Travelling

In 4 days I'm heading out of the country for the next two months to the USA. It's partly holidays, part mini career break, part time to think things through and reassess "Life, the Universe and Everything".

It's not all as mellow as it sounds though. In fact I'm sure it's going to be an awesome, exciting adventure but 12+ months of pottering and thinking means it's about time I take stock of things.

Other than the pottering and pondering, getting real excited about going back to the USA. I was there back in 2008, almost around the same time and it was an awesome adventure of deserts, driving and Disney. And sticking to the trusted, there is lots of desert driving and more Disney this time round.

Flying into Vegas which is where the road trip will begin. After a couple of days to sort out supplies, sleep patterns etc, it's off into canyon country in Southern Utah. Really looking forward to visiting Utah again as I loved Zion National Park last time, and I'm sure the ones we're going to visit this time round will be just as awesome. Plus how can a National Park with a section called Island in the Sky not be awesome just by name?

Then it's up into Salt Lake City for some rest before some more epic drives up into the wilds of Wyoming/Montana to visit Grand Teton and Yellowstone. Hoping I get to see some wildlife like bears and wolves etc, but hopefully there will be no pic-a-nic[ing] from Yogi Bear's relatives...

Then it's onwards to Chicago and Niagara where I'll cross over into Canada for a few days, then back down to New York City. Not sure what to do in NYC this time round... will see.

Then it's on to Florida where it's theme parks, theme parks and the happiest place on earth. Watch out kids, I'm gonna ride Dumbo this time round :-D Some time in Seattle, then back to Sin City for half a week or so before it's back home to Oz.

All in all, epic American adventure. I'll hopefully be keeping this blog updated as I go so check in frequently. Also there's my twitter which I plan on updating too.

Don't think I'll blog again before I leave, so next time I write it'll probably be from the RV Park at Bryce Canyon (no free internet in Las Veas)...

For want of a better word, I guess I could be termed a flashpacker. Cutting costs here and there is awesome, but a few nice things along the way be it a more comfy bed or hot water is always nice. That and the fact I seem to always cart off with me what seems an enormous amount of cables and gadgets.

This trip happening in a week and a bit isn't that much different to the last few in terms of gadgets I'm taking, but I am throwing a few more into the mix. The Eee PC and Skype has saved me in the past and this time round I'll be relying on it plus a bunch of other gadgets to get me through the trip and help me keep in touch, pay bills, navigate roads, backup photos etc.

So in a nutshell... I think the gadget count is going to be something like as follows:

• Eee PC - surf the net, skype, email, blog etc
• Panasonic Lumix FZ35 - not quite an SLR but awesome zoom... and rather large!
• Canon IXUS - smaller point and click for when I don't want to lug the Lumix around
• iPod - music, also a backup for my photos and any trip notes
• iPhone - mainly for keeping in touch via SMS
• Garmin eTrex - don't want to get lost on a trail, maybe some geocaching too?
• Kodak PlaySport - take some video of the car drives and places visited so I can show my mum

Between now and next weekend I'm also going to try and sort out my user accounts for various things so I can keep pics and hopefully videos coming through to the site whilst away...

So I thought it's about time I dedicate a blog to travel planning with cost consciousness in mind. About to set of on my second trip to the USA - this time for a significantly longer period of time - there are a couple of tips and tricks one can use to help keep the costs down.

Flights
Keep and eye on cheap fares. One can save hundreds of dollars buying fares when they're on sale. Also I find that often with the international flights it's cheaper buying them months in advance. For my upcoming trip and my trip to SE Asia last year I saved hundreds of dollars having my flights booked approx 6 months in advance.

For point to point tickets use an aggregator site to get a high level overview of the cheapest flights and times, then go to the individual airline sites to confirm the price and book. Booking direct via the airline, you often can avoid any extra charges the aggregator may apply. If time isn't a factor, sometimes choosing that flight 1 hour earlier (or later) can make a difference, particularly if your trip consists of lots of point to point flights as it all adds up.

Accommodation
This is always a killer in travel costs, as it puts quite a bump into the budget. There's obviously a wide range in price, quality and style of accommodation so one needs to make a decision on what they are happy with, what they are willing to pay and go out and do some hunting. Research will help in getting your best value for money here. There's often lots of discounts from codes to early reservation discounts. Also don't discount cheaper alternatives, sometimes they are just as awesome as the more expensive choice but perfectly fine. Make sure to do you research though, as sometimes things are cheap for a reason.

Discounts
Use them when and where you can. There are stacks of websites on the net offering deals and codes for all kinds of things from Broadway shows, hotel bookings to dining. It does require you to check the sites periodically, but this is a easy way to save heaps of money.

It might sound all a bit extreme, but the savings you make do add up to be quite a bit. Especially when travelling through places such as the USA and Europe. Of course one could do all the above even cheaper by backpacking but sometimes you want to just mix things up and have a bit of everything. In which case eventually add up.

With the upcoming USA2010 adventures 6 or so weeks away there's no time like the present to get the travel blog in action. So in hope of more frequent blogging in the coming months, here's a post for July...

