General Travel

How to Travel Like a Madman & Keep Your Full Time Job

November 10, 2013 by Bino 22 Comments

So you find yourself reading rousing accounts about how these travelers just left it all behind to travel the world. Sounds cool, doesn’t it? I certainly know of a few people who travel continuously for years and it seems to work for them. I find their tips of living on the go very helpful at that and the lifestyle certainly is feasible… for some.

But what if this is just not an option for you? You certainly are not alone. There are many reasons why most people who love to travel are just unable to or unwilling to take this route, whether it be for fear, financial or even family reasons. Do you throw away your travel dreams altogether if you find yourself unable to live a nomadic lifestyle? I think not!

on the road – a stranger in a strange land

As for me, the reason is far more fundamental. Despite what many people think, I don’t live like a nomad. I have a full-time job and believe it or not, all the journeys published in this blog are packed within this framework. I don’t travel for months because I can’t stand being on the road for more than 3 weeks. There’s nothing like coming home a changed man after a long trip. Aside from the journey itself, I find the coming home bit to be one of the great pleasures of traveling.

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How to Avoid Expensive Roaming Charges in Malaysia

February 8, 2013 by Bino 1 Comment

when in malaysia…

Okay guys. I’m sharing this with you because I think you can save quite a bit with this!

For someone like me who lives just across the causeway, trips to Malaysia are almost considered inevitable. In my 5 years in Singapore, I must have visited Malaysia ten or more times. In terms of duration, it can be as short as a daytrip to as long as a few days. While the transportation options to Malaysia can be as cheap as chips, sometimes I come home and find that I’ve incurred hundreds of dollars in roaming charges alone. It’s quite an annoyance considering that I don’t receive any physical good in exchange for what I pay for (yes, I am a visual person) so it’s really important for me that my mobile services are as cheap as possible!

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Favorite Travel Photos – My 7 Super Shots

May 12, 2012 by Bino 20 Comments

One of the things that led me to start this blog some years back is my hobby of taking photos. A few years on and I am still an amateur photographer by any sense of the word, but the interest sure lives on!

I have taken thousands of photos over the years, thanks to digital cameras but I never got to share my favorite ones all in one place. Because of this, I am really happy that Aleah of Solitary Wanderer tagged me in Hostelbookers 7 Shots. This is like a mini lookback of sorts, at some of the places I have been to over the years and my favorite shots – at least those fitting a certain theme – from these trips. The idea is to choose 7 travel photos that fit a certain theme and then to tag five other travel bloggers to do the same. So here goes!

#1 – Takes my breath away

in Coron, Philippines

This comes from one of my trips this year to Palawan, Philippines. I am a sucker for limestone rock formations, and I have seen quite a few elsewhere, but none left me in as much awe as this particular scene, on the way to Kayangan Lake in Coron Island. The island is believed to be sacred by the native tribe that inhabits it and only a small portion of it is actually open to visitors.

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The Six Travel Buddies From Hell

January 15, 2012 by Bino 15 Comments

You know who they are. You set off for your weekend getaways to Bangkok or even month-long trips to Europe, with high hopes of the places you’ll go and the things you’ll get to do. And why not? You have the backing of a few people who you’re going with – either friends of yours or other travelers you met along the way. Easy to get along with – or so you thought. A week or two afterwards however and these same people end up bringing misery to your trip with a capital M. And somehow, somewhere, you end up with a sense of buyer’s remorse.

there’s no doubt that traveling with others has a lot of benefits… but don’t let the disadvantages outweigh it!

And so, without further ado, I present to you the six worst travel buddies that you can have (and I’m not even mentioning the usual culprits here).

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7 Things to Watch Out For When Buying a Budget Airline Plane Ticket

December 11, 2011 by Bino 13 Comments

Since I usually buy budget airline tickets several months in advance, It has been a while since I bought one to anywhere. Did a couple of bookings this past week which led to some startling if not, annoying discoveries which seem to foretell an inevitable trend in the LCC segment of the airline industry.

by 713 Avenue | CC by SA 2.0

Generally, I find the booking systems of most LCC’s to be quite annoying – this stems from their tendency to pre-select add-ons by default in a way that is not so obvious to unsuspecting passengers. Previously, the pre-selection was only confined to travel insurance. Lately, I discovered that not only more and more of these add-ons are pre-selected, but also that some airlines have made it more tedious for passengers to unselect the pre-selected add-ons (probably in hopes that passengers won’t want to exert the extra effort of unselecting and just pay the extra dollars). Smells like an unethical way to make a quick buck to me, but in a highly volatile industry I suppose every cent counts.

