planning to go to central europe, here's the itinerary
according to the itinerary, they are going to belgium + france + netherlands within 8 days, is it too rushing or 8 days are enough already?

2k each trip??! woahhh you must be very good in planning a trip!


usually how long did you take to plan a trip ahead? I really wanna go travelling without overspending

My accommodation is a proper studio duplex flat. It's not exactly double storey but the owner built like those 'near the ceiling' half floor for the 'bedroom'. Got washing machine, kitchen, bathroom, living room, wifi (FOC - Thank god!).

Ski resorts ah, not this time round coz not into that. Maybe in the future.

DMZ ah - scared leh.... later kena tangkap how?

Definately gonna check out Nami.

Hopefully the weather would be warmer by 6 march...

Normally 1-2mth ahead of time.. My best resources so far is Mat Sputnik's blog. I copied lotsa his itineraries actually My best copied job from his was my Cambodian -Siem Riep trip..Even copied what he did by walking to the Malay's Champa village

i see..can u post his blog's link here? ady view his profile but he didn't put the link to his blog. Wanna read his blog too =)
hopefully I can plan my budget trip too

Hi h3ll0, pls click HERE.

It's a non-commercial blog, clean, no adverts. I did it to document my journeys. It's like a personal journal.
Thanks.

===

i only go to oversea once, At Rakyat expense.

Tibet Everest Base Camp next for you, bro!

not really la. I made quite a number of mistakes each time during the trip which cost me quite an amount of money but of course, the max budget that I can go for each particular trip is only 2k and anything beyond than that, I tried not to spend so much

^hopefully I'll be able to plan 2k trip too =) so far my trip (just 2 for now) both exceeds 2k..

oh btw, did you use public transportation to travel around? coz usually the transport itself already require loads of cash

thanks for the link! I've just gone through ur blog, you surely travel a lot!

YEs I used lotsa public transport for sure.. Best way to save & also mingle wth the locals.. However on places having poor public trp like Indonesia, I normally rent a car & drive or rent a car + driver. Yeah it cost more esp rent a car wth driver.

---

Added on February 21, 2012, 4:14 pmProbably try using the newly built raiway to Tibet This post has been edited by stimix: Feb 21 2012, 04:14 PM

Well with tours you can't expect to stay long in one place. Normally they let you free 1-2 hours in one place of interest. It's more of a touch-n-go travel, you'll feel pretty relaxed since everything is organised for you and you don't have to walk so much with the bus ever ready there. If you don't really have specific places you wanna visit, you just want to have a feel of the country, and you can't stand counting your budget everyday, tours are good for you. But if you think you're the person who wants to visit longer, mingle around, be part of cultures and don't mind all the hassle of doing research, and you have many places you want to see that's not included in the itinerary, then better plan your own trip.

I was with Reliance's Italy + Austria tour, which was a great trip, well-planned and transition of journey was smooth. But I guess for me, it's way more fun to learn travelling yourself in a foreign country - you'll end up feeling like a local or someone who's been staying there for years. You learn how to use their public transport and you even remember directions around town - the experience is pretty awesome, you feel like you become different nationalities every time you travel.

So it really depends on your own priorities. Whether it's a country you want to spend more time knowing (F&E), or a country you just want to visit for the feel of it (tour).

^thanks for ur reply
I guess both are also fine, but maybe I'll have a company to travel along w me if I'm planning to travel without tour

gonna check out Reliance too =)

*edit : checked the Reliance website, how do you check the prices? or I have to call them? they don't provide the dates either

This post has been edited by h3ll0: Feb 21 2012, 07:48 PM

Just saw your itinerary. Looks pretty good but compact, all the major spots covered.

If you go during Keukenhof time, I'm sure you'd love the tulips -- on what to expect, pls click HERE.

Bruges is simply delightful, but I only did a short story on it, see HERE, which is unfair to this beautiful World Heritage Site city.

Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris are excellent for roaming around to explore, as the case is with any big places.

---

Keukenhof.


Bruges.


Brussels.


Amsterdam.


Of course there are museums and other indoor stuff to see.

===

Ah Amsterdam, brings back memories.

Btw mat sputnik - i checked out your blog and must say your travels are VERY inspiring!! I showed the link to my hubby and hopefully many years from now hand in hand we'll be still going places together

Thanks, cas. Kids all grown up (we started early, so we finished the family early ), and since we have a bit of savings, we are going to places we have always wanted to go. Next trip is early April -- to Russia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania - independent travel, just the two of us exploring the World Heritage Sites there on our own.

Btw, here's a slideshow of our 2011 trips.


===

This post has been edited by mat sputnik: Feb 22 2012, 01:27 PM

Why not. You only live once.

if i can afford it, why not! the experience gained from travelling is indescribable and unique every time. i'd always felt anew after each trip, ready to take on the world the next day. and like many have said, the memories that you made during those trip are eternity, hopefully i can look back and reminisce all that when i'm old.

but if planning the travel budget already makes you scratch your head, i say u better don't. budget is good of course, but not until it makes you hard to meet ends meet.

Travel on budget is not hard. just abit of planning & research. On how much you willing to spend really depending on how much is your airfare & prebooked hotel

Most of the time I just bought these two. And normally go on budget promo fare.. 'So for eg..If you can get cheap fare to Tokyo let say ~RM500/pax return, Hotel triple sharing at RM400/pax for 5 nites. Your actual total cost only RM900 no matter how you want to spend.

Therafter when you're there how much you want to spend also depending on you. Tranport probably ~RM300/wk, food ~ RM80/day (600yen/meal) & souvenirs/entrance ~ RM200.. no matter how I calculate, I think RM900/pax/wk is more than enough even to Tokyo haha. Thus Why need to spend RM10K when you can get similar Holiday for <RM2K/pax even to Tokyo haha

Yeah for F&E going with someone is more fun and safer, you can take care of each other and share experience - I don't travel alone lol.

For Reliance, I usually see their ads in the newspapers and call, or walk-in their offices get their really nice brochures and quotations
People always say Apple is the best for Japan tours, while Reliance is the best for Europe tours. Just what I heard. Just choose the one with the itinerary you like best I guess (usually Apple is slightly more expensive)

stimix, u are right.. it is very enjoyable doing budget travelling.. doing the research, planning, it is worth it once you reach the destination.

most of my travel was budget travel, even i've done siem riep with only rm300 budget... hehehe... my most expensive travel so far was 2.5k, to osaka/kyoto/nara recently..
ohh, i really envy those who had been europe.. planning to go europe once got enough budget..