Menno&Mieke`s Asia Trip
Route Map of our Route Health Photo`s Countries Links
Introduction Costs
Preperation.

First things first, so we bought the book `handboek voor de wereldreiziger` (handbook for the worldtraveller). That is a book I can recommend to all people planning a long trip; it`s in dutch, I don`t know any english equivalents. It contains many practical information about planning your trip, such as where to go, what to do with your house, insurances, money, costs, health etcetera.
We decided to go to Asia for some reasons. First of all we find it a fascinating continent, because of the great differences in culture, religion and people. The second important reason is costs; Asia isn`t expensive and because of our limited budget this is something to take into account.
After choosing the destination we began calculating the costs. With the help of travelguides we found out that a budget of 13 dollars a day a person is possible. That`s 400 dollars a month, not much. But our experiences with other trips, one month Spain and Portugal and one month Italy and Greece, showed us that in expensive western europe a budget of 20 dollar a person a day is sufficient. That means low-budget accomodation such as camping and cheap guesthouses and mainly making your own food. Travelling mostly by land also keeps down the costs. We also have my mother and Mieke`s parents for financial backup. They can borrow us some extra money when it`s necesary. The 400 dollars a month does not include the costs for visa, equipment, vaccinations, long distance flights and so on. It`s just food and accomodation and travell by train and bus.
We`re now busy with reading about all the countries we`re going to visit. For exemple, the Lonely Planet is as good as ever. We borrow them from the library and just write down things which we find interresting.
Futhermore, we are planning about when to get the visas. We`re going to get the visas for Iran, Pakistan and India in advance in the Netherlands. The rest of the visas we will obtain during our trip. For Iran we`ve decided to go to Koning Aap reizen, a dutch company which can arrange the necesarry invitation letter. With taht in the pocket, we go to the Iranian Ambassy. For Pakistan and India visa are straightforeward te obtain.
We will also visit our bank soon, in order to arrange a financial plan.

That`s it so far, more will follow.