Researching/Planning a trip : SE Asia

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