from (thailand to) russia with love
January 20, 2018 4:47 PM Subscribe
I need to be in Phuket on June 9th, and (Helsinki or) St. Petersburg on June 17th. What could I do/where could I go in between that would be a) awesome and b) cheaper than just flying back home for a week?
By the 9th I'll have been in Thailand for about a week, and I'll be spending a couple weeks in Moscow & St. Petersburg starting on the 17th.
"Cheaper than flying back home for a week" means, like, less than $600 (or up to $1200 including flights). On the other hand if you can think of something awesome that would be more expensive, tell me anyway!
Potentially useful details:
- I'm a 30ish North American white woman with a lot of international travel experience, though it's been a few years since I did much solo travel
- I speak a little Russian and a smattering of other European languages with, uh, varying levels of competence
- I will have one carry-on bag
- I will not fly on sketchy airlines (=airline in major alliance good, airline that is not allowed to fly to Europe bad) or rent/drive a car
- happy to stay in any kind of accommodation that isn't actively dangerous
- I'm vegetarian but am content to cook in hostel kitchens or eat a plain potato for every meal as necessary
- would prefer not to go to tons of trouble for visas etc. but like, I could if it was worth it?
Thank you for any ideas!
By the 9th I'll have been in Thailand for about a week, and I'll be spending a couple weeks in Moscow & St. Petersburg starting on the 17th.
"Cheaper than flying back home for a week" means, like, less than $600 (or up to $1200 including flights). On the other hand if you can think of something awesome that would be more expensive, tell me anyway!
Potentially useful details:
- I'm a 30ish North American white woman with a lot of international travel experience, though it's been a few years since I did much solo travel
- I speak a little Russian and a smattering of other European languages with, uh, varying levels of competence
- I will have one carry-on bag
- I will not fly on sketchy airlines (=airline in major alliance good, airline that is not allowed to fly to Europe bad) or rent/drive a car
- happy to stay in any kind of accommodation that isn't actively dangerous
- I'm vegetarian but am content to cook in hostel kitchens or eat a plain potato for every meal as necessary
- would prefer not to go to tons of trouble for visas etc. but like, I could if it was worth it?
Thank you for any ideas!
Best answer: Fly to Beijing and take the train up through Ulan Bataar--I believe no visa is required for Americans, though this may have very recently changed?--which will take nearly a week so you should consider pre-booking your tickets through an agent to be sure you actually get on the train you want to be on, and you'll need the Russian visa to be valid earlier than June 17 for this.
posted by tapir-whorf at 5:27 PM on January 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by tapir-whorf at 5:27 PM on January 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
Best answer: It's kind of absurd, but my first thought was a little more extra than tapir-whorf's: you can do the whole thing overland. You have to take a bus through Laos or Cambodia, but otherwise there's trains all the way. Here's your route from Phuket (well, Surat Thani) up to the Lao border, and then across to Hanoi. And here's your route from Hanoi-Beijing, then from Beijing-Moscow. It fits in the time and budget, and it's very likely to be memorable, quite probably a good memory. All the travel advice is very positive about the trans-Siberian for women travelling on their own.
Otherwise, I'd say Addis Ababa is affordable with flights (Emirates, Turkish, Kenya and Ethiopian are all good airlines. flydubai, notably, isn't, and serves both Bangkok and Moscow, so that's worth a warning) and by all accounts safe and pleasant to travel to.
These are both trips I've scoped out for myself rather than personal experience, but they both sound pretty exciting. Enjoy!
posted by ambrosen at 6:07 PM on January 20, 2018 [5 favorites]
Otherwise, I'd say Addis Ababa is affordable with flights (Emirates, Turkish, Kenya and Ethiopian are all good airlines. flydubai, notably, isn't, and serves both Bangkok and Moscow, so that's worth a warning) and by all accounts safe and pleasant to travel to.
These are both trips I've scoped out for myself rather than personal experience, but they both sound pretty exciting. Enjoy!
posted by ambrosen at 6:07 PM on January 20, 2018 [5 favorites]
Best answer: Tbilisi! Wine, culture/events, great food, beautiful surroundings, cheaper than anywhere in the EU, and basically all of Georgia is daytrippable except the coast. I stayed at Envoy Hostel in a very reasonably priced private room and did their tours each day to see Sighnaghi, Kazbegi, and Mtskheta. They also do packages with their sister hostel in Yerevan, Armenia.
Istanbul is probably cheaper in terms of flights, though.
(Also: FlyDubai is not horrific but operates in a tricky region. More here at AvHerald's list of incidents - lots of birds/gravel, a few shots fired at the plane in Baghdad, only one real crash. I wouldn't hesitate to book with them.)
posted by mdonley at 2:03 AM on January 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
Istanbul is probably cheaper in terms of flights, though.
(Also: FlyDubai is not horrific but operates in a tricky region. More here at AvHerald's list of incidents - lots of birds/gravel, a few shots fired at the plane in Baghdad, only one real crash. I wouldn't hesitate to book with them.)
posted by mdonley at 2:03 AM on January 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Thai buses are great: air conditioned, frequent service, run on time on smoothly paved roads with multiple classes of service. Laotian buses are not so great: barely-airconditioned minibuses on roads that switch from paved to dirt and back again are the norm. YMMV, but while I'm happy to "adventure travel", I wouldn't find 2 days on a Laotian bus from Luang Prabang or Chiang Rai to Hanoi to be enjoyable.
But there is a solution if you like ambrosen's overland idea!
- Bus from Chiang Rai to Chiang Khong, Thailand or Huay Xai, Laos (about 2 hrs)
- Take a 2 day Mekong River boat cruise to Luang Prabang (for ~$120 you can effectively get 2 days all-inclusive on a comfortable, private boat; there's also a cheaper public boat option)
- Then you're in Luang Prabang, which is beautiful and interesting!
- Vietnam Air (in the Sky Team Alliance with Delta) files Luang Prabang -> Hanoi, which is a 1hr flight (vs. 24 hr-ish drive)
If you're from the US and plan on traveling through Vietnam, get your visa squared away ahead of time.
posted by asphericalcow at 2:16 PM on January 21, 2018 [2 favorites]
But there is a solution if you like ambrosen's overland idea!
- Bus from Chiang Rai to Chiang Khong, Thailand or Huay Xai, Laos (about 2 hrs)
- Take a 2 day Mekong River boat cruise to Luang Prabang (for ~$120 you can effectively get 2 days all-inclusive on a comfortable, private boat; there's also a cheaper public boat option)
- Then you're in Luang Prabang, which is beautiful and interesting!
- Vietnam Air (in the Sky Team Alliance with Delta) files Luang Prabang -> Hanoi, which is a 1hr flight (vs. 24 hr-ish drive)
If you're from the US and plan on traveling through Vietnam, get your visa squared away ahead of time.
posted by asphericalcow at 2:16 PM on January 21, 2018 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by eugenen at 5:26 PM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]