#spending an extra day with me and a ten dollar cheaper fare

[artemisbarnowl]

When you're not staying up past your bedtime tell us your thoughts about checking up on people via social media!

Thank you for indulging me this long weekend why would you do this

Warning I'm gonna be pathetic because i am still grieving a nine year relationship and grieving, especially in this context, feels so UNDIGNIFIED. Also its my grieving thoughts about the socials thing not like well srticulated thoughts about the socials with some grieving mixed in. I just have a lot of feelings and i need to get them out.

1. Like, ultimately don't. Its not helpful at all i think. Unless if literally is just idle curiosity about what happened to someone in your class from ten years ago and you actually dont care what you find.

2. I am experiencing the urge to check up on my ex CONSTANTLY. (They do not really use social media this doesnt amount to much btw). I understand why people be lurking on someones insta or whatever to see what theyve been up to. Sometimes you hope theyre failing and miserable because they did you wrong and you want to feel validated. In my particular case i am worried, and i miss them. There are no posts for me to see or wonder about so this is useless but i think i also want to see that my ex is sad (because i was important to him for such a long time) but also, not like, too sad. And I'm fantasising about him sort of DOing something about it. I want to see what he's up to. Is is dancing? Is he injured? Is he Making? Is he finding small joys in life like hanging out with friends or seeing a cute creature on a walk? Seeing posts about these things would not help me! Because i would likely assume he was not sad, then i would feel angry and bitter and disappointed in myself for wasting my time. We dont share when we are sad (or why) on socials. I am NEVER going to see a post that effectively says "my smart and beautiful and extraordinary girlfriend of 9 years left me, and I am sad i couldn't be what she needed. I miss her a lot and wish i could have showed her this garden i saw today, she would have loved it. I will never forget her and dont know how to be okay with this". No one is going to see that. But ultimately i think we check up on people because what we want to see is some variation of that, so we can feel validated and know that they UNDERSTAND how were feeling.

Because this is tumblr I have made stupid posts a bit like this! I miss him all the time, i made a facebook post about a doco that I watched in the hopes that he would see it and watch it, because i think he'd like all the adorable english woodland creatures. This is also stupid! As are posts showing how well youre doing in hopes ypur ex seems them and feels stupid. Devoting this much energy to a game in your head where you will never get an outcome that satisfies you cannot help you move on or heal. But i do think its weird that we look for any possible thread that tied us to people we are without, even the terrible online ones that can never retie us! We talk to gravestones like the dead can hear us. I am currently checking my mailbox every day for a letter that might not ever arrive, and even if it does it sure and shit wont contain any information that helps me live my new single life where no one thinks I'm special, and there's no one I'm 100% comfortable to be all of myself around and who I dont get tired of being with.

I will never know if he saw the fb post, let alone watched and had opinions on the doco I talked about. Knowing wont help. He knew i have a tumblr but i dont think he'd go through it as its a huge pile of memes and stuff he wouldnt understand to look for 3 things that say im sad. And again, knowing I'm sad won't help.

Normally im very good at being like "well this is unproductive/not the best course of action" and then, you know, STOPPING but unfortunately I will continue to wonder how he is and what hes up to and cling to actually unreasonable, unfounded fantasies of what happens IF he sees.

Anyway this is a long vent that basically says i think i get why people do it now but ultimately it will never bring the carthsis we hope for (:

He knew i had a tumblr but I dont think he's checking up on me coz. Whats the point. Its a lot of stupid memes for 3 im sad posts. Which accomplish nothing as discussed.

[allenmendezsr]

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[joshuamshea84]

How to Turn High-Cost Japan into a Cheap Place to Visit

Updated: 7/5/2018 | July 5th, 2018

For years, I put off going to Japan because I was afraid of how expensive it would be. The rumors I’d heard about the country’s high prices made me hesitant to go. I’ve always loved Japanese culture, and I knew any visit would involve gorging on sushi and ramen, visits to lots of temples, and heavy train travel through the countryside. And the thought of how much that would cost always made me think, “I’ll wait until I have more money.”

When I finally visited in 2011, I was shocked to discover that, while it isn’t cheap, Japan isn’t the prohibitively expensive country people may think it is. In fact, I actually found Japan to be very affordable and on par with (and sometimes cheaper than) countries in Western Europe. In subsequent visits, I’ve learned to further master the country and turn high-cost Japan into an affordable place to visit.

Here’s how much things typically cost in Japan and how you can cut down your expenses to visit Japan on a budget and save lots of money!

Note: 110 JPY = $1 USD

Saving on Transportation in Japan

Trains The bullet train, while awesome, comfortable, and fast, is not cheap. Individual tickets can cost hundreds of dollars. Yet I think train travel is the best way to see the country, so in order to reduce your train costs, get a Japan Rail (JR) pass. The pass is indispensable for travel in Japan.

These passes cost 28,300 JPY for 7 days, 45,100 JPY for 14 days, and 57,700 JPY for 21 days. All pass times are for consecutive travel. Even if you just get the seven-day pass, it’s the same price as a round-trip train ticket from Osaka to Tokyo (14,250 JPY each way!). Moreover, these JR trains also serve local city areas and so can be used intra-city. I used my pass to get around Kyoto and Tokyo instead of buying metro tickets. So even if you aren’t going to do much travel around Japan, buying a pass is better than buying individual tickets. While the high price of the pass can cause sticker shock, the alternative is even worse.

Though the pass can be up to 20% cheaper to buy online before you arrive, you can now purchase a Japan Rail Pass in Japan. Passes are available in the following country locations: Sapporo, Sendai, Niigata, Tokyo, Shinjuku, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima, Takamatsu, Hakata, New Chitose Airport, Narita Airport, Haneda Airport, and Kansai Airport.

Metro Most of the city metro tickets cost 100–200 JPY for a single journey. (The price varies by distance and may often be higher.) Fares were usually around 220 JPY to travel across Tokyo but less for shorter distances. In most major cities, you can buy a day pass, which gives you unlimited travel for 24 hours for around 800 JPY.

Buses Buses are a less expensive alternative to the bullet train system in Japan, but they take more time. For example, the two-hour bullet train ride from Tokyo to Osaka becomes a ten-hour bus ride. The price for that seat is 4,500 JPY, but at some point, you need to think about how much your time is worth. For me, saving some 10,000 JPY was not worth the extra seven hours of travel, since I had such limited time during my visit. If I’d had more time, I’d have simply taken the bus. There are also bus passes available that offer unlimited travel and begin at 10,000 JPY for three non-consecutive days of travel.

Flights Flying has become better option these days. There are many budget carriers now serving Japan, and a flight search on sites like Momondo or Skyscanner will reveal them. In general, their prices are on par with bullet train tickets. ANA also offers a special last-minute $100 fares via a hidden page on their website. It’s only available to foreigners and can sometimes be cheaper than the flights you find on Skyscanner, especially for longer routes around the country.

Saving on Food in Japan

Surprisingly, I found food to be inexpensive in Japan. True, I have a sushi addiction that dramitcally increased the cost of my trip but, overall, I found that I was spending far less on food than I’d anticipated.

As long as I didn’t feed my sushi addiction, I found I could eat for less than 1,500 JPY per day. Some typical prices were:

Sushi lunch sets (sushi, soup, salad): 1,600+ JPY

Traditional Japanese set lunches: 1,200+ JPY

Sushi trains: 100–500 JPY per meal

Small pasta: 399 JPY

Western set menu (sandwiches, burger, pizza, etc): 1,200 JPY

McDonald’s Value Menu: 600 JPY

Ramen: 700 JPY

Tempura dishes: 80–120 JPY

There’s an array of cheap food options in the country, and you don’t really need to spend much money on food. You can save money on food in Japan by doing the following:

Eat at “100-yen” shops – There are many 100-yen shops in Japan, where set meals, groceries, water, toiletries, household items, and more are simply 100 JPY. I did all my shopping at these stores. Their names vary by region, so ask your hotel/hostel reception where the nearest 100-yen shop is located.

Use sushi trains – Sushi in Japan is delicious at all levels. While I had a few fancy, sit-down meals, you can’t beat the sushi trains for value. At 100–170 JPY per plate, I could stuff my face for less than 1,500 JPY most of the time. I usually just ate at sushi trains.

Eat at 7-11 – 7-11, Family Mart, and other corner stores have a lot of pre-set meals for 100–300 JPY that make for cheap lunches. Additionally, supermarkets have many set meals at similar prices. I noticed this was a popular option for many Japanese people.

Cook your food – Hostels have kitchens, where you can cook and cut your food expenses to less than 800 JPY per day, especially by shopping at the 100-yen stores.

Avoid fresh fruit – The one rumor about Japan that turned out to be true was that fresh fruit and vegetables were expensive. Outside of shopping for an apple or banana at the market, I generally avoided fresh fruits and vegetables. They were too expensive.

Eat curry, ramen, and donburi – I essentially lived off these three foods during my three weeks in Japan. Curry bowls are as cheap as 280 JPY per plate. Donburi, bowls of meat and rice, are around 400–500. Ramen is never more than 700. These are the best ways to eat cheap and filling meals in Japan.

Saving on Accommodation in Japan

Living costs in Japan are incredibly high, with limited space, lots of people, and high housing prices. And those high costs transfer over into the tourism industry, making finding cheap accommodation a real pain. Hostel dorms typically cost 1,900 JPY per night (sometimes as low as 1,500 JPY or as high as 2,700 JPY in Tokyo) and hotel rooms start at 5,000 JPY per night or more. Here are some ways to save on accommodation:

Work for your room – Hostels in Japan let you stay for free if you clean for a few hours a day.

Couchsurfing – Hospitality exchanges are not as widespread in Japan as elsewhere in the world, but there is a small, active Couchsurfing community here. Make sure you request rooms well ahead of time to increase your odds of success. Read more about Couchsurfing here!

Use credit card points – It’s times like these that those credit points I talk about come in handy. Frequent flier miles and regular hotel points can be redeemed for lots of free nights. I used my free accumulated nights from hotels.com for two free nights in Tokyo, but with the large sign-up bonuses right now for hotel cards, you can get up to a week’s free accommodation!

