Coming from Manila, where almost everything is cheap, prices of goods, services and admission tickets can be terribly shocking once you convert it to peso. Of course, they always say don’t convert else you won’t buy anything. Then again, there are plenty of inexpensive options around, specially here in [tag]Melbourne[/tag].

There are plenty of free activities around the city, from watching a trapeze company performing in the street to watching a concert at the Federation square. To help you get around, there’s the free City Cirle Tram and the free Tourist Shuttle bus, which takes you to (or within walking distance to) all of the major tourists attractions in the city.
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We interrupt our regular programming for this awesome announcement I received in the mail today:

Introducing [tag]Cebu Pacific[/tag]‘s newest regional destination. . . KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA!

Fly from MANILA TO KUALA LUMPUR (vice versa) for only 1,499 pesos one-way!

Visit the truly Asian capital and experience the unique fusion of cultural heritage, colorful festivals and endless shopping on our introductory fare.

HURRY, catch the KUALA LUMPUR SEAT SALE from October 11 – 18, 2006 only! Travel period is from November 30, 2006 to January 31, 2007.

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So I was skulking around Jetstar’s website again and discovered two things:

1. The introduction of the StarClass for International flights on the A330; and
2. Starting November 23, 2006, they will start flying from Melbourne and Sydney to Bangkok, Phuket (November 24), Vietnam (November 30), Denpasar (December 8) and Osaka (March 25, 2007)

This is probably every backpacker/budget traveler’s dream come true. Of course, there’s Tiger Airways who flies from Singapore to Darwin, but Jetstar will be offering more flights to Asia from southeast Australia.

I’m actually giddy about this. On the other hand, I really should get a life.

Related links:
Jetstar Website

Related articles:
Budget fares to non-budget terminals

I’ve seen this magazine at Borders in Singapore, but I was unable to go back to buy it (because I’ve used up all my money shopping). I scoured the magazine shops in Manila, but I don’t think I ever saw this locally (or if I had, I must have been broke when I came across it).
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Here’s a great article for all of us budget travelers (or independent travelers; whatever floats your boat): 51 Ways to Cut Vacation Costs from National Geographic Traveler.

I find myself agreeing with most of the list, but this one comes as a surprise:

2. Trash your “cookies,” small files (stored in your Internet browser) that record the websites you surf—and the transactions you make. Say you go online and purchase a $200 plane ticket from Chicago to Omaha. The next time you visit that site, you could be quoted a higher rate than what’s actually available because of your spending history. Avoid this problem by deleting these files each time you log on; detailed instructions can be found under the “Help” option in your browser menu.

Well I’ll be darned.

Cebu Pacific’s website and booking facilities now includes Singapore! I tried booking to see how much the fare would cost.

The promo fare (buy from July 20 – 26, travel from Aug 31 – Oct 19) amounts to PHP 6,327.00.

The non-promo fare amounts to Php 8,327.00 roundtrip.

Not bad, eh? It comes out higher than Tiger Airway’s roundtrip fares, but at least you get to fly from (the pitiful) NAIA Terminal 1. The question now is, how will their service fare compared to their competitors’?

One downside to Cebu Pacific’s new route is the time. Though they will be flying to and from Singapore daily, the timing is a bit off:

Departure from Manila is at 8:30pm, arrive in Singapore at 11:55pm
Departure from Singapore is at 12:40am, arrive in Manila at 4:05am

I suppose it’s great if you need to be in Singapore or Manila for a meeting the following day, hahaha. It’d suck if you’re paying for accommodations in Singapore because you’d be paying for a whole night when you’d only be staying for only half of it. I’m so glad I have relatives in Singapore.
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I never really considered Tiger Airways, even when I’m trying to be cheap with my budget. That is primarily because flying via Tiger in the Philippines meant having to go to Clark. Even with the shuttle service from Megamall, I still see it as a hassle, particularly since I live in the northern part of Metro Manila.

However, when my sister-in-law told me about the special promotion Tiger Airways was having, I immediately changed my opinion. Well, it was actually because it’s for the Thailand leg of the trip.

That was in the middle of January, their SG$9.98 promo. Similar to Cebu Pacific‘s Php 10 and Piso fares, the base rate for a one-way ticket is SG$9.98 (depending on the destination) plus applicable taxes. For my roundtrip ticket to Bangkok originating from Singapore, it came down to SG$103.21 or Php3,320.00.
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Back in the 80′s, when you want to travel, you go to your travel agent to book a flight or avail of a tour package. When you want to learn more about places you want to go to, you go to the library or the embassy, or talk to people you know who’s already been there.

Nowadays, you just have to go online. You book your flight through the carrier’s website, pay via credit card and print out your ticket. If you want to research, you Google your destination and instantly read about stories and advice from people around the world. Instead of being limited by a tour package, you get enough information to get off the beaten track.

So where to go for information? If you find Google overwhelming, here are some links to site I’ve found useful for my research.
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