At the end of the day, budget airlines can still offer a lot of value especially during seat sales and I suppose that for the majority of the target market, these are hassles that one should just take note of. Thought I’d share some tips on unspoken rules with regards to LCC bookings and how to avoid getting charged unnecessarily in the booking process. These are in my opinion, 7 things people should watch out for when buying a budget airline plane ticket.

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Seat Sale Guide: How to Get the Best Airfare Deals

June 19, 2011 by Bino 10 Comments

Seat sales by the 5 largest low cost airlines in the region (AirAsia, Jetstar, Cebu Pacific, Tiger Airways and Scoot in no particular order) can prove to be great sources for bargains and are certainly worth looking out for. I can still recall some of the good deals I got which included:

Singapore – Manila (around 3.5 hours flight per way, roundtrip for USD 20)
Kuala Lumpur – Abu Dhabi (around 8 hours flight per way, roundtrip for USD 110)
Kuala Lumpur – Christchurch (10 hours flight per way, roundtrip for USD 170)
Kuala Lumpur – Vientiane (2.5 hours per way, roundtrip for USD 60)

It is during such instances that going for the budget carrier option becomes truly justified, with prices that won’t break the bank.

At the same time however, getting these deals can prove to be equally frustrating with websites crashing and sale fares disappearing quicker than you can say buy, leaving prospective passengers with a strong sense of urgency to get the booking done. I have had my share of frustrations. Though I have not learned to overcome the latter yet, from my experience, there are a couple of things that we, as bargain hunters can do to secure that good deal and make the entire booking process much easier. Read after the jump

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Southeast Asian Roundup, Pt1

January 25, 2011 by Bino 9 Comments

Have been meaning to post this since I completed a personal goal of visiting all 11 Southeast Asian countries in November last year, but have decided to give a good thought before I post what is probably the most candid entry in this blog so far.

As a traveler, I consider myself privileged to be living in one of the most diverse geographical locations on the planet. I could not imagine any other region (apart from Central Europe, maybe) with so many varied destinations within a 3-hour radius. Southeast Asia is not merely a hodgepodge of people but also notably full of biodiversity hotspots, ancient empires in ruins, and it is also home to some of the world’s most interesting cities.

In my travels through these eleven countries, I found the distribution quite uneven. There were some countries that I really liked, have made multiple trips to and would enjoy returning to in the future. Then, there were also countries where I felt a 7-hour trip was more than enough.

I shall make mention of all these. But a warning to the reader – do note that I am being subjective and providing a personal assessment of these places I have visited. For those who disagree with my views, they’re very much welcome to provide me with return tickets for me to have another look-see….

Flying Here and There

November 22, 2009 by Bino Leave a Comment

There was a time when I resorted to collecting in-flight magazines of every airline I used just so I can check out their route maps and plan my future trips accordingly. It’s hard to believe but even during the internet age, many airlines initially did not post their route maps on their websites; leaving prospective passengers guessing how to get from Point A to Point B.

Later on, I discovered that Wikipedia had a fairly reliable list of destinations for almost all operating passenger aircraft carriers. While the information was exhaustive, it lacked one crucial element. It still did not state Point A to Point B destinations, the best it could do was provide a list of all destinations served by various carriers.

Then came Openflights, which provides a wealth of information for people who have trips in mind. I can simply type any airport code in the search field (i.e. SIN) and it generates all the direct routes from that airport on the map, complete with distance and flight duration. Alternatively, I can input any airline and it will show all the routes being served. As of now, it does not show flight schedules – but even then, Openflights is a very handy tool for those who want to plan their trips efficiently.

a sample query for London Heathrow Airport which generated over 500+ direct routes

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