Capsule hotels – A step up from hostels and a step down from hotels, capsule hotels (pictured above) are tiny capsules you sleep in. You share bathrooms and common areas, and your capsule has a light, outlet, and sometimes a small television. They are frequently used by businessmen who work late. These capsules begin at around 2,700 JPY per night.

Saving on Accommodation in Japan

Most of the attractions were very cheap. I didn’t spend more than 500 JPY per museum or temple. In Kyoto, there’s a temple pass that gives you unlimited transportation and access to the temples for 1,200 JPY. It’s a good deal, considering you’re probably going to see a lot of museums in Kyoto. Osaka and Tokyo had similar passes for their attractions.

Overall, I found these passes to be the best way to save money on temples, museums, and other attractions. Additionally, there are many free gardens, temples, and parks! I hardly spent any money on attractions while I was in Japan.

How much money do you need to visit Japan?

Japan has an image of being one of the most expensive countries in the world, and if you’re staying in hotels, eating out, and traveling around a lot, it can be. You can easily spend over $200 USD per day by traveling that way. However, I don’t think a trip to Japan needs to be that expensive.

Staying in a hostel, buying a rail pass, eating relatively cheap food, and visiting a few attractions will cost around $100 USD per day. A 21-day trip would cost at least $2,100 USD (plus flight). For that much money, you can go to Southeast Asia for months!

Instead, by utilizing the tips above, I think you can travel Japan on $70–75 USD per day. This would mean more bus travel, a (very) limited amount of sushi, only cheap restaurants, and the occasional night Couchsurfing (or other free accommodation).

On a bare-bones budget, you can get by for $50 USD per day if you stick to Couchsurfing, cheap food, bus travel (trains would be far too expensive), and only free attractions. I saw lots of travelers in Japan traveling on the cheap. They did it, and it’s possible — but you’ll never feed your sushi addiction if you travel this way.

To me, budget travel is value travel. Japan is never going to be as cheap a destination as Cambodia, Ukraine, or Peru, but there are ways to save money in every place in the world, and Japan has plenty. Japan will never cost $20 USD per day, but it also doesn’t need to cost hundreds. There’s plenty of ways to travel Japan on a budget.

Book Your Trip to Japan: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight to Japan by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines. Start with Momondo.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel in Japan with Hostelworld. If you want to stay elsewhere, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates. (Here’s the proof.)

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. I never ever go on a trip without it. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. You should too.

Need Some Gear? Check out our resource page for the best companies to use!

Want More Information on Japan? Be sure to visit our robust destination guide on Japan for even more planning tips!

The post How to Turn High-Cost Japan into a Cheap Place to Visit appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

from Traveling News https://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/how-to-turn-high-cost-japan-into-a-cheap-place-to-visit/

[melissagarcia8]

How to Turn High-Cost Japan into a Cheap Place to Visit

Updated: 7/5/2018 | July 5th, 2018

For years, I put off going to Japan because I was afraid of how expensive it would be. The rumors I’d heard about the country’s high prices made me hesitant to go. I’ve always loved Japanese culture, and I knew any visit would involve gorging on sushi and ramen, visits to lots of temples, and heavy train travel through the countryside. And the thought of how much that would cost always made me think, “I’ll wait until I have more money.”

When I finally visited in 2011, I was shocked to discover that, while it isn’t cheap, Japan isn’t the prohibitively expensive country people may think it is. In fact, I actually found Japan to be very affordable and on par with (and sometimes cheaper than) countries in Western Europe. In subsequent visits, I’ve learned to further master the country and turn high-cost Japan into an affordable place to visit.

Here’s how much things typically cost in Japan and how you can cut down your expenses to visit Japan on a budget and save lots of money!

Note: 110 JPY = $1 USD

Saving on Transportation in Japan

Trains The bullet train, while awesome, comfortable, and fast, is not cheap. Individual tickets can cost hundreds of dollars. Yet I think train travel is the best way to see the country, so in order to reduce your train costs, get a Japan Rail (JR) pass. The pass is indispensable for travel in Japan.

These passes cost 28,300 JPY for 7 days, 45,100 JPY for 14 days, and 57,700 JPY for 21 days. All pass times are for consecutive travel. Even if you just get the seven-day pass, it’s the same price as a round-trip train ticket from Osaka to Tokyo (14,250 JPY each way!). Moreover, these JR trains also serve local city areas and so can be used intra-city. I used my pass to get around Kyoto and Tokyo instead of buying metro tickets. So even if you aren’t going to do much travel around Japan, buying a pass is better than buying individual tickets. While the high price of the pass can cause sticker shock, the alternative is even worse.

Though the pass can be up to 20% cheaper to buy online before you arrive, you can now purchase a Japan Rail Pass in Japan. Passes are available in the following country locations: Sapporo, Sendai, Niigata, Tokyo, Shinjuku, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima, Takamatsu, Hakata, New Chitose Airport, Narita Airport, Haneda Airport, and Kansai Airport.

Metro Most of the city metro tickets cost 100–200 JPY for a single journey. (The price varies by distance and may often be higher.) Fares were usually around 220 JPY to travel across Tokyo but less for shorter distances. In most major cities, you can buy a day pass, which gives you unlimited travel for 24 hours for around 800 JPY.

Buses Buses are a less expensive alternative to the bullet train system in Japan, but they take more time. For example, the two-hour bullet train ride from Tokyo to Osaka becomes a ten-hour bus ride. The price for that seat is 4,500 JPY, but at some point, you need to think about how much your time is worth. For me, saving some 10,000 JPY was not worth the extra seven hours of travel, since I had such limited time during my visit. If I’d had more time, I’d have simply taken the bus. There are also bus passes available that offer unlimited travel and begin at 10,000 JPY for three non-consecutive days of travel.

Flights Flying has become better option these days. There are many budget carriers now serving Japan, and a flight search on sites like Momondo or Skyscanner will reveal them. In general, their prices are on par with bullet train tickets. ANA also offers a special last-minute $100 fares via a hidden page on their website. It’s only available to foreigners and can sometimes be cheaper than the flights you find on Skyscanner, especially for longer routes around the country.

Saving on Food in Japan

Surprisingly, I found food to be inexpensive in Japan. True, I have a sushi addiction that dramitcally increased the cost of my trip but, overall, I found that I was spending far less on food than I’d anticipated.

As long as I didn’t feed my sushi addiction, I found I could eat for less than 1,500 JPY per day. Some typical prices were:

Sushi lunch sets (sushi, soup, salad): 1,600+ JPY

Traditional Japanese set lunches: 1,200+ JPY

Sushi trains: 100–500 JPY per meal

Small pasta: 399 JPY

Western set menu (sandwiches, burger, pizza, etc): 1,200 JPY

McDonald’s Value Menu: 600 JPY

Ramen: 700 JPY

Tempura dishes: 80–120 JPY

There’s an array of cheap food options in the country, and you don’t really need to spend much money on food. You can save money on food in Japan by doing the following:

Eat at “100-yen” shops – There are many 100-yen shops in Japan, where set meals, groceries, water, toiletries, household items, and more are simply 100 JPY. I did all my shopping at these stores. Their names vary by region, so ask your hotel/hostel reception where the nearest 100-yen shop is located.

Use sushi trains – Sushi in Japan is delicious at all levels. While I had a few fancy, sit-down meals, you can’t beat the sushi trains for value. At 100–170 JPY per plate, I could stuff my face for less than 1,500 JPY most of the time. I usually just ate at sushi trains.

Eat at 7-11 – 7-11, Family Mart, and other corner stores have a lot of pre-set meals for 100–300 JPY that make for cheap lunches. Additionally, supermarkets have many set meals at similar prices. I noticed this was a popular option for many Japanese people.

Cook your food – Hostels have kitchens, where you can cook and cut your food expenses to less than 800 JPY per day, especially by shopping at the 100-yen stores.

Avoid fresh fruit – The one rumor about Japan that turned out to be true was that fresh fruit and vegetables were expensive. Outside of shopping for an apple or banana at the market, I generally avoided fresh fruits and vegetables. They were too expensive.

Eat curry, ramen, and donburi – I essentially lived off these three foods during my three weeks in Japan. Curry bowls are as cheap as 280 JPY per plate. Donburi, bowls of meat and rice, are around 400–500. Ramen is never more than 700. These are the best ways to eat cheap and filling meals in Japan.

Saving on Accommodation in Japan

Living costs in Japan are incredibly high, with limited space, lots of people, and high housing prices. And those high costs transfer over into the tourism industry, making finding cheap accommodation a real pain. Hostel dorms typically cost 1,900 JPY per night (sometimes as low as 1,500 JPY or as high as 2,700 JPY in Tokyo) and hotel rooms start at 5,000 JPY per night or more. Here are some ways to save on accommodation:

Work for your room – Hostels in Japan let you stay for free if you clean for a few hours a day.

Couchsurfing – Hospitality exchanges are not as widespread in Japan as elsewhere in the world, but there is a small, active Couchsurfing community here. Make sure you request rooms well ahead of time to increase your odds of success. Read more about Couchsurfing here!

Use credit card points – It’s times like these that those credit points I talk about come in handy. Frequent flier miles and regular hotel points can be redeemed for lots of free nights. I used my free accumulated nights from hotels.com for two free nights in Tokyo, but with the large sign-up bonuses right now for hotel cards, you can get up to a week’s free accommodation!

Capsule hotels – A step up from hostels and a step down from hotels, capsule hotels (pictured above) are tiny capsules you sleep in. You share bathrooms and common areas, and your capsule has a light, outlet, and sometimes a small television. They are frequently used by businessmen who work late. These capsules begin at around 2,700 JPY per night.

Saving on Accommodation in Japan

Most of the attractions were very cheap. I didn’t spend more than 500 JPY per museum or temple. In Kyoto, there’s a temple pass that gives you unlimited transportation and access to the temples for 1,200 JPY. It’s a good deal, considering you’re probably going to see a lot of museums in Kyoto. Osaka and Tokyo had similar passes for their attractions.

Overall, I found these passes to be the best way to save money on temples, museums, and other attractions. Additionally, there are many free gardens, temples, and parks! I hardly spent any money on attractions while I was in Japan.

How much money do you need to visit Japan?

