So, you’ve officially decided to embark on a backpacking trip across Southeast Asia. You’ve booked your flight, pinned a few spots on a map, and dogeared some pages of a travel guide. You’re ready to let the spirit of spontaneity and adventure guide you across a new continent on the trip of a lifetime.
You can probably already envision yourself eating pad thai from a street vendor, volunteering at an elephant sanctuary, and making a ton of new and worldly friends as you party on a beach at a backpacker bar or two. You’re basically ready to take off tomorrow!
But wait…
Before you mentally check out just yet, there are a few other logistical details that you need to secure before you hop on that Boeing 737. Things like banking, health insurance, visas, vaccines, and packing lists all need to be sorted out before you can depart for that trip of a lifetime.
We know it sounds overwhelming, but don’t worry. We’ve got you covered with our detailed Southeast Asia travel planning guide!
Southeast Asia Travel Planning Guide
Figuring out the back-end items like your banking plan or vaccinations and health insurance is the least exciting part of planning an adventure abroad. Its boring and nobody wants to talk about it. However, thinking about & preparing for the “what ifs” ahead of time is absolutely essential to having an awesome and carefree trip.
Think of it this way – the more you do now, before you leave, the more fun you can have when you’re away. Something as easy as losing your debit card or getting a bad bout of food poisoning won’t phase you abroad because you already have a back up plan. Planning ahead and thinking about the “boring stuff” is the solid foundation of any good trip – it ensures that you will bounce back quickly from any setbacks and continue to have an amazing time even when some things don’t go as expected.
We’ve put together a comprehensive guide for planning out the “boring stuff” for a trip to Southeast Asia. We know planning ahead isn’t a sexy part of travel – but we know it’s always worth it.
Travel Insurance for Southeast Asia
You may be asking yourself “do I actually need travel insurance?” the answer is absolutely yes. We don’t like to call people idiots, but you’re probably an idiot if you choose to travel without insurance.
It sounds so cliche, but you honestly never know what could happen when you’re abroad. Disaster could strike in the form of something as small as food poisoning or as large as a car/motorbike crash or a bizarre, completely random accident. (Or in Stephanie’s case – a freak accident involving water guns and baby powder during the Khmer New Year celebrations..) Either way, you definitely want to be prepared & covered for whatever happens.
We’ve used World Nomads in the past and found it to be very reliable. It also comes highly recommended from other travelers as well. There are definitely other travel insurance options out there if you’re looking for something else – World Nomads is just our tried & true preference! Click here to get a free travel insurance quote for your upcoming trip – it’s super easy & takes less than 5 minutes!
Vaccinations and Medications for Southeast Asia
You may be asking yourself “do I actually need to get vaccines or malaria pills?” The answer is yes. We won’t call you an idiot for not getting them, because plenty of people go without and don’t have any issues. However, having those precautions taken care of ahead of time will give you tremendous peace of mind make your life a lot easier.
To get all of our vaccines and medications aligned before we left for our Southeast Asia backpacking trip we simply visited a travel healthcare clinic covered within our insurance network. There, we each met with a doctor to discuss our upcoming itinerary and the recommended precautions we should take in regards to our health.
At that same appointment we also obtained all the necessary shots and prescription medications: Malarone as an anti-malarial and an emergency-use-only antibiotic for any extreme food or waterborne sickness.
We received the following vaccines at our travel appointment:
- Typhoid
- Tetanus Booster
- Polio Booster
- Current Flu Shot
- Hepatitis A
- Hepatitis B
We opted out of a few recommended vaccinations (Japanese Encephalitis and rabies) after conducting some personal research on the risk and likelihood of contraction.
Obtaining Visas in Southeast Asia
Visas can be a very high point of stress while traveling through Southeast Asia. Is it best to obtain them ahead of time? Can you get them at the border? Should you enter each country by land or air? Does any of it even make a difference? Each country’s various rules & regulations for entry seem to constantly change making them near impossible to keep track of. The whole process can be super overwhelming and frustrating.
