Sometimes I enjoy planning for travel as much as I enjoy traveling. That being said, there is a cornucopia of websites that promise to make it seamless and easy. So with so many sites how do you choose which to use? With my trip to SE Asia coming up, I'll cater this post to reflect traveling to this area of the world and how I went about working out the logistics for it.
So first things first, where the heck did I want to go exploring? Head to Laos to explore the fog-shrouded mountains and verdant valleys or make my way through Vietnam and engorge on its fantastic cuisine? Or perhaps, venture through the myriad of Indonesian cultures and islands? This is the beauty of South East Asia- your options are boundless!
Given this, I had trouble ratcheting down my itinerary, so many places I wanted to explore and yet, that eternal conundrum of limited vacation days. I finally settled on making Kuala Lumpur my base. The main reason for this is that Air Asia, a budget airline, has its hub here. Also, I have some childhood friends that live in KL as well - so I'm excited to meet up with them.
I booked my flight to Kuala Lumpur through Singapore Air, not the cheapest but I chose to splurge given the long-haul and I know from past experience, that they are one of the best! Kayak helped narrow down dates, but ultimately brought it directly through the SingaporeAir website.
I perused the State Department website to determine the entry requirements for the various countries in the region. Fortunately, Malaysian entry requirements were kind on the U.S. Passport- no visa required! Winning!
And neither did Thailand. However, both Cambodia and Vietnam required a visa. However, Cambodia offers an online visa process. Score! This, and the fact that Air Asia had a direct flight to Siem Reap pretty much made it a shoe-in. Vietnam, however, was a little more cumbersome. The visa processing wasn't offered online, also given my time limitation I knew I wouldn't be able to dedicate enough time to explore the culinary and cultural wonders of this nation.
For lodging I mostly rely on Hostel World, but given the fact that lodging is nowhere in comparison to exorbitant prices in Europe, you may be able to splurge on a budget. Checkout Trip Advisor for recommended lodgings, and Agoda for specials deals. I found two awesome hostels in Kuala Lumpur through Hostel World (both of which had won the Hoscar awards handed out by Hostel World), both satisfying my criterion of having easy access to KLIA and being nearby the bar/restaurant scene.
I hope this sheds some light onto my thought process, when researching a trip. Don't hesitate to leave a comment on here or follow me on twitter (@SHazDePinto).
The Help:
Flights:
Kayak.com
Skyscanner.net
AirAsia.com
Research:
Wikitravel.org
Travelfish.org
travel.state.gov/travel
Lodging:
hostelworld.com
agoda.com
tripadvisor.com
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Less than 36 hours in LA/Pasadena, CA
Disclaimer: this post is less about LA/Pasedena and more about relishing the companionship you revel in while traveling/eating/drinking.
Southern California, LA, the city of Angels. The mere mention of it causes every inch of my being to let out a sigh, as images of smog-filled valleys and concrete snakes that invade into every direction of by-gone scenes of serenity take over my psyche. Now this may be embellishment, high melodrama, but you know for the most part this is true.
Lately though, I'm discovering a different Los Angeles . It's up and coming downtown area, with the many foodie-enticing restaurants to the always chic shops.
I was in LA this time around to meet-up with my cousin, who was visiting from Melbourne with two of his mates. In fact, one of them I had gone to school with when I lived in Melbourne, Australia. I took a very late flight out of the Bay Area on South West Air, as usual the flight attendants were hilarious! South West really knows how to get folks to pay attention during the in-flight safety walk-through. Sarah, a friend from college picked me up from LAX and we were off to meet up with two of my cousins (one is a LA local). They had found a watering hole (Far Bar) in Japan-town. The wings here are some of the best I've had; they were perfectly crispy, spicy and not drenched in sauce like those other guys'. After copious amount of beverages we decided to call it a some-what early night.
The next morning, we decided to head to the Griffith Observatory while we waited for my cousin's two mates to arrive from Las Vegas. It was a perfect smoggy LA day- downtown LA was barely visible. At least, I could see the Hollywood sign from the Observatory. Besides the smog, it was an otherwise gorgeous day, it was in the seventies and I was enjoying wearing shorts at the beginning of January. Yeah, Southern Californian summers are brutal.
While my cousins went to LAX, Sarah and myself were dropped off in the city of Alhambra. We found a bar and waited till the rest of the group arrived. We were heading to the legendary Boiling Crab for a late lunch. As usual though, in spite of Alhambra having two locations, the wait was immense. Having promised the Aussies this legendary meal, we were hesitant to ditch Boiling Crab. Fortunately, there is another fine establishment that has modeled itself after this concept and is a stones-throw away. BoatHouse had no wait and gave us essentially the same great cajun-styled seafood that Boiling Crab serves.