So following up on the last post, have started getting into the trip research phase. Which for the time I'm away for equates to an awful lot of googling and wikitravel research. The long short list of places being visited is as follows though:

• Las Vegas
• Utah (mainly Canyon Country)
• Wyoming/Montana
• Chicago
• Niagara Falls
• New York City
• Orlando
• Seattle

Having visited some of the national parks in the Arizona/Utah region before and being very in awe/impressed, is no surprise that a fair part of USA2010 is road tripping it from Vegas out through Utah and up into Wyoming/Montana visiting the National Parks along the way (see Google map on previous post).

Parks that are on the list for visiting are: Bryce Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, Grand Teton and Yellowstone. And apart from my slight fear of animals (monkeys in Asia, bears and bison in North America...) it hopefully will be pretty awesome with lots of cool geological features/formations and wildlife spotting. That said, gotta get my feet back into a hiking mode in the next 6 weeks.. seeing I have to hike to see Delicate Arch amongst other things.

Other highlights I'm looking forward too is Orlando where I'm going to live like a kid for a week or so and hit up Disney World and Universal. Can't wait...

So between now and when I leave it's time to finalise accomo and sort out trip things... as for post my mini career break (aka mid twenties/career crisis... lol) we'll see what pans out...

Off on a 2 month [mini career?] break in just under 3 months to the USA. As part of the trip more road adventures checking out the national parks of Utah and Wyoming.

View USA2010 in a larger map

In about 45 minutes I'll be leaving the hotel on my way back to Noi Bai (Hanoi) airport. Spent last night wandering the lake looking at the flower displays. It was really packed in the early evening but towards midnight it became a bit easier to walk around. In the end I ended up going back to my hotel at about quarter to midnight as it was rainy and I'd seen the majority of the displays. Was quite tired as well.

Oh in my travels back from Laos... you know you're in a tiny airport when:

• You have to scan your bags BEFORE you enter the airport
• They don't require you to present your bag of carry on liquids nor do they make you empty your water bottle that is almost a litre and half full
• You can pass through immigration and get exit stamped but still pass back in to the main area of the airport to buy food
• After security screening, to go to the toilet you have to exit the main area to this other area where you can walk outside but on the way back you don't need to get rescreened. And you can take your carry on bags out with you...

Anyways better get ready... Sydney tomorrow morning... yay!

Just finished a one day cooking course and I am totally full that I don't know if I can manage grilled fish on a stick. The cuorse was really good and we cooked stacks of food.

On the internet at the moment checking in for my flights home. Gotta check in now so that I can get a aisle seat and top deck seat for the A380.

Going to hover around town tomorrow before heading of to the airport mid afternoon. Hopefully Hanoi traffic isn't too bad and I'm back at my hotel before 7pm. Going to try and have a nice meal (unfortunatley by myself), then hopefully the night market is open as there's some things I wouldn't mind looking for. Maybe will check out the lake area as well and see what is happening for NYE.

That's it for now... see you from Hanoi (or breakfast tomorrow maybe?)

Today headed out to the Kuang Si Falls which are about 30KM out of Luang Prabung. The waterfall was quite impressive with many pools with clear blue water, some of which swimming was allowed. After walking up what seemed like a million stairs to the top, we came back down and went for a swim. The water at first seemed quite cold but soon became bearable and was in fact rather refreshing.

That is until I stood still a little too long and a fish nibbled at my left big toe. It hurt. Soon later something nibbled on my right foot after which I decided if my feet were on the ground they were going to be constantly moving.

Got back to Luang Prabung mid afternoon and went and booked myself on a one day cooking course tomorrow. I was deciding between two places, however by the time I came back my first choice was booked out, so luckily for me my second choice had one spot left. So I'll be spending 10am - 5pm tomorrow cooking... maybe I'll pick up some culinary skills to add to my somewhat limited food skillset?

Anyways got to catch up on some internet... was planning on using free wifi, but there was a power blackout and I'd already eaten and didn't want to eat again so at an internet place...

Yesterday made a boat trip out to the Pak Ou caves. Pak Ou is a series of caves above 25KM up the Mekong from Luang Prabung where there are thousands of Buddhas. These are Buddhas that have been damaged, or 'superseded'.

This morning though, woke up super early to watch the monks collect their alms. It's packed with tourists and makes me wonder (as I have read elsewhere before), whether this daily ritual is indeed part of normalcy or a result of tourism.

other than that going out to the Kuang Si falls later this morning where hopefully it will not be too cold to swim. Then in the afternoon I might scout around for a cooking course to go on tomorrow before trawling the night markets

So survived a rather epic and windy journey from Vang Vieng to arrive in Luang Prabung mid this afternoon. After trawling a heap of guesthouses which turned out to be full we found a nice reasonable one down a side lane. Much better than the ones that did have availability which are best described as damp, stinky and mouldy.

Luang Prabung is a UNESCO world heritage listed town and has a nice feel bout it (similar to Hoi An in some ways). There's a pretty good night market and the buildings in the old town are all quite nice looking. Am here for quite a few days so plan to check out this waterfall and this cave up the Mekong. Also get in more shopping and drinking of coconut shakes!

That's it for now... sorry for the lack of pics from Laos but internet is slower that Vietnam...