School holiday is often the time for family holiday, expecially in December. Those who want to experience holiday abroad, there are some tips or guidelines which you could follow.
Tips for going holiday overseas
Tip#1. Decide which country to go for a holiday
This is very important since it will affect your budget. Where to go depends on your desire or your intention. There are some factors affecting your decision, for example: your budget, desire for exploring new experience, religion, rewards for your hard work or your kids, or simply shopping & eating.
If budget is your constraint but you want to experience being in a 'Mat Salleh' country, then Australia or New Zealand would be ideal. They are not that far from us, for example, flying to Melbourne takes about 8 hours and Auckland is about 10 hours from Malaysia, and their fares are less than RM2000 per person. If you have more money, of course you could just go to UK or US or European countries. I had lived in the US and UK due to my studies, but from my personal experience, Australia and New Zealand provide very much similar experiences to UK or US. What I love about these two countries is that their people are very helpful & friendly and their coastal road experience is just breathtaking! If you love nature, then these are the places that you should go to.
If you are more into cultural experience, then I would suggest that you go to India, China, Korea or Japan or even some European and Middle-East countries which are very rich with tradition and cultural values. I am not only a nature lover but also a culture lover. Having been to Granada & Cordoba makes me appreciate more about Islamic arts, India has taught me about dream & motivation and Japan taught me to respect people.
If you are more into shopping and food, then as a Muslim, I would recommend you to go to Indonesia or Thailand. Indonesia is very much similar to us, be it religion, language, clothes or even food. So, it is easy to find halal food. Thailand, although it is not a muslim country, has recently ventured into halal tourism. Due to this, many Muslim tourists have come to Thailand. Now, it is even easier to find a variety of halal food in Bangkok and Hatyai. My mom and in-laws love their foods so much. Both Indonesia and Thailand are known as food heavens! So enjoy.
If you want to treat your kids, then my advice is bring your kids to our nearest neighbourhood country, Singapore. Singapore is an ideal choice since it has got many attractions for the kids especially the attraction of Universal Studio of Singapore (USS) in Pulau Sentosa. There are only four (4) Universal Studios in this world: 2 in USA, 1 in Japan & 1 in Singapore. So, we do not spend too much money to experience the excitement of a Universal Studio.
You can also go to Hongkong as Hongkong has got many attractions for the kids: Hongkong Disneyland, Snoppy's World and Ocean Park. If you have more money, then you can bring your kids to Universal Studio in Osaka, Tokyo Disneyland or Tokyo Disneysea. So start saving your money now!
Tip#2. Choose a date to travel
For parents with children in schools, of course, they will choose school holidays as ideal time for holidays. School holidays mean peak seasons, and that would mean 'everything will be expensive'. If you can avoid the peak seasons, that is better.
In my case, I try to choose a date that coincides a conference with a school holiday. For example, a HCI conference in Australia and school holiday in December, so I could bring my family together with me.
Tip#3. Book & purchase flight tickets
I use skyscanner to compare and search for the cheapest flight tickets. One thing about the cheap flight ticket is that you might not get a direct flight. Your flight may consist of one or more stops before you reach your destination. My recent trip to Melbourne, I flew with Garuda Indonesia. So,I had to transit at Jakarta first before flying to Australia and back to Malaysia. There are advantages and disadvantage of getting layover (transit):
Advantages:
(1)I get to visit two countries, Indonesia and Australia in one-price ticket.
(2)Transists make long-distance travelling more bearable than a direct, long-distance flight.
Disadvantage:
(1) Total travelling time is longer than a direct flight.
Somehow, I prefer to layover. Here, I am sharing with you my experience of getting layover in Jakarta.
Tip#3. Book an accommodation
For travelling either in Malaysia or overseas, I either book an accommodation through Airbnb or Booking.com.
My experience with the Airbnb is that we can get more choices and better prices especially for the family. Our recent trip to Melbourne, we rented a house that can accommodate up to 7 people comfortably with everything we need from a home. It costs us only RM300 per night. The house is located in Mooroolbark, 45 minutes away from Melbourne by car. Read my post on this house here.
