Chris1984

Hey there! Hope someone can help me out with my 2017 travel planning

I will start my South East Asia Trip next year and so far only know that I want to travel from west to east and see these places: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/ed...vw8&authuser=0

This is a first very rough route idea:


Now my questions:

1) What would be the cheapest entry point from Europe (near Germany)? I would assume based on my plan, it is Bangkok and then I just use cheap flights from there to backtrack to Myanmar? I found a flight for 260€ from Frankfurt via Kiev to Bangkok on December 29th this year, perfect to kick it off with the NYE Celebration. But maybe some of you guys know of a better deal, Im flexible in terms of where to celebrate NYE

2) Is there any kind of round-the-world ticket that would help me out for the Oceania part of the trip coming from New Zealand? Since I am so close to these tiny countries, I might as well check them out if there is a cheap way to do it. I have read about the United Airlines UA154 "Island Hopping" flight- does anyone have an idea how much it would be or if there are similar flights available?

3) If you know of any especially cheap connections between the more exotic places on my map, please let me know so I can use it to find the best possible route.


Thanks so much!!
Chris

obscure2k

Please follow this thread in the FT Information Desk Forum.
Thanks..
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

Chris1984

Which thread? =)

Duke787

I can't be of much help here (unfortunately) most of your questions are outside my area of expertise.

I will offer a word of caution - post-Death of King, Thailand is in a prolonged period of mourning (believe the official mourning period is 30 days initially and then 1 year total) so I would do additional research to confirm that NYE will be at full force this year - otherwise might be worth kicking off your tour somewhere else.

Nonetheless - this looks awesome. Lots of people with more knowledge than me on this forum but if you have any specific questions about SYD, AKL, MEL, HKG, or SIN - feel free to throw questions my way and I'll do my best to answer from my own travels to those places.

Mwenenzi

For the islands of the South Pacific (Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Naru, Nuie, Solomons, Vanuatu etc) are not easy or cheap way to get to. Most flights are only to/from Australia or New Zealand. Little flights between these islands (locals do not have the money or reason to go). Look at the web sites of these local airports. Maybe some ferries. There was a thread a year or so ago on this topic

Chris1984

Thanks guy! I guessed that the pacific islands would be expensive and hard to reach. Some of them might not even be there in a few years from now anymore!!

Unless some of the experts here has a secret travel hack to see them all without flying back and forth from Aussie or NZ, I will probably have to skip them or jjust go to 1 or 2.. which ones would be the most accessible then?

Regarding NYE, lets see- heard about the kings death. But I guess there will be a lot of private parties as well and i dont need a big firework.

CHeers
Chris

Mwenenzi

Look at the web sites of the local south pacific airports.
Most web sites will list the airlines that fly in/out. Some may list routes

glennaa11

a good way to search for routes at airports is to look at their wiki pages. Just search the airport code and wiki and it should pop up, e.g "NAN wiki" will get you to the page for Fiji. Or just search "Fiji airport" and it should be near the top of the results. I believe there's one for every airport and it will show you airlines and the destinations they serve. They're all in generally the same format which makes it easier than looking at each airport's own website

Agree that Thailand may still be fairly subdued with respect to NYE. For sure no fireworks. But I know that the government and TAT have been saying that after this initial 30 day mourning period things should be more back to normal with respect to entertainment, concerts, etc. Given that high season is coming up they know that to keep the economy going they need tourists to come.

Even with a year this looks like a pretty ambitious plan. Without a ton of time to put together unless you plan to just do it on the fly so to speak. I believe you are correct that BKK is most likely the cheapest point of entry. You might try Google Flights. They have an option to see a map of destinations and prices from a given starting point. So that should help narrow it down.

good luck!

Kiwi Flyer

Of the islands marked on the map ...

Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu are all fairly cheap flights from NZ.
Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu all have direct flights from Fiji.
Solomon Islands has direct flights from Australia (Brisbane).
Nauru is hard to get to, with expensive and infrequent flights from Australia/Solomon Islands (and Marshall Islands?).

The island hopper flight is between Guam and Honolulu.

Papua New Guinea has flights from Australia (and Hong Kong). I think domestic travel is expensive however.


I second the comments above - this is way too much for even a year. Just logistics of travelling between many of your desired destinations will use up many days - due to infrequent schedules (that may not connect well), long distances for land travel, lots of forced backtracking, visa hassles, etc.

Chris1984

Have you ever heard of people using sites like http://www.findacrew.net/ to work on boats / yachts / ships to get from one island to the other? At least i can see a few captains there looking for crew! if its takes 2 years in the end, then it will take 2 years. I have time =)

jphripjah

Fiji is probably the most accessible of the Pacific Islands, regular flights to Australia/NZ and to many of the other islands.

Flights to the other islands often go through Fiji.

Chris1984

I will have to leave all the Pacific islands for another time, would be not enough to do it all now and I dont want to "have to" come back again for them!