ANSWERING MY 5 MOST ASKED QUESTIONS FOR SOUTH EAST ASIA (10/05/2023)

February 16, 2024

Answering my 5 Most Asked questions for backpacking South East Asia!

As you can imagine, I often get the same questions about traveling South East Asia over and over! So I wanted to share my TOP TIPS here with YOU Okay Kara Travels!

Please remember that what me and Luke pick for our trip might not always suit you! Always do your own adequate research before any trip!

(Contains affiliate links).

1. Travel Insurance

I wish I had a ‘travel insurance magic wand’ but unfortunately that doesn’t exist (yet…)! Theres no simple answer other than ‘read the fine print’ on EVERY SINGLE TRAVEL INSURANCE! Even some of the backpacker aimed insurances won’t cover you for backpacking!

Things to look out for:

Will it cover me for a one way ticket? (Many don’t!)
What is the excess?
Will it allow me to add countries if my travel plans change?
Will it cover me for extreme sports? (Kayaking, Surfing, Bungee Jumping etc).

We used SafetyWing insurance because it allowed us to pay monthly instead of all in one big hit! We just paused our membership as soon as we got home and will restart it when we travel again! And it allowed us to travel to any country without needing to update them (unless you visit America or a country in conflict).

SEE MORE HERE!

2. Can I drive a moped?

‘Can I’ and ‘Should I’ are two very different questions.

Just about EVERY motorbike hire company will let you rent a motorbike without checking anything. So this means that YOU need to decide if this is a good idea or not.

Think about:

Can I trust myself to drive safely?

Nobody can answer that question for you.

The legal side:

Just because the hire company lets you rent a bike does NOT mean you are doing it legally! To legally rent a bike you need a FULL UK MOTORCYCLE LICENSE with an IDP (International Drivers Permit)! Unless you have all this you will likely face a fine if you get pulled over by the police.

I still advise that you get yourself a IDP to at least tick one of the polices boxes (and it did help us avoid fines a couple of times) but this doesn’t make it legal.

Remember that if you are driving illegally you likely won’t be covered by travel insurance.

3. Travel Vaccines

Vaccines are a very personal decision so there isn’t much I can help with on this side of things. First of all - apart from the Covid vaccine in some countries- there aren’t any vaccines that you NEED. You don’t need to prove that you have Hep B or Jap E to immigration so it is a completely personal decision if you get some or not. I recommend going to chat with your GP and your Travel Clinic so you can make your own informed decision. Your GP will offer you the free NHS ones but the travel clinic will cost.

I usually refer people to have a look at the information on travelhealthpro.org to decide for themselves!

See what we packed here!

4. What should I pack?

Again, this is a very personal question and will vary for everyone! But I will be touching on this more next month so make sure you keep an eye out for this!

For trips that are LESS THAN 2 months I recommend a 40L backpack with a 15L day bag.

For trips that are LONGER THAN 2 months I recommend a 55L backpack with a 15L day bag.

5. What is the best itinerary?

The good thing about South East Asia is that it’s a pretty EASY place to travel! It’s basically set up for backpackers as it has many different options of getting around. You can take a bus, take a flight, take a taxi etc etc from A to B!

The only things you need to book a while in advance are sleeper busses or long journeys that will affect your trip a lot!

If you would like help planning a great itinerary let me know and I can help! We could go through everything in a 1-1 call!

Book a custom itinerary here!

So I hope that everything here helps your trip! If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us! Please remember to do your own research before your trip to check that everything suits you but I am always available for 1-1 sessions to go through everything in more detail if you need!

Happy travels!

Kara xxx

Back to blog