirAsia flight to Paris in 2012 but travelled on high-cost Malaysia Airlines after AirAsia discontinued Paris. So we had 30kg luggage, fine dining, Malay ghost movies and 63-year old stewardesses, all at no extra fees.
4. Buy Tickets Online.
2. Tailor Your Tour
Celebrate your personal tastes. Don't heed the herd. Our country is teeming with travel agencies (400 as at this morning) offering a wide range of tour gimmicks preying on lazy retirees. These packages come with hilarious names like Sonata Korea, Nostalgia Norway and Romantika Hanoi. Don't fall for any of these. Hanoi is communist.
A friend recently splurged RM10,000 on a tour of the Balkan states. Unless it's part of your annual money laundering, spending ten grand for the privilege of seeing Albania is hard to explain.
The better option is to draw your own tour. Buy a la carte instead of package. Shop for the cheapest flights, hotels and rental cars, dream up your itinerary, personalise your destinations and routes, load up your food supply, choose your travel companions, and so on. All on your own. More fun this way.
3. Buy Tickets At Least 6 Years Ahead
Six months ahead. But it sure feels like six years. For Italy, we bought nine months ahead, at RM2057. For Paris in 2012, we bought 15 months ahead (RM 1500) on AirAsia, and it's so long that my younger son got bored and decided to get married in the meantime. For London in 2010, it's one full year ahead (RM1200), also AirAsia. For Melbourne in 2011 it's six months ahead (RM430), you guess which airline.
There's a real risk, of course, because of the long lead time. You can easily develop early Alzheimer's and forget your flight dates. Ridiculous tickets normally come with ridiculous conditions. For example, our Rome tickets allow full refunds only in the event of the ticket-holder's death. But it wasn't clear who'll actually get the refund. Wife? Son? Penang government?
But there can be unforeseen upsides. We're booked on low-cost AirAsia flight to Paris in 2012 but travelled on high-cost Malaysia Airlines after AirAsia discontinued Paris. So we had 30kg luggage, fine dining, Malay ghost movies and 63-year old stewardesses, all at no extra fees.
4. Buy Tickets Online.
You know this. You've to stay up all night during AirAsia "free seats" stampede, but it's fun when you finally clinched Bandung for RM106. Online booking is the best option. Early this year Garuda offered RM1300 on its booking site for KL-Amsterdam. From Amsterdam you can easily find your way to The Hague, if you know what and where The Hague is.
There's a number of independent search engines for price comparison. I like Skyscanner. Just be careful though: the lowest price may not be the best. A RM 950 flight from KL to London on Chinese Eastern Airlines looks like a bicentennial bargain until you realize that it has 23 stop-overs and it takes about two weeks to land in London.
Some travel agents do offer cheap flights during Matta Fair. I'm not sure whether it's part of their compliance with the Sedition Law and why should I care. We bucked the trend and bought our Rome tickets from Sedunia Travel.
Otherwise my first choice is AirAsia. Its business statement is "Let's bankrupt other airlines", so it has to be brutally cheap to live up to that promise. Its booking process is mazy with all sorts of tricks and traps to fleece you. Stay cool and take your time, you can game it. Don't get overly emotional over luggage fees. Travel light, 7 kg max. Use Crocs shoes, Crocs jeans, and Crocs underwear, they've zero weight. Studies have shown that you can wear a pair of boxer shorts for 10 straight days without irritating your bowel.
5. Plan Your Itinerary.
No brainer. Itinerary is hard to plan and spell, but a well-thought one will stretch your travel value. Study, read and think your itinerary as if you're sitting for your Biology test. Tripadvisor is a good start. Read travel guides like Michelin, Rough Guides and Fodor's. Buy 2006 editions at Book Excess for RM5. Places like Rome or London don't change every year. In fact they've not changed much since William The Conqueror.
If you think reading isn't fashionable, you always have short cuts: use travel agents' itineraries as a guide. Then customize around it. Delete da Vinci Museum, add Juventus Stadium. I'd recommend itineraries from "holiday specialists" like Cosmos or Globus. Don't use itineraries from Umrah or Istanbul champions like Triways or Andalusia. They're good only if you're Malay, female and 60 years old with a body mass of 100 kg.