Thankfully, most countries in Southeast Asia have pretty basic visa requirements and straightforward border crossing procedures. Most western nationalities can obtain a visa on arrival (VOA) for the countries they want visit without much extra work or hassle. However, no matter where you plan to go or cross it’s helpful (and stress-relieving) to do some research in advance to have a notion of what to expect and prepare for each border crossing before you get there.
Visa On Arrival Preparations
For the most part – visa on arrival applications tend to require an entry application/form, an attached passport photo, and a cash fee for the visa. Some border crossings require a few extra steps like a “medical examination” in Cambodia or a full on luggage search & pat down in Vietnam. Travel blogs and Reddit forums serve as a great ‘unofficial’ resource for learning about the procedures at specific crossings to help you figure out what to expect before you arrive.
To get the best/most official idea of the visa requirements & border crossings we used both the US government travel website in addition to the visa page on each country’s government website as well. Not all of the websites were helpful and we found it really difficult to find consistent and detailed information for everything we were looking for. For this reason, we recommend having a good grasp on what each country’s visa process looks like but not stressing out too much about specifics.
A few things to research/consider:
- Do you need to get your visa in advance? Or can you get your visa on arrival (VOA)?
- How much is the visa fee?
- What currencies can you pay the visa fee in?
- What time of day is best to cross the border?
- Is it typical to pay a bribe?
- Are there any scams I should be concerned about at the border?
Politics and Safety in Southeast Asia
Safety while traveling abroad is a huge concern and priority no matter where you go. The topics of danger or disaster are never fun or uplifting to talk or think about. However, you can take the proper precautions and make smart decisions about your safety by researching the politic climate, watching the news, and keeping an eye on safety trends in the places you plan to visit.
We used the U.S. government travel website to keep a pulse on what was happening in all of the countries we planned to visit months before we departed. We checked it weekly for new alerts (there weren’t many) and even signed up for email and text notifications when we left the country in case anything came up while we were away.
In addition, we paid a bit more attention to the news in Southeast Asia and started doing some independent research on each country just to have a better background and view of the big picture. We found that a lot of the information we were reading about to be pretty interesting – so that made it easy!
A few things to pay attention to:
- Government Type
- Political Climate
- Modern History
- Weather
- Crime Rates
- General Safety
No matter how dire everything may seem online, we highly encourage you to take it with a grain of salt. The media and government warnings in combination with our own imaginations can make everything seem a lot more dangerous that it actually is – especially anything unfamiliar. Be smart, be educated, and definitely be precautions but don’t get so wrapped up in the cautionary tales that you ruin your trip (or even cancel it) because you’re scared.
Paperwork and Organization
Organizing your paperwork and documents before your trip is probably the least glamorous part of planning for an adventure abroad. However, if you create a filing system and make it easily accessible before you leave you can save yourself a ton of hassle and headache should you need any of it when you’re abroad.
No matter where we travel, we always bring a plastic, waterproof folder that contains copies of all of our important documents – passports, proof of insurance, phone numbers, etc. Opinions differ on if its safe or smart to carry copies with you or not, but if your passport is lost or stolen abroad the process will be a whole lot easier if you have a copy of your old one to share with the embassy.
Our physical folder contains printed copies of the following:
- Passport
- Drivers License (as a backup identification)
- Immunization Records (a less common request in Southeast Asia – but sometimes these records can be required for border crossings)
- Proof of Insurance
- Extra Passport Photos (for visa applications and border crossings)
In addition to the physical folder, we also set up a folder on Google Drive filled with digital copies of our documents and all of the important information we may need access to in an emergency. If you don’t feel comfortable carrying physical copies with you – this is a great alternative option!
Our digital folder contains:
- Digital Copies of All Identification
- Immunization Records
- Passport Photos
- Bank Contact Information (Customer Service & Emergency)
- Emergency Contact Information (Personal & Government)
- Proof of Insurance
- Insurance Details
- U.S. Embassy Addresses & Contact Information
- PDF Health Information
- PDF Travel Guides
Money & Banking in Southeast Asia
Reliable access to money is the most essential component to any trip to Southeast Asia (or anywhere abroad). It’s quite literally your life line – without money you can’t eat, sleep, or move anywhere else. Ensuring you’ll have access to money in any scenario is one of the most important things you can do before leaving for your trip.
