Departed.
And yet again, leaving.
Doors closed, wallet and passport in my pocket, music in my ears. It's 1 am in a bus to Kings Cross and 6 'gangsta' blokes with funny haircuts and mismatched jewelery try to get in without paying.
Perhaps drug dealing isn't as lucrative as it seems. Engine is off, abuse is on, hands are waved and fingers are pointed. Well, the driver doesn't even flinch and cash-strapped victims of unprotected sex are off, searching for another way home.
Sometime later, my train to Luton is typical for a Saturday night. Few 'happily drunk' guys wrestling on the floor between seats, people dozing off, people staring into darkness and me, appleating.
Airport, more apples and an episode of True Blood before departure with Polish crew on the plane. Croatia, here I come(fly)!
Discounted travel tickets
One of the questions my friends keep asking me the most relates to ticket prices and a way to find discounted flight deals. It usually starts with something like 'I wish I had money to fly around the world like that' when I promptly explain how little those flights can cost.
Few examples of good deals I've found on the Internet:
- 15£ for London to Split(Croatia)
- 25£ for Sofia(Bulgaria) to London
- 40£ for London to Istanbul
- 230£ for return flight from London to Varadero(Cuba) in high season!
- 250£ for return flight from London to New York(JFK)
- multiple flights around SE Asia for less than 10£
and many others...
So, without further ado, here's the simple routine I use when I want to go somewhere:
1. I usually start with SkyScanner, especially when I don't have a specific date or place in mind.
Despite few shortcomings(slightly outdated prices, but I guess the very best deals simply change very frequently),
They've got the best broad search functionality I've found on the Internet. You can search for flights like 'London to Everywhere in 2010' or 'Germany to Poland in October' which means you can easily find discounted flight tickets to locations that you haven't even considered.
SkyScanner is also a good research tool to find which airlines fly between your choosen locations and then use the information to lower the price even further.
2. The second flights comparison site I use is Kayak. They offer slightly less flexibility than SkyScanner but are still very useful for few connections that don't show up there.
Oh, don't forget to check out the 'Explore' link. It's basically a world map showing cheapest flights from your location, anywhere in the world. You can refine the results by date, price, flight duration, temperature and even languages spoken at the destination. Pretty cool!
3. Kayak and SkyScanner work for me 90% of the time. If I'm still not satisfied with what I found, I'm going directly to airline web sites. Prices there are most up to date and few of them offer flexible searching options similar to the above.
Here are few airlines I search for specific region:
- around Europe - RyanAir, WizzAir, EasyJet
- UK to Carrabean, Greece, Spain, Turkey - Thomson
- UK to SE Asia - Etihad, Emirates, Singapore Airlines
- around SE Asia - AirAsia
- China to UK, Japan and Hong Kong - China Eastern(good to call them directly for better deals)
- UK to US - Virgin Atlantic(good but expensive)
- Australia, New Zealand and SE Asia - JetStar, Tiger Airways
Hope it helps. Feel free to let me know if you have any tips and sources of your own.
How to find cheap, last minute accommodation while travelling or on holiday
A quick post, this time. Finding a place to sleep is one of the most important tasks we're all faced with before, and while travelling.
While it's generally not a problem if you're going on holiday once a year(just book any decent hotel and you're set), choosing between different accommodation options is much more important when travelling long-term and/or changing places frequently.
There are few reasons for this. First of all, you'll need a place where you can focus as well as reliable Internet access if you're working remotely. Some people find it easier to use a hot-desk or even Starbucks and internet caffees but if you, like me, prefer to work at night(or if you're in a remote location without facilities above), you'll find it easier to work and sleep in one place.
I've got few rules when choosing where to stay:
1. If I have a lot of work, research or catching up to do, feel tired, need a long bath or find an amazing deal online, I book a decent hotel. Free Wi-Fi and great location are the most important factors. I don't mind whether it's a small boutique hotel or a big chain and I don't care about star rating that much. Believe me, a great 3-star hotel can still be much better than a lousy 5-star.
2. For longer periods of time(more than a week), I generally prefer to rent a managed apartment. For a price that's usually lower than a hotel, I get all the freedom, facilities and privacy I need.