6. Don't Travel Alone.
If you think reading isn't fashionable, you always have short cuts: use travel agents' itineraries as a guide. Then customize around it. Delete da Vinci Museum, add Juventus Stadium. I'd recommend itineraries from "holiday specialists" like Cosmos or Globus. Don't use itineraries from Umrah or Istanbul champions like Triways or Andalusia. They're good only if you're Malay, female and 60 years old with a body mass of 100 kg.
6. Don't Travel Alone.
Unless you're travelling on Petronas expense account or you're meeting a billionaire Nigerian prince, don't travel alone. No fun. Travel in numbers. But the party shouldn't be too big. At train stations you can't correctly count beyond six. Group travel is cheaper because you can spread your spending. Take along your family and friends. For even more fun, pay for all their tickets ha ha.
7. Drive. But Don't Drive In Colombia.
If you want to see more of a country nothing beats driving. Unless it's Colombia. If you're already in Colombia, don't drive. Come back.
Driving allows you to see more what you want to see, at your own pace. It's ideal for big, open countries like the US, Canada, Australia, UK, France, Spain and Italy where tourist attractions are spread all around. Car hires in these countries, especially Spain, are relatively affordable. With a car, you can even stay outside the big cities, where hotels are cheaper, bigger and quieter. You can drive into cities or take a train. You can start, stop and snack any time you choose. And that pee.
It's normal to harbour apprehensions about driving in strange places. Left-hand driving, funny road signs, funny traffic police, no-driving zones, flat tyres etc. It just shows that you're a normal, sensible person. But I can promise you'll overcome these unfounded fears after ten minutes of driving. If you can drive in Malaysia, you can drive in California.
You don't need a car if your extensive 10-day itinerary consists of only one city, say, Ottawa. (Why would anyone want to be in Ottawa for 10 days isn't part of this discussion). If you plan to see the countryside, Viking villages, remote castles, active volcanoes, alien landing sites or even shady factory outlets, it's best to hire a car. Buses or trains, if available, are slow and late.
My standard MO is always to rent a car at the airport, eg London, and then drive out and away to see all the major tourist treasures and traps (Scotland, Lake District, Stoke City stadium etc) and return to London to recover for one or two days. We did the same for France and Italy. The best car rental site is Auto Europe for both price and variety. I always hire an automatic car because my poor eye-brain-leg coordination. Go for manuals, they're are at least 30% cheaper.
8. Forget Waze, Buy a GPS
You need a GPS to drive. Buy a GPS navigator. I bought a 5" Garmin. Buy, don't rent with your car. Long term, GPS is a lot cheaper because you can use it more than 1000 times. Just update the maps, free at illegal sites. You know all these sites.
Don't use internet just to operate your phone's GPS or Waze. You might end up in Tg Malim instead of Milan. Joke. Actually internet roaming will cost you your arm. And your leg.
If you want to see more of a country nothing beats driving. Unless it's Colombia. If you're already in Colombia, don't drive. Come back.
Driving allows you to see more what you want to see, at your own pace. It's ideal for big, open countries like the US, Canada, Australia, UK, France, Spain and Italy where tourist attractions are spread all around. Car hires in these countries, especially Spain, are relatively affordable. With a car, you can even stay outside the big cities, where hotels are cheaper, bigger and quieter. You can drive into cities or take a train. You can start, stop and snack any time you choose. And that pee.
It's normal to harbour apprehensions about driving in strange places. Left-hand driving, funny road signs, funny traffic police, no-driving zones, flat tyres etc. It just shows that you're a normal, sensible person. But I can promise you'll overcome these unfounded fears after ten minutes of driving. If you can drive in Malaysia, you can drive in California.
You don't need a car if your extensive 10-day itinerary consists of only one city, say, Ottawa. (Why would anyone want to be in Ottawa for 10 days isn't part of this discussion). If you plan to see the countryside, Viking villages, remote castles, active volcanoes, alien landing sites or even shady factory outlets, it's best to hire a car. Buses or trains, if available, are slow and late.
My standard MO is always to rent a car at the airport, eg London, and then drive out and away to see all the major tourist treasures and traps (Scotland, Lake District, Stoke City stadium etc) and return to London to recover for one or two days. We did the same for France and Italy. The best car rental site is Auto Europe for both price and variety. I always hire an automatic car because my poor eye-brain-leg coordination. Go for manuals, they're are at least 30% cheaper.
