What’s the Damage? Final Venice Budget

A short trip to Venice is potentially one of the most costly city breaks you can take. Even with a Venice Budget, why is this city so expensive?

Well, we noticed a few things that might explain this. Apart from the artists and artisans, not much is created or grown in Venice: Goods and
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The Venice of "Don't Look Now"

If like us you’re a bit of a movie fan, then this section is for you. The Venice of Don't Look Now is encapsulated in a 1973 British-Italian thriller directed by Nicolas Roeg, adapted from a short story by Daphne du Maurier. It was filmed at a variety of locations throughout Venice, showing a see
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Venice Osteria and Trattoria

Considering that Italy is pretty much one big restaurant, there’s never any difficulty finding somewhere to eat. Whether a Venice osteria and trattoria or pizzeria, there are plenty of places to choose from. In our experience, the overall quality of food in Italy is generally good to very go

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Vaporetti Essentials: Get a Day Pass

Of course, one of the reasons we all go to Venice is to travel on their unique vaporetti transport system. Unless you are particularly flush with cash, you’ll want to do this in the easiest and most economical way possible. For a short weekend, a Vaporetti Day Pass is the answer.
Vaporetti Day P

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Booking a Venice Hotel

Choosing the Ca ’Fortuny Hotel Venice was the result of some precise online research. Finding a good, reasonably-priced hotel in Venice that’s not too far from the centre can be a challenge in itself. It's therefore always a good idea to scrutinize the best deals that are currently on offer.

We

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Venice off-Season

How much should a short 2-night break in Venice off-season really cost?

With low-cost airlines flying from numerous destinations, the return flight is possibly one of the cheapest items of a trip to Venice. However, even this can be deceptive: The budget airlines fly to Venice Treviso, not to

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Budget Accommodation Highlights

Traditional & cost-effective budget accommodation: The hotels and guesthouses you book will have a dramatic effect on your overall travel experience. Check out our recommendations for some of the best, most cost-effective budget accommodation we've discovered in our recent travels.
Our Budget

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The Temple of the Tooth

Before we left Kandy we took a few hours to visit the celebrated Temple of the Tooth. This is where they keep one of Buddha’s teeth as a holy relic. The relic is regarded as a symbolic representation of the living Buddha and is the focus of a daily series of offerings, rituals, and cerem

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Beneath the Knuckle Mountains

During our stay at the , we arranged several treks through the surrounding thickly-jungled mountain areas. Whenever we emerged into a clearing, we could see the Knuckle Mountains bathed in mist in the far distance.

It's clear to see how these mountains got their name. Local residents s

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Polwaththa Eco Lodge

From Kandy, we had arranged a pickup by tuk-tuk to take us up into the surrounding mountain jungle to the Polwaththa Eco Lodge.

We were looking forward to a peaceful break, close to nature and away from the hustle and bustle. Our tuk-tuk driver arrived on time shortly before noon. We paid Rs

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Elephant Orphanage - Return visit, but none of them remembered me... http://www.sandspice.com/pinnawala-elephant-orphanage/ #ElephantOrphanage #Pinnawala #SriLanka

#SriLanka Elephant Orphanage - Return visit, but none of them remembered me...

http://www.sandspice.com/pinnawala-elephant-orphanage/

The poop from #Pinnawala #elephant #orphanage has its uses: Need recycled paper made from elephant dung? Great for those "Don't Forget" notes...

Kandy Lake Comfort

From Sigiriya, we travelled the short distance to Dambulla by tuk-tuk. We were in two minds whether or not to visit the Dambulla Cave Temple. The deciding factors were time and the weather. It was still raining, and we didn't want to delay our bus trip to Kandy. We were heading for the Kandy lake

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Lion Rock Sigiriya

After spending our first wet night in Sigiriya, it was still raining the next morning. However, our plan was to climb to the top of the famous Lion Rock buddhist monument, and a wet day wasn't going to stop us doing that.

Before that, we had a look around the grounds of our guesthouse. It was

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Ceylonica Beach Hotel Negombo

Our flight arrived in Sri Lanka in the early evening. Since Bandaranaike International Airport is actually much closer to Negombo than to Colombo, we decided to make Negombo our first port of call. This actually makes a lot of sense if you are first heading east to the central areas. We were

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Sri Lanka Travel Plan - Central & South

Our Sri Lanka travel plan was designed as a 21-day rollicking rollercoaster of a ride to the World’s End and beyond. It promised to be an eventful trip, with all content published from my tiny Samsung smartphone.



 
Researching the Trip - Sri Lanka Travel Plan
Our idea was to choose a

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Oasis Hotel Manila

Our trip back to Manila started in Panglao. We had booked the small Oasis Hotel Manila in north-central area of the city for just 2 nights.