3. If I feel like partying, socializing or stay only for few hours, I usually book a hostel. They are cheap, usually offer free Wi-Fi(and lockers) and are full of young, friendly people. What else do you need? 
Ok, so how do we find hotels? I start with 2 sites:
- Agoda - plenty of really good deals(especially around SE Asia) but no sorting by price
- Hotels - more flexible search and lots of discounted offers
These two should be enough to find a decent hotel anywhere in the world but if it's not...just Google it 
As for hostels the most popular sites are:
And if you're really in trouble, CouchSurfing and HospitalityClub are good for crashing on someone else's couch for few hours(or longer )
Have fun!
Where’s all the cool stuff?
Since you're reading this, I can safely assume you like travel blogs. You might be a vagabond yourself, or perhaps you're bored out of your senses at work, tied to your desk and simply killing time until 5.30pm.
Either way, I think you'd agree that when reading a travel blog, most people want to hear about freedom. About crazy events, great people, weird cultural habits and breathtaking views(obviously, with photos).
I guess that's how we organize things in our brains - important or just unusual facts and memories stick with us, while all that useless stuff fades away. That's good, but think about how it affects story-telling. It's no surprise we like to read those blogs - they are like an action-packed Hollywood movie, packed with cool stuff in a very condensed form. That's what we want to read about - adventure!
Do I have a point here? I think that when planning our own independent lifestyle, we should be aware of the normal and mundane. Wasting 36 hours on the airport(or even 3 weeks in a dingy hospital somewhere in the mountains, after less-than-successful trekking trip), doesn't mean your trip is a total failure, that's just a part of it.
I guess it all boils down to a difference between having a holiday and traveling as a location-independent lifestyle. You can almost feel the time passing away when you only have 4 weeks of holiday per year. You try to see as much as possible, experience everything. It feels different when you don't have those constraints. Of course, there's always some work to do, you need to have some income. Still, there is no countdown, no boundaries set in stone - you're in control.
As long as this empowering sense of freedom stays with you, you're free to enjoy that ordinary dinner or an evening with a book. Adventure will come, sooner or later.
This food is crab!
So there we are, in the capital of Malaysia. Think Kuala Lumpur (KL for short), think Petronas Twin Towers, one of the tallest buildings in the world and a famous land-mark of south-east Asia. Apart from that, KL is known for great food and one of the cheapest five star hotels in the world. We couldn't miss that chance and decided have a proper rest(after 24 hours of travelling, you can probably imagine why) at one of those fancy hotels.
So, we've booked a night in a Renaissance Hotel, a pretty decent lay-down in the area called 'Golden Triangle' - that's basically where the towers are. One of the best features of the hotel, was the view from our room. Huge windows revealed an impressive, panoramic picture of the city skyline, including the aformentioned towers.
As for getting there, it was easy enough. After 30-mminute ride in an express train from the airport, we were pleasantly surprised to see a taxi-window where you can get a taxi for a decent, flat fee. 15 minutes and around 2£ later we were already in the hotel.
Obviously, a high-class five star hotel with a huge reception, separate ballroom and almost antique decor(in a good, fashionable sense I guess), might not be the first choice for a group of backpackers. We have only took it for one night and decided to find something more down-to-earth after a proper rest...
Clicking for a living – ethical or not?
If you're just starting your yourney into forex world(or simply losing your money instead of profiting, like you supposed to), you probably haven't thought about it too much.
Only when you actually start making money this way and the prospect of easy, comfortable life without financial worries gets very, very real, you begin to wonder whether it's actually 'fair' to live your life without creating anything.
You've heard it many times - forex is a zero-sum game. Someone can profit only when the other side(directly or indirectly) of the transaction losses. You're not manufacturing anything nor providing a service to anyone. Or maybe you are?
One way to defend it and present forex trading as ethical is to look at it as a service. By executing an order, you're effectivelly providing someone with needed liquidity. I guess in this sense, it's no different than selling stuff on ebay or having your own shop. It's just the medium that changes.
Having said that, I wouldn't want to look back and at last few years of my life and see only increasing balance - it's great to create something from time to time. I think trading is a great tool to pay your current expenses while you're working on something bigger, but I guess different people will have different goals in mind.
Make billions on forex using this secret trading method!
