Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Multi Country Trip

Country forums / South-East Asia Mainland

Hello everyone,

My future wife and I are planning a 2 month trip after the wedding - likely July-August. We are planning on flying out of San Fran and hoping to do a multi country trip starting with Hawaii. Nothing is set in stone but the current set of countries we had in mind were Hawaii -> Japan -> Phillippines -> Indonesia -> Singapore -> Cambodia -> Vietnam -> Thailand and fly home from there. I wanted to get everyone's thoughts on whether this is feasible, is the timing right for these countries, any countries to add/remove from the list, must see/do. Overall thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much and have a lovely day.

Well that is certainly a multi country trip! I think you should decide what you want to see in each country, and allow some time to do it. Assuming a week in each destination, you really won't get to see anything much of the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam or Thailand, so I would narrow it down, and spend a month in one or two, or accept it will be a whistle stop tour, spending lots of time in cities and airports. You could spend less time in Singapore, and Cambodia, if you only want to see Angkhor, and tick off Indonesia with a few days in Bali. Personally, I would make a list of what I wanted to get out of my honeymoon and Asia, and concentrate more time in the country that best covered it all.
What do you want from this trip?

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There is no universal right way or wrong way to explore the world, the only mistake you can make is not choosing a path that is the best for you. Eight countries in 2 months is too fast for my comfort but that's just me.

If you have travelled some / alot already then clearly you have an understanding of exactly how fast paced and all action trip this will be and that is what you would like. Such a trip is certainly physically feasible and will give you a sampler of each individual different culture and give you an idea as to whether you'd like to build on that at a later date. If you are a novice traveller I would suggest giving some thought to exactly how much time you want to spend travelling from one place to another as opposed to a more relaxing and concentrated experience of fewer cultures.

There are no must-do's or see's. Googling the countries will detail in depth the highlights some people have experienced but at the end of the day it's up to you to select any that interest you, there are no one-size-fits all. It needs to be your trip tailored to your interests and not a trip simply made up of someone else's suggestions.

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Weatherwise, the only country that would be problematic in July/August is the Philippines. It's the height of rainy season, and it can be just a deluge. It's also rainy season for Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam. But the quantity of rain you get there isn't likely to ruin your days.

And of course July/August is the perfect sunny weather season for Indonesia.

The problem is you can't enjoyably see 7 countries in 2 months. You need less countries on your list. A good south to north trip in Vietnam takes 3 weeks. And an island hopping trip in Indonesia can take a month too. You don't want just Bali for Indonesia, because some of the most fantastic places are on Java island, and then there's the chance to see Komodo dragons, if you travel east by boat from Lombok island. Indonesia offers a lot.

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Personally, 2 months for traveling all countries above is too much, so you should cut out 1 or 2 countries. Personally, you should travel Hawaii -> Japan -> Phillippines -> Indonesia -> Singapore -> Cambodia -> Vietnam. In Vietnam, you can travel Hanoi- Halong-Ninh Binh-Sapa-HCMC-Phu Quoc- Mekong Delta

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I think a good 2 month trip in July/August would be:

Hawaii
Japan
Indonesia
with a city stop in Singapore or Bangkok to finish things off

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I agree with most of above.

I'd also focus on what you actually want to see and do,rather than just naming countries.As with 2 months (and 8 countries) you would not see more than a small part of any of them (maybe excluding Singapore).

Think in terms of cities or places,not whole countries.Then have a look at how to get between them.

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Doable but too rushed and then very expensive.
Better to reduce the number of countries.

Michel

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Basically it depends on what you want to see and do in each country and only then can you really decide which and how many - you could easily spend two months in Indonesia alone and not even scratch the surface

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Thank you all for the replies. I agree that it was a few too many countries but it's easier to convince the wife when there's multiple posts saying the same thing haha. I think you guys are right, will first have to decide what we really want to see from the prospective countries and then figure out time frames for the selected countries based on that. We'll probably consider dropping Philippines if it's heavy rainy season during that time. Thanks again

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What are your priorities?
Bangkok - food, nightlife
Siem Reap - biggest temple
Japan - clean and organised, nice temples

Beaches - Hawaii, Thai islands and Phils.

You would need to check flights and prioritise. You don't want to move too much.

IMO Hawaii, Thailand, Luang Prabang and Siem Reap would be enough for 2 months. Maybe a week in Japan if dead keen but I was underwhelmed by it. I'd skip Singapore.

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