i'm going to be giving you 17 must-know tips if you are looking to travel around southeast asia
now i this is a highly requested video so make sure you get your notepads and
let's be ready but before we begin i'm joel and i traveled around southeast asia for over seven
months and i made a lot of mistakes but this is why i've got these tips so you don't make the same
mistakes that i did so let's begin with tip number one and that is get a sim card whatever country i
go to in southeast asia i always get a sim card so i have access to the internet everywhere the data
is actually really good and it's also extremely cheap so for about 10 gigabytes you can often
um expect to spend about five to ten pounds now tip number two is try the street food honestly the
street food is amazing in southeast asia probably my favorite cuisine in the whole world you think
about thai indonesian vietnam all the food is amazing and i highly recommend trying it don't
go for the pizzas or the pastas eat the local food one it is extremely cheap and two it is so good
and honestly you're gonna love it don't just stick to like the pad thais and the curries
try like the local like barnamy's in vietnam and all that kind of stuff and i'll put a list
of all the things you should try whilst you're in southeast asia a lot of people worry about
food poisoning in southeast asia but don't worry too much if you see the food being
cooked really hot in front of you being fried up then the chances are you will be absolutely fine
so don't worry go and eat the street food and you will absolutely love it so let's move on to tip
number three and that is make sure you pack light if you're going backpacking for a long time you
don't want to fill up your bag with loads of stuff i tend to bring stuff enough for eight to ten days
and so every eight to ten days i do a wash you can even do this with a laundry service or bring
travel wash and you can do it yourself and hang up your stuff out to dry a lot of people bring
like three or four pairs of shoes and you don't need to i bring one trainers and one flip-flops
if you want more information on packing your bag next week's video on sunday is going to be
packing my bag for thailand which i'm going to in a couple of weeks so make sure you subscribe
turn notifications on and next sunday be there so tip number four if you are worried about maybe not
meeting friends or about safety or whatever then i recommend going with the tour company
gap360 who are the sponsor of this video gat360 are uk based travel company that offer 200 trips
in over 50 amazing destinations all over the globe they specialize in group adventures from
18 to 30s with a team of expert travel advisors to help you plan your trip from flights visa advice
travel insurance and budget planning they even help you build your round-the-world adventures
giving you all the support you need along the way you can take a pic from a number of different trip
styles including paid work short trips learning and development volunteering around the world
experiences and much more the perfect thing about traveling with gap 360 is that you'll be in a
group with other like-minded travelers and by the end of the trip you'll have friends from all over
the world traveling with gat360 also means you get a personal travel advisor to help you plan trip
every step of the way and you'll have access to 24 7 emergency support whilst abroad they have a huge
selection of trips to choose from with the most popular in southeast asia called thai adventure
this trip features a month of experiences around thailand including helping out an
ethical elephant project off the grid jungle treks island chilling on kopp and more and for those of
you who want to do it all they even have a trip that goes to the four southeast asian countries
called southeast asia adventure taking to the highlights of thailand laos cambodia and
vietnam if you're interested in one of these tours i'll leave the links in the description
let's move on to tip number five what time of the year is best to go that depends where you are in
southeast asia if you're in indonesia in the south then the best time to go is during the european
summer so from like may to september however if you're in thailand then it's the opposite and
the best time to go is from october to march there is always somewhere in southeast asia where is the
dry season so whatever time you're looking to go don't worry if you want to avoid rain you're good
if you're looking to go into rainy season then it doesn't rain all day it's just like an afternoon
downpour and prices are cheaper and less tourists so there are benefits to going in rainy season the
next tip is make sure you get a travel card or two because when i go i don't have any atm fees
your bank back at home will probably charge you to withdraw money in a foreign country and the
exchange rates won't be very good whereas with a travel card you'll get really good exchange
rates and probably no atm withdrawal fees what i would recommend is revolut or monzo or if you do
want another one then caxton i've used all these three and they're really really good
so tip number seven is get clothes and stuff when you're out there so a lot of things are so much
cheap in southeast asia so if you're looking to buy new trousers new shorts a new t-shirt then
get stuff out there if you're if you can haggle then you'll likely get a really really good price
for it and you'll save money for them buying it before the trip however some stuff like sun cream
and that is actually more expensive in southeast asia as the locals don't use it so just keep that
in mind so tip number eight is try and take local transport it is a lot cheaper than going in mini
buses and taxis and stuff so if you take that you'll likely save a lot of money the other thing