We also used airbnb for our rented accommodation in Tokyo in August 2016. The house we rented although in suburbs fulfilled our requirements - kitchen facilities, washer, tv and wifi. The price was also reasonable. On top of that, the owner is a Malay guy who has been living in Japan since his undergraduate studies.
We used Booking.com for booking cheap hotel rooms in Bangalore, India & Matsue, Japan when travelling without children. Somehow, from my personal experience, I prefer airbnb to other popular accommodation apps due to the above reasons.
Tip#4. Rent a car
Since we were travelling with kids and wanted to explore the places, we rented a car. There are many car rental choices on the Internet, however, please be extra caution: some of them could be fake or if they are real, they could be just the agents, not the actual company. My advice is do your research first before renting a car. Seek advice and ask questions before you make any decision on car rentals.
For our car rental experience in Australia, we rented a sedan car from Auzrentals. In New Zealand, we rented a motorhome from MAUI. Alhamdulillah, we were happy with their services. No hidden costs. All the charges were stated clearly in the emails. What we paid were:
- rent/day depending on type of car
- insurance including zero excess
I paid these online using my debit card, but for:
- security deposit which will be returned back to us if we did not damage the car
- toll charges including admin cost and toll amount
were charged on my credit card.
If you drive in any country, please adhere to the speed limit as you might get summoned for speeding. In Australia, the summons will be mailed to you based on your credit card billing address and the amount will be charged on your credit card.
Tip#4: Renew your passport
Make sure that your passport is still valid for travels, otherwise, you have to renew it. There are many Immigration Counters available nowadays, especially at UTC branches. In Shah Alam, UTC is in Anggerik Mall - it is about 2-3 minutes drive from my home.
To renew passport for adults, just bring:
- your old passport and your IC
- money RM200 for 5 years renewal
To renew passport for children below 18 years old, please bring:
- their old passports
- their birth certificates - since my kids were born in the UK, I had to bring Borang W as well, as a proof of Malaysian citizenship
- money RM200 for each kid above 12; RM100 for each kid 12 and below
Tip#5: Apply visa
Depending on the country that you are going to travel, some countries require you to apply a visa.
Below are the free-visa countries for Malaysians:
* We need to apply visa if we are going to Australia - you can apply online (it will cost us AUD25-30 per person) or through a travel agent (highly recommended, we just need to pay RM20 per person)
* Starting from 2021, we need to apply visa if we are visiting European countries. Now, it is still visa-free.
* We need to apply visa if we are going to Australia - you can apply online (it will cost us AUD25-30 per person) or through a travel agent (highly recommended, we just need to pay RM20 per person)
* Starting from 2021, we need to apply visa if we are visiting European countries. Now, it is still visa-free.
Tip#6: Purchase travel insurance
This is a must for everyone who travels abroad. Insurance which we buy from the airline company is not the same as travel insurance. travel insurance covers a lot including flight cancelation, medication & hospitalisation, death, luggage lost, and many more.
There is one website that compares best travel insurance in Malaysia, GoBear - so, we don't have to search and compare them individually. There are both conventional and takaful travel insurances. From my personal experience, takaful travel insurance is not yet able to offer as good as the conventional ones.
For my recent trips to Australia & Indonesia, I bought travel insurance from AXA. I purchased it online at here. It cost us (a family - 2 adults & 3 children) only RM94++ for travelling 2 countries in a week. I purchased it in November 2018, just 4-5 days before leaving to Melbourne in December. The benefits are as described on the AXA website.
Tip#7: Have a valid drivers licence
If you plan to drive, then make sure that your driver's licence is valid and can be used for driving in your holiday country. So far, we can just use our current (the new one with dual languages) driver's licence to drive in the following countries:
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Singapore
- Thailand
- European countries including UK
This website lists all the countries which signed the convention on road traffic in Geneva 1949. This convention allows people from the countries which signed the convention to use their original driver's licence to drive in the listed countries.