For those of you who haven't been, Boiling Crab/BoatHouse is the epitome of casual eating. First a paper table 'cloth' gets laid on the table, bibs and rolls of paper towels provided. The menu is mainly seafood with various types of seasonings offered in a varying spice level depending on how much pain you're willing to endure. Being that most of us at the table grew up with spicy/hot food - we ordered the X-Spicy option.
First the pitchers of beer arrived on the table then followed by raw oysters in the half shell. Then the serious stuff started rolling in: First the clams, this was my first time having clams in Cajun seasoning - probably one of my favorite ways to eat clams now! The spice and garlic combo played off well with the salty/gritty-ness of the clams. Next up was the Crawfish (or Crawdads) and 'Shrimp' (or Prawns which, I argue is the correct terminology-but I'll spend more time on this in a later post). Both, a favorite and staple that we always get. The cold beer did a good job at keeping the pain bearable and conversation flowing. The usual talk about the exorbitant cost of living in Australia and how much cheaper goods are in America is a popular topic and is whenever we have guests from that part of the world. Sarah, my cousin from Melbourne and myself were in Sri Lanka a year ago, so we were re-living some of the highlights of that and my trip to Melbourne in March of 2011 was also a talking point. All in all, the perfect recipe to serve up plenty of laughs.
The clams were so good another round is ordered along with another pitcher of beer. All of us had reached that point where we had achieved a comfortably full feeling, but we all chose to ignore it and keep chomping down on the greasy seafood goodness. Besides the seafood the corn and sausages are also excellent as side orders.
Shortly before sunset we left the BoatHouse. A brief respite before the evenings festivities in old-town Pasedena got underway. I was craving a nap after that coma-inducing meal, but sadly to no avail.
Sarah and I, met some of her friends who live in Pasedena for a few drinks before the bars and a couple mates of mine from Santa Monica joined us as well. The first place we went to was more of a club sort of place and was immediately nixed by the majority. Instead we went to Barney's Beanery next door, which offers a diner/sports bar feel. The conversations continued amongst more food and drinks. We ended the night at King Taco- the ubiquitous late night spot for greasy concoctions. It was sometime after two in the morning and I had a flight to catch in six hours, so thinking it to be the wiser choice I decided to part ways with the group. Sarah and I had a bit of a walk too back to her apartment too.
Fortunately, I didn't sleep through my alarm clock and Sarah was gracious enough to drive me to the airport at this god-forsaken hour. The rest of LA/Pasadena agreed and the ride to LAX was done in record time as there was no one on the road.
I was already regretting the King Taco choice last night (but it was so good at two in the morning!), I boarded my South West flight back home with a middle seat that was empty, SCORE! I was hoping to get some sleep but a conversation with the person on the aisle seat ensued. It was probably one of the best conversations I've had on a plane with a stranger. I'm always uncertain whether to engage in this type of conversation. I feel like most people want to either sleep or tune out by watching movies/or listening to music. But, there is also this exotic notion of meeting someone, a stranger, who by chance sat next to you and discovering pleasantly similar takes on life. I know we all have dreamed or imagined this type of scenario; a person whom you hit-it-off with, someone you would've never met if not for this flight. This flight was said scenario for me. We talked mainly about travel, and discovered that we were both ravenous travelers. We traded tips on must-sees around the world. We did The List- this is where you count the number of countries you've visited. I confessed to being hungover, and hope she didn't smell the alcohol from last night, she was returning home from a wedding of a friend. We discussed career goals, something that often gets in the way of traveling and how we side-step and at the same-time seamlessly mesh the two often opposing poles. We discussed cultures and the habits of its people. The short flight, went by even quicker and we continued chatting till we were curbside. Now the moment where it becomes a little awkward -do we exchange contact details, do we let this be a the perfect encounter never to be ruined. Or do we not chance fate and see this through? This, eerily seemed like a Jack Peñate song being played out......
Southern California, LA, the city of Angels. The mere mention of it causes every inch of my being to let out a sigh, as images of smog-filled valleys and concrete snakes that invade into every direction of by-gone scenes of serenity take over my psyche. Now this may be embellishment, high melodrama, but you know for the most part this is true.
Lately though, I'm discovering a different Los Angeles . It's up and coming downtown area, with the many foodie-enticing restaurants to the always chic shops.
I was in LA this time around to meet-up with my cousin, who was visiting from Melbourne with two of his mates. In fact, one of them I had gone to school with when I lived in Melbourne, Australia. I took a very late flight out of the Bay Area on South West Air, as usual the flight attendants were hilarious! South West really knows how to get folks to pay attention during the in-flight safety walk-through. Sarah, a friend from college picked me up from LAX and we were off to meet up with two of my cousins (one is a LA local). They had found a watering hole (Far Bar) in Japan-town. The wings here are some of the best I've had; they were perfectly crispy, spicy and not drenched in sauce like those other guys'. After copious amount of beverages we decided to call it a some-what early night.
