Travel
Manila, Philippines – Dreaming of going out of country for the first time for a travel vacation? Here’s how to plan your trip in case you have no idea yet.
Here are 9 Travel Tips For Planning First Trip Abroad:
1. Search for lowest flight tickets
Whether for work or for a tour, the first thing to do when your planning a trip abroad is to check for the affordable flight tickets based on your budget.
There’s an easy way to check on the flight prices. Just go to skyscanner.com or google skyscanner.com and enter your destination and intended travel dates, it will show you available airline that’s flying to your destination and the flight prices from lowest to highest so you can compare. Skyscanner is an efficient search engine for comparing flight prices, and very useful when you don’t know what airline is flying to your destination.
After seeing the prices, just search for the website of your chosen airline to book your flight directly at the airline. Prices may vary at the airline but the airline which has the lowest fare would still be the lowest fare compared to others. You should always book your flight tickets directly at the airline to be sure you bought a valid ticket.
Watch How To Search And Compare Flight Prices:
2. Search for affordable hotel accommodation
You can search for your hotel accommodations through hotels.com. It has a wide selection and comparative hotel prices from small rooms to big hotel rooms. You can easily find a place to stay, just search on it the location you want.
This small room was our hotel room with twin beds when we toured Singapore. We found this room at hotels.com by searching with a location keyword “city center Singapore”, and this was indeed at the Middle Road of Singapore. We find it at hotels.com but we booked it directly at the hotel’s website just to be sure our booking will be valid.
3. Book an online tour attraction
Tour attractions are already available online, so if you have certain attractions to visit in a country you’re touring, you can search for it and book it online. You just have to print a copy of your booked tickets or save a copy on your phone to show it upon entry. It can save you time from lining up or queuing in person for buying your attraction tickets.
4. Plan Your Itinerary
After you have booked your flight tickets and hotel, you can already prepare your itinerary as your guide on where to go. You can list here your daily activities and your accommodations from your arrival to your departure. This might also be your checklist so that you won’t forget doing an activity.
5. Travel With A Buddy
Find someone who can travel with you to share with the experience and of course the expenses! When you travel with a buddy, you have someone to take your photos and have someone to get lost with for braving your tour.
5. Take a taxi
Taking a taxi will ultimately take you anywhere in a city the faster way, especially when a city is very reachable from one point to another and you’re just there for a short visit and want to go to a particular place in a snap.
When we visited Singapore, we just take taxi to the places we want to see. And taxi costs us around Sgd 8.00 to 15.00 or Php 300.00 to Php 600.00 for getting around city, and our longest ride from airport and going back to airport costs Sgd 25.00 to Sgd 35.00 or Php 1,000.00 to Php 1,400.00. We didn’t take anymore their bus or metro because we just stayed for 2 days.
6. Bring A Copy Of Your Hotel Booking While Touring
When you’re already at the country you’ll be touring, don’t forget to bring a copy of your hotel booking because it has directions on how to get back to your hotel via taxi or it will tell you what metro station you should be taking. We forgot to bring our hotel copy when we go out at night to the Sands Skypark in Singapore. When we stopped by at Marina Square to dine, we wanted to take metro but we don’t know what station we should be going, and I remember our hotel copy has indicated a direction on getting to our hotel.
Hotel booking is also helpful when your filling up forms for your departure and arrival cards at the immigrations because you have to write down your address to your destination so you just put your hotel address.
7. Eat budget foods
We mostly ate noodles when we we’re in Singapore. We only eat rice meal at the Mcdonalds on the evening of our departure when were in Universal Studio. When you’re in a travel, you don’t actually feel hungry at all. You don’t crave for foods you use to it and just grab every food on the go and you’re already full. Eating budget foods will help you cut your travel costs.
8. Carry ATM or Cards
If you have an ATM or a credit card, don’t forget to carry them if you’re doing an out of country trip to back up your travel or for emergency use.
ATM today comes in a debit card, it can be used to book tickets online or withdraw currency in a country you’re in. Credit cards are also very handy and dependable to use when you’re abroad, be it online or for using it over the counter payments. But credit cards imposed rates for using it if you don’t pay in total amount at your due date, so you have to know how to use it carefully. Credit cards are offered at any banks, you can inquire at the banks to apply for it. But if you can’t afford to have a credit card, just open an ATM account to start saving if planning to travel, the opening amount and maintaining at BPI is at Php 3,000.00 only with just one valid ID.
