Now that my work has gradually wound down, I have more time to finalize my travel plans in the coming weeks.
Based on my plan, I have also drawn my personal travel map, again courtesy of the great circle mapper website, a free online tool.
My upcoming travel will span three continents: Asia, Europe and North America. My travels are mainly concentrated in Eastern Europe, where I hope to spend more time exploring.
I have previously visited countries in central Europe: London, France, etc, the 4 nordic and 3 baltic countries in northern Europe, western Europe: Spain and Portugal.
What surprises me is the total distance that will be covered: a whopping 98,953 km.
"Slightly" more than my previous long trip in december 2017 😀
Nonetheless, still more than 2 rounds of the Earth. This time round, I'm actually travelling for less number of days but cover more ground compared to that trip.
Here's a closer look at the European itinerary:
I have tried to cover as much of Eastern Europe as I can within my limited schedule and of course, within my budget.
Not all segments are flown, as that will have me exceed my travel budget. For example, the Dubrovnik to Split is via daytime ferry, Split to Zagreb is via overnight train.
To keep my budget within control, I have also included more overnight flights and even overnight at the airports in Oslo, Munich, Copenhagen (twice) and Frankfurt. This is only when I have late night arrival flights and next day early morning departure flights. Will report back on the experience!
With these measures, I can reduce my accommodation budget. So I only need to stay in hotels in Osaka, London, Svalbard, Skopje and Faroe Island for a total of 6 nights!
Naturally, accommodation in Svalbard and Faroe Islands are much higher due to their unique locations and limited options. But I wouldn't give them up for the exotic experience!
To further stretch my budget, instead of opting for direct flights or booking directly on airline's websites, I have, for the first time, booked through expedia, a third party travel website, which lets me book through multiple airlines for a lower cost and for a more creative routing.
I have booked on it twice. After visiting Skopje, I wanted to get to Dubrovnik. If I booked a direct flight or on an airline's website, it is going to cost me a small fortune.
For the past weeks, I have been monitoring google flights for the cheapest routing. Fortunately, on one day, a creative routing opened up in expedia, via Vienna and Munich. And it is the cheapest option available.
Booking on expedia is quite easy. Once paid, I received the booking reference on Lufthansa and ticket number via email in about 5 minutes. I checked my itinerary details on Lufthansa website and was relieved that the ticket issued and displayed correctly. Here's to hoping that my flights will go smoothly 😁
In my second expedia booking, I wanted to travel from Copenhagen to Ahmedabad or Delhi to position for my SQ business class flight. In this case, Air India's flight showed up as the most direct and cheapest for many days on google flight.
Finally, one day, expedia's creative routing opened up via SAS to Zurich, then via Oman Air to Muscat and then Delhi. Again, this option proved cheaper and I quickly booked it.
Within 5 minutes again, I received my booking code from both SAS and Oman Air and ticket number via email. I cross-checked on both airlines' website and the ticket showed up correctly, with a generous 2 piece baggage allowance on all 3 segments.
One advantage of this itinerary is that I reach India in the morning and will depart India at night on the same day, thereby saving me a hotel stay. Secondly, I get to re-visit Zurich and tour Muscat for a day!
As this itinerary ends in Delhi, I booked a short one-way route from Delhi to Ahmedabad on Vistara Air premium economy, which is only S$10 more than regular economy.
This brings me to my point of trying out new experiences on many occasions:
New flights:
SQ B787 new regional business class
Norwegian B787
RyanAir
Atlantic Airways (Faroe Island - Copenhagen)
Austrian Airlines
Lufthansa
Oman Air
Swiss Air
New cities:
Svalbard
Longyearbyen
Skopje
Vienna
Munich
Muscat
Ahmedabad (transit only)
Frankfurt
Hainan and Nanchang, China
Yup, I hope this will be a fruitful tour for me !!
Based on my plan, I have also drawn my personal travel map, again courtesy of the great circle mapper website, a free online tool.
My upcoming travel will span three continents: Asia, Europe and North America. My travels are mainly concentrated in Eastern Europe, where I hope to spend more time exploring.
I have previously visited countries in central Europe: London, France, etc, the 4 nordic and 3 baltic countries in northern Europe, western Europe: Spain and Portugal.
What surprises me is the total distance that will be covered: a whopping 98,953 km.
"Slightly" more than my previous long trip in december 2017 😀
Nonetheless, still more than 2 rounds of the Earth. This time round, I'm actually travelling for less number of days but cover more ground compared to that trip.
Here's a closer look at the European itinerary:
I have tried to cover as much of Eastern Europe as I can within my limited schedule and of course, within my budget.
Not all segments are flown, as that will have me exceed my travel budget. For example, the Dubrovnik to Split is via daytime ferry, Split to Zagreb is via overnight train.
To keep my budget within control, I have also included more overnight flights and even overnight at the airports in Oslo, Munich, Copenhagen (twice) and Frankfurt. This is only when I have late night arrival flights and next day early morning departure flights. Will report back on the experience!
With these measures, I can reduce my accommodation budget. So I only need to stay in hotels in Osaka, London, Svalbard, Skopje and Faroe Island for a total of 6 nights!
Naturally, accommodation in Svalbard and Faroe Islands are much higher due to their unique locations and limited options. But I wouldn't give them up for the exotic experience!
To further stretch my budget, instead of opting for direct flights or booking directly on airline's websites, I have, for the first time, booked through expedia, a third party travel website, which lets me book through multiple airlines for a lower cost and for a more creative routing.
I have booked on it twice. After visiting Skopje, I wanted to get to Dubrovnik. If I booked a direct flight or on an airline's website, it is going to cost me a small fortune.
For the past weeks, I have been monitoring google flights for the cheapest routing. Fortunately, on one day, a creative routing opened up in expedia, via Vienna and Munich. And it is the cheapest option available.
Booking on expedia is quite easy. Once paid, I received the booking reference on Lufthansa and ticket number via email in about 5 minutes. I checked my itinerary details on Lufthansa website and was relieved that the ticket issued and displayed correctly. Here's to hoping that my flights will go smoothly 😁
In my second expedia booking, I wanted to travel from Copenhagen to Ahmedabad or Delhi to position for my SQ business class flight. In this case, Air India's flight showed up as the most direct and cheapest for many days on google flight.
Finally, one day, expedia's creative routing opened up via SAS to Zurich, then via Oman Air to Muscat and then Delhi. Again, this option proved cheaper and I quickly booked it.
Within 5 minutes again, I received my booking code from both SAS and Oman Air and ticket number via email. I cross-checked on both airlines' website and the ticket showed up correctly, with a generous 2 piece baggage allowance on all 3 segments.
One advantage of this itinerary is that I reach India in the morning and will depart India at night on the same day, thereby saving me a hotel stay. Secondly, I get to re-visit Zurich and tour Muscat for a day!
As this itinerary ends in Delhi, I booked a short one-way route from Delhi to Ahmedabad on Vistara Air premium economy, which is only S$10 more than regular economy.
This brings me to my point of trying out new experiences on many occasions:
New flights:
SQ B787 new regional business class
Norwegian B787
RyanAir
Atlantic Airways (Faroe Island - Copenhagen)
Austrian Airlines
Lufthansa
Oman Air
Swiss Air
New cities:
Svalbard
Longyearbyen
Skopje
Vienna
Munich
Muscat
Ahmedabad (transit only)
Frankfurt
Hainan and Nanchang, China
Yup, I hope this will be a fruitful tour for me !!
