Booking a One-Way Ticket Travel Experience 2018 | 4 Months in 3 Countries without Checked-in Baggage

Booking a One-Way Ticket, How’s the Experience?

Finally, I made it! Booking a one-way ticket to travel out of the country has been accomplished. The journey started on September 11, 2018, and returned on January 12, 2019. Since what happened during my South Korea visa denial, I am not fond of seat sales anymore. Thus, booking a one-way ticket to travel is a dream come true.

How to find a cheap one-way ticket?

I booked a one-way ticket to Myanmar for $90 three weeks before the flight. A former travel buddy found the cheap ticket via Skyscanner. It was a Manila-Bangkok-Myanmar flight so I grabbed the opportunity to take it since Myanmar is one of the countries I need to visit. Got scared of the idea of having a one-way ticket but the travel buddy taught me some travel hacking on how European backpackers do it. You just need to be brave and confident in traveling that way. When I exited my country, I was actually being asked if I had the return ticket so I showed it to the officer. It was a smooth transaction except that I had to throw away my small pair of scissors.

Upon arrival in Bangkok and Yangon, nobody asked me for an onward ticket. Even though I did a Thailand to Cambodia border crossing and vice versa, neither the officer asked.

This is how I booked my airfare tickets

• check and compare tickets on Skyscanner of your desired date
• you can actually book flights through Skyscanner or book on each airline’s website
• Puerto Princesa to Manila flight with AirAsia – PHP 1,429
• Manila to Bangkok flight with Cebu Pacific – PHP 3,018.89
• Bangkok to Yangon flight with AirAsia – PHP 1,700
• Myanmar e-visa for 28 days – USD 50 or PHP 2,680

Before the flight, I already spent a total of PHP 8,827.89 already. Another expense for a travel tax about PHP 1,700.

Related Article: How to Avoid Offloading as an Online Freelancer, a Female Solo Traveler, or Group Travelers?

Do I need to show my list of an itinerary to the immigration officer?

Since I’ve been to Taiwan twice in 2017 for 25 days during the spring season and 26 days on a budget, I never prepared any documents for my itinerary. Maybe they can see that I travel a lot so they never asked for it. No itinerary for my Myanmar trip either.

Related Article: Sample Japan Trip Itineraries You Can Follow

How to pack your bags for a Southeast Asian country trip?

Make sure not to buy checked-in baggage as it may add up to your expenses. Pack as light as you can.

What my bags look like?

The bag covered with a green rain cover is a 32-liter backpack and the Palawan bag is my laptop bag.

What’s inside the 32-liter backpack?

• the smallest packing cube with my clothes good for four (4) days
• DSLR Nikon D5100 camera and accessories
• toiletries
• electrical extension cord and laptop cord
• power bank and phone chargers
• raincoat
• medication
• sarong/scarf
• a pair of flip-flops/slippers
• bikinis
• diving mask, snorkel, and fins (optional)

What’s inside the laptop bag?

• laptop
• passport
• iPad and smartphone
• money

What to wear on the flight?

• jacket/pullover
• a pair of leggings or jeans
• skirt
• undies
• in case of extra weight on your bag, wear some clothes on your flight
• a pair of walking shoes

The total weight of my bags is 13 kilograms which the gadgets are way heavier than my clothes packed in a small packing cube. It’s heavy for a small person like me but you need to be trained physically to handle the stress of your back by doing some exercise and weights. Same time, you are bikini-ready when it’s time to hit to the beach. I will create a separate blog post on how to pack light for a backpacking trip.

How not to be a smelly backpacker on a long-term traveling?

• please make good use of hot showers in your hostel
• buy a laundry soap to handwash your clothes and socks
• please use deodorant if body odor is really strong
• brush your teeth, use dental floss, gargle with mouthwash
• sprinkle baking soda on your smelly walking shoes overnight

How’s your monthly budget?

You may be wondering how I survive traveling long term and ask about my budget. Well, my monthly budget is US$500. It’s the same amount I am spending since I’ve been staying independently in Palawan. You may also be interested to read on how I saved 100K PHP to travel to 5 countries back in 2015.

Also, during the trip, I had passive income that let me earn after three months while traveling so it helped me funding my long term trip. Since I always bring my work with me, I have an income and earned some money with sponsored blog posts.

Related Article: Are you interested to invest in the stock market?

Realization – summary of the trip

Backpacking for four straight months is indeed not a vacation. For me, it’s a real hardcore way of traveling especially of what I have experienced in Myanmar. Visiting different places as much as possible in Myanmar for 28 days and you move a lot. Getting what your visa has to offer. Personally, I got tired but maybe not the former travel buddy as he liked to spend 3 days in one place and move to the next.

Related Article: 3 Days and 2 Nights in Hpa-an, Myanmar Itinerary

A few days before my Myanmar e-visa expired, I found a USD 39 ticket to Bangkok from Yangon so I booked it right away. Had no plans to return to the Philippines so I took advantage of staying in Bangkok for almost a month just for the food. Most of the time I just sleep and eat and seldom go out to touristy places. No, I haven’t done all the touristy things in Bangkok.

Flew to Phuket for 4 days with a Filipina traveler I met in a hostel in Bangkok and reunited with a Thai girl we met in the same hostel. For some personal reason, got extended my stay for 11 days in Phuket before I flew back to Bangkok.

I crossed the border from Bangkok to Siem Reap and celebrated my birthday in a new country for one week. Did some touristy stuff especially visiting Angkor Wat and I enjoyed some of my few days catching up work.

Came back to Bangkok and flew to Phuket once again. This time, everything was so chill with someone. Traveled to some other towns in Phuket and visited Koh Samui and Koh Phangan. Celebrated Christmas and New Year.

Do you have the guts to book a one-way ticket?

I am not sure if booking a one-way ticket is for everyone since most Filipinos have limited time of vacation and need to get back to work. Some travelers will just book a throw-away ticket and extend their stay in different countries. I did the same but I felt like I’ve been wasting my money for an unused return ticket. So, it really depends on the individual to just throw away. If you need help with your return ticket, send me a message.

Found a ticket back to Manila from Bangkok for around PHP 4,000 (two months ahead from the flight date) and Manila to Puerto Princesa flight was less than PHP 900 (GetGo points + surcharge fuel) during the birthday promo given to me by Cebu Pacific.

Do you have the guts to book a one-way ticket? Share your experience in the comment section below.