Japan has an image of being one of the most expensive countries in the world, and if you’re staying in hotels, eating out, and traveling around a lot, it can be. You can easily spend over $200 USD per day by traveling that way. However, I don’t think a trip to Japan needs to be that expensive.

Staying in a hostel, buying a rail pass, eating relatively cheap food, and visiting a few attractions will cost around $100 USD per day. A 21-day trip would cost at least $2,100 USD (plus flight). For that much money, you can go to Southeast Asia for months!

Instead, by utilizing the tips above, I think you can travel Japan on $70–75 USD per day. This would mean more bus travel, a (very) limited amount of sushi, only cheap restaurants, and the occasional night Couchsurfing (or other free accommodation).

On a bare-bones budget, you can get by for $50 USD per day if you stick to Couchsurfing, cheap food, bus travel (trains would be far too expensive), and only free attractions. I saw lots of travelers in Japan traveling on the cheap. They did it, and it’s possible — but you’ll never feed your sushi addiction if you travel this way.

To me, budget travel is value travel. Japan is never going to be as cheap a destination as Cambodia, Ukraine, or Peru, but there are ways to save money in every place in the world, and Japan has plenty. Japan will never cost $20 USD per day, but it also doesn’t need to cost hundreds. There’s plenty of ways to travel Japan on a budget.

Book Your Trip to Japan: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight to Japan by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines. Start with Momondo.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel in Japan with Hostelworld. If you want to stay elsewhere, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates. (Here’s the proof.)

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. I never ever go on a trip without it. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. You should too.

Need Some Gear? Check out our resource page for the best companies to use!

Want More Information on Japan? Be sure to visit our robust destination guide on Japan for even more planning tips!

The post How to Turn High-Cost Japan into a Cheap Place to Visit appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

from Traveling News https://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/how-to-turn-high-cost-japan-into-a-cheap-place-to-visit/

[vidovicart]

How to Turn High-Cost Japan into a Cheap Place to Visit

Updated: 7/5/2018 | July 5th, 2018

For years, I put off going to Japan because I was afraid of how expensive it would be. The rumors I’d heard about the country’s high prices made me hesitant to go. I’ve always loved Japanese culture, and I knew any visit would involve gorging on sushi and ramen, visits to lots of temples, and heavy train travel through the countryside. And the thought of how much that would cost always made me think, “I’ll wait until I have more money.”

When I finally visited in 2011, I was shocked to discover that, while it isn’t cheap, Japan isn’t the prohibitively expensive country people may think it is. In fact, I actually found Japan to be very affordable and on par with (and sometimes cheaper than) countries in Western Europe. In subsequent visits, I’ve learned to further master the country and turn high-cost Japan into an affordable place to visit.

Here’s how much things typically cost in Japan and how you can cut down your expenses to visit Japan on a budget and save lots of money!

Note: 110 JPY = $1 USD

Saving on Transportation in Japan

Trains The bullet train, while awesome, comfortable, and fast, is not cheap. Individual tickets can cost hundreds of dollars. Yet I think train travel is the best way to see the country, so in order to reduce your train costs, get a Japan Rail (JR) pass. The pass is indispensable for travel in Japan.

These passes cost 28,300 JPY for 7 days, 45,100 JPY for 14 days, and 57,700 JPY for 21 days. All pass times are for consecutive travel. Even if you just get the seven-day pass, it’s the same price as a round-trip train ticket from Osaka to Tokyo (14,250 JPY each way!). Moreover, these JR trains also serve local city areas and so can be used intra-city. I used my pass to get around Kyoto and Tokyo instead of buying metro tickets. So even if you aren’t going to do much travel around Japan, buying a pass is better than buying individual tickets. While the high price of the pass can cause sticker shock, the alternative is even worse.

Though the pass can be up to 20% cheaper to buy online before you arrive, you can now purchase a Japan Rail Pass in Japan. Passes are available in the following country locations: Sapporo, Sendai, Niigata, Tokyo, Shinjuku, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima, Takamatsu, Hakata, New Chitose Airport, Narita Airport, Haneda Airport, and Kansai Airport.

Metro Most of the city metro tickets cost 100–200 JPY for a single journey. (The price varies by distance and may often be higher.) Fares were usually around 220 JPY to travel across Tokyo but less for shorter distances. In most major cities, you can buy a day pass, which gives you unlimited travel for 24 hours for around 800 JPY.

Buses Buses are a less expensive alternative to the bullet train system in Japan, but they take more time. For example, the two-hour bullet train ride from Tokyo to Osaka becomes a ten-hour bus ride. The price for that seat is 4,500 JPY, but at some point, you need to think about how much your time is worth. For me, saving some 10,000 JPY was not worth the extra seven hours of travel, since I had such limited time during my visit. If I’d had more time, I’d have simply taken the bus. There are also bus passes available that offer unlimited travel and begin at 10,000 JPY for three non-consecutive days of travel.

Flights Flying has become better option these days. There are many budget carriers now serving Japan, and a flight search on sites like Momondo or Skyscanner will reveal them. In general, their prices are on par with bullet train tickets. ANA also offers a special last-minute $100 fares via a hidden page on their website. It’s only available to foreigners and can sometimes be cheaper than the flights you find on Skyscanner, especially for longer routes around the country.

Saving on Food in Japan

Surprisingly, I found food to be inexpensive in Japan. True, I have a sushi addiction that dramitcally increased the cost of my trip but, overall, I found that I was spending far less on food than I’d anticipated.

As long as I didn’t feed my sushi addiction, I found I could eat for less than 1,500 JPY per day. Some typical prices were:

Sushi lunch sets (sushi, soup, salad): 1,600+ JPY

Traditional Japanese set lunches: 1,200+ JPY

Sushi trains: 100–500 JPY per meal

Small pasta: 399 JPY

Western set menu (sandwiches, burger, pizza, etc): 1,200 JPY

McDonald’s Value Menu: 600 JPY

Ramen: 700 JPY

Tempura dishes: 80–120 JPY

There’s an array of cheap food options in the country, and you don’t really need to spend much money on food. You can save money on food in Japan by doing the following:

Eat at “100-yen” shops – There are many 100-yen shops in Japan, where set meals, groceries, water, toiletries, household items, and more are simply 100 JPY. I did all my shopping at these stores. Their names vary by region, so ask your hotel/hostel reception where the nearest 100-yen shop is located.

Use sushi trains – Sushi in Japan is delicious at all levels. While I had a few fancy, sit-down meals, you can’t beat the sushi trains for value. At 100–170 JPY per plate, I could stuff my face for less than 1,500 JPY most of the time. I usually just ate at sushi trains.

Eat at 7-11 – 7-11, Family Mart, and other corner stores have a lot of pre-set meals for 100–300 JPY that make for cheap lunches. Additionally, supermarkets have many set meals at similar prices. I noticed this was a popular option for many Japanese people.

Cook your food – Hostels have kitchens, where you can cook and cut your food expenses to less than 800 JPY per day, especially by shopping at the 100-yen stores.

Avoid fresh fruit – The one rumor about Japan that turned out to be true was that fresh fruit and vegetables were expensive. Outside of shopping for an apple or banana at the market, I generally avoided fresh fruits and vegetables. They were too expensive.

Eat curry, ramen, and donburi – I essentially lived off these three foods during my three weeks in Japan. Curry bowls are as cheap as 280 JPY per plate. Donburi, bowls of meat and rice, are around 400–500. Ramen is never more than 700. These are the best ways to eat cheap and filling meals in Japan.

Saving on Accommodation in Japan

Living costs in Japan are incredibly high, with limited space, lots of people, and high housing prices. And those high costs transfer over into the tourism industry, making finding cheap accommodation a real pain. Hostel dorms typically cost 1,900 JPY per night (sometimes as low as 1,500 JPY or as high as 2,700 JPY in Tokyo) and hotel rooms start at 5,000 JPY per night or more. Here are some ways to save on accommodation:

Work for your room – Hostels in Japan let you stay for free if you clean for a few hours a day.

Couchsurfing – Hospitality exchanges are not as widespread in Japan as elsewhere in the world, but there is a small, active Couchsurfing community here. Make sure you request rooms well ahead of time to increase your odds of success. Read more about Couchsurfing here!

Use credit card points – It’s times like these that those credit points I talk about come in handy. Frequent flier miles and regular hotel points can be redeemed for lots of free nights. I used my free accumulated nights from hotels.com for two free nights in Tokyo, but with the large sign-up bonuses right now for hotel cards, you can get up to a week’s free accommodation!

Capsule hotels – A step up from hostels and a step down from hotels, capsule hotels (pictured above) are tiny capsules you sleep in. You share bathrooms and common areas, and your capsule has a light, outlet, and sometimes a small television. They are frequently used by businessmen who work late. These capsules begin at around 2,700 JPY per night.

Saving on Accommodation in Japan

Most of the attractions were very cheap. I didn’t spend more than 500 JPY per museum or temple. In Kyoto, there’s a temple pass that gives you unlimited transportation and access to the temples for 1,200 JPY. It’s a good deal, considering you’re probably going to see a lot of museums in Kyoto. Osaka and Tokyo had similar passes for their attractions.

Overall, I found these passes to be the best way to save money on temples, museums, and other attractions. Additionally, there are many free gardens, temples, and parks! I hardly spent any money on attractions while I was in Japan.

How much money do you need to visit Japan?

Japan has an image of being one of the most expensive countries in the world, and if you’re staying in hotels, eating out, and traveling around a lot, it can be. You can easily spend over $200 USD per day by traveling that way. However, I don’t think a trip to Japan needs to be that expensive.

Staying in a hostel, buying a rail pass, eating relatively cheap food, and visiting a few attractions will cost around $100 USD per day. A 21-day trip would cost at least $2,100 USD (plus flight). For that much money, you can go to Southeast Asia for months!

Instead, by utilizing the tips above, I think you can travel Japan on $70–75 USD per day. This would mean more bus travel, a (very) limited amount of sushi, only cheap restaurants, and the occasional night Couchsurfing (or other free accommodation).

On a bare-bones budget, you can get by for $50 USD per day if you stick to Couchsurfing, cheap food, bus travel (trains would be far too expensive), and only free attractions. I saw lots of travelers in Japan traveling on the cheap. They did it, and it’s possible — but you’ll never feed your sushi addiction if you travel this way.

