When I was looking up flights in and out of Vancouver to the different countries I will be visiting in south east Asia it became apparent that Manila, Philippines would be my first stop.

Why?

Well, pretty much every flight from Vancouver to south east Asia had a layover in Manila.

My theory with layovers is why just hangout in the airport for a couple of hours when you can just book a multi-destination ticket with the first flight stopping there and a second flight to your final destination a few days later.

It ends up costing about $50 more but this way I get to explore the Philippines for a week now.

From the Philippines I fly to Indonesia eight days later.   I land in Jakarta where I’ll spend a grand total of 4 hours before hopping on a cheap $50 flight to Bali.

A week later I fly to Singapore and start my journey north through south east Asia.

Now, I hate travelling by air because it commits you to being in a certain place at a certain time and for a limited amount of time.

Luckily, the flight to Singapore is the last flight until my flight home later in the spring as I’ll be travelling the rest of the trip overland.

Add to the fact that I haven’t booked my flight home and I can spend as little or as much time as I want anywhere I go.

Anyway, back to the itinerary…

From Singapore I’ll head north through Malaysia visiting Kuala Lumpur along the way.   After Malaysia, I’ll hit Thailand where I’ll visit the southern islands before heading north to Bangkok and the northern part of the country.

After Thailand I’ll visit Laos heading south to Cambodia before entering Vietnam.   In Vietnam I’ll go up the coast from Ho Chi Minh City to my final destination of Hanoi where I’ll fly back home.

Get all that?

Here’s the shortlist:
(Edit:  Two weeks before I left I flipped this all around)

  • Philippines
  • Indonesia
  • Singapore
  • Malaysia
  • Thailand
  • Laos
  • Cambodia
  • Vietnam

Do I know how long this trip will take?   No!

In my mind it’ll be 3 months but I haven’t actually sat down and thought about how long I’m going to be in each place.

It’s a powerful feeling knowing I could spend 2 months there or 6 months there and I know how lucky I am to be able to do that.

I’m lucky that I work as a server where you can literally pick up and leave and come back months later and still have a job.   I’m also lucky that I’m single with no kids with some money in the bank.

Just a month away!

Asia Trip 2014, Pretrip, Trip Journal

Asia 2014
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