Budget Travel - Need help with Southeast Asia!

Hello All, first of all thanks for your help so far!

I finally got my first leg of the trip confirmed: LAX to NRT to HKG, $0.15/ mile. So, I was happy...

I will be in Hong Kong from July 4th to 10th, then I need your help to figure out the best way to do the following:

from to departure date #days
HONGKONG to HANOI (HAN) 10-Jul 11
HANOI to BANGKOK (BKK) 21-Jul 16
BANGKOK to JAKARTA (CGK) 7-Aug 9
JAKARTA to BALI (DPS) 17-Aug 14
BALI to TAHITI (PPT) 1-Sep 7
TAHITI to RIO (via Europe or Australia) 9-Sep

The main concerns so far are HKG to HANOI and my flight to RIO. Please let me know if you have ANY suggestions on how to make this more cost budget oriented.

Thank you very much!

HAN-BKK, BKK-CGK, CGK-DPS should all cost next to nothing on AirAsia

Nok Air is also cheap and a better option than AirAsia for HAN-BKK if the price is similar or only a little more. BKK-CGK there really aren't a lot of cheap options. AirAsia's nonstop is surly THE cheap option. CGK-DPS you may want to look at Lion Air, and Mandala as well. Boarding AirAsia flights in Indonesia can be an ...er...um..........cultural experience. Domestic Indonesia flights are usually insanely cheap on most of the Indonesian carriers and except for the part where allot of them crash now and then, the service is usually pretty decent.

It probably won't work out on cost, but a backdoor PPT-RIO one could be via Easter Island and Santiago on LAN. Would be great to do, but as it's a monopoly route, not likely cheap. SCL-EZE is often a cheap link if you want to hop around.

For dollar-holders, Tahiti can be an absolutely brutal place on costs these days.

Asia is indeed well-peppered with LCCs now.

thank you all! Based on your suggestions and a lots of homework a decided to delete Tahiti. So, here is what I am trying to confirm now...

from to departure date
HONGKONG to HANOI (HAN) 10-Jul
HANOI to BANGKOK (BKK) 21-Jul
BANGKOK to BALI (DPS) 13-Aug
BALI (DPS) to SINGAPURE (SIN) 3-Sep
SIN to DUBAI (DXB) 15-Sep
DXB to GRU (SAO PAULO) 16-Sep

I would appreciate any suggestions that could help me to confirm this with a $0.10/ mile budget.

Right now the biggest challenge has been HKG to HAN. So, I would appreciate any suggestions.

Thank you again!

Hello All, first of all thanks for your help so far!

I finally got my first leg of the trip confirmed: LAX to NRT to HKG, $0.15/ mile. So, I was happy...

I will be in Hong Kong from July 4th to 10th, then I need your help to figure out the best way to do the following:

from to departure date #days
HONGKONG to HANOI (HAN) 10-Jul 11
HANOI to BANGKOK (BKK) 21-Jul 16
BANGKOK to JAKARTA (CGK) 7-Aug 9
JAKARTA to BALI (DPS) 17-Aug 14
BALI to TAHITI (PPT) 1-Sep 7
TAHITI to RIO (via Europe or Australia) 9-Sep

The main concerns so far are HKG to HANOI and my flight to RIO. Please let me know if you have ANY suggestions on how to make this more cost budget oriented.

Thank you very much!

For such trips, you can do a lot worse than contacting a specialist agency like AirTreks.com. This is just the sort of travel they are good at.

Unless I"m on a really tight schedule I almost always buy my inter-Asia tickets on the ground. I've done this dozens of times and not had problems. Local travel agents seem to have better deals.

I was in Tahiti in April and I think you made a good decision cutting it from your trip. It's fine, obviously beautiful, but not that interesting and very expensive.

2 questions:

1. Do you guys know any good travel agent in HKG
2. Do you thing it would be fly HKG- DPS or HKG- HAN? I appreciate any suggestions on how to do it in a budget.

Thank you again!

Right now the biggest challenge has been HKG to HAN. So, I would appreciate any suggestions.




Go via Macau with Air Asia, plenty of availability with 4 flights from Macau to Bangkok and then fly again with Air Asia from Bangkok to Hanoi, 3 flights a day. Cost before tax was US$67 in total for both flights. It's a one hour ferry ride or faster if you use the jetfoil to Macau from HK.

Go via Macau with Air Asia, plenty of availability with 4 flights from Macau to Bangkok and then fly again with Air Asia from Bangkok to Hanoi, 3 flights a day. Cost before tax was US$67 in total for both flights. It's a one hour ferry ride or faster if you use the jetfoil to Macau from HK.

Viva Macau (www.flyvivamacau.com) also fly from Macau to Ho Chi Minh City pretty cheaply, and you can pick up a cheap internal flight from there to Hanoi - Jetstar (www.jetstar.com) has flights bookable online. That's another option.

After LOTS of research and thanks to your suggestions, I bought the MAIN itinerary in Asia on my own for U$423: Macau-SIN-DPS-SIN-HAN-BKK. Used lots os Lion Air and AirAsia...

So, I am pretty happy that I did not use an agent at the end! Airtreks and Airbrokers quoted me over $1100 for the same itenerary. So, if you have patience and time DO ON YOUR OWN.

Today, I am trying to sort it out how to move on the budget in Japan and Kyoto in a week. Apparently, the JR pass costs U$280...so, I am wondering if there is any better way to move in Japan for 7 days. Please send me ANY suggestions.

All the best, MRS.