Flexible Family Travel in Asia
Question from reader Patricia Caballero in Monterrey, Mexico:
"My husband and I would like to take our 11-year-old daughter to Asia next summer for about a month. We would like to find a way to go from one city to another whenever we are ready (in case we decide to stay longer or leave sooner). Any suggestions?"
Wouldn't we all love that kind of flexibility! Unfortunately, it almost always comes at a price. You can sometimes get away without reservations on trains (as I mentioned in a previous post on Eurail passes), but most cities in Asia are quite far from each other, and flights need to be nailed down well in advance, right?
Not in all cases. You can book a circle-Asia ticket (like the one shown above) and in most cases change the dates, for a fee, depending on availability. Here's how:
Airtreks specializes in round-the-world and other multi-leg tickets. A few years ago, I booked a circle-Pacific ticket with them. When I fell in love with Thailand and decided to stay a few extra weeks (this was before I had an office job and just two weeks of vacation per year!), I simply walked into the Thai Airways office in Bangkok and changed my reservation. If possible, use an airline like Singapore that has seatback video monitors for your transpacific flight, so your daughter can watch whatever she wants.
A word of advice from Asia family travel planner Leslie Overton of Absolute Travel: "While our summer may be off-season on the ground in Asia, it's actually high season for air there -- so flights get expensive and do book out, limiting the possibilities for flexibility." If you have a tight budget and independent travelers, talk to Airtreks. If you're willing to spend more for someone else to handle your logistics, give Leslie a call.
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