Publisher's Synopsis
If you have read my third book "Same Same but Different" in The Retirees Guide series, you will know that when I returned from my adventures in Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Laos (book three in the series), I settled back in Koh Samui. A few weeks after I returned from my trip, on Valentine's Day 2017, I met and later fell in love with a beautiful Thai lady called Jin. Within a few weeks of meeting, we were on an extended driving trip around Thailand. On our return from our Thailand road trip, we decided that we wanted to travel overseas for three months of the year, every year, to visit all of the countries we wanted to see together. Jin had never been out of Thailand before, and I wanted her to see some of the countries I had been fortunate enough to be able to visit over the years, either on holidays or when I was working at sea or in hotels around the world as a chef. We decided that for nine months of the year, we would live on a budget that would hopefully still allow us to have a good life in Koh Samui, and also allow us to travel and explore Thailand, and at the same time save up for our next three months overseas trip. This book is a journal of our first overseas trip to Myanmar, Singapore, Bali and Malaysia by rail, road and air and sea. We stayed in some beautiful hotels, visited many local attractions, and ate in some fine restaurants well within the budget that we set for ourselves. We did this by checking out websites and advertisements to ensure that we got the very best value that our money could buy. By shopping around and surfing the internet, we managed to chance upon, a week's accommodation in Bali, as well as return flights from Singapore to Bali for less than US$600.00, and many other bargains that we managed to source, for accommodation, flights, and restaurants. I love shopping for bargains; I consider it a challenge not to pay the full price when travelling. The money we save enables us to travel and experience more out of life than we normally would if we paid the full asking price. Many people just book their travel and holidays through a travel agent, hotel chain, cruise ship company or airline without looking to see if there are better options available at cheaper prices. Being retired and on a pension it is important for me to stretch my money as far as I can, to enable us to travel more extensively. My motto is "You need to be frugal, not cheap, look for deals and don't waste money, but don't miss out on great experiences or walk miles just to save a couple of dollars. Time is money, spend them both wisely".