A very experienced and obviously extremely successful trader will give us a unique opportunity to become a millionaire for a few bucks...we've all seen that. Nice car, hot girls under your arm and no need to ever work in your life(except those 2 hours per week or whatever they advertise)...why not give it a try? Yeah, right...
Here's a different, more sensible target. How about funding your hobby with another one - trading on forex? After few years(on and off, it's not like I'm a pro or something) of trading increasingly larger amounts of real money, I've learned that short-term, tangible goals are usually easier to achieve than some abstract annual ROI or whatever you use.
So, I'm trading for fun..night in a pub, airplane ticket, new gadget or a motorbike. Having that kind of clearly defined targets - relatively small and usually achievable within maximum few weeks - makes it easier to motivate myself to do a proper research, etc.
It's also fun to spend that money. Imagine, you understand what's happening, you make a right decision, you earn a profit. Apart from the obvious satisfaction of making a right choice, you also have a physical proof of your achievement, even if it's just a fridge full of booze!
My point is, it is absolutely possible to turn some common sense and bit of your time into cold hard cash. In time, I'll try to explain how I do it and why does it work.
Kuala Lumpur – here we go!
Here we are, in the capital of Malaysia. Think Kuala Lumpur (KL for short), think Petronas Twin Towers, one of the tallest buildings in the world and a famous land-mark of south-east Asia. Apart from that, KL is known for great food and one of the cheapest five star hotels in the world. We couldn't miss that chance and decided have a proper rest(after 24 hours of travelling, you can probably imagine why) at one of those fancy hotels.
So, we've booked a night in a Renaissance Hotel, a pretty decent lay-down in the area called 'Golden Triangle' - that's basically where the towers and loads of pubs/clubs/restaurants are. One of the best features of the hotel, was the view from our room. Huge windows revealed an impressive, panoramic picture of the city skyline, including the aformentioned towers.
As for getting there, it was easy enough. After 30-minute ride in an express train from the airport, we were pleasantly surprised to see a taxi-window where you can get a taxi for a decent, flat fee. 15 minutes and around 2gbp later we were already in the hotel.
Obviously, a high-class five star hotel with a huge reception, separate ballroom and almost antique decor(in a good, fashionable sense I guess), might not be the first choice for a group of backpackers. We have only took it for one night and decided to find something more down-to-earth after a proper rest...
Day 1. Singapore
Ok, time to finally write something about the trip.
Our first stop after London, was Singapore. We've decided not to stay in the city for too long since most modern cities look the same anyway. After landing and a short queue in the immigration(no problems whatsoever, as usual), we've headed to the city centre to have a look around before departing to Kuala Lumpur in the evening.
Here is where you take a deep breath before leaving the airport. Air humidity is much higher than in London and adding a temperature difference means that first feeling might be quite dramatic. So there we are, two pale white, jet-lagged westerners sweating and cursing the heat on every step while trying to remember why did we leave the airport in the first place.
Anyway, in case you didn't know, Singapore is called a 'fine city' for a reason. Everywhere you go, you're reminded of how much would you have to pay if you were stupid enough to litter, chew a gum, eat in the underground or forget to flush in a public toilet. Considering those strict rules, it's no wonder that Singapore is known to be one of the cleanest and safest cities in the world. With not even a tiny piece of trash on a floor in sight, you begin to wonder whether London really has to be so dirty.
Few years and litres of sweat later, we boarded a plane to Kuala Lumpur a proper start of the trip...
Hello, take 2…
That post below was a lousy attempt to start a travel blog around November last year.
Yeah, right. I was planning a nice trip around California and had an amazing plan to put my comments and observations on this very blog, somehow organizing my thoughts into something more or less coherent. The trip was indeed a fine one but I failed completely and utterly in my blogging endeavors as I simply didn't feel like sharing anything with anyone.
Perhaps this time will be different...
Should I introduce myself just in case your cat/hamster/kid stomped on the keyboard and forced google to return this address?
My name is Martin and I've been living in London for last 4 years(4 years minus 3 days to be exact).
Anyway, since I was born lazy and never developed any muscle, I was practically forced into IT business(did I mention I know C#,ASP.NET,HTML and you could hire me if you really, really wanted?). As you can see, using my amazing skills and years of hands-on experience with web technologies, I managed to create this blog. Cool, huh?