Insurance

Get it! No debate here. Make sure you get insurance that covers any and all medical expenses. All the other features are window dressing. Sure if you get delayed or lose your luggage it will be annoying and cost you money. But if you have a serious medical event and need to be evacuated to another country it will cost a small fortune. If you think it won’t happen to you, think again. In our years of leading tours we had to evacuate a number of clients out on private planes. It does happen!

When travelling to Asia make sure that your insurance covers you for riding on the back of a motorbike as you could (or should) end up using motorbike taxis for transport or a tour. If you plan to ride a motorbike yourself you will need to be insurer for this and most likely need to have a proper motorbike license from your home country as well as an international license.

Flights

Online or through an agent? I use an agent. I check on kayak.com to find the best flight that suits me, then approach my regular agent to book that flight or find something better. Yes, it might cost $30 more but I now have someone who let's me know if flights change (this happens a lot especially if you book well in advance), can help me if my plans change or if I suddenly need to return home.

Tools

Apps - Irrespective of where you are going you are probably going to need the following apps:

• A navigation app like Apple or Google Maps - generally these are already built into your phone. If you want an offline map download Maps.me. 

• Google Translate to interact with the locals and Google Lens to translate in real time through your phone camera (great for signs and menus).

• The Grab app, which is the South East Asian version of Uber, but can be used for taxis as well as motorcycle taxis, which is a great way to get around.

• WhatsApp - a lot of businesses will provide a WhatsApp contact number so you can use this rather than phoning.

Local SIM - Get yourself a local SIM so you can be online during your trip. We provide information for each country on how to best buy a SIM.

Money

Our preference for how to handle money while travelling is based around ATMs and cash, using a credit card when it’s possible and economical.

• ATMs - carrying a card that provides free international transactions will go along way to providing you all the money you need for your trip. Do a search in your country for a bank that provides this, open an account and use their card. It’s then a simple matter of using your card to pull out cash and use this day to day.

• Cash - carrying cash is always going to be necessary in South East Asia. Use an ATM to withdraw local currency and use this throughout your trip. It might be worth taking some local cash with you to get started but we don’t even bother with this anymore and just take our home currency and to change at the airport in case there is any issue in getting money out of the ATM.

• Credit Card - a good backup to carry in case you can’t get your debit card to work. Credit cards can be used for larger payments, generally in hotels and larger stores. Check what the fees are from your salesperson as these can be very high. Also find a card that doesn’t charge international fees otherwise you can end up paying a lot more than you expect.

• Travel Card - we don’t rate these cards highly. There are fees for everything and bad exchange rates so to us those don’t really make sense.

Safety

• Water - only drink bottled water throughout South East Asia. Ice is made from purified water. We brush our teeth with tap water but use bottled water if this seems to risky to you.

• Mosquitoes - there is malaria and dengue fever in South East Asia so you do need to consider this, but for most travellers the main issue is getting itchy and welts getting infected.. In all our years of travel and guiding the only people we know to have contracted malaria or dengue are the guides who live there, no short terms travellers - this is not to say that it won’t happen! Best approach is to try to avoid being bitten which is a difficult task. We have seen all manner of repellents from 100% DEET (eats through any polyester in your clothes) to bug bands (saw mosquitoes land on them so not really convinced they work!). Cover up in the evenings, use some form of repellant and be mindful that mosquitoes can bite through thin layers of clothing. Ankles and hairless, uncovered legs tend to get the most attention.

• Vaccinations - there are no mandatory vaccinations required to travel to Asia. Talk to your doctor before you travel as we are unable to provide individual medical advice.

Cultural Stuff

• Head/Feet: if sitting on the floor at a temple don’t sit with your feet pointing at a Buddha statue. Similarly, if in someone’s home don’t point your feet at the family altar.

• Religion: always treat Buddhist monks and elders with high respect and take care not to touch them. When visiting a temple, holy place or museum, pay extra attention to what you wear. Many temples will not allow entry with knees and shoulders covered.

• Shoes: remove before entering a home. Even some hostels, homestays and shops require you to take off your shoes before entering.

• Temper: don’t lose it. People who lose their temper won’t get help from anyone. Smile and be pleasant in all your dealings. (Bit of a life lesson that one.)

• Bargaining: keep it calm and friendly. In markets the locals expect you to bargain so don’t feel bad about doing it. Often it’s a nice to have an interesting conversation with someone who speaks a bit of English.

• Public displays of affection: don’t show too much affection in public. You can walk hand in hand, but don’t kiss and hug.

• Always ask permission before photographing someone.

• Don’t take pictures of anything related to the military. If you need to ask why, let’s just say it’s not the brightest thought you’ve had today. Just don’t do it.

• Beer + ice: away from the main city areas you might find beer is not refrigerated and they add ice to the beer. Travel is about trying new experiences. Give it a go!

• Busy roads: crossing the road can be a challenge in some countries. Follow what the locals do. In some cases you need to walk out into the traffic and trust the motorbikes to go around you (cars have less ability to do this). At traffic lights not everyone will obey your right to cross on a green pedestrian light so stay aware.

• Toilets: these come in a wide range of experiences. Swat toilets are common in Asia and in many ways cleaner to use because you don’t have to sit on anything. But squatting is not always the easiest if you’ve not grown up doing it. Throne toilets are quite common now but toilet paper is not. Carry toilet paper and don’t flush it down the toilet, put it in the little bin next tot he toilet.

Scams

Like home, South East Asia is a very safe place for those who don’t go looking for trouble. But like everywhere, there are a few things to look out for to avoid getting scammed. In general, most scams are for small amounts of money so it’s not going to ruin your holiday. Just look out for the these common scams:

• Overpaying when you haven’t got your head around the currency yet. In our Itinerary Planner there is a simple Currency Converter you can print out and carry to help with this.

• Taxis taking longer routes, not turning on the meter, fixing high prices. Easy to overcome if you use the Grab App.

• Restaurants that do not display prices and then overcharge. Many street food or basic local restaurants do not display a price - this doesn’t mean they are trying to scam you. Just observe what the locals are paying, or ask. Street food is often the best food!

• Paying for damage that has not been made on motorcycle/jet ski rental. You should only be renting motorcycles if you have a valid license as your insurance won’t cover you.

• Unreliable travel agents: tickets that are too high or forged. Won’t happen if you use our agents.

• People telling you sites are closed when they are not. They then offer to to take you somewhere else. This one is most common for the Grand Palace in Bangkok.

Packing

• Less is more. You will enjoy yourself far more if you are not schlepping a massive heavy suitcase everywhere you go. If you are travelling during the warmer months (which is most of the year in South East Asia) you need very few clothes. And if you find you’ve forgotten something just buy it when you are there. It will turn into a better souvenir from your travels than a cheap plastic trinket.