To me, budget travel is value travel. Japan is never going to be as cheap a destination as Cambodia, Ukraine, or Peru, but there are ways to save money in every place in the world, and Japan has plenty. Japan will never cost $20 USD per day, but it also doesn’t need to cost hundreds. There’s plenty of ways to travel Japan on a budget.

Book Your Trip to Japan: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight to Japan by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines. Start with Momondo.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel in Japan with Hostelworld. If you want to stay elsewhere, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates. (Here’s the proof.)

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. I never ever go on a trip without it. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. You should too.

Need Some Gear? Check out our resource page for the best companies to use!

Want More Information on Japan? Be sure to visit our robust destination guide on Japan for even more planning tips!

The post How to Turn High-Cost Japan into a Cheap Place to Visit appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

[tamboradventure]

How to Turn High-Cost Japan into a Cheap Place to Visit

Updated: 7/5/2018 | July 5th, 2018

For years, I put off going to Japan because I was afraid of how expensive it would be. The rumors I’d heard about the country’s high prices made me hesitant to go. I’ve always loved Japanese culture, and I knew any visit would involve gorging on sushi and ramen, visits to lots of temples, and heavy train travel through the countryside. And the thought of how much that would cost always made me think, “I’ll wait until I have more money.”

When I finally visited in 2011, I was shocked to discover that, while it isn’t cheap, Japan isn’t the prohibitively expensive country people may think it is. In fact, I actually found Japan to be very affordable and on par with (and sometimes cheaper than) countries in Western Europe. In subsequent visits, I’ve learned to further master the country and turn high-cost Japan into an affordable place to visit.

Here’s how much things typically cost in Japan and how you can cut down your expenses to visit Japan on a budget and save lots of money!

Note: 110 JPY = $1 USD

Saving on Transportation in Japan

Trains The bullet train, while awesome, comfortable, and fast, is not cheap. Individual tickets can cost hundreds of dollars. Yet I think train travel is the best way to see the country, so in order to reduce your train costs, get a Japan Rail (JR) pass. The pass is indispensable for travel in Japan.

These passes cost 28,300 JPY for 7 days, 45,100 JPY for 14 days, and 57,700 JPY for 21 days. All pass times are for consecutive travel. Even if you just get the seven-day pass, it’s the same price as a round-trip train ticket from Osaka to Tokyo (14,250 JPY each way!). Moreover, these JR trains also serve local city areas and so can be used intra-city. I used my pass to get around Kyoto and Tokyo instead of buying metro tickets. So even if you aren’t going to do much travel around Japan, buying a pass is better than buying individual tickets. While the high price of the pass can cause sticker shock, the alternative is even worse.

Though the pass can be up to 20% cheaper to buy online before you arrive, you can now purchase a Japan Rail Pass in Japan. Passes are available in the following country locations: Sapporo, Sendai, Niigata, Tokyo, Shinjuku, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima, Takamatsu, Hakata, New Chitose Airport, Narita Airport, Haneda Airport, and Kansai Airport.

Metro Most of the city metro tickets cost 100–200 JPY for a single journey. (The price varies by distance and may often be higher.) Fares were usually around 220 JPY to travel across Tokyo but less for shorter distances. In most major cities, you can buy a day pass, which gives you unlimited travel for 24 hours for around 800 JPY.

Buses Buses are a less expensive alternative to the bullet train system in Japan, but they take more time. For example, the two-hour bullet train ride from Tokyo to Osaka becomes a ten-hour bus ride. The price for that seat is 4,500 JPY, but at some point, you need to think about how much your time is worth. For me, saving some 10,000 JPY was not worth the extra seven hours of travel, since I had such limited time during my visit. If I’d had more time, I’d have simply taken the bus. There are also bus passes available that offer unlimited travel and begin at 10,000 JPY for three non-consecutive days of travel.

Flights Flying has become better option these days. There are many budget carriers now serving Japan, and a flight search on sites like Momondo or Skyscanner will reveal them. In general, their prices are on par with bullet train tickets. ANA also offers a special last-minute $100 fares via a hidden page on their website. It’s only available to foreigners and can sometimes be cheaper than the flights you find on Skyscanner, especially for longer routes around the country.

Saving on Food in Japan

Surprisingly, I found food to be inexpensive in Japan. True, I have a sushi addiction that dramitcally increased the cost of my trip but, overall, I found that I was spending far less on food than I’d anticipated.

As long as I didn’t feed my sushi addiction, I found I could eat for less than 1,500 JPY per day. Some typical prices were:

Sushi lunch sets (sushi, soup, salad): 1,600+ JPY

Traditional Japanese set lunches: 1,200+ JPY

Sushi trains: 100–500 JPY per meal

Small pasta: 399 JPY

Western set menu (sandwiches, burger, pizza, etc): 1,200 JPY

McDonald’s Value Menu: 600 JPY

Ramen: 700 JPY

Tempura dishes: 80–120 JPY

There’s an array of cheap food options in the country, and you don’t really need to spend much money on food. You can save money on food in Japan by doing the following:

Eat at “100-yen” shops – There are many 100-yen shops in Japan, where set meals, groceries, water, toiletries, household items, and more are simply 100 JPY. I did all my shopping at these stores. Their names vary by region, so ask your hotel/hostel reception where the nearest 100-yen shop is located.

Use sushi trains – Sushi in Japan is delicious at all levels. While I had a few fancy, sit-down meals, you can’t beat the sushi trains for value. At 100–170 JPY per plate, I could stuff my face for less than 1,500 JPY most of the time. I usually just ate at sushi trains.

Eat at 7-11 – 7-11, Family Mart, and other corner stores have a lot of pre-set meals for 100–300 JPY that make for cheap lunches. Additionally, supermarkets have many set meals at similar prices. I noticed this was a popular option for many Japanese people.

Cook your food – Hostels have kitchens, where you can cook and cut your food expenses to less than 800 JPY per day, especially by shopping at the 100-yen stores.

Avoid fresh fruit – The one rumor about Japan that turned out to be true was that fresh fruit and vegetables were expensive. Outside of shopping for an apple or banana at the market, I generally avoided fresh fruits and vegetables. They were too expensive.

Eat curry, ramen, and donburi – I essentially lived off these three foods during my three weeks in Japan. Curry bowls are as cheap as 280 JPY per plate. Donburi, bowls of meat and rice, are around 400–500. Ramen is never more than 700. These are the best ways to eat cheap and filling meals in Japan.

Saving on Accommodation in Japan

Living costs in Japan are incredibly high, with limited space, lots of people, and high housing prices. And those high costs transfer over into the tourism industry, making finding cheap accommodation a real pain. Hostel dorms typically cost 1,900 JPY per night (sometimes as low as 1,500 JPY or as high as 2,700 JPY in Tokyo) and hotel rooms start at 5,000 JPY per night or more. Here are some ways to save on accommodation:

Work for your room – Hostels in Japan let you stay for free if you clean for a few hours a day.

Couchsurfing – Hospitality exchanges are not as widespread in Japan as elsewhere in the world, but there is a small, active Couchsurfing community here. Make sure you request rooms well ahead of time to increase your odds of success. Read more about Couchsurfing here!

Use credit card points – It’s times like these that those credit points I talk about come in handy. Frequent flier miles and regular hotel points can be redeemed for lots of free nights. I used my free accumulated nights from hotels.com for two free nights in Tokyo, but with the large sign-up bonuses right now for hotel cards, you can get up to a week’s free accommodation!

Capsule hotels – A step up from hostels and a step down from hotels, capsule hotels (pictured above) are tiny capsules you sleep in. You share bathrooms and common areas, and your capsule has a light, outlet, and sometimes a small television. They are frequently used by businessmen who work late. These capsules begin at around 2,700 JPY per night.

Saving on Accommodation in Japan

Most of the attractions were very cheap. I didn’t spend more than 500 JPY per museum or temple. In Kyoto, there’s a temple pass that gives you unlimited transportation and access to the temples for 1,200 JPY. It’s a good deal, considering you’re probably going to see a lot of museums in Kyoto. Osaka and Tokyo had similar passes for their attractions.

Overall, I found these passes to be the best way to save money on temples, museums, and other attractions. Additionally, there are many free gardens, temples, and parks! I hardly spent any money on attractions while I was in Japan.

How much money do you need to visit Japan?

Japan has an image of being one of the most expensive countries in the world, and if you’re staying in hotels, eating out, and traveling around a lot, it can be. You can easily spend over $200 USD per day by traveling that way. However, I don’t think a trip to Japan needs to be that expensive.

Staying in a hostel, buying a rail pass, eating relatively cheap food, and visiting a few attractions will cost around $100 USD per day. A 21-day trip would cost at least $2,100 USD (plus flight). For that much money, you can go to Southeast Asia for months!

Instead, by utilizing the tips above, I think you can travel Japan on $70–75 USD per day. This would mean more bus travel, a (very) limited amount of sushi, only cheap restaurants, and the occasional night Couchsurfing (or other free accommodation).

On a bare-bones budget, you can get by for $50 USD per day if you stick to Couchsurfing, cheap food, bus travel (trains would be far too expensive), and only free attractions. I saw lots of travelers in Japan traveling on the cheap. They did it, and it’s possible — but you’ll never feed your sushi addiction if you travel this way.

To me, budget travel is value travel. Japan is never going to be as cheap a destination as Cambodia, Ukraine, or Peru, but there are ways to save money in every place in the world, and Japan has plenty. Japan will never cost $20 USD per day, but it also doesn’t need to cost hundreds. There’s plenty of ways to travel Japan on a budget.

Book Your Trip to Japan: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight to Japan by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines. Start with Momondo.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel in Japan with Hostelworld. If you want to stay elsewhere, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates. (Here’s the proof.)

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. I never ever go on a trip without it. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. You should too.

Need Some Gear? Check out our resource page for the best companies to use!

Want More Information on Japan? Be sure to visit our robust destination guide on Japan for even more planning tips!

