Finance and money forum

I'm kind of going off-topic on this one, but I am always surprised to hear people say that they are selling everything before they embark on a journey of a limited duration. You indicate you might be travelling for 6 months - hence my surprise.

I know it depends on where you are in life, what sort of stuff you have (ie old second hand crap vs decent quality) - but selling everything off isn't always the wisest move, especially if you will have to replace it when you get back. You will lose money when you sell stuff, and of course it will cost you to buy new stuff on your return.

Consider putting stuff into commercial storage - you might find it's not as expensive as you think. Especially if you can find a place that is maybe a little bit of town where rates can be a bit cheaper than in a city. I put a large house lot of stuff into storage (after selling some unnecessary crap) while I was away and found it relatively cheap to do so - at least certainly cheaper than the alternative.

And when I got back, I appreciated having a house-lot of stuff with which I could quickly get re-established.

Different strokes for different folks, of course!

Back to your original budget question... eastwest provides good info, as long as you are staying in the cheaper places, as you indicated. The less you move, the cheaper it gets as you're not paying for transport, and you can negotiate cheaper rates if you stay for longer. But do allow a contigency budget as you will want to splash out at times, as eastwest states. And make sure you allow some for insurance - very important!

It depends on whether you want to move around, or are willing to stay in one location. You can get a decent place to live here (friend of mine has an apartment for less than 100 USD a month and it's all in - electric, water, wifi).

Finding an apartment is easy. If you decide you want to go that route, drop me a line. I wouldn't recommend where I live, which is very provicial. But Khaon Kaen, that's a decent city and you can find a place around that price with most of what you want.

I'm still undecided on where i want to start.

Option 1: SF to Taiwan to Bangkok. 3 weeks in TW and the rest in TL, Cam, Laos, Viet. Non stop flight for $650

Option 2: SF to Taiwan to Shanghai. 3 weeks in TW, across China to Yunnan then down into Laos, TL, Cam and Viet. Non stop flight for $750. This is probably a much more expensive plan and leaves me with less time in SEA.

I'm leaning more towards option 1 since its cheaper and leaves me with enough time in each country. Most likely ending in HK for last couple weeks.

I obvious want to see some sights but i don't want to spend my time hopping from place to place every couple days. I don't have a list of things i want to see but feel obligated to at least check out a few major tourist attraction. I'm more into checking out the local food. I have a rough idea of where i want to go but plan to keep it very loose and allow my self to stay or go as i please. I can always visit the places i missed next time around. So if i had an opportunity to rent a place cheap for 1-3 months than i'd be down for it. Is it common to find short term rentals?

Most of the guesthouses will cut you a deal by the month if you plan on staying in the area that long. Electric as an extra will sometimes come into play but usually it's about half the nightly stay. They only clean your place 2 or3 times a week also. But, they are all different so make sure you get the details as to what exactly you are paying for. That's always been the way I have done it in Thailand.