8. Forget Waze, Buy a GPS
You need a GPS to drive. Buy a GPS navigator. I bought a 5" Garmin. Buy, don't rent with your car. Long term, GPS is a lot cheaper because you can use it more than 1000 times. Just update the maps, free at illegal sites. You know all these sites.
Don't use internet just to operate your phone's GPS or Waze. You might end up in Tg Malim instead of Milan. Joke. Actually internet roaming will cost you your arm. And your leg.
9. Don't Sleep Among Backpackers.
Don't cut corners with your sleep. Say NO to youth hostels or sweaty backpackers dorms with shared toilets, kitchen and oxygen even if they're free. Rent apartments with stoves and freezers. They're cheaper than hotels if you book online early through AirBNB or
Tripadvisor or even Booking.com. Book at least three months ahead. If it's six of you, book six beds, not five. You want to sleep and snore comfortably, not on top of each other.
10. Ferry Your Food
This is life and death because we Malaysians must eat, 24 hours. Take along plenty of forage. 15 kg should be enough to keep a family of five on the same metabolic rate. You'll be surprised at the variety of fast foodstuffs now available, even instant nasi lemak, nasi goreng and, believe this, lontong. Buy at Speedmart or Mydin. Don't waste time preparing full-blown fusions like masak lemak cili api ikan keli salai with cheese or nasi dagang ikan salmon. Curry, soup or tomyam are faster than 10 minutes.
You'll somehow stumble upon a lot of Malaysian or Malay or even Kelantanese restaurants overseas. Don't bother. They're mostly expensive, with unique styrofoam taste. Eat Kelantanese food only in Kelantan.
11. Shopping Is Unnecessary
Unless you're looking for some authentic local products as showpieces to provoke your neighbours, like Samurai swords (made in Taiwan) or Persian rugs (which are actually Belgian).
Factory outlets are generally ok if you've a thing about 1949 fashion. All the sales assistants at these outlets can speak Chinese and Japanese. They also speak only to Chinese and Japanese. If you're Kelantanese, you've to guess the prices and sizes and the exit.
Chocolates are always cheaper and tastier anywhere outside Malaysia and are worth buying for giveaways. Big supermarkets like Carrefour outside Paris or Sainsbury's near London are the best place to buy chocolates. Don't buy at KLIA duty free on your way home. The chocs are ok but all your money goes to Umno.
A Word of Caution: Taking It To Extremes
10. Ferry Your Food
This is life and death because we Malaysians must eat, 24 hours. Take along plenty of forage. 15 kg should be enough to keep a family of five on the same metabolic rate. You'll be surprised at the variety of fast foodstuffs now available, even instant nasi lemak, nasi goreng and, believe this, lontong. Buy at Speedmart or Mydin. Don't waste time preparing full-blown fusions like masak lemak cili api ikan keli salai with cheese or nasi dagang ikan salmon. Curry, soup or tomyam are faster than 10 minutes.
You'll somehow stumble upon a lot of Malaysian or Malay or even Kelantanese restaurants overseas. Don't bother. They're mostly expensive, with unique styrofoam taste. Eat Kelantanese food only in Kelantan.
11. Shopping Is Unnecessary
Unless you're looking for some authentic local products as showpieces to provoke your neighbours, like Samurai swords (made in Taiwan) or Persian rugs (which are actually Belgian).
Factory outlets are generally ok if you've a thing about 1949 fashion. All the sales assistants at these outlets can speak Chinese and Japanese. They also speak only to Chinese and Japanese. If you're Kelantanese, you've to guess the prices and sizes and the exit.
Chocolates are always cheaper and tastier anywhere outside Malaysia and are worth buying for giveaways. Big supermarkets like Carrefour outside Paris or Sainsbury's near London are the best place to buy chocolates. Don't buy at KLIA duty free on your way home. The chocs are ok but all your money goes to Umno.
A Word of Caution: Taking It To Extremes
Don't overdo. A friend (former classmate) recently travelled to Europe, USA and Canada for three months. Apart from flights, he spent very little, if at all, on anything else. He slept on park benches, on rail tracks and in igloos, and cleaned himself once in four days in communal baths, lakes, glaciers etc. He ate beetroot and rented bicycles to move around. He's about my age (meaning old), but he runs marathons 14 times a year. He takes the whole "travelling on a shoestring" notion to a new level. Most of us won't last two days. This isn't frugal travel. This is Man vs Wild. Don't do it.
