The Affordable Far East 9.22.10

Several of my friends have relocated to Asia for the time being and have prompted me to explore destinations and pricing in that part of the world. It’s beautiful, no doubt, but can it also be affordable? My sources say “yes”. It all depends on when and where you go and what you want to do there. Southeast Asia can be super cheap (Thailand, Cambodia, India), but countries like China and Japan are notorious for being high-end destinations. I have attacked my travel references for deals and other money-savers on this one and came up with some pretty good options and alternatives for you. And if you know of any more, don’t hesitate to leave a comment for me and other readers. I love feedback. 

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The key to an affordable Asian holiday might be found in package deals. You can save quite a bit sometimes by purchasing your airfare and accommodations together. Many times these deals can be less than what it would cost to even just fly there and that is pretty awesome.

• 6 nights in Beijing and Tokyo (3 nights each) including round-trip airfare, flights within Asia, daily breakfast and hotel taxes. From $1658 per person. The airfare can be over $1000 alone! 
• Spend 9 nights in Asia from $1578 per person. 3 nights in Bangkok, 3 nights in Singapore, 3 nights in Hong Kong. This trip includes hotel accommodations, round-trip international airfare, flights within Asia, hotel taxes and daily breakfast.
• Fly BMI to Russia from the U.S. from $334 each way.
• Fly Virgin to Delhi from the Newark, NJ from $529 each way.
• Travel to Bangkok from San Francisco for as little as $730 round-trip.

Try staying outside the big cities and potentially save a bundle on your lodgings. If you will be taking public transportation anyway, you'll just be taking it a bit further.

• Do you want to be pampered on your trip to Asia? Make a stop in Bali and stay at the Ayana Resort and Spa, which was formerly the Ritz Carlton, from $170 per night. Your rate includes daily buffet breakfast, welcome cocktails, room upgrade, early check-in, late check-out and a $50 spa credit.  The Anyana Resort is a gorgeous property that faces the Indian Ocean and offers freshwater pools, saltwater infinity pool, 12 restaurants and amazing full-service spa. This offer is available on stays through July 15, 2011.

• Stay 2+ nights in the Bangkok Banyan Tree luxury hotel and get at least $110 in hotel credits for spending on food, bar, hotel gallery, mini-bar, room service and spa. Room rate also includes daily breakfast.
• Thailand is super inexpensive. Stay in a resort, like the Convenient Resort in Bangkok for only $20 per night.

With so many people in Asia, you know there will be no shortage of reliable transportation. Like they are in America, taxis will add up quickly. Take trains and buses to get around and you will save many dollars. 

• Do you want to spend your vacation in several countries in Asia? With the Carthay Pacific All Asia Air Pass, you can fly between 42 Asian cities for one price. Prices start at $1599 per person for travel within 21 days of your first use. 

Eating in Asia can be costly, but you can save money by following some of the same rules as eating out everywhere else. Eat where the locals eat. This will generally be places that serve local food, which is often cheaper. This can include eating at food stalls. Stalls can offer variety, quick and inexpensive meals.


Another suggestion I've seen often is to make friends with locals. Not only is if fun to interact with people who actually live where you are visiting, they can give you some tips on where to go and what to do that won't cost you an arm and a leg, plus, in Asia people are friendly and generous and will often open their home to you for meals. Nothing like indulging in food that the locals actually eat and make...and engage in some wonderful conversation, too! 

Sign up for the free VIP Membership Club in Asia that gives members special discounts and privileges up to 50% off  for participating businesses. Asia Privilege Club. What have you got to lose? Save money on accommodation, computers, dining, gifts, furniture, health products, massage, sports, travel, visas and many more.


Most of the temples and museums in Asia have free admission, plus there are many city parks that are beautiful and a great place to hang out and have a snack.


Instead of shopping in department stores, check out some of the markets. You can haggle for lower prices and get wonderful handmade or not-so-handmade items for much less than at the stores. It also gets you to converse with locals, which is a great way to experience a culture. 


Enjoy daily Tai Chi for free in many city parks or just watch the locals instead.




Learn how to manage your money while in Asia with this great comparative article on Travelfish.org. 

It's not always possible to learn an entire language before going on vacation. This is where Point It comes in. When there is a language barrier that you can't break through with bad translation or with gestures, you can pull out this handy-dandy "dictionary" and point to the picture of what you're trying to say. Pictures are universal.                  

If pointing at pictures seems archaic to you, download the Free Translator app to your iPhone. Translate between 18 different languages, including: Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish and Vietnamese. Pick your two languages, type in your phrase and the translated phrase will be shown on your phone. You can then read it or show it to whoever you're talking to.            

Deals, Deals and More Deals 9.18.10

So, with Fall only 5 days away, I’m being bombarded by travel deal after travel deal from Miami to Rome. If you can get away before the end of the year, now is really the time to book something and start planning, even if it’s just 3 days to Disneyland. With the deals I’ve found, it’s almost impossible to find more to save money on, so I've decided, on this Saturday to give you an entire post for the best deals of the week. I’ll break it down into price ranges for any budget you may have.