is instead of going on flights to other countries try the overland so i took buses um across borders
from like laos to vietnam and all the countries you can normally go over land and that is a lot
cheaper just make sure you got the right visas and everything required for the land order number nine
is i haven't said it but obviously stay in hostels but use hostels for their advice because they are
so knowledgeable and they will want to help and also other people in hostels they will help you
out if they've been traveling already and got some experience they could recommend really good places
to go and with any queries honestly hostels are so useful number 10 and this is not something
for everyone but if you can if you're confident then rent a moped it gives you so much freedom
to go wherever you want whenever you want and and the longer time you rent a motor ped the cheaper
price you will get it so honestly if you want freedom rent a moped and you will love it however
make sure you're not being scammed take a picture or a video so that any scrapes or
anything that you've got evidence just in case they try and scam you or whatever never give
them your passport because then they've got all the leverage just make sure you give them maybe
a driving license or something not as valuable tip number 11 how to choose the best hostel i use
booking.com agoda.com and hostelworld on all of these they've got a rating and if it's above eight
or even nine nine they are such good hostels and i recommend them always look at the reviews
because sometimes they might be like really good for solo backpackers or stuff like that so look at
the reviews look at the rating and then you're guaranteed to stay at some really really good
hostels the other thing is sometimes staying in a private room is either the same price or even
cheaper than staying in a hostel so if you're with another person keep that in mind and you
can even get your own room for cheaper so one of the most common questions i get is what about the
language barrier like i only speak english how am i going to survive in southeast asia and honestly
especially if you're in touristy places so many people know english now it's actually crazy i
was so surprised how many people spoke english but learning a couple of words of the local language
and they will love it they often smile laugh and they will really appreciate you trying to learn
the local language but don't worry if you don't then sign language honestly goes a long way you'd
be surprised give it a go if they if you can't communicate use google translate so number 13
is just be confident so if you're worried about not piecing people be confident no one knows who
you are in hostels other people are in the same situation that you are okay so they just want to
meet people and go out for dinner or you know go clubbing or whatever so be confident talk to other
people and you're guaranteed to meet lots of other travellers one side note because of covert at the
moment there's not loads of solo travelers but it does seem to be picking back up some of my friends
in thailand are saying that there's there's enough people but it's not overcrowded like it was before
so just keep that in mind if you are a bit worried maybe wait a bit or go with a friend so tip number
14 and this is probably the most important app to have on your phone if you're a backpacker
and that is map stop me they are offline maps so you can access maps and look where to go even if
you don't have a sim card or any wi-fi and so they will save you in so many circumstances and
they also have like little notes like oh a two dollar pad thai here or something and so they're
actually really useful because other backpackers can make notes or markers and tell you that's all
really good food here or do your laundry here or something like that so tip number 15 is what
visa to get or what visa do i need for southeast asia and every country varies okay so indonesia
philippines malaysia and thailand most countries you can get in without needing a visa so it's free
so other countries like cambodia laos you actually have to pay so just keep that in mind and make
sure you do research before you go often you can find it on your government website or something so
maybe look for that so tip number 16 is take motorbike taxis if you're confident on the back
of a motorbike then you can get much cheaper deals getting from a to b on a motorbike taxi
rather than a normal standard taxi so do that if you want to save some money the other thing
is walk places in cities because yeah you'll save money again so tip number 17 and this is a really
really important one and that is avoid over planning a lot of people plan their trip exactly
to the point and honestly part of the great thing about traveling is being free to go wherever you
want whenever you want especially if you are solo so don't plan your trip exactly i flew
into cambodia and then i ended up going to laos and vietnam when i wasn't even planning on going
there so keep that in mind and just go with the flow and just trust that everything will work out
ask the locals ask hostile people and everything will be fine be confident be wild be free
okay so one more tip if you've got any questions please dm me on instagram or even leave them in
the comments and i'll get back to you i'll help you out and if you like the video please please
just once just smash this like like button okay because it really does help me out and i am going
to thailand very very shortly so if you want to see my thailand series and everything about
thailand and traveling southeast asia then please subscribe to me and i'm gonna be in
southeast asia for hopefully most of this year so please subscribe okay guys i will see you
in the next video where i'm going to be packing my bag for thailand here we go