Information Icon
NOVEMBER 2015: OVERVIEW: I purchased an Acer Switch 10E 2-in-1 Tablet when back in New Zealand to complete the Sale Of My House. I was disappointed with the Asus Transformerbook T100 that I had purchased for the first part of My Travels. As a side note, I am much happier with the Acer Switch. The Acer Switch came with Windows 8. After first boot-up and configuration, Windows Update upgraded me to Windows 8.1 After Windows 8.1 had FULLY INSTALLED (with about 5 cycles of updates!), I chose to upgrade further to Windows 10 (for free). Unlike some, I am reasonably […]

WINDOWS 10 – Can’t Connect To This ...

  NOVEMBER 2015:   Click here to read our Vietnam Retirement Reviews. Read about Vietnam Visa. OVERVIEW: Welcome to one of the biggest building sites in the world! Phu Quoc island is very similar to Otres Beach, Cambodia. Not surprising given that Phu Quoc lies off of the Cambodian coast. Price-wise, they are also very similar. {… this post is still under construction…} GETTING THERE: I travelled from Saigon / Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc on a personalised Mekong Delta Tour. ARRIVAL: You arrive at the Ferry Port on the south east of the island. From there you can catch a taxi direct to your hotel […]

Phu Quoc – Vietnam – Information

OCTOBER 2015: Click here to read our Vietnam Retirement Reviews. OVERVIEW: I arrived in Phu Quoc via a Mekong Delta Tour. I had already used BOOKING.COM to book 4 nights into the Lien Hiep Thanh Resort (about 4km south of Duong Dong). I booked 4 nights because Phu Quoc is a big island and I knew that it would take me 2 days to have a good look around. My objective was to find the best place to stay for the remainder of my planned 3 weeks on the island. TRANSPORT: When I arrived in Duong Dong, I was dropped off at the minivan offices […]

Phu Quoc – Vietnam – Around The ...

OCTOBER 2015: OVERVIEW: My costs start in Saigon International Airport and include: A taxi from the airport to my budget Hotel in District 1 5 days / 4 nights in Saigon A 2 day / 2 night Mekong Delta Tour The Ferry from Rach Gia to Phu Quoc (included in my tour) CROSS REFERENCES: For more information, read my post on Saigon and the Mekong Delta Tour. Click here to read about Retirement Locations in this country. Click here for detailed Travel Information and more Travel Budgets in this country. Read About – GRANDPAcking Costs if you don’t know how to interpret my figures. SPREADSHEET SUMMARY: MY […]

Saigon – Vietnam – GRANDPAcking Costs

  OCTOBER 2015:   Click here to read our Vietnam Retirement Reviews. OVERVIEW: I was in Saigon / HCMC to arrange how to get to Phu Quoc. I had booked myself into the Bizu Hotel for 4 nights so that I could sort the best option out without being rushed. I used CHEAPFLIGHTS.COM and TIKET.COM to see how much the flight was from Saigon to Phu Quoc. I could get a one-way flight for about US$59 BUT BEWARE, once on Phu Quoc the last minute flights back were over US$100 (a frient had to pay US$175 from Phu Quoc to Nha Trang)! By the time […]

Saigon to Phu Quoc – Vietnam – ...

  OCTOBER 2015:   Click here to read our Vietnam Retirement Reviews. Read about Vietnam Visa. OVERVIEW: In District 1 there are lots of recreational activities which is why District 1 is also known as the “sleepless district” where a great deal of entertainment keeps you awake all night. Foreigners from all over the world can be found here – so the chance of meeting new expat friends is higher than in other districts. Pham Ngu Lao street is a westernised road where there are a lot of western-style restaurants, coffee shops, bars and other services for foreigners. Thanks to the high density of foreigners, there […]

Saigon – Vietnam – Information

AUGUST 2015: OVERVIEW: My costs start and end in Kuta, Bali and are spread over 43 nights. They include: Transport from the Airport to my Kuta Hotel 2 nights in Kuta on arrival (to sort out getting to Padang Bai) Transport to Padang Bai; 8 nights in Padang Bai Scooter rental in Padang Bai for 3 days Transport from Padang Bai to Gili Air; 23 nights in Gili Air Transport from Gili Air to Nusa Lembongan; 8 nights in Nusa Lembongan Scooter rental in Nusa Lembongan for 7 days Transport from Nusa Lembongan back to Kuta; 2 nights in Kuta Transport from […]

Bali – Indonesia – GRANDPAcking Costs

AUGUST 2015: OVERVIEW: My costs start in Padang Bai, Bali and include: A fastboat from Padang Bai to Nusa Lembongan 8 nights / 9 days in Nusa Lembongan 6 days of scooter rental (including petrol) 8Gb of fast Mobile Data A fastboat to Sanur, Bali (including transport to my Kuta, Bali hotel) N.B. I was in Nusa Lembongan in High Season so I was paying ‘top dollar’ for everything. Although this may have made some difference to my costs, given the costs that I negotiated and what I did, I don’t think that those differences ended up being significant. CROSS REFERENCES: For more information, read my post on […]

Nusa Lembongan – Indonesia – GRANDPAcking Costs

AUGUST 2015: Click here to read our Indonesia Retirement Reviews. OVERVIEW: I enjoyed my short stay in Padang Bai but it was time to look south to Nusa Lembongan. As with Sabah and Padang Bai, this was High Season (the european July & August summer holidays) and I was expecting to pay top prices. GETTING THERE: The waitress at the Beach Inn told me that her uncle ran a Fastboat and that he could get me to Nusa Lembongan for IDR100k. When will I ever learn… I jumped on the back of her scooter and she took be to him. I […]

Nusa Lembongan – Indonesia – Information

AUGUST 2015: OVERVIEW: My costs start in Kuta, Bali and include: A minivan from my hotel to Padang Bai 8 nights / 9 days in Padang Bai 3 days of scooter rental (including petrol) 10Gb of fast Mobile Data N.B. I was in Padang Bai in High Season so I was paying ‘top dollar’ for everything. Although this may have made some difference to my costs, given the costs that I negotiated and what I did, I don’t think that those differences ended up being significant. CROSS REFERENCES: For more information, read my post on Padang Bai. Click here to read about Retirement Locations in this […]

Padang Bai – Indonesia – GRANDPAcking Costs

AUGUST 2015: Click here to read our Indonesia Retirement Reviews. OVERVIEW: The last time that I was in Padang Bai, it was a whirlwind visit – I was on my way to Gili Air by fastboat. It felt a bit weird being back again after all this time (December 2014); I admit it, I was tempted to jump on a fastboat to Gili Air to say ‘hi’ to everyone. But, I resisted. Padang Bai is a reasonably attractive stop by Indonesian standards: it sits on a small bay (bai) and has a nice little curve of a beach. It is a […]

Padang Bai – Indonesia – Information

AUGUST 2015: OVERVIEW: As I need to go back to New Zealand for a few weeks to sort out the sale of my house, I thought that it would be interesting to construct a GRANDPAcking budget for Paraparaumu – for comparison purposes. I have used exactly the same standards and criteria that I have used for all of my other GRANDPAcking Budgets. CROSS REFERENCES: Click here to read about Retirement Locations in this country. Click here for detailed Travel Information and more Travel Budgets in this country. Read About – GRANDPAcking Costs if you don’t know how to interpret my figures. SPREADSHEET SUMMARY:   MY […]

Paraparaumu – New Zealand – GRANDPAcking Costs