I enjoy quite considerable savings when I travel.

• I fly budget airline instead of SIA for flight less than 6 hours.
• I prefer staying in hostel instead of hotel to feel more bagpackers style. In fact, I like the fact that hostel has a common kitchen for you to prepare your foodstuff even though I hardly utilize it.
• I plan my travel plans at least 6 months in advance. I have the luxury of doing that as I’m self-employed so I’m in more control of my schedule.
• I travel during off-peak period. Thanks for my work, I can do that!
• I hardly buy souvenirs when I travel. But I do have the habit of collecting the flags (real size) of the countries I visit.
• Shopping for clothes and bags is usually not in my itinerary.
• I do my own booking online for flights, accommodation and even day tours, skipping the middleman fees.

All these helps me to see the world at a low cost.

It isn’t the amount I save that gives me the kick, the sensation but the fact that I get really good deals when I’m an early bird in terms of booking.

This July, I’m heading to Penang for a short trip. I booked the air tickets with JetStar in January and paid less than S$70 for 2 pax!

I found a really cool accommodation in Penang, Tune Hotel which offers an interesting concept of ‘paying for what you use’ . For a 3 nights stay, it costs me only about RM80! Unbelievable. The website is great, easy to use and the booking process is fast. Simply love it!

However, last week, I received an email  from JetStar, informing of change of flight schedule. I did read it in forum that budget airlines have this happening often but my previous experiences didn’t affect my plan much. This time, due to the flight change which I can’t accommodate, I made to travel a day earlier and be back a day earlier.

And because of this, I had to call JetStar. I wish they could offer email support.

I made a total of 3 calls, of which the waiting time was at least 23 minutes regardless if I call in the daytime or weird hours like 7am on Sunday. It was the same!

A friend on Facebook suggested that I on the loudspeaker on my mobile while I wait. It was really a great idea! I was washing up while waiting for a human voice during the 23 minutes of wait.

Another advice: ask all you need to ask in one phonecall!

I didn’t as the hotel didn’t response to my enquiry fast enough. Once flight schedule is confirmed, I need to make changes to Hotel too. Though the flight changes weren’t within my control, we have to pay for a standard fee of RM30 for cancellation of room on the last night. This standard fee is even higher than my per night stay. And this is in spite of my cancellation made 2 months in advance. I was rather upset that Tune Hotel wasn’t able to make an exception as flight changes aren’t within my control. Well, I do  understand that it wasn’t the hotel problem too but considering the fact that we’re making the changes 2 months in advance, they could at least consider on a case-by-case basis. I don’t have such issue from other hotels and hostels on changing arrival and departure dates previously as I always informed months in advance for any last minute changes due to flight.

So this is something I learnt on travelling on budget airline. Flight schedule may change and it may disrupt your original plan. We just have to act accordingly or maybe I will consider SIA for the airline in future.

Photo Credit: Debasis ~~