9. Passing Thru Immigration and Final Security Screening
Be calm when passing thru immigration counter, they may or may not allow you to push thru your travel.
When we passed at NAIA Terminal 3 immigration for touring Singapore, we filled up a departure card and presented our passport with our flight ticket, our hotel booking, and our Universal Studio ticket because we said we’re touring for the Universal Studio. We’re asked for our company ID and we showed it. If you are working, it is helpful if you bring along your employment docs like payslips, certificate of employment, ITR or Income Tax Return and company ID so that you have a proof you can fund your own travel. The immigration officer generally asked for a company ID to prove you would return and would not seek employment opportunities in the country of your destination.
In Singapore, we were not asked for anything or show anything when we passed the Changi Airport immigration, The officer just stamped for our entry, and in few minutes we’re officially inside the country of Singapore.
After passing thru immigration, you will proceed for the final security check where you put your luggage to the scanner machine and have yourself screened too. Just take off your belts, gadgets and coins from your body and put it along with your luggage so that you have an easy security check.
Be Safe Always
That’s it for the 9 travel tips for planning your first trip abroad. You can always search for the Do’s and Don’ts at the airport or of the country you’re touring so that you could avoid being in trouble. Because of Covid 19 pandemic, travel today would require every traveller to be Covid 19 vaccinated, so don’t forget to get your vaccination and booster shot.
Have a safe and happy travels always.
Manila, Philippines – You wanted to go out of the country and travel for the first time but you don’t have an idea on how to do it and how much budget you need? Here’s how we did a 2 day or 2 nights tour in Singapore, our first time travel story.
Travelling out of country for people on a tight budget like us is such a dream. Back in 2018, a pre-pandemic time just before Covid 19 travel restrictions, me and my sister just wishing to go out of country and travel, but we don’t know how to do it or if we could afford it because we think it’s so expensive.
It was a crazy afternoon of March and it was going to be a long holiday weekend the next week when we we’re scrolling up Cebu Pacific airline, a budget carrier which mission is to fly everyone. The usual flight tickets at that time for 1 person roundtrip would cost from Php 30,000.00 to Php 50,000.00. But then we spotted a two way ticket bound to Singapore for a base fare of Php 18,352.00 for two! Or for a total of Php 29,463.68 inclusive of travel tax, meals, insurance, and a seat selection. Travel tax can be paid at NAIA but we already included it at the ticket, meals were already included in the package, insurance is optional but it is necessary to opt for it, seat selection is very optional but we opted for it so we know where we were sitting, right?
But that flight was good for one night, because the next night we should go back to airport earlier and fly back again at 3:00am and be home. So fast! How could we do it if it was our first time to travel abroad?
We think the ticket fits our budget. The travel was one night, but we could spent two days to roam around the tourist spots of Singapore. So we booked the flight!
Next we found a nice twin hotel room for two at the city center of Singapore, for Sgd 109.60 or Php 5,000.00 good for one night. We’re like really dreaming finding the flight ticket price and the hotel price. We think we could fly to another country. We booked the twin hotel room.
We also booked an online a ticket to the Universal Studio to complete our tour itinerary. Hey, Singapore here we go!
Departing NAIA Terminal 3
Just because you have the plane ticket and your money to go could already permit you to leave the country. You have of course to comply with our own immigration. You have to fill out a departure card and go through the immigration counter, show your passport, plane ticket, hotel accommodation and itinerary for your tour if tour is your purpose, and a valid id and a company ID if working, because we were asked with these id’s and we showed them. We were able to leave the country.
Arriving At The Changi Airport
Plane has landed and we need to passed thru Singapore’s arrival screening and immigration. We could be denied or we could be allowed to enter Singapore! We went to the security screening of the arrival gate and have ourselves and our luggage check on their scanning system, we were able to passed smoothly. We finally lined up at the immigration counter to enter Singapore.
Thankfully, we’re not asked anything by the immigration officer rather just stamped our passport and let us in. We stamped for 30 days stay! Visa rule in Singapore allows Filipinos to stay for 30 days visa free. And in three minutes, we officially set foot to one of the world’s richest cities, the Singapore! How about that.