The next morning, we decided to head to the Griffith Observatory while we waited for my cousin's two mates to arrive from Las Vegas. It was a perfect smoggy LA day- downtown LA was barely visible. At least, I could see the Hollywood sign from the Observatory. Besides the smog, it was an otherwise gorgeous day, it was in the seventies and I was enjoying wearing shorts at the beginning of January. Yeah, Southern Californian summers are brutal.
While my cousins went to LAX, Sarah and myself were dropped off in the city of Alhambra. We found a bar and waited till the rest of the group arrived. We were heading to the legendary Boiling Crab for a late lunch. As usual though, in spite of Alhambra having two locations, the wait was immense. Having promised the Aussies this legendary meal, we were hesitant to ditch Boiling Crab. Fortunately, there is another fine establishment that has modeled itself after this concept and is a stones-throw away. BoatHouse had no wait and gave us essentially the same great cajun-styled seafood that Boiling Crab serves.
For those of you who haven't been, Boiling Crab/BoatHouse is the epitome of casual eating. First a paper table 'cloth' gets laid on the table, bibs and rolls of paper towels provided. The menu is mainly seafood with various types of seasonings offered in a varying spice level depending on how much pain you're willing to endure. Being that most of us at the table grew up with spicy/hot food - we ordered the X-Spicy option.
First the pitchers of beer arrived on the table then followed by raw oysters in the half shell. Then the serious stuff started rolling in: First the clams, this was my first time having clams in Cajun seasoning - probably one of my favorite ways to eat clams now! The spice and garlic combo played off well with the salty/gritty-ness of the clams. Next up was the Crawfish (or Crawdads) and 'Shrimp' (or Prawns which, I argue is the correct terminology-but I'll spend more time on this in a later post). Both, a favorite and staple that we always get. The cold beer did a good job at keeping the pain bearable and conversation flowing. The usual talk about the exorbitant cost of living in Australia and how much cheaper goods are in America is a popular topic and is whenever we have guests from that part of the world. Sarah, my cousin from Melbourne and myself were in Sri Lanka a year ago, so we were re-living some of the highlights of that and my trip to Melbourne in March of 2011 was also a talking point. All in all, the perfect recipe to serve up plenty of laughs.
The clams were so good another round is ordered along with another pitcher of beer. All of us had reached that point where we had achieved a comfortably full feeling, but we all chose to ignore it and keep chomping down on the greasy seafood goodness. Besides the seafood the corn and sausages are also excellent as side orders.
Shortly before sunset we left the BoatHouse. A brief respite before the evenings festivities in old-town Pasedena got underway. I was craving a nap after that coma-inducing meal, but sadly to no avail.
Sarah and I, met some of her friends who live in Pasedena for a few drinks before the bars and a couple mates of mine from Santa Monica joined us as well. The first place we went to was more of a club sort of place and was immediately nixed by the majority. Instead we went to Barney's Beanery next door, which offers a diner/sports bar feel. The conversations continued amongst more food and drinks. We ended the night at King Taco- the ubiquitous late night spot for greasy concoctions. It was sometime after two in the morning and I had a flight to catch in six hours, so thinking it to be the wiser choice I decided to part ways with the group. Sarah and I had a bit of a walk too back to her apartment too.
Fortunately, I didn't sleep through my alarm clock and Sarah was gracious enough to drive me to the airport at this god-forsaken hour. The rest of LA/Pasadena agreed and the ride to LAX was done in record time as there was no one on the road.
I was already regretting the King Taco choice last night (but it was so good at two in the morning!), I boarded my South West flight back home with a middle seat that was empty, SCORE! I was hoping to get some sleep but a conversation with the person on the aisle seat ensued. It was probably one of the best conversations I've had on a plane with a stranger. I'm always uncertain whether to engage in this type of conversation. I feel like most people want to either sleep or tune out by watching movies/or listening to music. But, there is also this exotic notion of meeting someone, a stranger, who by chance sat next to you and discovering pleasantly similar takes on life. I know we all have dreamed or imagined this type of scenario; a person whom you hit-it-off with, someone you would've never met if not for this flight. This flight was said scenario for me. We talked mainly about travel, and discovered that we were both ravenous travelers. We traded tips on must-sees around the world. We did The List- this is where you count the number of countries you've visited. I confessed to being hungover, and hope she didn't smell the alcohol from last night, she was returning home from a wedding of a friend. We discussed career goals, something that often gets in the way of traveling and how we side-step and at the same-time seamlessly mesh the two often opposing poles. We discussed cultures and the habits of its people. The short flight, went by even quicker and we continued chatting till we were curbside. Now the moment where it becomes a little awkward -do we exchange contact details, do we let this be a the perfect encounter never to be ruined. Or do we not chance fate and see this through? This, eerily seemed like a Jack Peñate song being played out......
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