I want to travel to Australia and SE Asia this coming new year, I think it'll be mid feb to mid march abouts. I've never been there before and super excited. But I'm not certain how to plan out my flights... I plan on starting in australia then moving through the se asian area.
I've noticed that round trip flights tend to be more economic.. one way's often will cost more.... Should I do a roundtrip to Oz and back? And just fly back to Melbourne when I'm done in SE Asia? Or try one ways, here to oz, umm.. I dunno.. thailand back to van...
I feel a touch clueless here! Yipes.

Hmm that's a toughie. Air Asia does have flights to and from Oz and SE Asia. I don't know what would be more price effective, I think you have to do the flight planning and actually work out the numbers to decide what's best.

did this this year, we found flights from Van to Bali with an open ended layover in Tokyo for about $830 round trip, tax in. From Bali we fly Air Asia to Oz for cheap, return we just met up with the return portion of the round trip side of the Van to Bali, looking now you can get deals from Van to Bali, Thailand, Singapore, KL. around that $900-1100 mark. just remember to contact the Airliner that you are connecting in with the return portion of the round trip at a a later portion of teh return flights, it also was a bit of a milk run returning home, but def saved some money...

Oh my goodness. I'm actually not sure what an open ended layover is?

I found a roundtrip to OZ for abt 1200..
And I've found Van to Oz, then Phuket to Van for 1312.
I THINK this is a great deal?

Yeah that isn't bad at all Kristina.
Check out Air Asia for trips between Oz and Thailand, if you catch a deal it can be quite cheap.

I see things like 250 between oz and bali.. the other fares are super high at 4-600. Is this considered 'cheap'?
Not like europe where you can get on an 80 flight between places hey? haha.

Well the longer Air Asia flights like those between Oz and Indonesia or over to India are always a bit more expensive. But if you watch the sales there are typically deals between Oz and Kuala Lumpur (their home city). 250 isn't bad. 400-600 is kind of a lot unless it's a round trip. There's a website that tells you what "good" prices are on certain routes, I'll see if I can find it for you.

open ended means we could spend however long (to a certain extent) we wanted in Tokyo prior to moving on to Bali. depending on where you are flying from 250 is a good price, that's probably from Bali to Syd. 1100 from Van to Oz is good.

Thank you! I'd really appreciate that. I'm a total noob when it comes to SE Asia.

No that 250 was a direct flight.

Brett, which carrier did you use for your Van to Bali flights with that open ended layover in Tokyo?

^ I'm guessing it was japan airlines

Also ANA

it was a Malaysia Air bundle found on here(YVRDeals), but the operator was japan airlines, which was awesome btw.

Just my 2 cents, if you are only travelling for a month dont try to pack in so many countries. People easily spend a month in oz alone, or thailand, or any of the countries you want to go to really. I spent 3 weeks in just southern thailand and even that wasnt enough.

Just my 2 cents, if you are only travelling for a month dont try to pack in so many countries. People easily spend a month in oz alone, or thailand, or any of the countries you want to go to really. I spent 3 weeks in just southern thailand and even that wasnt enough.

Like of you only have a week in a country thats only enough for max 2 cities

Yeahhh.. I KNOW I'm going to run into that issue. I'm trying to extend the trip to 6-8 weeks to help with this problem.

And I have a spinal cord injury t'boot. I'm an ambulatory quad.. sooo.. I'm slow. .ahha. I bet once I'm there I'll be pretty keen on just chilling in most places. But I want to keep my options open just in case.

I saw on your other post that you are used to travelling in europe, where most people just like spend a day or 2 in the main cities sight seeing the main sites then move on to the next, its really not like that in se asia. Im planning a 2 month trip for next spring too and im only planning to go to 2 countries

Good to know.
May I ask your guys' MUST SEE place in SE Asia?

I'm not really sure how accessible it is, but Angkor Wat in Cambodia is what motivated me to visit the region in the first place. I'm going for the first time myself in about 3 weeks!

Well I walk.. I just can't do major hikes or anything. I basically walk at a healthy person's casual stroll.
Oh!! Have fun!!!!

I think you will be able to manage it just fine then!
Have a great time.

I'm getting obnoxiously excited lol.
Ditto! And thank you so much for all your help. Already feeling more confident about this.

omg really ^?! I need to take a month off work LOL

Flying in Thailand is cheap $60 from Bangkok to Krabi. Krabi to Chiang Mai $50. Prices may change but flew this week at those prices with Bangkok Air and Air Asia.

Holy shit!! How perfect!!!

Ya I got a flight from koh phangan to bangkok for 65$

Keep in mind the distance you want to travel is massive. It's kinda like saying you want to visit Europe since you will be nearby in North America; a direct flight between Melbourne and Bangkok is as long as a direct flight between Toronto and Rome! I travel quite quickly myself but it sounds like a lot of places to cram into a relatively short trip.

Hm.. You know.. I am probably getting ahead of myself here. Over-excited to finally be travelling again.. wanting to cram as much experience into one trip as I can, since I don't know when I'll be able to go again.
But, you're very right..... Perhaps not exactly practical.
I am currently trying to extend my trip to two months... that should help lol.

For what it's worth, I paid $495 BKK-YVR one way through PAL in September

Air Asia has a new seat sale. Book until Nov 30th Travel period Jan 5 - April 30/15

Thanks fir the tip Alison!