Day 1: Sands Skypark
We arrived at around 5pm in Singapore. After checking in at our hotel, we hailed a taxi to take us to the iconic Marina Bay Sands where we bought a ticket to its Observation Deck and get a peak of Singapore’s iconic night view. At the top, everything about the city feels like viewable.
We could could see the panoramic view of Singapore’s beautiful cityscape at night. From the vibrant and spectacular view of buildings, to a view from the sea to the sparkling Singapore’s attractions, the Gardens By The bay and the Supertree Groove.
The deck has also shirts and food stalls at the top, where my sister bought for her Singapore cap and small souvenirs.
Sands Skypark Observation Deck is a wooden deck located at the 56th floor of the Marina Bay Sands. We totally loved how much we think we have seen about the city of Singapore. And that is so much for our day 1 arrival.
Thankfully, we were able to record one good video of our night viewing on top of Sands Skypark, before our phone went low battery and dead, and our next photos were blurry using other phone we have.
Watch Singapore At Night Full View From The Marina Bay Sands Skypark
Day 2: Merlion Park/ Universal Studio
For our second day, we spent our afternoon at the Merlion Park, where the iconic landmark Marina Bay Sands where we were last night was overviewing by the bay.
Our reason why we tour to Singapore, the Universal Studio! Our ticket bought online which we printed on a paper could not work on the turnstile no matter how the staff flipped it. We almost leave Singapore without entering here, but at the last minute a new staff assisted us and it validates so were able to get inside.
We spent the supposed to be second night roaming around the Universal Studio. It is definitely huge we run out of time just sightseeing, without being able to do a rides to its attractions.
Hello, there! Finally, we’ve met the Universal’s famous globe icon. Universal Studio is actually inside Resort’s World Singapore. And this Universal’s globe was just simply a big globe that situated as a Universal’s symbol.
And there are lots of beautiful castles inside. We definitely get mesmerized realizing we’re in a wonderland.
Universal Studio is dreamy at night. We felt like castles were made to be classic, with an old time vibes.
Departure At Changi Airport
We left the Universal Studio at around 10:00 night and ride a taxi to get back to the Changi Airport to catch our flight home at around 3:00am
Take Home Delight
Our chocolate delight, the M&M’s! We bumped at this pretty M&M’s store inside the Changi Airport and we splurge for a take home chocolates at Sgd 25.00.
Arriving Back At NAIA Terminal 3
We arrived at 7.30am at NAIA and we’re happier arriving back. We lined up at the immigration counter for our arrival stamped. Our eyes looked red and tired because we’ve no slept during the flight but our minds were happier with our 2 days tour. At last we’ve made it to another country! We couldn’t believe our first out of country would be Singapore, but our passport stamps say it so.
Total Costs Of How Much We Spent For 2 Days Singapore Stay
Roundtrip Airfare For Two Php 29,463.68
Hotel Sgd 129.00 5,108.40
Sands Skypark Tour Sgd 46.00 1,821.60
Universal Studio Tour Sgd 152.00 6,019.20
Food Sgd 104.00 4,118.40
Taxi for getting around Sgd 131.00 5,187.60
Take Home Souvenirs Sgd 63.00 2,494.80
Total Php 54,213.68
That’s all it costs us for our whole Singapore trip. We shared for our expenses, so if split for two it costs us at around Php 27,000.00. The rate at that time and at the airports when we exhange Peso to Sgd was around 39.60. The travel was literally 2 days, but the beautiful memories are lifetime.
Food And Getting Around
Food and taxi at Singapore are a bit expensive. Staying there for 2 days we felt like that’s how high their cost of living.
We ate at about Sgd 5.00 to Sgd 16.00 per servings for noodles, while bottled water, drinks and milktea at around Sgd 3.00 to 5.00 each.
Taxi costs us around Sgd 8.00 to Sgd 15.00 for the small distance touring the city, and for our longer rides from and to airports at around Sgd 25.00 to Sgd 35.00.
Why Not Travel
Travel’s a goal. Rich people do travel all the time. Who doesn’t want to travel to another country and experience for the first time an unforgettable dream vacation?
Travelling to another country is just like travelling around your own country. But if you want to go out of country for the first time, you can always find a way on how to do it. The key is just finding a lowest flight ticket and fly it! And when you’re already in another country, you’ll realized you can navigate the city on your own. What?
Wishing you a happy travels.
Watch Our Travel In Youtube: