“After the visa rejection, I wanted to make sure I didn’t face any more visa issues. Both Laos and Vietnam offered e-visas, and Thailand offered visa-on-arrival. Also, these countries are well connected with each other and considered safe for backpackers who are just starting out,” says Daga.
So that’s where they went—a 15-day trip covering Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. On a budget.
For readers seeking to quench their wanderlust, Mint has launched a series capturing the costs and experiences of international destinations through the personal stories of travellers.
Living on a budget
Daga, now 20 and doing a bachelor’s course in business administration, says he managed to keep the living costs in check by staying in hostels instead of hotels. “These were dormitories with 6-8 beds. So the costs were cheap. We also stayed in a capsule-pod hotel in Pattaya, Thailand,” he says.
His overall living cost across the three countries added up to ₹8,000.
“I looked for hostels in areas where there were a bunch of hostels to get competitive pricing and wider options. For example, in Vietnam, we found good hostel deals in Hanoi-Old quarters. In Thailand, I found good options on Khaosan road in Bangkok, and in Pattaya, near the Pattaya beach,” he says. “These hostels are also usually in areas where there are good pubs and street food options.”
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Public transport and no-frills flights
Using public transport helped save a lot of money. “We used buses, tuk-tuks. These were a lot more cost-efficient than taking cabs. For example, as I was tired after an evening flight and Vietnam airport in Hanoi is a bit far from the city, we took a cab to the hostel. It cost ₹900. For the same distance, a bus ride cost just ₹150 on the return to the airport,” he says. “We also used the bike-taxi service in Thailand and Vietnam, which cost ₹50-100.”
For flights, the friends opted for low-cost carriers. “We saved around ₹3,000 on most flights since we didn’t opt for checked-in baggage, which is charged separately on these budget airlines. We scanned multiple sites to get the cheapest airfares. We also tried to book some of these flights directly on airlines’ websites to avoid paying commissions. We didn’t opt for a seat-selection facility or gave any seat preference, which had additional cost,” Daga explains.
The overall cost of travelling in those three countries added up to ₹7,100. The flight tickets put together cost ₹51,000 (including visa fees of ₹8,599 for the three countries).
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Street food and one Michelin-star cafe
Daga is a vegetarian, which didn’t make things easy for him in those Southeast Asian countries.
“In Thailand, we largely used up the ready-to-eat packets we carried from India. I was carrying packets worth ₹1,000,” he says.
“There were a lot of Indian restaurants in Thailand, but then I didn’t want to try Indian stuff in Thailand. Also, restaurants would have been more expensive. So I tried desserts, pancakes, mango sticky rice, etc. We also tried a Michelin-star cafe in Bangkok, which cost just ₹200 for their signature dish. We visited another cafe in Bangkok, which cost ₹400-500,” he says.
In Vietnam, though, Daga found plenty of street food vegetarian options. “I tried local food such as Banh Mi (Vietnamese sandwich) and Pho (noodle soup),” he says. “I also found a vegan restaurant in Vietnam, which I visited a lot for my meals. Here, a meal would cost ₹200-250.”
In Laos, Daga’s hostel had a large cafe with many vegetarian options.
Overall, Daga says he spent ₹10,930 on food during his 15-day trip.
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Creating experiences and memories
Daga says some of his most enjoyable activities during the trip were in Bangkok’s Lumpini Park, where he spotted monitor lizards and went boating. He also tried doing Zumba with the locals on one of the evenings in Lumpini Park.
In Vietnam, one of his favourite visits was Ninh Binh city. “As an adventure lover, I enjoyed hiking up the challenging terrain on the Lying Dragon Mountain,” he says.
Daga also enjoyed visiting the ancient capital city of Hoa Lu, boating at Trang An, and island-hopping at Ha Long Bay.
In Laos, he enjoyed visiting the Kuang Si falls in Luang Prabang and taking a bullet-train ride from Vientiane to Luang Prabang.
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The hostel network effect
Daga’s overall trip cost, including attraction visits ( ₹6,020), travel insurance ( ₹1,500), souvenirs and gifts ( ₹2,000), and SIM cards ( ₹1,500), came up to around ₹88,050.
Staying in hostels also helped Daga get more cost-saving tips on the go.
“In hostels, you can easily find a huge community of backpackers. You can easily find good recommendations on public transport options, places to visit, places to avoid (unsafe places), details such as bus timings, etc,.” he says.
Daga is now in touch with backpackers from around the world and plans to go on more such trips, possibly backpacking with his new-found friends.