The post How to Turn High-Cost Japan into a Cheap Place to Visit appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

from Nomadic Matt's Travel Site https://ift.tt/2ubPpHj via IFTTT

[travelguy4444]

Why You Should Get Travel Insurance When You Travel

Posted: 1/17/2019 | January 17th, 2019

I’ve written about buying travel insurance a lot. I’ve talked about how to find the right policy, discussed why World Nomads is my favorite company, and answered a few of the most common questions on the subject.

But while I’ve talked about the practical “how-to” part of getting insurance, I’ve never really focused on the why of travel insurance.

So let’s talk about that today.

Why should you buy travel insurance?

Why is it important?

What’s in it for you?

Peace of mind.

And the potential not to go broke.

And the ability to get care when you need it.

Many of us believe we’re invincible: we think we’ll never get sick on the road, robbed, or be involved in an accident. As someone tweeted to me “I’ve traveled extensively for more than a decade and never once ever *considered* buying travel insurance. Still no issues.”

But the past is not prologue.

I never thought I’d break my camera or pop an eardrum while scuba diving. My friend never thought he’d break his back. My other friends didn’t plan on bike and car accidents, or getting their stuff stolen, or their dad dying and having to suddenly fly home.

But all those things did happen.

And travel insurance was there for each of them.

You’re not Superman or Wonder Woman. You can’t fight off criminals, bend steel, or fly. You can’t fall from the sky and walk away.

When you’re a budget traveler, spending a few hundred extra dollars on something that only might be used can be a hard pill to swallow. When every penny counts, the temptation is to just roll the dice and hope nothing happens.

I can give you thousands of examples of people who bought travel insurance and were thankful they did.

I can also give you thousands of examples of people who didn’t buy it and regretted it when something went wrong.

Travel is all about the unknown — and that unknown is a double edge sword bringing exciting adventures or disaster.

Don’t fall for the logical fallacy that because something hasn’t happened before, it’s not likely to happen in the future.

The past is NOT prologue.

Just because you haven’t gotten sick on the road doesn’t mean you won’t get sick in the future. If you’ve never had something stolen from you, it doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future.

Getting sick happens all the time.

Getting robbed happens all the time.

Getting injured happens all the time.

Getting delayed in transit happens all the time.

Breaking something happens all the time.

Travel insurance will be there in all those situations. It is comprehensive coverage that will protect you when you get sick or robbed or hurt, suffer an accident, have your flight delayed or canceled, or need to cancel your trip because of an emergency.

Travelers also often think, “Well, insurance is cheaper in other parts of the world, so I can just pay for it out of pocket. It’s all socialized health care, right?”

Wrong.

U.S. health insurance doesn’t cover you overseas. Neither do all those socialized medical programs in other countries.

When you travel, you’re not covered. You’re still going to have to pay out of pocket, and if you’re seriously ill or have to go home, those costs will add up!

When you need casts and airlifts and serious medical attention, it’s not cheap. I mean, here are just emergency medical evacuation costs in some popular destinations around the world:

Mexico: $15,000-$20,000

South America: $100,000

Germany, France, or other developed European nations: $50,000-$100,000

Russia: $90,000-$150,000 (weather conditions can dramatically increase costs)

Asia, Australia, and the Middle East: $220,000

That’s a ton of money! Who can pay that?

Travel insurance, that’s who!

While many credit cards offer insurance on things you buy with those cards (like flights and hotels), their service and coverage is very limited.

For example, if you used the Chase Sapphire Reserve, they will reimburse up to $10,000 per trip (for nonrefundable expenses like passenger fares, tours, and hotels) if it’s canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather, or certain other situations. They’ll also cover up to $3,000 for checked or carry-on luggage that is damaged or lost by the carrier, and they’ll cover up to $500 for delayed flights (for things like lodging and meals). If you are injured or become sick during a trip far from home that results in an emergency evacuation, you can be covered for medical services and transportation up to $100,000.

But most cards will not pay out if you get sick while on the road. The less premium Chase Sapphire Preferred card has the same delay and cancellation reimbursements as well as coverage for lost or damaged luggage but there’s no reimbursement for medical treatment or an emergency.

Not everyone has premium credit cards and, even then, most are stingy about paying out medical claims.

Contrast that with World Nomads Travel Insurance (my favorite company), which covers everything that happens while you’re on the road. You get $100,000 for emergency accident or medical treatment, $750 for emergency dental treatment, and $300,000 for emergency evacuation. Luggage loss and trip delays are also included, with up to $3,000 reimbursed for lost personal effects, $2,500-10,000 for trip cancellation, $2,500-10,000 for trip interruption, and $250/day for trip delay.

Additionally, travel insurance covers trip delays caused by and nonrefundable tickets that you can’t use because of a death in the family, a strike, or a natural disaster. Nearly 162,000 flights were delayed and around 15,000 flights were canceled last year. That’s a lot of chances to get stuck.

In short, travel insurance is far more generous and comprehensive than your credit card’s insurance.

***

When we travel, we embrace the unknown.

But with that unknown comes the increased likelihood that something could go wrong.

Travel insurance is your hedge against that.

At just a few dollars a day, it’s the peace of mind you need to know that if something does go wrong, you won’t be out of pocket even more money and that you can get the help you need.

Get covered!

Because you don’t want to end up like my friend who broke her arm after deciding that, since she never got hurt on the road, it was pointless to renew her insurance plan….and then immediately regretted.

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

World Nomads (for everyone below 70)

Insure My Trip (for those over 70)

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld as they have the largest inventory. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hotel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. I use them all the time.

Looking for the best companies to save money with? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all the ones I use to save money when I travel – and I think will help you too!

The post Why You Should Get Travel Insurance When You Travel appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

source https://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/why-buy-travel-insurance/

[igotthe411]

What I Like About Malaysia

Welcome to What I Like About Malaysia!

1.  Affordability

I am paying $600 for a 2-bedroom, one bath apartment with a kitchenette that has a cooker, a refrigerator, and a washing machine.  All bills paid. I recently had internet installed by Time.  The monthly rate for unlimited internet with 100 Mbps is $37.46.  A down payment of  $75 and valid passport information was required.   I ordered the service online, and the service was installed two days later.   It took approximately fifteen minutes for the installation.  The internet is fast, but my kids say that when they are chatting on Xbox, they receive complaints about a lousy ping issue.  Otherwise, it works very well until a month after the installation when we were not able to get a connection.  The installer informed us beforehand that it would happen and for us to call customer service.  That's what I did.  The only problem was that you lose the network name that you created as well as the password you provided.  The network reverts to default settings,  but the password under the modem.  Someone was scheduled to come out and fix it, but they never showed up.  It wasn't a big deal since the internet worked.  The installation was on April 24, 2018, and the first bill wasn't due until June 5th.

For three months, we tried accessing the internet via a portable Wi-Fi device, but it wasn't dependable.  I needed internet to work.  I was unproductive and frustrated.  If I didn't get back to work, we would run out of money.  After receiving dependable Wi-Fi, I worked twelve to fifteen hours a day catching up, and it's paying off.  I've added more content to my online stores, and I am now selling eBooks.  I'm more active on social media to help boost my brand.

So, my expenses are $600 for rent and $37.46 for the internet.  The total cost is $637.46.  Not too bad, huh?  It would be cheaper if I moved to a different location.  Back in America, I was paying around $1300.

2.  Food

This topic should also go under the affordability category.  I've mentioned this in previous blogs, but it's worth mentioning again.  The price of beef and pork is astronomical.  Before I go further, I want to indicate that pork is sold separately with the liquor, beer, wine, and cold-cuts.  Be warned; if you enjoy pork chops or pork roast, you will not get it here.   If you are looking to purchase large packages of meat, you won't get it here.  For instance, in Texas, I can buy a bag of leg quarters which consists of approximately ten leg quarters for a reasonable price.  In Malaysia, leg quarters come in a small package with one leg quarter (one leg, one thigh).  The price is less than $2.   They also sell whole chickens, but it comes with a price.  The price is that you also get the head and feet!  Oh, gross!  When I saw that, I immediately dropped the bag.  Could you imagine chicken eyes looking at you?  The price of whole chickens with the head and feet is lower.  I think the price is around 14 RM ($3.50 a chicken).   The organic chicken price is about 24 RM ($6).   We typically get the chicken wings.  The bag has three to five pieces for no more than $2.  If you do the math, a family pack of chicken wings in Texas ranges from $12 to $14.  For that price, you get approximately twenty wings.  In Malaysia, twenty wings would cost roughly, $7.  That's a considerable saving.  I recently went shopping.  The total was 127 RM or $32 from Jaya Grocer (see below).

EXPLANATION:

Chicken ribs are thighs.  They call breast, carcass.  There are two thighs per package. 4.28 RM ($1.08)

The Kleenex bundle was five big boxes for 12.74 ($3.21).  Isn't that amazing!  They do not offer kleenex with lotion.

Eight rolls of paper towels 10.25 RM ($2.58)

The potatoes come in a small satchel bag with approximately 5 in each bag for 5.40 RM ($1.36).  They do not sell potatoes in 5 lb, 10 lb, or 20 lb bags.

A liter of 100% orange juice was on sale for 4.70 RM ($1.18)

100% Honey for 13.68 ($3.44!) for real honey!!!  When my kids first tasted the honey, the first word that came out of their mouth was, "Oooh!"  They fell in love with this stuff. They say it doesn't taste as thick as American honey.

I want to talk about cooking oil. I didn't buy any on this trip, but the price is 2.95 (0.74!!) for a regular size bottle.  Can you imagine cooking oil for less than a dollar?

The examples above prove that food is very inexpensive in Malaysia.  I don't know how they do it.

The Malaysian's think we are rich.  They are bold enough to ask how much are we paying for the apartment.  Maybe people who live in apartments above a mall are targeted as rich.  If they only knew.   The locals are surprised when they hear how much we are paying on rent.  According to the locals, we are spending too much.  I should be paying roughly $450 for a two bedroom, but we like the host.