• Please join me on Facebook to get more updated deals and tips every day.
• We are doing a giveaway for the first 500 fans who sign up on our page and the people they were referred by (if applicable-both must be fans of the page), so join us and suggest all your friends to join. 2 lucky people will win items from Travelon and 2 others (potentially) will win referral gifts.
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Expedia Fare Alert: Download Fare Alert and you get a small icon on your desktop. You set up your preferred destination and pricing and Fare Alert will open a small window when the posted fares meet or beat your specified price. Now, you can have it search in a particular month or travel dates.

• Spend the beginning of the New Year in Tuscany. In the simple elegance of the Villa Le Maschere, book a room in January or February by Sept 22nd and receive over 30% off regular rates. From $159 per night stay in luxury and receive a buffet breakfast each morning of your stay and free shuttle service into Florence. Enjoy updated Italian cuisine in the restaurant, 2 pools and golfing privileges at nearby Poggio dei Medici. The hotel has been completely remodeled for reopening last year and offers 65 rooms with internet service, gardens and hiking trails. 

• Iceland Air packages from Seattle only $499 pp. Includes 2 hotel nights. Extra nights are available from $59 pp/pn. Book by Sept 23. Travel on select dates from Nov. 2 - Dec. 14.

• 6-night Caribbean cruise from $200 per person.  Other great rates on Caribbean cruises available for longer or shorter itineraries on Royal Caribbean with up to $100 onboard credit. 

• Air Canada rates from California to cities across Canada for $168+ one way for tickets purchased by Sept 29. 

• 6 nights in Barcelona and Rome from $985 per person. Choose your own departure city and dates and receive RT airfare, lodgings (3 nights in Barcelona and 3 nights in Rome), flights between countries, daily breakfast and hotel taxes. Make your own itinerary in destination cities or add activities and tours for an extra fee.

• Fly round trip to Glasgow, Scotland from the U.S. on US Airways from $538 per person. Valid for travel Monday thru Wednesday October 24th - December 15th. 

• Taste of Ireland tour: 6 days and 4 nights in Dublin, Killarney and Bunratty. Includes 8 meals, RT airfare, accommodations, tours, ferry across River Shannon, Bunratty medieval castle banquet and much more. $1153 per person. Land only from $698. Many dates available from now through December.

• Get up to 65% off posted rates on an 8 day European yacht cruise. Begin in Venice and finish in Athens from $2149 per person. Stops in Mykonos, Croatia and other Italian and Grecian ports on the Seabourne Odyssey, which features first-class service with free champagne in suites, multiple restaurants, full-service spa and an almost one to one guest to crew ratio. 

Go Where The Papayas Are 9.15.10

With the papaya being special enough to have a month of its very own, I say it deserves it's moment by having an all-tropical blog entry in honor of it. Right about now, with summer coming to an end and cooler weather right around the corner, travelers are longing to stretch the bathing suit season just a little more. While this isn't always possible to do where we live, it's always possible to travel somewhere on the globe where the sun is shining, the beaches inviting and breezes don't require you to put on a jacket.

• Please join me on Facebook to get more updated deals and tips every day.
• We are doing a giveaway for the first 500 fans who sign up on our page and the people they were referred by (if applicable-both must be fans of the page), so join us and suggest all your friends to join. 2 lucky people will win items from Travelon and 2 others (potentially) will win referral gifts.
• Follow me on Twitter for more great tips and deals.
• Subscribe to my blog on the right or on Kindle, so you can take me wherever you go!

Useful article of the day: Don't be the Ugly American. Frommer's tells you the 5 Ways Travelers Have Lost Their Manners.

Sure, you can get Hawaiian papayas shipped straight to your front door by companies like Hawaiian Kine Stuff, but wouldn't you rather just go to Hawaii and get them straight from the source? I mean, while you're eating one beach-side, you can also sip on a tropical drink and work on your tan. It's totally not as fun opening the box and figuring out how you'll eat 8-10 of them before they go bad, although, it's a viable alternative if you have $79 and not the hundreds it will cost to fly and stay there. 

• If you DO have more than $80 to your name, you can spend your papaya money on several nights in a top-rated hotel in Hawaii. DealBase has great rates starting at $69 per night. The stay-by dates vary from end of September to end of December, but all the rates are fantastic and are for hotels scattered throughout the islands.

• Did you know that papayas promote male virility? It's true! That's great if you're looking to share some with your sweetie on a romantic getaway. Right now, you can also get amazing rates on hotels in the Caribbean. Destinations like Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Barbados and Aruba for as little as $68 per night. Stay-by dates vary,but these rates won't last for long either.

