HOW I AFFORD TRAVEL (ON A TIGHT BUDGET)

Hey there, in this simple write-up I’m going to share some tips on how to travel with a tight budget. By tight, I mean literally, no shopping at all (except buying souvenirs for your loved ones aha, or else they might think you’ve forgotten them).

For the past six months, I’ve been to ten (10) cities in four (4) different countries, which are Thailand, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Japan. Then from August onwards, I’ll be off to explore another three (3) countries (Myanmar, Indonesia and Brunei).

Oh and I’m not one of those people who solely travel the globe full-time after selling all their possessions and quit their jobs. I still have a full-time job in Malaysia and at the same time, doing multiple part-time works for the sake of settling loans and commitments, as well as buying flight tickets whenever promo deals come my way. But one thing you need to know is that I’m a loyal customer of Air Asia and with AIRASIA, NOW EVERYONE CAN FLY! It’s true though, they make it possible for everyone to soar above the sky and reach more than 100 destinations around the world.

Okay back to our topic, how I afford travel? Most of my friends thought I have like this huge amount of money in my bank and can spend effortlessly to whatever I want. To be honest, I have less than a month pay in my primary account, which I will never touch unless for emergency purposes only. Side income? Yes, I do have one side income, but that won’t be necessary for all of you if you know how to plan and sort things out (financially).

 

So, here’s how I do it:

FINANCIAL PLANNING

Everytime payday arrives, I’ll transfer half of my salary to another bank account, just to set aside a sum of money for flight ticket purchases, hotel reservations and expenses when traveling. This also ensures me to secure a sum I need in my primary bank to survive monthly expenses (foods & drinks, cigarettes, commitments).

How much money (all-inclusive) I normally aim for per trip? To be frank, I went to those destinations mentioned above for less than MYR1000 per country, including accommodations, flight tickets and foods (maximum eating twice per day only, often one dining, depending on destination).

Crazy isn’t it? How is that even possible? Okay let me continue.

FLIGHT TICKETS

Please, please, please be extra alert when airline companies announce cheap and hot deal because the price won’t remain the same even just after five minutes interval. Oh you better believe me. In my case, I prefer Air Asia. Why? They often announce FREE SEATS and crazy PROMO price unlike other airlines in Asia. For me, Air Asia is the best in its league.

So, don’t miss out on the fun. Purchasing a cheap flight ticket gives me a sense of happiness, especially when recently, my return ticket to Osaka only costed me MYR258!! Could you believe that?! I was so happy because Japan has always been on my bucket-list and now I can proudly say that I’ve been to Japan (but only to Osaka, Kyoto & Nara though).

Plan your trip, you have to book early, there’s no other way! Ideal travel date should at least be 105-21 days from your booking date because there is a so-called “Prime Booking Window” to every destination. You just have to check regularly. That’s all.

Besides Air Asia, there are tons of other purchasing medium such as TRAVELOKA, KAYAK & EXPEDIA which offer discount codes from time to time, so be sure to turn on your notification for any upcoming deals!

HOTEL & HOSTEL

Well this one is based on one’s preference. But as for me, I have no issues sleeping in a cube, sharing toilet with other gender and most importantly, mingle with new friends. But if you prefer to be alone, then I think it’s going to cost you more depending on the country you are visiting.

My style of travel is more of a backpacker I would say so it doesn’t matter much to me, because I don’t go for absolute comfort. Cheap and affordable hostel will always be my number one choice. So, how do I book?

Online booking sites normally offer you deals and discounts which are cheaper than the usual, standard price. In that sense, it is a must for you to open multiple tabs on the internet and compare prices so that you can get the best price out of it. By using this method, you can actually save up more than you imagine.

Go for reliable sites like BOOKING.COM, TRIVAGO & AIRBNB. These sites have been used and trusted by millions across the globe. Is there also a prime window for hotel booking? Not that I know of but usually, the sooner, the cheaper. Price could go high during the weekends and special occasion days. Just be sure to plan your trip early and lock the accommodation date couple of week prior departing.

LENGTH OF TRIP

Trip length will determine how much money you need to bring. This is crucial and should not be taken lightly because if you are traveling alone like me, you need to have a proper day by day budget allocation. Rough estimation won’t do.

As for me, the ideal trip length varies by destination. The longest I’ve been so far based on the MYR1000 budget is seven (7) days in Sri Lanka. It was an adventurous trip, filled with eye-opening experiences, unlike other nations I’ve been to before. I discovered the meaning of life, friendship, and daily struggle of the less fortunate.

I wasn’t on my own though when I visited Sri Lanka, there were four (4) other adventurous friends of mine. Although we’ve made plenty of research beforehand, shitty things were bound to happen anyway. On our first day there, one of us got pickpocketed on a bus. ID card, ATM cards and a sum of money all got stolen. But we decided to carry on with the trip and got each other’s back. We shared everything, from foods to bed, while keeping track of our daily budget so that we would avoid extra-spending. Luckily it worked! We overcame and survived the worst nightmare.