MEAL

Here's an example of what a meal costs.  As you can see on the list, I purchased two bags of potatoes.  There are approximately five potatoes in each sack.  I already have a bag in the apartment.  The meal will be potato soup without the bacon, which costs 27 RM or $6.80.  I usually cook three bags of potatoes, add onions, bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, cream of chicken instant soup in a package, and cheese.  We are going to do without the cheese this time around.  A container of cheese with twenty-four slices costs $5.  The broccoli and cauliflower are used to make the soup voluminous.  This soup will last two days.  Now, let's break down the cost. Potatoes are $4, broccoli and cauliflower  $2.  Add in another $2 for the extra stuff, and the total for this meal is $8.00 or $4 per day or one dollar each (four of us) per day for all of us to eat.  We couldn't eat for a dollar day in America.   This only for dinner though.

BREAKFAST 

For breakfast, we would eat rice or oatmeal.  Oatmeal is on the list and priced at 15.80 or $4. Add in the butter and sugar for another buck, and you get $5.  The oatmeal usually lasts three days.  If you divide $5 into three days, you get $1.67 a day for breakfast for four.  For $1.67 a day, I can feed four people.  FYI - A thirty count of eggs costs approximately $3.00.  They do not sell eggs by the dozen.  It's either eight or thirty.  They do not have biscuits!

MEAL 2

Another meal would be fried chicken, ramen, and broccoli.  On the grocery list, it shows five packages of meat totaling 26.52 RM or $7.  That's pretty darn good for five packages of meat.  The big packet of plain ramen without the spices was 4.24 or $1.   For flavor, we add salt and pepper or use the instant soup mix, which we are going to do with this meal.  The soup mix was 3.62 RM or $1.  I already have the oil and flour.

Chicken $7, ramen, $1, soup mix $1, broccoli $2.  The total is $11.  This meal will feed four people for two days.

3.  Transportation

We are presently living in a rural area where we must depend on taxis or Ubers.   A trip to the airport only costs $10 for the four of us.   Not only is the fare affordable, but they are also quick.  If I had to choose between public transportation and an Uber, Uber will win, even though it would be cheaper with public transit.

4.  Deliveries

I love the options of ordering groceries and fast-food online and having it delivered to you for less than a dollar per delivery.  That's right!  Less than a dollar.  I don't know how these people can survive, financially, for what they offer.  Food is either delivered via truck or scooters. 

Well, that's about it.  I know the list is short, but hopefully, it's informative.  My kids are ready to move to South Korea or China, but the cost of living is too expensive.  Our next big move will be Thailand. First, I need to figure out how we can stay longer than thirty days. 

5.  Convenience

I love the idea that the apartments are above a mall with a grocery store.  I can shop, buy groceries, go bowling, and get an eye exam at one location.  That's a big thumbs up.

Please join me next time for, "Things I Dislike  About Malaysia."

[billwells3]

Best Websites For Finding Cheap Flights Online

go and visit www.transfs.com web site for even more facts on financial resources 

As we near the summer travel season, finding cheap flights has never been more important. We’ve reviewed the best websites for cheap airfare, including tools to track flight costs and alert you to the best deals.

Whether you’re planning a trip for one or for ten, there’s no reason to pay more for airfare than you have to. Luckily, we live in the technological age and can easily access flight deals and discounted airfare. We can even set alerts to let us know when the perfect price pops up.

There are a few excellent websites that can help you locate the cheapest flights online. Here’s a look at some of our favorite sites and how they work.

Airfare Watchdog

A versatile fare-finder and price alert site, Airfare Watchdog helps you find exactly what you need. Whether you want to travel next week or “anytime this summer,” AW is able to search available seats, find the lowest prices, and even alert you when fares drop.

I use this site myself, and it’s my first go-to whenever I’m looking for cheap flights. Beyond that, though, I have Fare Alerts set up for upcoming trips that I might want to take (but have some flexibility).

For instance, I know that I want to take my kids somewhere fun in September. As a freelancer, I’m not really constricted to a specific itinerary. So, I have an Airfare Watchdog alert set up that will let me know when the right price is available from Washington, DC to a fun city–then, I can plan our trip around it.

My mom also uses Airfare Watchdog for planning her grandbaby-visiting trips. She has her SAT>DCA route established. Anytime cheap fares come up, she buys and comes to see me and my kids. This is a great option for leisure travel, when you’re not confined to a specific itinerary.

Hipmunk

Whether you’re looking to create an entire vacation package or simply book a long flight, Hipmunk can make the process easier and cheaper than ever.

As expected, you can use Hipmunk to scour available airlines for the best available airfare. Unlike many other aggregate flight sites, you can use Hipmunk to compare Southwest Airlines flights, too. Typically, Southwest is excluded from these discount search engines, so you have to go to the airline’s site separately to compare fares. With Hipmunk, however, you only have to enter your search info once to see everything that’s available (including Southwest!).

Beyond that, though, you can also use the Price Graph feature, if you have flexible travel plans. Price Graph allows you to see the lowest fares for a specific route over the next 90 days.

Momondo

Looking for a colorful, fun site that will search high and low to find you cheap airfare? Then look no further than Momondo.

The site looks through airlines’ direct fares to find you great seats at even better prices. That may very well mean taking a different airline coming versus going, and Momondo will help you book it if that’s the case. If you want, you can even see how Momondo’s search measures up to other engines, like CheapOair and Travelocity.

Once you have your route set, Momondo will then show you exactly how fares compare from one day to the next. You might be able to save yourself hundreds of dollars just by shifting your trip down a day or two, if plans allow. Simply hover over the bar on each day to see just how much you could save.

If you know that you want to get away but don’t know exactly where or when, the Momondo Trip Finder can act as inspiration. Just enter your location and how much you want to spend to see various travel options. You can also choose the type of vacation you seek–such as a beach getaway–and enter your budget to see available options.

No matter your preferences or restrictions, this can help you create travel plans that work with your schedule, budget, and desires.

FlightFox

If you want to find a cheap flight with a more concierge-like service, FlightFox might be just the answer.

This consultant-based website is different than your average online search engine. With FlightFox, you will enter your itinerary and traveler info, as well as the maximum amount you wish to spend. FlightFox’s industry experts will then get to work finding the perfect flight deal for you.

The catch is that you will pay for the FlightFox service. Fees start at $50 (of which the “winning” consultant will receive 75%), but the company also guarantees to save you more than that fee in discounted fare. If they can’t, their services are free.

You can use FlightFox for corporate or personal travel, and they will help you create the itinerary that is perfect for you and your wallet, guaranteeing a discount on your fare.

Adioso

This travel site will help you find cheap flights whether you’re looking for a specific trip at a specific time, or just feel a sense of wanderlust coming on in the near future. You can create a flight search that is as broad or defined as you want–even going “anywhere” at “anytime”–which is perfect for flexible travelers.

If you know that you want to go on a specific route soon but aren’t restricted to certain dates, you can see fares for anytime in the future, the next month, a date range, or specific dates.

Then, you can also see how much you could save by shifting your travels in either direction. For instance, I want to take my kids to Disney and I’m flexible on dates. Thanks to Adioso, I know that I can save almost $70 each way per ticket, just by moving our departure date from Friday to Tuesday.

Credit Card Portals

The downside to using online flight search engines is that you have to pay for the flights in full. What if you have miles or points saved up, and want to utilize them for your next trip?

Thankfully, there are a number of credit card portals that will allow you to do just that. Portals like Chase Ultimate Rewards will allow you to redeem your earned points (from everyday cash back purchases) toward hotels, rental cars, and yes, even flights. You will often snag a discounted fare, too, by going through the portal.

If you carry a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve, you’ll get an added bonus. Each point that you use through Ultimate Rewards will receive an extra percentage in redemption. With the Sapphire Preferred, each point is worth 25% more (meaning 1 point is actually worth 1.25 points). With the Sapphire Reserve, each point will earn 50% more (or 1.5 points per).

As you can see, through the portal I’m offered a flight for $370.10 with American. However, if I use my points, I can get this same ticket for only 29,608 points–which have a cash value of $296.08. This saves me $74 per ticket!

Credit card portals are often the best possible way to stretch your credit card rewards and get great deals at the same time.

Buy With Points

Another way to use your accrued points for cheap flights is to transfer them to the airline of choice in the form of miles. This is a great way to boost your miles balance in order to qualify for award travel, save your miles balance from expiring, and use earned miles toward completely free flights.

Optimizing this process will depend on the airlines you’ve earned miles through, their award partners, your itinerary, and the credit card you use to earn points. However, it’s worth considering if you have a number of accrued points/miles anywhere or with a particular airline.

By putting a little bit of time and energy into searching for your next flight, you can easily find the cheapest fares out there. If you are flexible–either in your travel dates, destination, or even the airports you utilize–you can save even more.

What’s your best way to find cheap flights? How much have you saved in the past using one of these sites or a credit card portal?

[melissagarcia8]

Why You Should Get Travel Insurance When You Travel

Posted: 1/17/2019 | January 17th, 2019

I’ve written about buying travel insurance a lot. I’ve talked about how to find the right policy, discussed why World Nomads is my favorite company, and answered a few of the most common questions on the subject.

But while I’ve talked about the practical “how-to” part of getting insurance, I’ve never really focused on the why of travel insurance.

So let’s talk about that today.

Why should you buy travel insurance?

Why is it important?

What’s in it for you?

Peace of mind.

And the potential not to go broke.

And the ability to get care when you need it.

Many of us believe we’re invincible: we think we’ll never get sick on the road, robbed, or be involved in an accident. As someone tweeted to me “I’ve traveled extensively for more than a decade and never once ever *considered* buying travel insurance. Still no issues.”

But the past is not prologue.

I never thought I’d break my camera or pop an eardrum while scuba diving. My friend never thought he’d break his back. My other friends didn’t plan on bike and car accidents, or getting their stuff stolen, or their dad dying and having to suddenly fly home.

But all those things did happen.

And travel insurance was there for each of them.

You’re not Superman or Wonder Woman. You can’t fight off criminals, bend steel, or fly. You can’t fall from the sky and walk away.

When you’re a budget traveler, spending a few hundred extra dollars on something that only might be used can be a hard pill to swallow. When every penny counts, the temptation is to just roll the dice and hope nothing happens.

I can give you thousands of examples of people who bought travel insurance and were thankful they did.

I can also give you thousands of examples of people who didn’t buy it and regretted it when something went wrong.

Travel is all about the unknown — and that unknown is a double edge sword bringing exciting adventures or disaster.