Imagine enjoying private beaches in both Bora Bora and Montu Mahana, well you can just that with this luxurious 9-day in Tahitian cruise that travels the islands. For $3,035 per person, you get RT airfare from LAX, all meals, beverages, on-board gratuities and 24-hour room service. The ship is intimate and offers 3 restaurants, a newly refurbished gym, spa and more. Departure dates are Dec 18 or 27. Book by Sept 20. You save 40% off the regular price and even more if you elect to stay in a higher level of cabin. 

One of the biggest obstacles in going somewhere new is figuring out how to get from your hotel to other places and then back again. Well, most cities have excellent public transportation which is both convenient and inexpensive. Check out Lonely Planet for your destination to find out transportation options and pricing. Maybe you'll take a jitney or a bus or the subway around town. Their tour guides are some of the best I've found. You may also want to invest in a Pop-out Map. These great little guides have useful information and small, but significant maps for the most visited areas in the city.

Papayas are awesome for digestive issues, so even if you ate everything at the buffet, bring some papaya enzyme tablets with you and pop 3 or 4 and you won't feel like you're dying. Aside from being amazingly useful in preventing heartburn and ouchy tummy they also taste good. We keep a bottle on hand at home at all times. You can pick them up at any health food or vitamin store, like GNC.

• Another good tip, but does NOT involve papaya, is to bring charcoal tablets with you when going to a country where the water or food quality may be questionable. Take them before you eat and they are known to attract any bacteria or other toxins and act as a filter. People swear by them and claim they have never gotten sick from foreign food or water because of taking them before eating.

• How does papaya wine sound? Well, if you like papayas and you like wine, it probably sounds pretty good. Where can you find such a thing? Australia, of course. There are many deals going on for travel Down Under, including this great 11-day Royal Caribbean Cruise of Australia and New Zealand. Starting and ending in Sydney, there are rates of only $898pp for the October 16th sailing. Only 4 days at sea and many sightseeing opportunities. Maybe find some papaya wine that you can bring back home with you and feel like you've extended your vacation.

Wherever you go on vacation, you're probably not going to get there and have nothing planned or just wander the streets and then come back to your hotel and sit and stare at the walls or watch TV. If you do, I'm sad for you. Even if you're on a budget, you can still do more than visit public parks and free museums.

• National Geographic has a feature called "Free City" that gives you a list of all the free and nearly free things to do in your destination city.

• Another great site, which you may have seen me mention before, either on Facebook or my regular website, or seen an ad for on this blog site, is Groupon. Now, it's not just for the U.S. and Canada like it used to be. Nope! Groupon has expanded worldwide and now has daily deal listings for cities in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and UK. Sign up for emails of the daily deals in your destination city to catch anything cool that you might want to do, see or eat at a fraction of the price. Getting a discounted massage or mani/pedi on vacation is never a bad thing either.

There are many multi-purpose things that I have for both home and travel. Sometimes, you find something that works and it's so good that you get another one as a back-up that might also live in your travel bag. I've told you of a couple already, including the Belkin Mini-Surge Protector. This one, while not necessarily something you can't do without, is a wonderful thing to have if you find you absolutely need it: Earplugs. You never know what sort of annoying thing will happen that will make you SO happy to have these with you, whether at a hotel or on the airplane. Maybe you have noisy neighbors or there is unexpected street construction or a screaming baby two rows away. They can be a lifesaver. If you're like me and are cranky if you don't get enough sleep, spend a few bucks on a pack and keep them in your toiletry bag for emergencies. I am partial to Hearos (below), because they are squishy and conform to the shape of your ears. They also don't fall out after being asleep for 10 minutes or rolling over. While they won't totally eliminate all sounds, they will seriously muffle it.

• Since you'll be heading to somewhere sunny, you'll probably be investing in sunscreen. Isn't a bother to remember to reapply? I tend to forget and then look like a lobster. Sexy! These bracelets are fantastic for helping you remember. You put one one, apply your sunscreen on your body and on the bracelet, the bracelet will turn colors when it is activated by the sun and then again when it is time for you to reapply or get out of the sun. Easy!

• 5 days/4 nights at the 4-Star Menzies Sydney in Australia, including airfare from $1,369 per person. The Menzies is near Pitt Street Mall, Sydney Aquarium & the Sydney Opera House. Everything you could possibly want on-site, including 2 restaurants, 2 cafes, 4 bars, indoor pool, gym, newsstand and  spa. Save 25% off hotels rates when you stay 4+ nights. Sample rate is for departures from LAX. Travel by June 30th.

• Make summer last longer with a visit to the Dominican Republic. Stay at the all-inclusive Viva Wyndham Domincus Palace Resort for only $55pp/pn. The resort has 5 restaurants, 3 bars, a disco, a spa, a tour desk, kids' club and more. All meals are included: Buffet breakfast and lunch. Dinner can be buffet style or you may make reservations to eat in one of the formal restaurants. Also included: all snacks, beverages, entertainment and activities. Travel good through December 16.