A trike from Panglao to the airport took around 30 minutes (250 pesos).

At Tagbilaran airport, the terminal tax is 100 pesos per person. Philippine a

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The White Sands of Dumaluan Beach, Philippines

Dumaluan beach is a narrow, white sand beach stretching for around 500 meters on the south coast of Panglao. It's only a few kms down the coast from Alona beach, but offers a similar beach experience, more geared towards locals than foreigners.

If you get there early in the morning with a group

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Panglao Island Nature Resort

The Panglao Island Nature Resort is a classy 5-star resort located far from the hustle and bustle of the more popular destinations in Panglao, Bohol.



As a day visitor, you get access to the resort and use of their pool, beach and facilities for 550 pesos. This also gives you 400 pesos

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Seaside Boutique, Panglao in the Philippines

We chose the Seaside Boutique for our second stay in Panglao, and we're very happy we did (€27 per night including breakfast).

This guesthouse is located on the opposite side of the island from Alona and other popular spots. We were made very welcome into this family home, with our bedroom and p

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2013 Loboc Earthquake Damage, Philippines

Before leaving Loboc, we stopped to take a closer look at the damage caused by the 2013 Loboc earthquake.
The 2013 Loboc Earthquake
The magnitude of the earthquake was recorded at 7.2, with an energy equivalent to 32 Hiroshima bombs. This was the deadliest earthquake in the Philippines in 23 yea

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Fox & Firefly Resort Loboc

Don't expect anything fancy at the Fox & Firefly resort Loboc. This is a pure backpackers place, with the smallest dormitory I have ever seen (about 16 square meters for up to 8 adults).



Apart from the dormitory hut there are two other 2-person huts, and a communal washing/toilet a

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The Terravision Rome Airport Bus

Getting from either of the airports outside Rome to the city center can be an expensive business. Fortunately, there are some inexpensive and efficient alternatives to taking a taxi. We used the Terravision Rome airport bus service to travel from Fiumicino airport to the centre of Rome.

Great

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Rome: This is where it all begins...

Rome is not exactly South-East Asia, but this is where our journey begins, following a short flight from Malta.

The reason for this was our discovery of some very reasonably priced , flights running from Rome to Manila (€528 return). Since Italy is a small hop from our base in Malta, this seem

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Checkout Our 360 Degree Panoramic Images

Using Google Street View and some post processing software, its possible to produce some pretty nifty 360 degree panoramic images from a standard smartphone, without having to splash out on an expensive dedicated 360 degree camera. Having said that, a 360 degree camera is definitely on our

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Lembongan Island Snorkeling Tours

Snorkeling and diving are among the great attractions of a trip to Lembongan, providing an enjoyable and more active alternative to soaking up the sun on the beaches. If you're not keen on swimming out from the shore to find a snorkeling spot, another option is to take one of the full-day

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Exploring Songkhla Thailand

Songkhla is a large city located in southern Thailand, near the border with Malaysia. We were inspired to visit this province not so much to admire the architecture as to renew a 30-day Malaysian visa, which was due to expire.

It also seemed to be an ideal excuse to spend a few days exploring

Read more... http://www.sandspice.com/exploring-songkhla-thailand/

Affiliate Disclosure

SandSpice is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

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Climbing Gunung Raya, Malaysia

Among the most impressive features of Pulau Langkawi in Malaysia are the mountains. The highest of these is known as Gunung Raya, which dominates the island at 881 meters above sea level. Although not for everyone, climbing Gunung Raya by foot is a challenging but massively rewarding

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Visa Runner - Langkawi Malaysia to Songkhla Thailand

If you're planning an extended stay in Malaysia, then its likely that at some point you'll have to renew the limited tourist visa you are given on first arrival. This procedure is often referred to as making a ‘visa run’, and will vary according to your nationality and location in Malaysia. In our

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Denpasar Souvenir Shopping

Our last port of call in Bali was Denpasar, not far from the airport. Here we had just one day and night before taking a Cathay Pacific flight back to London, via Hong Kong. Our plan for this 24 hours was to get in as much souvenir shopping as possible, since we had discovered that Denpasar is know

Read more... http://www.sandspice.com/denpasar-souvenir-shopping/

Exploring Songkhla Thailand

Songkhla is a large city located in southern Thailand, near the border with Malaysia. We were inspired to visit this province not so much to admire the architecture as to renew a 30-day Malaysian visa, which was due to expire.

It also seemed to be an ideal excuse to spend a few days exploring

Read more... http://www.sandspice.com/exploring-songkhla-thailand/

Airlines, Airports & Transfers

The single most expensive item of your trip to the tropics will no doubt be your air fare. Getting a great deal here could easily be worth an extra week or two in your chosen destinations. But it's not just about the cost - How about reliability and service?... and most importantly of all -

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