Travel Guide: Ticket and Accommodation

I’ve received repeated questions on traveling. Whether on how to get promo tickets to where to book stays. And I always try my best to answer every question thoroughly. But getting questions on the general thing over and over again can make me really tired. So I thought, why not make a post of it. Here it is! My simple short travel guide on ticket and accommodation. 😀

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Where to book tickets?

* SKYSCANNER – Airplane Ticket

Scanning tickets made easy! In their user-friendly website, simply key in where and when you wanna go and then Skyscanner will scan prices from many (and I mean MANY) airlines. Once you get the fit rate for your trip, click on the tab and Skyscanner directs you to the affiliated website (either airlines or Online Travel Agent) and you can continue your purchase there.

Fave feature of Skyscanner: the ‘everywhere’ and the ‘one month’!!

Curious? Try it by yourself, you’ll be amazed at how smart this scanner is!! 😀

* TRAVELOKA – Airplane Ticket

This Indonesia based online travel agent becomes famous in no time. I bought tickets here once or twice (or thrice actually), all went well. Plus point: they often hold a campaign you don’t wanna miss! From blog competition with tickets to win to a cooperation with an airline where they offer a fairly lower rate than any other online travel agent! Keep up with their updates on Twitter here; you’ll thank me. 😀

* TIKET.COM – Indonesia Train Ticket

Simple, reliable, and provide a fast process, Tiket.com is my go-to agent for buying Indonesia Train Ticket. The tab is user-friendly, you can choose the seating, and you can choose who will sit next to you on that long journey!

Kidding. The underlined sentence was just a wish.

YOU WISH BULAN!

What I like from Tiket.com is that they give points to your purchase. I haven’t used my point for whatever but it’s just good to see that I have a point somewhere. Hihi. *that’s why ‘giving points’ is a good marketing strategy, cus there are people like me* 😛

Those three are the most common sites I use to buy tickets. Of course I use the airline’s sites also, especially when there’s an airline promo (hail AirAsia and Qatar Airways) but most of the time, I drag myself to Skyscanner first. I use Traveloka when I see they’re having a promo-un-momento. I got the info via Twitter (FOLLOW ME HERE!). You’ll thank me when you follow them and they thank me when they got more followers from people reading this post. *thank-ception* 😀

Tiket.com got no rival in buying Indonesia Train Ticket. Of course you can buy Indonesia Train Ticket at PT KAI’s official website here, but let’s face it, they don’t give points there. So hell yeah, I’m with Tiket.com! *points cheapo* 😛

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Where to book a stay?

* AGODA – Private Room

Great reliable online travel agent for hotels (hostel, villa, even campsite) all over the world! I use Agoda when I want to book a private room for my stay. You can actually get a dorm room via Agoda, but I never do so. I’ll share another site from where I use to book dorm room. One thing needs to be kept in mind when booking with Agoda is that the initial rate you see is not the end price you have to pay. They run some percentage for tax and admin fee if I’m not wrong. So check the end price before you fill in your credit card details and pay. Since some times ago, Agoda has raised a new feature of ‘pay later’ which I really love. So traveler can book the hotel since months before the trip and pay it only a month (or weeks) before the trip! Smart!

* TRAVELIO – Hotel Stay with Negotiable Rate

Travelio has a very unique concept. It’s only with Travelio you are able to bargain the hotel rate! 😀 I usually check on hotels via Agoda first. And when I found one, I try looking for it at Travelio (cus Travelio’s hotel list is shorter than Agoda); if it’s on Travelio, I’ll check the price and see whether I can get a lower rate than the one at Agoda. 😀 I got a tips on how to get a great deal at Travelio in my post here. It’s at the end, so just scroll down if you don’t wanna read the whole post. But why you don’t want? No excuse! Read the whole post!! :)))

* HOSTEL BOOKERS – Dorm Stay

This site is what I use to book a dorm stay. One good thing about Hostel Bookers is that they run the 10% down payment only. So you only pay the 10% when you book through them. The rest of the payment (90%), paid directly to the hostel. This is a  good solution for traveler who is about to obtain a visa but still have a doubt whether the visa application will be granted or not. If it’s granted, you pay 10% to Hostel Bookers and the 90% to the hostel later when you check in. If the visa is not granted – or you actually don’t want to stay in that hostel, you’re still lucky that you only have to pay 10%! Not really a big loss you have there. You’re welcome!

Those are the sites that’s been helping me through my 5 years of traveling. For many travelers, they’re pretty much familiar but I make this post for people who just make time to do traveling or a starter. Bravo for you, Guys!! Keep it up!

Now I’m glad I have a link to give to my dear readers who ask about all these things! 😀 One thing to keep in mind before you want to become an indie-traveler is to read. Read read read and don’t be lazy to read. Even better, browse and read before you propose a question. Internet is a huge world from where you can get many information you want; simply by clicking and reading. When you have read before you asked, you’re saving people’s time (and my time) so we’re in the same page in discussing about the destination or the trip. And when we save time talking about all these general basic things, we can move forward to talk about other things.

Like when are you going to propose me.

Senyum dulu ah.. 🙂