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Enjoy! It was a neat stay both times we went. The online reservation system is a bit wonky to figure out, and as of last year I believe stays are limited to one night only. Comment back and let us know how your stay goes.

@@lytermoments Thank you! We thought Bangkok was a really easy and relaxed place. People were very nice and helpful, so we never struggled for too long! We use Airalo eSim for data, Surfshark for VPN, Google Voice for phone and text, and a 5ber eSim chip since our phones are too old to have it built in. Discount codes are in the video description and we also made a quick video on it: ruclips.net/video/JlmXcEwf7_4/видео.htmlsi=W1NZNVjeXB0OBl7A

@@npstella Thanks! We will be posting our expenses for Japan in a couple days - if you're interested, turn on those notifications!

Ha ha, yes! We actually got a pretty good diagnosis right at the pharmacy! Loved KL, we'll be headed back next winter.

Definitely! For two or more people, Grab beats the train. On the way to the airport, our Grab was 76.25 MYR. The other thing is the train takes you to KL Sentral, and depending on your hotel location, you STILL need to take a Grab.

@@thepodojils oh yeah i've heard the train only go as far the KL Sentral.. i never tried take Grab from the airport.. I read somewhere that you need to go to certain floor where the pick up spot is for Grab.. And that's why i'm not too certain whether it can or not.. Also because like in my country, Indonesia, we can't order Grab from the apps if it from the airport or train station.. The pick up point would be outside, some meters away.

​@@ciu9940 The pick up for Grab or other ehailing are all in the airport at a designated location. There are signboards showing the location.

You can use grab from one point of the city to another.

We really enjoyed the places we ate, so we don't mind the expense. Still cheaper than in the USA! Not every AirBnB has those things - our two AirBnB condos in Bangkok had very little in the way of cooking supplies and spin driers are pretty rare and the ones we've experienced do a poor job drying. We actually prefer just using the high power dryers at the laundromat so we don't have to hang things for 24 hours. Happy travels.

@@mayfoo02 where to eat in KL?

A decent air bnb is about 220 ringgit per night (+-USD 51) X 33 Days= USD 1683 - 525 (this couple spend on hotels) = USD 1158 extra for Lodging.. while their expenses on food $1200

We did a couple AirBnBs in Bangkok. Neither kitchen was very well equipped, but we were able to do some simple things. We will probably continue to do both going forward.

​@@thepodojilsDo not assume All countries in Southeast Asia are the same. Each has its own quirks.For examples, Kuala Lumpur' s airBNB differs from those in Bangkok. Most airBNB in KL offer kitchenette and other amenities.

​@@amiryazidali7659Thats true. You can check in the description of the airbnb. This is condo country.

@@Every_State_Park the hotel picks are pretty much just who has the best deal for the days we want. But we like to split our time up between a few places just to experience different parts of a city, so some may be a little more expensive. Also, we're taking advantage of the points we scored from welcome offers on credit cards.

@@PeggyWithAPassport We know exactly what happened! KL is a hotspot for Indian bus tours (and bus tours love cheap hotels just like us) and we swear every one of the bus people was hacking and coughing. Put them all in the lobby, elevator, and buffet, and we just kept catching something new. Masks in public spaces helps, but when you watch people cough and sneeze into their hands right before grabbing the serving spoons at the buffet... We are getting our flu/COVID shot this week but what can you do about the common cold?

Thanks for the feedback! BTW we are really struggling with audio when recording. We bought microphones that make us louder, but just sound terrible. Audio on your videos is great - any tips?

@@thepodojils I must clarify: I moved to the front row because I want to be the star pupal not that I couldn't hear. Your audio is fine. Mom (Peggy) and I enjoy watching y'all trail blaze. Thank you for the complement. I skipped purchasing the microphones (for now). I do use voice-overs because I can't remember my lines! When I'm recording the voice-overs, I find a quiet place with the Apple wired headset plugged directly into my iPhone recording it. I have one earbud in my ear and the other earbud that has the microphone about a foot away from my mouth instead of in my other ear. If I didn't do this, you would hear the microphone drag against the beard with each syllable #BigBeardProblems. I then overlay the voice-over into the video. Safe Travels and we look forward to seeing your next adventure(s)... ~ Dwayne

@@PrejeanWithAPassport hadn't thought about using a headset mic. Makes sense since that's what they're designed for! Our mics have built-in aggressive noise cancellation that we can't figure out how to dial down or disable.

@@thepodojilswe bought the 2 wireless DJI mic setup. It was about $350 but everyone seems to use it and I figured we just buy it once. I also frequently impulse purchase 😭

It's literally just the amount that you paid to purchase the points divided by the total number of points you received. For us, we paid $5000 and got a million points. We have a couple videos on buying IHG points that you might be interested in. Happy travels!

You might include next time... The room was X points, and you paid Y per point, so the room was not free, but it was X points that cost you Z in total.

​@@michelecunningham5775the two free rooms were paid with points we got as credit card signup bonuses, so really, truly free! We did consider talking about the hypothetical cost of those points, but the deals on purchases vary so much we thought it would get even more confusing.

@@beththomas6514 getting rid of furniture is tough! Charities tend to be very picky, want to charge you for pickup, and are scheduled months out. We used a local Facebook group called Buy Nothing where you post giveaways for pickup. Check to see if there's one for your town. Also, oddly enough, if you ask a small dollar amount for things on Facebook Marketplace, it seems to filter out flaky people who say they want something for free but never show up. We have a video with some more clips we made about downsizing. Here's the link: ruclips.net/video/n7C47L6RdWE/видео.htmlsi=zhvOyEwhydxJt9u0

@@Every_State_Park We did get upgraded to the biggest room on a "regular floor" (roughly double the size of the smallest room) which also added the sofa bed and table. However, this hotel has six elite floors, (four platinum and two diamond) that they said were completely full. So, we could have done better!

@@ua1514 seems like luck of the draw... some people have reported bad experiences here. Overall, we were happy with the hotel and staff, but the horde of tourists staying there were pretty annoying, particularly at the buffet!

Safe travels! Enjoy Italy. We are in the air at the same time, but back to the USA for a week.

Nevermind, you said Hilton branded Amex card. It's the Aspire at $550.

@@Every_State_Park we got the Hilton branded AMEX at $550/yr primarily to shortcut to Hilton diamond status and then use that to status match. We are pretty sure that it is not technically a platinum card. So... probably no airport lounge access or other perks... not 100% sure that this card has value long-term, but it was useful for getting started. And it has a nice 7x points multiplier on flights, rental cars, and restaurants.

@@Every_State_Park with this being our first full year of travel, filling 365 days with good deals on decent accomodations seems like an impossible task! We'll see...

​@@thepodojils For IHG, I put a 10k points per night in a spreadsheet with 500k points bought and the 4th night free and it looks like I can stay 73 nights on points (taking points bonus at each level). My wife can do the same and get 73 nights. With Wyndham I can only buy 100k points and I don't see any bonuses or free night, so that works out to 14 nights on points (assuming I have the card and book nights for 6750). With Hyatt I can only buy 55k points and at 5k points / stay, that's 11 nights on points. If my wife and I both run these 3 programs in a year we can book 196 nights on points, just over 6 months. I'm not sure about Choice or Hilton. I'm pretty sure we can just keep doing this every year, so I'm not sure why you are swapping years for IHG? We are both going into 2025 with 500k points though, we haven't used any purchased points in 2024. For IHG, that's $34/night, Wyndham is $65/night and Hyatt is $96/night. Does this match your numbers?

Aw, thanks! We're still sorting out the best way to build community without compromising our safety - the internet is a big place to share personal info! But for now, we're going to try to engage through the Community tab here on RUclips. We think people would be shocked to know how little preparation and planning go into our travels... our luggage is over thirty years old and it conforms to no known airline standards, we are really bad at packing, and we generally find that we packed all the wrong stuff and have to buy what we need a few days after arrival. Since we don't have a permanent home, all photo/video memories just live on the laptop and online. We do post daily blog/vlog stuff just for fun on Instagram @thepodojils. Jet lag was just a matter of shifting sleep schedules. No problems with food or water illness, but we did catch colds coming into Kuala Lumpur. IHG is our go-to card for daily use and AMEX for travel purchases.

@@mytraveldiary63 we hadn't really thought about Wyndham much either. When we did van life across the USA, Wyndham and Choice were always the cheapest. What a great surprise to find them around the world! Go buy those points and happy travels!

@@thepodojils I will buy some points and start looking at places to stay in Asia. There are quite a few new hotels in that area. Happy travels.

@@Every_State_Park Excellent! We keep being amazed by the perks of hotel status overseas. We just checked into an IHG property this morning and platinum got us a room upgrade, early check-in and late check-out, plus a 500 point welcome amenity without even asking.

@@thepodojils just bought 100k on my wife’s account on the last day 😀 working on another sign up bonus

Overseas is much less frightening than everything you hear. Negative stories get amplified and often just turn out to be untrue. We are rapidly becoming Wyndham fans! We did a video on getting Diamond status with their matching program. (We matched to Hilton) We also did videos on three of our Wyndham stays from the last few months. There will be one more this year in Panama late in November.

@@erinaustin9968 We did like the location because it was quiet and away from touristy things. It is not anywhere near a train station and there's not much in the neighborhood, so be prepared to take a Grab every time you go out. In any case, here's a link: www.airbnb.com/rooms/625972600089069497?viralityEntryPoint=1&s=76

@@Every_State_Park G never misses an opportunity to use Excel! The only thing we track with points is ones that we purchase. Then it's just a block of 250,000 or whatever and we subtract reward stays from that until it's all used up. Whatever is left was free. Half the time we don't even understand why we earn points, so tracking it would be a nightmare.

To be honest, it's hard to spend money in Bangkok. We flew halfway around the world, had a corner suite at the hotel and two modern high-rise condo AirBnBs, we ate out at fancy places, drank wine, got massages, went to the symphony... all for less than what it cost to live back home. There are certainly more expensive hotels down in the entertainment district, but we would rather stay in a quiet neighborhood and take a Grab to go party. And of course there's no upper limit to what you can spend dining and drinking out...