I'm sure you have read blogs about traveling under a budget: Vietnam-Cambodia for P20,000, Paris for P50,000, or P100,000 for a Europe tour. But these blog posts consist of sacrificing a good hotel for a bed space. This blog post, on the other hand, is traveling on a budget on a 'not-so' budgeted trip. How? With the right research.
I have previously written on How to Prepare for a trip here which my friends and I did eight months ago (October) when we booked our flights thru Cebu Pacific's Piso Fare. We then booked our hotels via Agoda's 'Book now, Pay Later.' When checking for hotels, I checked its location, the aesthetic of the hotel (you pay more for aesthetic but it makes you sleep well at night)- by aesthetic I mean clean rooms, thick mattresses, and bide and heaters in the bathrooms, the breakfast included, and the reviews from previous customers.
The next several months were full of emailing different companies and van drivers.
For our Vietnam tour, we used The Sinh Tourist, which was the cheapest that I've seen among all agencies. Their buses were comfortable. The city tour we did on our own since the attractions were basically all 'walkable.' Download your google maps and you're good to go. (Unlimited FAST internet simcard available in the airport for P600 for 2 weeks)
For Phnom Penh tour, we used The Budget Cambodia Tours, the van came in very punctual and our driver was really kind suggesting our next attraction to visit at.
For Siem Reap tour, we used Sam the TukTuk Driver, since we were a big group we didn't use a tuktuk (Thank God 'cuz the sun was scorching) but instead a van. Sam was really kind too, he emailed me regularly and promptly answering my queries.
I have researched alot of good restaurants to try but you'll actually find yourselves starving already and you'll opt to dine in the nearest decent restaurant. You can even lower your spending by eating in food stalls found in the markets. Or give you extra cash to eat snacks in between. Its also actually better to eat in pairs so that you can cut your spendings into two- Order a main dish and a spring roll.
The itinerary and budget below does not include budget for shopping. Shopping in both Vietnam and Cambodia requires an expert skill in haggling and bargaining. Give them your price (preferrably 30% of their price) and work there. Try doing the 'walk-out' and wait for them to pull you back- giving your price. Tip: sellers are more likely to give you discount if you're their first customer so shop during their opening hours!!!
**Budget does not include baggage allowance, too. (If you're not like me who loves dressing up while travelling, do a back packing trip and wear your different colored camis and your maong shorts)
*i suggest you do the city tour of Vietnam first to have a grasp onf the area
I hope I entice you to travel to Vietnam and Cambodia which are beautiful countries. I will blog about the individual cities that we've been to, so please wait for my updates on the blog and on this post for the links.
Please email me at kiarapadua16@yahoo.com if you have questions.
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