Tour of Asia instead of a world tour: why make this choice

Everyone has an obsession with doing a trip around the world, but why? In this article, I will tell you why it is better to do a tour of Asia than a trip around the world!!

Doing a tour of Asia instead of a trip around the world

I have visited many countries in Asia (China, Japan, South Korea, Myanmar, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Singapore) so I can tell you that I know this part of the world well and I think I have not yet completed the tour because there are so many things to see in this place.

I won’t lie to you, I am currently on a trip around the world but I spent 3 months in Asia during this world tour out of my current 9 months. I have approximately 6 months left in America (North, Central, and South) and I plan to return to Asia for 6 months next year. To travel around the world or in Asia without risk, I advise you to have travel insurance. You might rent a scooter and have an accident, your insurance will cover you. Here is an article on travel insurance and the comparison tool.

I am going to start a reflection on why do a trip around the world when doing a tour of Asia is more than enough or even better?

5 Reasons to go to Asia

The 5 reasons that lead me to say that doing a tour of Asia is just as good as a trip around the world.

• A tour of Asia will cost you less than a trip around the world.

In one of my recent articles, I talked about buying your plane tickets as you go for your trip around the world, I had already pointed out that traveling in Asia was inexpensive. In Asia, moving from country to country or island to island is very simple. There are many low-cost airlines: AirAsia for Asia in general (mainly based in Kuala Lumpur), Nok Air for domestic flights in Thailand, Cebu Pacific for domestic flights in the Philippines, Tiger Airways for flights departing from Singapore. For more information about low-cost flights, check Wikitravel low-cost flights in Asia. Land travel is also very cheap, generally costing less than 20 euros to connect two cities with at least 5 hours of travel time.

Crossing the Pacific and/or returning to Europe via America will cost you at least 500 to 1000 euros in plane tickets during a round-the-world trip, which is the budget for traveling within Asia. Without going into details, a budget for traveling in Asia would be at most 2000 euros generously, whereas the budget for traveling around the world is at least 3000 euros.

Taking a plane within the Asia zone “between countries” costs less than 150 euros.

Flights in South America are much more expensive: over 200 euros because there are few low-cost airlines.

In the “Asia” zone, there are at least a dozen countries where you can spend less than 20 euros per day such as India, Laos, Indonesia, Cambodia, and more. In Thailand, I paid less than 10 euros for a bungalow by the beach. Asia is the area where the cost of living is the lowest.

Here are some tips to spend less and travel more.

• Asia is safer than much of the world including South America.

Overall, even though there is always some risk present, the Asian continent is a place where you can travel safely if you follow common sense rules. Do not show your wealth, do not walk alone at night in places with few people, etc.

Having made about ten trips to Asia, I have never really had problems with theft or security even though they exist.

Let’s be honest, most security problems happen at night and not going out at that time will save you a lot of trouble. In countries like Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, nothing will happen to you even at night.

On the other hand, in Asia, you are not immune to scams but most of the time, they will have no impact because it is for a maximum of about ten euros.

• It is easier to travel in Asia than elsewhere.

On one hand, there are many airlines and on the other, the cost is very low for the service. My first trip to Asia was in Thailand in 2011; at that time, I traveled without a travel guide or internet on my phone. In Asia, it is easy not to worry about anything. I booked my boat or bus only the day before, I found my accommodation on site thanks to the tuk-tuk driver at the station who took me to a hotel according to my budget or I found my own accommodation by going to certain neighborhoods I had spotted.

It is not only in Thailand that you can do this; it is the same for Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Even in a country like Myanmar, which has only been open to tourism for a few years, I proceeded in the same way. However, for countries of Indian origin and East Asian countries, I would book accommodation in advance because I am not yet familiar with how these countries operate, but I think it is quite possible to do so by taking some precautions and getting information from other travelers.

The Asian continent is a large continent and when you are French, you have access to almost all countries with visa on arrival for free (2/3 of the countries except for China 70 euros, Cambodia 20 euros requested at the airport, India 50 euros, Myanmar 30 euros, etc.). Moving from one country to another is easy in Asia. For example, there are boats from Korea to Japan, from Malaysia to Indonesia, or many buses in Southeast Asia.

• A one-year tour of Asia is not enough, so a one-year world tour is even less so.

The Asian continent is very large and traveling it entirely would take several years, even about ten years. The islands in the Philippines and Indonesia are so numerous and different (about 13,000 in Indonesia and 7,000 in the Philippines). China is fourteen times larger than France. There are so many culturally and historically interesting countries in Asia such as China, Japan, or India, etc.

You can travel these places while being in the sun all year round.

Traveling around the world in one year is most often the sum of kilometers. Doing only Asia will allow you to enjoy and take more time.

Doing a tour of Asia is easier to organize and will allow you to be more flexible if you want to stay in one place longer unless your world tour lasts several years.

By traveling through Asia, you can slowly return to Europe via Russia or even Asia Minor. These more remote areas are forgotten and worth the detour. You will see few tourists and will quickly feel disoriented compared to other Asian countries.

• You will find everything you are looking for in Asia.

If you want to do beach activities, diving, you can go to Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, etc.

If you want to hike, you can go to Nepal or the Himalayan region, etc.

If you want to learn a bit more about other cultures, you can go to China, or Japan, India, etc.

If you want to travel in more developed countries, you can go to South Korea, Taiwan, or Japan, etc.

If you want to get away from it all, the East Asia region or even Myanmar, etc.

If you want to gamble, go to the casino in Macau.

If you want to see things that have stood the test of time, you will go to China to see the Great Wall, return through Turkey to discover the remains of the Ottoman or Byzantine empires, or go see the Taj Mahal in India, etc.

If you want to dig into the logistics preparation, preparing your long trip covers all the steps before departure. To compare with a global formula, world tour budget and itinerary details budget and routes over 12 months. And on the ticket subject, should you get a round-the-world ticket analyzes the real savings of the RTW ticket.

Each of these countries can offer several activities such as beach or hiking because there is so much diversity in each country.

I could have given you even more reasons to come to Asia, but these are more than enough. If you still hesitate, take a look at our article on what to do on a world tour knowing that the budget has nothing to do with it.

And you? Do you absolutely want to do a world tour?

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