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| Planet Earth Tour - Getting around Astrid and Jack Mols |
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| Most spectacular is to go by rental car. This is the way to see the most interesting places and to actually get there! Most high standard countries offer excellent possibilities to near fantastic sights by car. Be sure to arrange the cars from your own country, this is much cheaper than any airport deal! The advantage of a rental is you don't have to carry your stuff. But rentals are not cheap, some countries offer rent-a-brick/dent services, providing used cars. Those give an extra dimension to living dangerously. At least you think you are... |
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| Busses can be very good and sometimes cheap transportation between major cities but you still have to walk a lot if you don't want to get hasseled by millions of taxi/tuktuk and motorbiketaxi people. Perfect are the bus systems in Thailand and Malaysia. Don't get ripped off at tourist prices, find your own way around and study those timetables and fareprices carefully. |
| Above: these are ancient petroglyphs found at 'newspaperrock' in Canyonlands N.P., U.S.A. |
| Trains are once more perfect for longdistance travel at reasonable prices. Especially Thailand (again) has good connections with busstations not to far off. Feel that extra dimension of travelling 3rd class. You maybe sitting on wooden benches with all the windows open leaving you all covered in dirt on leaving the train, but at least you get to speak a lot of locals and encounter some strange goings on in rural local life. Planes. As I explained in one of the other pages an around-the-world ticket is your best option to save on those ridiculous flight-prices. The fares on offer mostly don't go to the places you want to go to. We did encounter a couple that went where ever the cheapest flight went! Now that's encountering the unexpected! Countries to get good ticket fares are The Netherlands, Thailand and a little bookingagency in Singapore located in the middle of the Indian neighbourhood. (Your Lonely planet will have the address) Be sure to use travel-agents, they are the experts in getting you the best prices (watch out for some bad apples out there). At the airports tickets are more expensive because they figure you won't be going back into town to get your tickets, taking advantage of the hassle you have to go through to get there. But you might as well shop around a few days before you are going to the airport. |
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| Left and right: You'll be encountering millions of these in the Asian countries. You'll get so sick of Wat's (Thai name for temple) and can't stand the sight of yet another Buddah. Nevertheless they are beautiful and most places like the old town of Sukothai in Thailand harvests them in quantities you'll never get around to see all of them anyway even if you tried. |
| Boat. Boattrips always seem to be expensive no matter where you may find yourself. If you are travelling between the Ko's (Thai name for Island) in Thailand or need to get a booking on the connection between Seattle U.S.A. and Vancouver Island's Victoria Harbour, Canada it always seems to cost you a bundle to get there. One thing's for sure, try booking ahead! Especially in Western countries this can save you a considerable amount of money. Like the ferry crossing between Wellington and Picton the connection between New Zealand's Northern and Southern Island, find a travel-agent a week before you want to cross and ask for their best prices! They'll sell you the tickets at a considerable discount when booking (and paying) a week ahead. Seattle/Vancouver Island is also best booked ahead. A lot of American weekend shoppers take the 'short' crossing to Canada to get their goods cheaper than in American stores. So on weekends its crowded. You can also do the more scenic crossing, which is more expensive but takes you through the San Juan Island area, you might even see some killerwhales who roam thes waters. There are a lot of boattrips we can recommend, be it sightseeing or just practical crossings like the one from Langkawi, Malaysia to Satun Thailand, but if you are anywhere near Kaikoura, New Zealand or Port McNeill, Vancouver Island, be sure to go on a whale watching trip! New Zealand offers the 'dusky dolphins', 'sperm whales', 'Orca'. Vancouver Island is to our knowledge one of the best places to go 'Killerwhale' watching. |
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| And yet anotherone! |