What Rough Notes/Preparations for Taking a 4-Week Trip Look Like

When I was preparing to travel to Los Angeles, Thailand, San Diego, and Arizona for a month, I didn’t have the type of schedule that would allow me to exert the time needed to do the type of planning necessary, so I took the most logical steps I could:

I jotted notes to myself in my ‘Notes’ app when I had spare moments, and most importantly, I picked a travel companion who is a skilled traveler and innate planner, my sister.

Of course, as someone who embraces simple living, I didn’t want to spend more money than I had to, so I bought groceries instead of eating out (most of the time), I used Groupon for a package trip (with hotels, flights, tours, etc. included), Airbnb for days when I had to find my own place to stay, and my  husband and I stayed with good friends in San Diego and Arizona.

For anyone thinking they can’t pull it off, don’t have the money, resources, or patience- if I can do it, I promise you can do it!

Here’s what the rough, time-constrained breakdown of my planning and organizing this trip looked like (or at least, as much as I wrote on my phone):

Before the trip

Purchases:
$1733 + $249 (checks I wrote to my sister for flights, included tours, hotels, breakfast, LA car rental, Airbnb)
$200 (Amazon purchases for my trip- tennis shoes, bag, Kindle)

Things to potentially check out while in Thailand:
(*Note: I didn’t end up doing all these, since we did so much other stuff, but I’m still glad I thought of some possible plans ahead of time!)

Bike tours
Wat Phra Kaew/Grand Palace
Kailash Akhara
Doi Suthep Temple for a meditation workshop (go to the website and let them know you’re coming ahead of time)
Massage in Chiang Mai
Elephants (Blue Elephant Thailand tours? Blueelephantthailandtours.com; 6000 baht = $200
Tiger Kingdom

Air China Flight
I can take 1 carry-on that’s 5 kg (11.02 lbs)
Can’t be bigger than 21 in long x 15 wide x 7 high

Online classes while I’m gone
VCC. Done 4/27. Start 5/9
FIU. Done 5/6. Start 5/16
EFSC. Done 5/9. Start A term 5/16, B 5/16, C 6/13

Questions and answers from Affordable Asia:
Meals on the plane? 3
Play movies? The whole flight
Which hotels have wifi? All
Public areas for wifi? Free
How much for wifi if by some chance it isn’t free? $2 for access

Figure out:
Should I get a raincoat?
Portable charger?
Wifi finder?
What to do for luggage? Big backpack?
Do phone and laptop chargers work or do we need converters?
Clothes to wear?
Temperature?
Do we need travel insurance?

Some essentials to pack:
Almonds
Big purse that can fold into luggage
Shirt with sleeves & skirt
Laptop & laptop charger
iPad, iPod, One book, 2 magazines
Big blank notebook, pens, pencils
Good headphones
DVD player
Filtered water bottle
Ear plugs, glasses, toiletries
Mascara, dry shampoo
Baseball cap? Sunscreen? Can I buy it there?

If I write a book about Thailand:
(Note: As awesome as my trip was, I don’t think I’ll be writing any travel books. It was really fun to think about, though!)
How to Visit Thailand In Only 2 Weeks, These 30 Pages, and Less Than 72-Hours to Prepare: A Complete Guide for Packing, Planning, Staying on Good Terms at Work with Just a Laptop, and Doing It All on a Tight Budget (Includes Links to Everything You’ll Need)

How to entertain myself on the 16 hour flight:
(Note: I want to laugh when I read these now. Basically, I just watched movies and tried to survive. I never took out my laptop or attempted to read. I watched every American movie available on the flight, and I watched the 1990 version of Total Recall.. Twice.

Read
Watch movies
Start working on my Thailand book and Happy Professor 2 book in my Notepad app and/or in a notebook
Write a bunch of blog posts
Practice meditation

During the trip (notes I kept while we traveled)

Food and water in airports:
$50

In LA (3 days):
$100 (groceries- note: I got sick, so I bought comfort food, pricey medicine, teas, soups, etc.)
$3 (eating out- one burger at In and Out)

In Thailand (12 days):
$200 (excursions: riding elephants, bamboo rafting, day trip to Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle, etc.)
$100 (tips for various tour guides)
$200 (groceries, eating out, souvenirs, transportation)

On the West coast (14 days):
$400 groceries
$100 eating out in San Diego & AZ
$150 activities in San Diego & AZ (included the San Diego zoo!)
$75 gas (for our friend’s car and rental car)
$105 rental car

A few things to note from the above

• I didn’t break the bank! A month of travel didn’t cost me much more than living at home in Florida during that month would have.
• I’m glad I created all my lists, even if nothing came from most of them (for me, it’s about mental preparation).
• I made sure I kept work in mind, making notes about the school schedule, taking care of wifi, and the types of converters I would need to charge my laptop in hotel rooms.
• I called the travel company with questions ahead of time to help me prepare, which did a lot for my peace of mind.

I’m not sure if this blog post was more for me to reminisce about the trip or to help future travelers who might be on a budget and/or working at the same time, but I felt the urge to include it here on Happy Professor, so I hope it helps or inspires someone in some way.
Happy living, learning, and traveling!