As for me, I often filter my destination so that it matches my budget. Believe me, you can do lots with a MYR1000, but in order to do that, you have to book cheap flights and accommodations first. Length of trip may differ upon destination, but try to work on the manageable ones instead of referring trends.

Here’s an example of my cost-breakdown: p/s – in MYR not $$

I hope you find these tips useful at some point and thank you so much for your time.

iOS 11 for iPhone; Features, Release Date and Beta Program.

If you’re a die-hard fan of Apple, or their products, then the coming of iOS 11 into the digital world in the near future is not a news unfamiliar to you by now. The latest iteration of the operating system is promised to pack new convenient features that lean more towards the sharing and multitasking spectrum than other aspects of the OS which have also been improved. So what are the new features? When will it be released? Is there a beta for said iOS? How to install the beta into your iPhones and iPads? We’ll get to that and more later, but first let’s take a look at what to expect from this latest version of iOS:

Header of the iOS 11 preview section on Apple’s official website with the tagline: “A giant step for iPhone. A monumental leap for iPad.”

“A giant step for iPhone. A monumental leap for iPad.” if the tagline is an indicator of the direction Apple is taking with the new iOS 11, then it is safe for us to expect more new features for the iPads than for the iPhones. Either way both will benefit a lot from the upgrade considering the adjectives Apple decided to use for the tagline; ‘giant’ and ‘monumental’, so let’s get our expectations high, take that giant step forward and absorb in the magnificence that is the iOS 11.

 

iPhone features:

 

Live Photos editing.

The Live Photos feature has been around since 2016 and it has been garnering avid users  and lovers ever since with another sect of iOS users taking the indifferent approach towards the feature with reason of it being lacking of practicality and usability. Well, that indifference might change with the new iOS 11 as Live Photos will be sporting a feature that allows Live Photos to be edited with 5 editing functions; Trim, change default key photo, Bounce, Loop and Long Exposure, so that you can finally fully utilise this 2015 feature alongside your creativity and quirkiness.

Trim and change default key photo are features commonly found in video editing software and apps but the latter with a usually different assigned name. Trim allows you to remove unwanted portions of the captured Live Photo thus making sure that only the best shots stay. The latter is useful for when you pressed the shutter milliseconds late and captured a blurry photo but luckily Live Photo managed to capture the shot you wanted before you press the shutter. This function operates by letting you pick a specific still image from any shots within the brief videos on either side of your captured Live Photo and later sets the picked image as the new key photo of the Live Photo. It’s like going back in time and recapturing a badly taken photo.

Here’s the fun part – Bounce, Loop and Long Exposure.

Bounce edits your Live Photo by pre-selecting a starting and end point for your Live Photo before playing the collective photos in a usual forward motion before playing it in reverse, hence the name Bounce.

As for Loop, the name tells its story itself. This function plays a selected Live Photo to look like it goes on forever without stopping, like a .gif.

Lastly, the Long Exposure. Photographers will love this! This editing function works by merging the short video captured by the Live Photo feature with the photo you captured with the press of the shutter into one new image. One new image where the moving lamplight in that short video becomes one long streak of scarlet light trails with your city’s architecture visualising itself majestically as in that photo you snapped.

 

No notifications while driving.

Credit: http://www.macrumors.com

In this new feature called the Do Not Disturb While Driving Mode, your device will automatically detect via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi when you’re driving by taking into account how fast you’re moving and will allow no notifications to fill up your lock screen while in motion. This feature will requires your permission before operating as it will come into launch when it detects ‘driving’ motion which includes your bus trip, so no worries on having the feature operating untimely. When activated, the screen will go blank whenever you try to view it as a safety measure which is pretty neat.

 

Siri gets an upgrade.

With the new iOS, Siri will sound more natural and human-like unlike its usual robot-like manner of speech with the added ability to translate English phrases into Mandarin Chinese, German, Spanish, Italian and French. The translation will be in both written and audio format so no more talking nonsense gibberish to locals the next time you’re traveling. Thank you Siri!

 

 

App Store, reinvented.

Credit: Apple

The App Store will look remotely familiar to you after its latest makeover with a Today tab welcoming you upon the app’s launch in which an App Of The Day will be thoroughly highlighted here to help you find apps and games you never knew you needed before. Despite the name, the Today tab won’t just appear for a day and disappear completely the next day. You can scroll back this tab to previous days’ entries as a mean by Apple to help you discover overlooked new apps and providing more exposure for in-store contents; a move believed to be highly anticipated and appreciated by app developers.

