The following will be an accounting of my 2019 trip to Thailand & Malyasia. If you’ve not read the blog, you can do so here. Or if you want a summary of the entire trip you can check that out here. It might provide some extra context to the costs below!
The Transportation ($1232.28)
The Flights ($1134.77)
The main flight to get me over the ocean took the form of a Cathay Airways flight from Vancouver to Bangkok, and then return from Singapore to Vancouver. This flight cost $973.09. However, because I purchased it using my American Express Platinum card, I was able to make use of the $200 Annual Travel Credit which brings the price of these flights down to $773.09
After this, I did fly a few different flights within South East Asia. The first pair was from Bangkok to Krabi and back in order to meet up with Gimpy and Cactoose. This was done on Vietjet and cost around $109.66 after conversion.
The other sets of flights were all on Singapore/SilkAir flights in order to complete a status match challenge which I outlined in the first post of the trip. These flights took me from Bangkok to Singapore and then from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur and back. These flights set me back $252.02 CAD (Converted)
Getting Around ($97.51)
In Krabi, Gimpy, Cactoose and I made use of Grab a few times to get around the city and to restaurants. in total this cost us $16.72 or $5.57 CAD individually.
There is also the matter of an airport transfer from the Airport to the Hotel and back. Because I arrived later than Gimpy and Cactoose I had a solo transfer to the hotel, but we split the cost of the transfer back to the airport when we left Krabi. For me both these trips cost $45.52 CAD.
In Bangkok, we also picked up metro cards which cost around $7.92 CAD and also a hop on hop off tourist boat pass which cost around $6.59 CAD.
In Kuala Lumpur, I also purchased a return fare for the Airport Express. I didn’t purchase it online so it was a normal fare for me which eventually works out to $31.91 CAD
Total Transportation Costs
| Airfare | $1134.77 |
| Other Transportation | + $97.51 |
| Total | = $1232.28 |
Accommodations ($311.15)
For this trip we/I stayed in three places so accommodations are pretty easy to sum up.
In Krabi, we stayed at The Scene Cliff View Villas for two nights. In total it cost $399.63, each of us ended up paying $133.21. This place felt like the prototypical South East Asian resort. Everything felt pretty fancy and the accommodations were very comfortable. So I think the two nights spent here were well worth it.
In Bangkok we stayed at Siri Sathorn and it cost 283.68 for two nights or $94.56 individually. This was a huge room with two bedrooms and a living room. It almost felt like a penthouse with the amount of space we had. So it does feel like great value for the amount we paid.
Finally, In Kuala Lumpur, I stayed at the Aloft by Sentral. I chose this location because of its proximity to the train station and it worked out super well for my short one day visit to the Malyasian capital. This room cost me $83.38 CAD for one night.
Total Accommodation Costs
| The Scene Cliff View Villas | $133.21 |
| Siri Sathorn Bangkok | $94.56 |
| Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral | $83.38 |
| Total | = $311.15 |
Food and Beverage ($270)
We ate like royalty in Asia for very little money. For the most part our meals were very affordable and most worked out to be less than $8 a meal after conversion. One standout meal though is the Michelin Star Street food Raan Jay Fai this meal cost a bit more at around $150 CAD.
I also didn’t end up paying for much food on the two instances I spent the night at Singapore Changi Airport and on the first day of travel as I transited through Hong Kong and Bangkok. For the most part I ate at lounges or on the planes which also saved a fair bit of money. So if we were to average three meals a day for five days at $8 dollars each, plus the $150 Raan Jay Fai meal our estimated food cost is $270 over 9 days.
Miscellaneous Expenses ($71.72)
There aren’t too many miscellaneous expenses for this trip. I think the main one is the ferry booking for us to go to Phi Phi Island. This cost $118.16 in total or $39.39 for each of us.
We also needed to pay for entry into the Grand Palace in Bangkok. This cost around $21.77 CAD for entry.
The only other expense is baggage storage in Bangkok as we explore the city on our last day there. To store all three of our bags, it costs $31.68 in total or $10.56 each.
So our total miscellaneous expenses work out to be $71.72
Totals
If you add everything up:
| Transportation | $1232.28 |
| Accommodations | + $311.15 |
| Food & Beverage | + $270 |
| Miscellaneous | + $71.72 |
| Total | = $1885.15 |
We get a grand total trip cost of $1885.15. Averaging this out over 9 days we get $209.46 per day. I know that some would question spending this amount of money on such a short trip. Normally I would agree with them! However, one of the stated purposes of this trip was to fly on a few extra planes in order to achieve airline status. This has resulted in future value on future trips which isn’t well represented in this wrap up. Things like lounge access, priority boarding and seat selection fees being waived have provided value well beyond this one trip.
Hopefully if you’re still reading to this point you find this helpful! If there is extra information you’d like to know, or have suggestions on how this can be done better, please feel free to drop a comment below and let me know!