Best Airlines to take to go to Asia

You’re tired, you want a vacation, and in fact you have vacation time! Now you think, I want to do something exotic. Get the hell away from the ordinary and see something different for a change. Watching the television programs of faraway countries won’t cut it this time! So you think, I’m going somewhere in Asia! That there is sure different from most places in the West and they speak a different language! Good to go! Let's go Asia!

So you think, maybe visit Japan and tour Tokyo’s famed Akihabara neighborhood or see the Geishas in the old capital of Kyoto. Then an idea of going to Thailand with it’s red light districts on Sukumvit road or do some island hopping in Ao Nang or tour the hinterlands of Chiang Mai.

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Then other places start to roll on the top of your head like walking on the Great Wall of China or seeing the Chocolate Hills in the Philippines. So many places in Asia but you really don’t know the best way to get to Asia.

What's the best way to travel to Asia? Short answer is to take a plane. That was fast, now let’s get on with the meat of the issue.

Now what? You've never been to Asia before, but you want to visit Japan, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, India and maybe Singapore or Malaysia. You might go really exotic and go to Australia; that land down under. If you trek that way, beware of Australia's history of convicted criminals. Ya?

You've heard that things are cheap in Asia. You could buy fake watches, bags and any other products for dollars! Well, you checked the tickets online and man, they are pretty expensive, and the plane tickets you saw were for economy! Didn’t look cheap.

The thing is, the most expensive thing you will have to pay out will be the airplane ticket. Everything else from food and land transportation will be really cheap. Hotels are another matter. Hotels will depend upon how much you want to stay in a luxurious room to one that is just a bed and a toilet.

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So the cost of going to any country in Asia will cost a lot of money and you don't know which airline has a good history, which one's are new and which one's have bad service. Here’s a short list of Airlines that are based in Asia.

There are the Japanese airlines, All Nippon Airlines (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL). These are both good outfits. The stewardesses are hot and helpful. The food is pretty good, with a choice of a western or Japanese meal. The premium economy seats are nice. For a few hundred dollars more, you get additional legroom and a wider seat.

Korea's flagship airline, Korean Airlines have pretty good-looking stewardesses and the food is great. Choose either western or Korean meals and your good to go!

Taiwan is the base for EVA Airlines and China Airlines. I’ve primarily flown on EVA Airlines and it’s been a great experience. The stewardesses are nice and hot. Food is good and the seats are great. The Premium seating is especially nice and roomy! Oh yea, China Airlines is the flag carrier of Taiwan.

Original article: http://hubpages.com/hub/best-way-to-travel-to-asia-cheap-plane-tickets

Hong Kong has Cathay Pacific. Friends have told me that Cathay Pacific is nice, really nice. They ooze satisfaction and tell me to take it next time I go to Asia. I just don’t want to use Hong Kong as my stop. I might be wrong, but I think it might be too busy compared to other airports.

Philippines have Philippines Airline (PAL). Philippines airline is Asia’s longest running airline. It’s good if you want to go directly to the Philippines.

Thailand has Thai Airlines. My friend from Thailand swears by Thai Airlines, I'm thinking it might be a nationalist sentiment. I might add that everytime I see the ticket prices from Thai Airlines, it's always pretty high compared to the competition.

Vietnam's national flag carrier is Vietnam Airlines. I don't much have information, the airline site looks pretty sparse.

Want to go to an English speaking country down under? Use Qantas and fly to Australia or New Zealand with some pretty good fares. Qantas has a program called the Aussie AirPass where you can visit four cities within Australia for one price. It's pretty decent if you want to travel solely in Australia.  

Most likely, you will choose economy seating, but also keep in mind that most of these airlines probably has a premium economy section, where you pay a few hundred dollars more to get a wider seat with more leg room. Some airlines also throw in additional comforts like the use of noise cancellation headphones and toiletries you normally don't get in economy class.

New airlines are appearing practically every year especially with China's air industry growing at a rapid rate. So do your own searches for specific airline companies, especially the one’s based in China. Most likely there history will be only a few years old with new planes and new crews.

If you've never flown on an Asian airline before and are worried about the language barrier. Don't worry. From my past experience on All Nippon Airlines, Philippines Airlines, Air Asia, Cebu Pacific, EVA Airlines and Korean Airlines I was able to understand the hostesses and was able to converse with all of them in English comfortably.

All airlines will have English and their own country's newspapers and magazines for you to read on the long flight. In addition, most Asian airlines have television monitors behind the seat in front of you so you can watch movies, shows and music videos in English or the native language of the airline. On some airlines, you can choose to play video games instead of watching a movie from the monitor.

If you choose, you can also listen to music from the headphone jack on the side of your seat. Personally, I usually bring my own noise cancellation headset and either listen to music and then when bored play a game or watch a show.

In addition, within each country, you will find your regional airline companies that have no international routes. However a lot of the small airline companies travel intra-Asian destinations, meaning they will travel from within the Asian region. Often times the prices will be really cheap. Best places to find their rates is to go directly to their company websites.

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For instance, Cebu Pacific in the Philippines has their Go Fares, which cost less than $50 dollars one way to destinations within Southeast Asia. The fares change and usually go even lower! At times the only drawback is the time of departure from the airport. Usually the departure is around midnight. Cebu Pacific also flies to most cities within the Philippines at very good prices!

Nok Air in Thailand is a domestic player. The prices are very good and very low.

Air Asia is a regional airline that goes to most Southeast Asian countries and to India and China. Air Asia also does a lot of domestic flights within many of the countries in Southeast Asia. Price is very competitive.

One of the best deals to see Asia is Cathay Pacific’s All Asia Pass. With the All Asia Pass, you are given the chance to visit at most 24 cities within 21 days with one ticket price. The hitch is that you will be using Hong Kong as your stop over between the cities you want to go to. That’s the only hitch and plus the fact that you have to visit the cities within 24 days. You could extend, but that will cost you additional money.

Here are 10 out of the 24 destinations you can go. Not bad at all, and that’s only 10 of the destinations! Cathay Pacific gives you the option of going to additional cities by paying more money.

• Bangkok • Ho Chi Minh City • Hong Kong • Jakarta • Kuala Lumpur • Manila • Osaka • Seoul • Singapore • Tokyo

Dragonair is based in Hong Kong and serves primarily the mainland Chinese market. Dragonair is a subsidiary of Cathay Pacific.

Now that you know some of the major players and some of the smaller airlines, you now need to figure out if you want to go through an online service or through a travel agency.

Going to Asia, I personally go through local ethnic travel agency that focuses on a specific country. From talking to some of these ethnic travel agencies, they usually buy in bulk and get special deals and they pass on those deals to the traveler. Depending on the month, the cost of the trip can save you a few hundred dollars to a few dollars from what you get from an online travel agent.

To find a local ethnic travel agency, you'll have to do some walking to your local Asian supermarket nearby. Hopefully there's one near you. Pick up a free Asian newspaper. That's right, the paper will be free. Asian newspapers you find at the local Asian market are all free for you to pick up. In the back of the newspaper will be a lot of travel agencies listing out the prices for each country in Asia and the rest of the world.

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You will also see single ads for specific countries in bold big letters. Now when you find the country you're planning on traveling to, call the travel agent and ask them about the price for the date you want to depart and come back. This is when you proclaim poverty and negotiate the price lower than what they gave you.

When talking to the travel agent, never raise your voice. If you don’t like the quoted price, tell them you’ll think about it, and call another travel agent. Being polite doesn’t cost a dime but may reward you with a lower ticket cost.

Going to Japan I've always used HIS International (Highest International Standards). You are able to book online or if you prefer, contact an HIS office near you and talk to one of their travel agents.

HIS is a Japan based travel agency that has offices in major US cities. This travel agency offers tour packages, hotel bookings and Japan rail passes for those interested in riding the Shinkansen bullet trains. These rail passes are relatively inexpensive for the traveler who wants to go from one metropolitan to another quickly.

If you don't want to go through the hassle of talking to a travel agent and want to go through the Internet, try some of these travel sites and compare the costs including the fuel and other surcharges they tack on to the plane ticket!

Aggregators: These sites will go to multiple online travel sites and put all that information on one page. These sites are quick and efficient in getting the airline ticket data.

kayak.com

sidestep.com

Online travel sites: Sites that offer airline tickets in addition to vacation bundles, hotels and multiple services that you think you might need.

orbitz.com

expedia.com

travelocity.com

You can also go to directly to the airlines websites for website specials.

So you're now in a country somehwere in Asia. Your plane lands and you leave the airport and get swamped by that local dingy smell and heat washing over your entire body and face. Instantly, you go back into the air conditioned airport to cool off before going out.

Immediately exchange your currency into the local money. Now your set.

Next thing to do is get a taxi to your hotel. Right now, let's play it safe and get a taxi service at one of the officially licensed taxis inside the airport.

Other than your hotel, you haven't planned much in touring the city. So once you get to your hotel, there should be a tourism desk ready to cater to your needs. If not, talk to the people at the front desk who can help you find a tourism office.

Before starting on this trip, you should have bought a small compact camera. Check my article about carrying a point-and-shoot instead of a bulky DSLR here - http://hubpages.com/hub/The-mistake-of-taking-a-DSLR-with-you-on-vacation

Bring an unlocked GSM cell phone with you. Now you can ask the people at the front desk about getting a prepaid cell phone card. These should be a few dollars to get activated and with a few minutes so you can call or text anywhere in the country and long-distance. Yea, you can text back home too!

When your minutes are almost gone, just find a place to load more minutes. In Thailand, I went to a 7 Eleven where I bought a pre-paid card. The instructions were in Thai, but the lady behind the counter helped to set-up everything for me! Nice! When I had to reload more minutes, I went to the front desk at my hotel, and the guy behind the front desk loaded it for me - again, instructions were in Thai!

Now in most of Asia, you will have to speak very clearly and slowly. Don't use slang, in fact, keep to very basic english sentences when talking with people in most countries in Asia. Philippines and Singpore are exceptions to this. I have noticed that english isn't as widespread as it used to be among your average Filipino.

So, now that you've landed, arrived at your hotel, found some tours you like, got your phone to work locally, go out and explore your new surroundings!

Enjoy Asia!