Debit Cards & ATMs
Banking in Southeast Asia is actually pretty easy – cash is king and that makes everything really simple. When you need more money you simply need to find an ATM – which are plentiful in most Southeast Asian cities. The prominence of cash also eliminates the worry of foreign transaction fees or concern about forgetting your card at a bar or restaurant!
One banking nuisance that you will have to worry about is the ATM fee. The average fee can range from four to eight dollars – which is a ton of money in Southeast Asia. Even if you only go to the ATM once a week those fees can really add up – that’s at least $20+ (or one whole day’s worth of expenses) wasted!
To combat the oppressive ATM fees, we highly recommend signing up for a checking account with Charles Schwab before you leave.. The absolute best feature of the Charles Schwab debit card is the refund of all of the ATM fees you incurred throughout the month. As a traveler, this means you don’t have to worry about wasting money on fees or taking out and carrying a large and uncomfortable amount of cash. We literally saved hundreds of dollars in ATM fees and can’t preach our love for Charles Schwab enough!
Earn a free $100 when you sign up for a Charles Schwab account by clicking this link! More information about the offer here.
Emergency Cash
Since the US dollar stands as a strong and universally accepted currency around Southeast Asia, bringing extra cash in the form of USD serves as a great backup money option as well.
We each chose to bring about $200 in USD to use in case of an emergency. Some people may not feel comfortable carrying that much money in case their bag gets lost or stolen stole – but we felt that it was a reassuring amount to have. We carried it on our person during transportation days and then hid it deep in our packs when we weren’t on the move.
Additionally, we found USD useful for paying for our visa fees instead of the local currency. It was easier and sometimes cheaper to pay in dollars and it made the whole process way less stressful. Even if you don’t want to carry as much cash as we did – we do recommend bringing at least enough to cover your anticipated visa fees to avoid worrying about bad exchange rates or scams.
Joint Bank Accounts
Since your access to money in Southeast Asia is directly tied to a little plastic card (that could easily be lost or stolen) it’s super important to:
- Bring a back up debit card
- Designate someone to help you back in the U.S.
We each carried our primary Charles Schwab debit card but also brought a backup in case that one was lost or stolen. Before leaving the US, we linked all our bank accounts together so that we could easily transfer money from one to the other online. That way, if anything happened we would not be without access to cash – except for the three day processing period.
In case you are unable to manage your money abroad, (bank restrictions, poor internet connection) you should add a trusted friend or family member as joint owner to at least one of your bank accounts. If anything should go wrong, they can access your savings & help out in whatever way you need them to – deposit, withdrawal, transfer, international wire, etc.
Additionally, plan to leave a sealed envelope with that same friend or family member that contains your important banking information like account numbers, usernames & passwords, and dollar amounts. This serves as an additional back up should you find yourself unable to access this information abroad.
Thankfully, our parents never ended up needing to use either of these back up methods. So, when we returned back to the United States we simply removed their access to our bank accounts & shredded the sealed envelopes.
Clothing and Gear for Southeast Asia
Packing for a trip is always tough, especially if you’re trying to fit everything in one bag! We put together a comprehensive packing list for Southeast Asia that includes all of the clothing and gear we brought to backpack for four months.
Our biggest tip for packing is to bring athletic clothing that is made out of a lightweight, dry-wick material. This will help ensure that you stay comfortable in the heat and humidity of Southeast Asia and keep your bag light.
For more information on the other items we packed for our four month backpacking trip, check out our Southeast Asia Backpacking Checklist!
Closing
That’s a wrap for our Southeast Asia travel planning guide! After you’ve taken the time to square away all the technical elements, you can get back to planning the “fun stuff” like the restaurants, beaches, excursions, and cultural experiences you’ll have in Southeast Asia!
Once you check all the logistical boxes, you won’t have to worry about the boring stuff again – unless circumstance forces you to. But, if you’ve prepared everything ahead of time, an inconvenience mid-trip won’t be nearly as terrible as it would have if you didn’t take the time to prepare.
Do you have any tips for preparing for a trip abroad? Leave them in the comments!
