After finishing up my trip to The Philippines I flew onwards to Taiwan before heading back to Indonesia. Here’s my monthly roundup, including my travel budget!
Can you believe we’e a month into the new year already?
My start to 2016 saw plenty of surf and sun on Siargao in The Philippines before a quick catch up with the crew of Z Hostel in Manila before my first country of the year (and a new one at that) in the form of Taiwan.
It was a quick 2 week stop over which involved chasing the surf on the east coast of the island before taking in the cityscapes of the west.
So here’s my stats round up for January 2016;
Overland Distance; 1379.03 km
Flight Distance; 6687.85 km
Total Distance; 8066.88 km
Countries; The Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia
Main Spots; Siargao, Manila, Tainan, Dulan, Taipei, Uluwatu
Transport Taken; boat, mini bus, taxi, high speed train, slow train, tuk tuk
Flights – Siargao – Manila (Cebu Pacific), Manila – Taipei (Cebu Pacific), Taipei – Bangkok (Tiger Air), Bangkok – Bali (Air Asia)
Money Breakdown
Philippines – £256.34 over 14 days = £18.31 per day
Taiwan – £553.36 over 14 days = £39.52 per day
Thailand – £56.21 over 3 days = £18.75 per day
Indonesia – £60.46 over 2 days = £30.23 per day
Total spent – £926.37 over 31 days = £29.88 per day
Wow, 2016 got off to a pretty pricey start hey? Need to get that budget back under control, although Taiwan was certainly the begets culprit for boosting up the monthly total! There were quite a few airport transfers in there too which are never super cheap!
Cheapest Place – Probably Tainan as I spent most of my time blogging or wandering around the city and night markets rather than eating out heaps and jumping on tours.
Most Expensive Place – Without a doubt Taipei! Accommodation was WAY more expensive than I’d expected (dorms we around $15USD per night!)
Biggest Splurge/Unforeseen Expense – My biggest splurge in January was my surfing trip in Taiwan with Island Rhythm Tours on the East Coast of the island, which set me back about £35 per day.
It’s not the kind of thing I do often and a lot of you wont bother with surf there, but it was certainly the most pricey travel expense I’ve had in a while.
The other big splurge was a night in the Sato Castle Hotel in Taipei which was about £66 – a few people we met living in Taiwan suggested we check out a themed “Love Motel” – it sounds seedy but it was one of the most epic rooms I’ve stayed in…complete with a hot tub and sauna!
Highlight – Seeing in the new year on Siargao was definitely the highlight – beach parties followed by surfing off my hangover. One of my favourite places on the planet!
Lowlight – well I did have a DJI Phantom 3 Advanced drone…until I crashed it into the ocean. Fingers crossed my travel insurance covers the replacement else I might not be posting those beautiful aerial shots on Instagram for a while!
Top Shot
In memory of my drone (RIP!) I have to go with this aerial view of Naked Island off the south of Siargao – the perfect place to soak up the sun and enjoy the crystal clear waters of The Philippines.
What’s Next?
Well I’ve just bounced over to Indonesia – which will be my base for the bulk of February as I’m teaming up with the girls from Santosha Yoga for the month as Erin completes her yoga instructor training.
I’ll be getting some yoga on the go myself too although I’m planning on squeezing in a lot of surfing and hopefully some scuba diving on Gili T too before we leave!
At the end of the month we’re hopefully meeting up with Stephen from A Backpackers Tale again to explore more of the dive sites around Koh Phi Phi in Thailand which promises to be heaps of fun!
Leave a reply