Don’t fall for the logical fallacy that because something hasn’t happened before, it’s not likely to happen in the future.

The past is NOT prologue.

Just because you haven’t gotten sick on the road doesn’t mean you won’t get sick in the future. If you’ve never had something stolen from you, it doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future.

Getting sick happens all the time.

Getting robbed happens all the time.

Getting injured happens all the time.

Getting delayed in transit happens all the time.

Breaking something happens all the time.

Travel insurance will be there in all those situations. It is comprehensive coverage that will protect you when you get sick or robbed or hurt, suffer an accident, have your flight delayed or canceled, or need to cancel your trip because of an emergency.

Travelers also often think, “Well, insurance is cheaper in other parts of the world, so I can just pay for it out of pocket. It’s all socialized health care, right?”

Wrong.

U.S. health insurance doesn’t cover you overseas. Neither do all those socialized medical programs in other countries.

When you travel, you’re not covered. You’re still going to have to pay out of pocket, and if you’re seriously ill or have to go home, those costs will add up!

When you need casts and airlifts and serious medical attention, it’s not cheap. I mean, here are just emergency medical evacuation costs in some popular destinations around the world:

Mexico: $15,000-$20,000

South America: $100,000

Germany, France, or other developed European nations: $50,000-$100,000

Russia: $90,000-$150,000 (weather conditions can dramatically increase costs)

Asia, Australia, and the Middle East: $220,000

That’s a ton of money! Who can pay that?

Travel insurance, that’s who!

While many credit cards offer insurance on things you buy with those cards (like flights and hotels), their service and coverage is very limited.

For example, if you used the Chase Sapphire Reserve, they will reimburse up to $10,000 per trip (for nonrefundable expenses like passenger fares, tours, and hotels) if it’s canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather, or certain other situations. They’ll also cover up to $3,000 for checked or carry-on luggage that is damaged or lost by the carrier, and they’ll cover up to $500 for delayed flights (for things like lodging and meals). If you are injured or become sick during a trip far from home that results in an emergency evacuation, you can be covered for medical services and transportation up to $100,000.

But most cards will not pay out if you get sick while on the road. The less premium Chase Sapphire Preferred card has the same delay and cancellation reimbursements as well as coverage for lost or damaged luggage but there’s no reimbursement for medical treatment or an emergency.

Not everyone has premium credit cards and, even then, most are stingy about paying out medical claims.

Contrast that with World Nomads Travel Insurance (my favorite company), which covers everything that happens while you’re on the road. You get $100,000 for emergency accident or medical treatment, $750 for emergency dental treatment, and $300,000 for emergency evacuation. Luggage loss and trip delays are also included, with up to $3,000 reimbursed for lost personal effects, $2,500-10,000 for trip cancellation, $2,500-10,000 for trip interruption, and $250/day for trip delay.

Additionally, travel insurance covers trip delays caused by and nonrefundable tickets that you can’t use because of a death in the family, a strike, or a natural disaster. Nearly 162,000 flights were delayed and around 15,000 flights were canceled last year. That’s a lot of chances to get stuck.

In short, travel insurance is far more generous and comprehensive than your credit card’s insurance.

***

When we travel, we embrace the unknown.

But with that unknown comes the increased likelihood that something could go wrong.

Travel insurance is your hedge against that.

At just a few dollars a day, it’s the peace of mind you need to know that if something does go wrong, you won’t be out of pocket even more money and that you can get the help you need.

Get covered!

Because you don’t want to end up like my friend who broke her arm after deciding that, since she never got hurt on the road, it was pointless to renew her insurance plan….and then immediately regretted.

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

World Nomads (for everyone below 70)

Insure My Trip (for those over 70)

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld as they have the largest inventory. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hotel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. I use them all the time.

Looking for the best companies to save money with? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all the ones I use to save money when I travel – and I think will help you too!

The post Why You Should Get Travel Insurance When You Travel appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

from Traveling News https://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/why-buy-travel-insurance/

[joshuamshea84]

Why You Should Get Travel Insurance When You Travel

Posted: 1/17/2019 | January 17th, 2019

I’ve written about buying travel insurance a lot. I’ve talked about how to find the right policy, discussed why World Nomads is my favorite company, and answered a few of the most common questions on the subject.

But while I’ve talked about the practical “how-to” part of getting insurance, I’ve never really focused on the why of travel insurance.

So let’s talk about that today.

Why should you buy travel insurance?

Why is it important?

What’s in it for you?

Peace of mind.

And the potential not to go broke.

And the ability to get care when you need it.

Many of us believe we’re invincible: we think we’ll never get sick on the road, robbed, or be involved in an accident. As someone tweeted to me “I’ve traveled extensively for more than a decade and never once ever *considered* buying travel insurance. Still no issues.”

But the past is not prologue.

I never thought I’d break my camera or pop an eardrum while scuba diving. My friend never thought he’d break his back. My other friends didn’t plan on bike and car accidents, or getting their stuff stolen, or their dad dying and having to suddenly fly home.

But all those things did happen.

And travel insurance was there for each of them.

You’re not Superman or Wonder Woman. You can’t fight off criminals, bend steel, or fly. You can’t fall from the sky and walk away.

When you’re a budget traveler, spending a few hundred extra dollars on something that only might be used can be a hard pill to swallow. When every penny counts, the temptation is to just roll the dice and hope nothing happens.

I can give you thousands of examples of people who bought travel insurance and were thankful they did.

I can also give you thousands of examples of people who didn’t buy it and regretted it when something went wrong.

Travel is all about the unknown — and that unknown is a double edge sword bringing exciting adventures or disaster.

Don’t fall for the logical fallacy that because something hasn’t happened before, it’s not likely to happen in the future.

The past is NOT prologue.

Just because you haven’t gotten sick on the road doesn’t mean you won’t get sick in the future. If you’ve never had something stolen from you, it doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future.

Getting sick happens all the time.

Getting robbed happens all the time.

Getting injured happens all the time.

Getting delayed in transit happens all the time.

Breaking something happens all the time.

Travel insurance will be there in all those situations. It is comprehensive coverage that will protect you when you get sick or robbed or hurt, suffer an accident, have your flight delayed or canceled, or need to cancel your trip because of an emergency.

Travelers also often think, “Well, insurance is cheaper in other parts of the world, so I can just pay for it out of pocket. It’s all socialized health care, right?”

Wrong.

U.S. health insurance doesn’t cover you overseas. Neither do all those socialized medical programs in other countries.

When you travel, you’re not covered. You’re still going to have to pay out of pocket, and if you’re seriously ill or have to go home, those costs will add up!

When you need casts and airlifts and serious medical attention, it’s not cheap. I mean, here are just emergency medical evacuation costs in some popular destinations around the world:

Mexico: $15,000-$20,000

South America: $100,000

Germany, France, or other developed European nations: $50,000-$100,000

Russia: $90,000-$150,000 (weather conditions can dramatically increase costs)

Asia, Australia, and the Middle East: $220,000

That’s a ton of money! Who can pay that?

Travel insurance, that’s who!

While many credit cards offer insurance on things you buy with those cards (like flights and hotels), their service and coverage is very limited.

For example, if you used the Chase Sapphire Reserve, they will reimburse up to $10,000 per trip (for nonrefundable expenses like passenger fares, tours, and hotels) if it’s canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather, or certain other situations. They’ll also cover up to $3,000 for checked or carry-on luggage that is damaged or lost by the carrier, and they’ll cover up to $500 for delayed flights (for things like lodging and meals). If you are injured or become sick during a trip far from home that results in an emergency evacuation, you can be covered for medical services and transportation up to $100,000.

But most cards will not pay out if you get sick while on the road. The less premium Chase Sapphire Preferred card has the same delay and cancellation reimbursements as well as coverage for lost or damaged luggage but there’s no reimbursement for medical treatment or an emergency.

Not everyone has premium credit cards and, even then, most are stingy about paying out medical claims.

Contrast that with World Nomads Travel Insurance (my favorite company), which covers everything that happens while you’re on the road. You get $100,000 for emergency accident or medical treatment, $750 for emergency dental treatment, and $300,000 for emergency evacuation. Luggage loss and trip delays are also included, with up to $3,000 reimbursed for lost personal effects, $2,500-10,000 for trip cancellation, $2,500-10,000 for trip interruption, and $250/day for trip delay.

Additionally, travel insurance covers trip delays caused by and nonrefundable tickets that you can’t use because of a death in the family, a strike, or a natural disaster. Nearly 162,000 flights were delayed and around 15,000 flights were canceled last year. That’s a lot of chances to get stuck.

In short, travel insurance is far more generous and comprehensive than your credit card’s insurance.

***

When we travel, we embrace the unknown.

But with that unknown comes the increased likelihood that something could go wrong.

Travel insurance is your hedge against that.

At just a few dollars a day, it’s the peace of mind you need to know that if something does go wrong, you won’t be out of pocket even more money and that you can get the help you need.

Get covered!

Because you don’t want to end up like my friend who broke her arm after deciding that, since she never got hurt on the road, it was pointless to renew her insurance plan….and then immediately regretted.

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

World Nomads (for everyone below 70)

Insure My Trip (for those over 70)

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld as they have the largest inventory. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hotel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. I use them all the time.

Looking for the best companies to save money with? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all the ones I use to save money when I travel – and I think will help you too!

The post Why You Should Get Travel Insurance When You Travel appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

from Traveling News https://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/why-buy-travel-insurance/

[tamboradventure]

Why You Should Get Travel Insurance When You Travel

Posted: 1/17/2019 | January 17th, 2019

I’ve written about buying travel insurance a lot. I’ve talked about how to find the right policy, discussed why World Nomads is my favorite company, and answered a few of the most common questions on the subject.

But while I’ve talked about the practical “how-to” part of getting insurance, I’ve never really focused on the why of travel insurance.

So let’s talk about that today.

Why should you buy travel insurance?

Why is it important?

What’s in it for you?

Peace of mind.

And the potential not to go broke.

And the ability to get care when you need it.

Many of us believe we’re invincible: we think we’ll never get sick on the road, robbed, or be involved in an accident. As someone tweeted to me “I’ve traveled extensively for more than a decade and never once ever *considered* buying travel insurance. Still no issues.”