There will also be a separate tab for both games and apps highlighting on newly published contents and handpicked apps selected by Apple editors. These tabs will also be showcasing available and ongoing in-game offers and promotions which in turn will help app developers with bridging the reachability between consumers to their products. Another tidbit worth mentioning is the ‘Games You Might Like’ category where the App Store will recommend you apps and games that you might like based on your previous downloads.

 

A more versatile Messages app.

In Android-powered smartphones, sharing across apps has been a very powerful feature and it has been consistently developed as to accommodate a wider range of sharing options. Sharing files between platforms and apps is a breeze in that territory with very little known limitations within the function as is visible in trying to share links/images/texts from your browser to your social media app or email as opposed to iOS’ tiring procedures to even import a picture into a photo-editing app. And with this upcoming update to the glorified OS, Apple is looking towards perfecting iOS’ sharing capability with their improved Messages app. Firstly, sharing your location via text will be a lot easier than it currently is in iOS 10 as the app will now be equipped with a strip containing access to other apps that are compatible for in-app use with Messages.

You will also be able to conduct Apple Pay cash transactions and transfer via the Messages app. Apple Pay is feature by Apple that lets you pay for your shopping with the money from your debit and credit cards without having to endure the struggle of reaching to your pocket and carefully scan through your wallet for that one card to make a payment. Read about how Apple Pay works here and come back here to realise the weight of this paragraph’s opening sentence. Yes, you will be able to send/transfer Apple Pay cash to anyone via the Messages app without the need to install third-party apps anymore – consumers and businesses will prosper greatly from this clever update as it saves a lot of time for both parties. Apart from these two functions, URL sharing will also be integrated into the app via the 3D Touch (3D Touch only available in select models) where you would have to 3D touch a URL or a link and slide your finger up to bring up the menu in which an additional ‘Share’ button will be present at where it was not present in the current iOS version.

 

Other new and cool features.

Other worth mentioning added updates and perks include:

• Customisable Control Centre.
• All notifications shown on the lock screen.
• A more precise Maps, with added capability of indoor maps and directions.
• QuickType keyboard for one handed typing where the keys will move closer to the left or right side of the screen depending on your preferred setting.
• Automatic Setup – easily import settings and iCloud Keychain passwords from another iOS device to your new iPhone or iPad.

iOS 11 is set to roll out to compatible devices this autumn and will be available for iPhone model 5s and above. Apple had recently launched the iOS 11 beta on June 26th 2017 and you can sign up for the program on their website or by clicking this link to the signup page – Apple Beta Software Program.

So that’s about it with the iOS 11 for iPhones. Now if this is a ‘giant step’ as indicated by Apple with their tagline, imagine how even more powerful and capable the ‘monumental leap’ is in iPads! A look on that in our next article, so see you excited guys there.

Are there any new added perks we haven’t included into the list? Tell us in the comment section below!

Jogjakarta, modern-day Shangri-La.

Can a utopia like Shangri-La exists and be relevant now in the modern world in light of all the tension; political correctness and infuriating policies, while religiously observing its mysticism and harmony? And also willing to adhere to technological and societal advancements?

Candi Prambanan – an ancient monastery dedicated to God as Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver) and Shiva (the destroyer)

Come our first day upon arriving, the chilling air of our homestay proved itself to be comforting and literally a breath of fresh air, one we’ve already forgotten of its sensation and value. The cold morning saw us

Album Baru Foo Fighters Menampilkan Taylor Swift Sebagai Artis Undangan?

Selepas mengejutkan peminat dengan single terbaru mereka yang bertajuk ‘Run‘, Dave Grohl dan rakan-rakan telah mendedahkan bahawa album ke-9 mereka akan dilancarkan pada 15hb September 2017. Album tersebut dihasilkan oleh Greg Kurstin (produser Adele, Sia, Pink) dan diadun oleh Darrel Thorp (pernah berkhidmat untuk Beck, Radiohead), album ‘Concrete And Gold’ digambarkan oleh Dave Grohl sebagai ‘adunan hard rock dan nuansa pop’.

Young and Unemployed.

Credential inflation, dwindling businesses, economic meltdown, you’ve heard it all. But what about the person steering the wheel? Yes, you.

The world is constantly evolving and with it sees the rise and fall of sectors, countries and trends. Of all the variables, one has been steadily rising and it’s global literacy.

The steady rise of global literacy rate has triggered a surge in the number of degree holders and also the immense growth and birth of sectors and industries in the world; which equals to MORE JOBS. Then why are so many fresh graduates still unemployed in Malaysia? And they sometimes remain unemployed up to the point where the word ‘fresh’ no longer serves its purpose. Too many degree holders and tough competition have been the usual antagonists in this case for too long and it’s time we identify and break down 4 other unglamorous factors behind this incessant trial.