Wanting to back pack threw thailand and need help
Specific questions:
What kind of visa do I need ...do I need one?
How are you keeping your money safe/storing it?
What kind of travel insurance do I need and why?
Did you bring a phone with you and just get pre payed minutes there?
How did you plan your trip?
I'm honestly alittle lost and the deeper I go looking into this the more lost I become.
Any help is greatly apriceated.
Thanks elias
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Each method works... so just choose your comfort zone.
Hopefully covid19 will be history by then... so no hoops to jump thru there.
1.Visa - depending on how long you come for you may need a Tourist Visa you can apply for to your local Thai embassy in Canada depending on which country you hold a passport from - check Thai embassy website to download Application Form and for requirements - should not require visa for 30 day stay
2. Covid - you will need to comply with Thai requirements for entry and again look at website - could limit your options - dont pay for ticket until you know you can travel
3. Travel Insurance - take out in your home country - not easy to get travel cancellation insurance because of covid
4. Money - your Visa or Mastercard credit card will work here - plenty of atms but fees - can be difficult to find money changers in some places - you can tell your bank you are going to Thailand and put a limit on how much you can withdraw each day - 10,000 baht at a time is probably plenty - you should do a daily budget eg food $15 + accomodation $20 + entertainment $10 + travel $10 etc - cheap to travel in Thailand depending on backpacker or upmarket then same as home
5. Itinerary - get a copy of Lonely Planet guide for Thailand - hard copy is best - depending on how long you come for and how old you are starting in Bangkok for a few days is a good idea - plenty of hostels good food and things to see - when I
did a trip through Thailand I spent at least a week in selected places - I travelled by bus - down to Phuket to stay at Kata Beach - then over to Koh Samui - then Ayuthaya + Chiang Mai + + + - plenty of day trips you can take - food is cheap and nice - so are massages
6. Backpack - travel light
7. Medicine - bring what you need and Doctors letter
8. Hostels - are good and cheap - Lonely Planet has good recommendations - check before you arrive and prebook
9. Phone - just get Thai sim card when you arrive
10. Vaccinations - get all your Doctor recommends
hope this helps
Watch out for skimmers on ATMs - This is a worldwide problem so getting a prepaid credit card may be a solution. Assuming you you can top it up from your bank app, you can limit how much is on there so a thief can only steal so much.
A smartphone, newish as they are, is an absolute essential. Buy a twin SIM phone unlocked to any network so you can keep your home number but drop in a local card as well. If you use the double Whatsapp feature, you can give the local number to anyone you care to.
Apart from the communications features on a phone, it keeps you on the internet and has two other massively useful functions.
Google maps (or whatever) means you never get lost. You can bookmark your hotel and other places you need to remember, and it stops taxi drivers taking you the tourist route. If they see you using the app they know they can't mess around.
Google translate is another exceptionally useful app. It saves all those language barrier headaches. It's still far from perfect but it's amazingly handy regardless. The camera scan feature from Thai to English means you can even read signs or whatever.
In answer to the questions you didn't ask, read THIS. It wasn't designed for Thailand but it was built for backpackers.
eliasgross7 wrote:Hi, I am a current permanent resident in Canada (working on becoming a Canadian sitizen) I want to travel to Thailand in 2023 and back pack threw the country. I am not sure where or how to start. Anybody els done this? How dod you start?
Specific questions:
What kind of visa do I need ...do I need one?
How are you keeping your money safe/storing it?
What kind of travel insurance do I need and why?
Did you bring a phone with you and just get pre payed minutes there?
How did you plan your trip?
I'm honestly alittle lost and the deeper I go looking into this the more lost I become.
Any help is greatly apriceated.
Thanks elias
YouTube must be filled with pertinent videos put out by digital nomads who have already done what you want to do.
You'll get good answers here to some of your questions, but that's probably the place to hear from people who have specific experience backpacking THROUGH the country
It wasn't only me who was wondering why a Canadian guy cannot spell in English. (not to mention the poor grammar: Has anybody else done this?) You have common words misspelled like 'citizen', 'backpack', 'through', 'else', 'did'. Has the educational system in Canada become that poor?
Then when you feel ready, move to the next destination. Step by step.
It's like driving on a new road, you don't know it but you just keep going cause you know how to drive.
For the visa you must check at that time, rules are constantly changing according to the Covid19 situation.
Now there is requirement to apply for the online visa "Thailand pass" by uploading Ticket, Covid health insurance, Vaccination certificate, PCR negative test, hotel booking in certain kind of hotels for the first day or week, depends where you arrive (Bangkok or Phuket have different arrival rules actually) but in one year many things can change...
In meantime you can read guide books or check on internet and start knowing the country and what's to visit and form your own idea and plan.
Good luck
Also, watch the quoted prices. They aren't always what you pay.
JayEsCee wrote:It wasn't only me who was wondering why a Canadian guy cannot spell in English. (not to mention the poor grammar: Has anybody else done this?) You have common words misspelled like 'citizen', 'backpack', 'through', 'else', 'did'. Has the educational system in Canada become that poor?
Perhaps the OP isn't Canadian, just resident there. A lot of people don't bother filling out their profile properly or simply misunderstand the questions.
Unless someone is claiming to be an English teacher, being understood is all that matters.
My beef was not with the guy who wrote the opening message in this thread. It's with what the educational systems over there in the USA and Canada and what they have become.
I also noticed that this guy only posted that 1 message on these boards and never followed up, so how serious was he about finding out this information?
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