But the past is not prologue.

I never thought I’d break my camera or pop an eardrum while scuba diving. My friend never thought he’d break his back. My other friends didn’t plan on bike and car accidents, or getting their stuff stolen, or their dad dying and having to suddenly fly home.

But all those things did happen.

And travel insurance was there for each of them.

You’re not Superman or Wonder Woman. You can’t fight off criminals, bend steel, or fly. You can’t fall from the sky and walk away.

When you’re a budget traveler, spending a few hundred extra dollars on something that only might be used can be a hard pill to swallow. When every penny counts, the temptation is to just roll the dice and hope nothing happens.

I can give you thousands of examples of people who bought travel insurance and were thankful they did.

I can also give you thousands of examples of people who didn’t buy it and regretted it when something went wrong.

Travel is all about the unknown — and that unknown is a double edge sword bringing exciting adventures or disaster.

Don’t fall for the logical fallacy that because something hasn’t happened before, it’s not likely to happen in the future.

The past is NOT prologue.

Just because you haven’t gotten sick on the road doesn’t mean you won’t get sick in the future. If you’ve never had something stolen from you, it doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future.

Getting sick happens all the time.

Getting robbed happens all the time.

Getting injured happens all the time.

Getting delayed in transit happens all the time.

Breaking something happens all the time.

Travel insurance will be there in all those situations. It is comprehensive coverage that will protect you when you get sick or robbed or hurt, suffer an accident, have your flight delayed or canceled, or need to cancel your trip because of an emergency.

Travelers also often think, “Well, insurance is cheaper in other parts of the world, so I can just pay for it out of pocket. It’s all socialized health care, right?”

Wrong.

U.S. health insurance doesn’t cover you overseas. Neither do all those socialized medical programs in other countries.

When you travel, you’re not covered. You’re still going to have to pay out of pocket, and if you’re seriously ill or have to go home, those costs will add up!

When you need casts and airlifts and serious medical attention, it’s not cheap. I mean, here are just emergency medical evacuation costs in some popular destinations around the world:

Mexico: $15,000-$20,000

South America: $100,000

Germany, France, or other developed European nations: $50,000-$100,000

Russia: $90,000-$150,000 (weather conditions can dramatically increase costs)

Asia, Australia, and the Middle East: $220,000

That’s a ton of money! Who can pay that?

Travel insurance, that’s who!

While many credit cards offer insurance on things you buy with those cards (like flights and hotels), their service and coverage is very limited.

For example, if you used the Chase Sapphire Reserve, they will reimburse up to $10,000 per trip (for nonrefundable expenses like passenger fares, tours, and hotels) if it’s canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather, or certain other situations. They’ll also cover up to $3,000 for checked or carry-on luggage that is damaged or lost by the carrier, and they’ll cover up to $500 for delayed flights (for things like lodging and meals). If you are injured or become sick during a trip far from home that results in an emergency evacuation, you can be covered for medical services and transportation up to $100,000.

But most cards will not pay out if you get sick while on the road. The less premium Chase Sapphire Preferred card has the same delay and cancellation reimbursements as well as coverage for lost or damaged luggage but there’s no reimbursement for medical treatment or an emergency.

Not everyone has premium credit cards and, even then, most are stingy about paying out medical claims.

Contrast that with World Nomads Travel Insurance (my favorite company), which covers everything that happens while you’re on the road. You get $100,000 for emergency accident or medical treatment, $750 for emergency dental treatment, and $300,000 for emergency evacuation. Luggage loss and trip delays are also included, with up to $3,000 reimbursed for lost personal effects, $2,500-10,000 for trip cancellation, $2,500-10,000 for trip interruption, and $250/day for trip delay.

Additionally, travel insurance covers trip delays caused by and nonrefundable tickets that you can’t use because of a death in the family, a strike, or a natural disaster. Nearly 162,000 flights were delayed and around 15,000 flights were canceled last year. That’s a lot of chances to get stuck.

In short, travel insurance is far more generous and comprehensive than your credit card’s insurance.

***

When we travel, we embrace the unknown.

But with that unknown comes the increased likelihood that something could go wrong.

Travel insurance is your hedge against that.

At just a few dollars a day, it’s the peace of mind you need to know that if something does go wrong, you won’t be out of pocket even more money and that you can get the help you need.

Get covered!

Because you don’t want to end up like my friend who broke her arm after deciding that, since she never got hurt on the road, it was pointless to renew her insurance plan….and then immediately regretted.

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

World Nomads (for everyone below 70)

Insure My Trip (for those over 70)

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld as they have the largest inventory. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hotel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. I use them all the time.

Looking for the best companies to save money with? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all the ones I use to save money when I travel – and I think will help you too!

The post Why You Should Get Travel Insurance When You Travel appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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[vidovicart]

Why You Should Get Travel Insurance When You Travel

Posted: 1/17/2019 | January 17th, 2019

I’ve written about buying travel insurance a lot. I’ve talked about how to find the right policy, discussed why World Nomads is my favorite company, and answered a few of the most common questions on the subject.

But while I’ve talked about the practical “how-to” part of getting insurance, I’ve never really focused on the why of travel insurance.

So let’s talk about that today.

Why should you buy travel insurance?

Why is it important?

What’s in it for you?

Peace of mind.

And the potential not to go broke.

And the ability to get care when you need it.

Many of us believe we’re invincible: we think we’ll never get sick on the road, robbed, or be involved in an accident. As someone tweeted to me “I’ve traveled extensively for more than a decade and never once ever *considered* buying travel insurance. Still no issues.”

But the past is not prologue.

I never thought I’d break my camera or pop an eardrum while scuba diving. My friend never thought he’d break his back. My other friends didn’t plan on bike and car accidents, or getting their stuff stolen, or their dad dying and having to suddenly fly home.

But all those things did happen.

And travel insurance was there for each of them.

You’re not Superman or Wonder Woman. You can’t fight off criminals, bend steel, or fly. You can’t fall from the sky and walk away.

When you’re a budget traveler, spending a few hundred extra dollars on something that only might be used can be a hard pill to swallow. When every penny counts, the temptation is to just roll the dice and hope nothing happens.

I can give you thousands of examples of people who bought travel insurance and were thankful they did.

I can also give you thousands of examples of people who didn’t buy it and regretted it when something went wrong.

Travel is all about the unknown — and that unknown is a double edge sword bringing exciting adventures or disaster.

Don’t fall for the logical fallacy that because something hasn’t happened before, it’s not likely to happen in the future.

The past is NOT prologue.

Just because you haven’t gotten sick on the road doesn’t mean you won’t get sick in the future. If you’ve never had something stolen from you, it doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future.

Getting sick happens all the time.

Getting robbed happens all the time.

Getting injured happens all the time.

Getting delayed in transit happens all the time.

Breaking something happens all the time.

Travel insurance will be there in all those situations. It is comprehensive coverage that will protect you when you get sick or robbed or hurt, suffer an accident, have your flight delayed or canceled, or need to cancel your trip because of an emergency.

Travelers also often think, “Well, insurance is cheaper in other parts of the world, so I can just pay for it out of pocket. It’s all socialized health care, right?”

Wrong.

U.S. health insurance doesn’t cover you overseas. Neither do all those socialized medical programs in other countries.

When you travel, you’re not covered. You’re still going to have to pay out of pocket, and if you’re seriously ill or have to go home, those costs will add up!

When you need casts and airlifts and serious medical attention, it’s not cheap. I mean, here are just emergency medical evacuation costs in some popular destinations around the world:

Mexico: $15,000-$20,000

South America: $100,000

Germany, France, or other developed European nations: $50,000-$100,000

Russia: $90,000-$150,000 (weather conditions can dramatically increase costs)

Asia, Australia, and the Middle East: $220,000

That’s a ton of money! Who can pay that?

Travel insurance, that’s who!

While many credit cards offer insurance on things you buy with those cards (like flights and hotels), their service and coverage is very limited.

For example, if you used the Chase Sapphire Reserve, they will reimburse up to $10,000 per trip (for nonrefundable expenses like passenger fares, tours, and hotels) if it’s canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather, or certain other situations. They’ll also cover up to $3,000 for checked or carry-on luggage that is damaged or lost by the carrier, and they’ll cover up to $500 for delayed flights (for things like lodging and meals). If you are injured or become sick during a trip far from home that results in an emergency evacuation, you can be covered for medical services and transportation up to $100,000.

But most cards will not pay out if you get sick while on the road. The less premium Chase Sapphire Preferred card has the same delay and cancellation reimbursements as well as coverage for lost or damaged luggage but there’s no reimbursement for medical treatment or an emergency.

Not everyone has premium credit cards and, even then, most are stingy about paying out medical claims.

Contrast that with World Nomads Travel Insurance (my favorite company), which covers everything that happens while you’re on the road. You get $100,000 for emergency accident or medical treatment, $750 for emergency dental treatment, and $300,000 for emergency evacuation. Luggage loss and trip delays are also included, with up to $3,000 reimbursed for lost personal effects, $2,500-10,000 for trip cancellation, $2,500-10,000 for trip interruption, and $250/day for trip delay.

Additionally, travel insurance covers trip delays caused by and nonrefundable tickets that you can’t use because of a death in the family, a strike, or a natural disaster. Nearly 162,000 flights were delayed and around 15,000 flights were canceled last year. That’s a lot of chances to get stuck.

In short, travel insurance is far more generous and comprehensive than your credit card’s insurance.

***

When we travel, we embrace the unknown.

But with that unknown comes the increased likelihood that something could go wrong.

Travel insurance is your hedge against that.

At just a few dollars a day, it’s the peace of mind you need to know that if something does go wrong, you won’t be out of pocket even more money and that you can get the help you need.

Get covered!

Because you don’t want to end up like my friend who broke her arm after deciding that, since she never got hurt on the road, it was pointless to renew her insurance plan….and then immediately regretted.

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

World Nomads (for everyone below 70)

Insure My Trip (for those over 70)

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld as they have the largest inventory. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hotel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. I use them all the time.

Looking for the best companies to save money with? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all the ones I use to save money when I travel – and I think will help you too!

The post Why You Should Get Travel Insurance When You Travel appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.