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Malaysia is a stunning country full of diversity, beautiful nature, culture, and unlimited delicious food! Who wouldn’t want to go there, right? Well, before you can go there you need to make sure you are ready for the big trip. If you follow these tips on how to prepare for Malaysia, you are guaranteed to have an amazing trip.
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How to get the cheapest flight possible
If you research how to get a cheap flight on the internet, someone will always say they have the full proof method on getting you the best deals. I’m not saying that by any means, but after a year of full-time travel, we have learned a couple of quick tricks that get us $300 USD tickets from NYC to Asia every time. First off have Google chrome, Next, open an ‘incognito window’. This prevents all the airline sites from tracking your cookies and upping the price of the ticket.
After that go to Skyscanner.com, this allows you to search all airlines and choose the option ‘whole month’. With this option, you can see that if you fly out two days later than you wanted, you can save up to $150 USD. If you don’t mind taking some extra time you can always see what connecting flights can also make it cheaper instead of flying directly to your destination.
** If you have some extra time make sure you visit Kota Kinabalu. With all the things to do there its a must-see.**
How to get from the airport in Malaysia
If you are in the capital city, transportation can be easier than in most other places. Kuala Lumpur offers many FREE buses for transportation and tons of things to do. If you would rather go directly to the place you are staying there is another option. We highly suggest you use Uber they are trustworthy, user-friendly, and cheaper than local taxi. The good news is all airports we have been to in Malaysia offer free Wi-Fi so its easy to order Uber right when you get to the airport. If you’re new to signing up for Uber, you can click here and get your first ride on us!
How to travel cheaper than most
Many times when traveling you will want to go to Malaysia when it’s cold everywhere else in the world, but I suggest you pick your dates wisely. If you go from anywhere between October 15th and November you are likely to be paying a lot more and run into a lot more crowds. Between these dates is called high season. It’s the busiest time of the year in Malaysia for tourism so it’s likely to cost you a lot more to enjoy the same quality of vacation as you would for half the price another time of the year.
Say goodbye to high ATM fees
Alright, ready to have your mind blown? I’m not sure why but I think Malaysia is the only country in Southeast Asia that doesn’t have ATM withdrawal fees. They do have a cap on how much you can take out each day or at one time but they do not charge foreign cards a withdrawal fee. This doesn’t mean that you are avoiding all fees in total, if your home bank charges you overseas withdrawal fees, you will still get that. For example, if you are traveling Thailand and your home bank charges 0.05% fees for withdrawing overseas you will get 0.05% + the 150 baht that the Thai bank charges where in Malaysia you will only get your home bank charge. A little travel hack, if you are from the USA we have a bank called Charles Schwab. If you open an account with them they eliminate all your overseas charges worldwide.
Cheap ways to get around Malaysia
As we said earlier the capital city does offer free bus services, but if you are anywhere else in Malaysia you will most likely be either paying for a taxi or getting Uber. What’s even better than that is renting a motorbike (scooter) as they call it. I think this is the best and cheapest way to really explore this beautiful country. Now you aren’t going to want to take a scooter for the long trips (from the north to the south) but if you are staying in one location for a week or so, I would highly recommend renting a scooter for around 30 ringgit a day.
Street food in Malaysia
Street food in Malaysia is amazing! Eat as much as you possibly can! I swear you can spend your whole life eating your way through Malaysia trying all the unique dishes. Each state in Malaysia has its own unique culinary creation and we spend a whole month trying as many as we possibly could. I wouldn’t worry about finding the “best” food because all of it is so good. With Malaysia being predominantly Muslim, you won’t find much pork or alcohol unless you go to a bar or a Chinese restaurant. What you will find is an amazing selection of fish, beef, and chicken. Most of the time served with rice and cooked with creamy coconut milk.
If your traveling to Malaysia make sure you check out our FREE Travel essential and packing checklist. This will help you make the most out of your trip and pack all the essentials. We have created one for every country we have traveled to so if you’re interested in more check out all the free downloads here.
This is very helpful thank you. I am applying for the my2ndhome visa and have booked my flights for early December 2019. I want to stay in KL for a couple of days then fly to Penang to look for housing. How do I go about looking for accommodation in KL and do I book the Penang flights now or wait till I arrive in KL. Is there a visa required for just a holiday there.
I am not sure about the visa thing because i don’t know what country you are from. I suggest just looking that up on google. Actually for accommodations we found it best to look on Airbnb. That way you are protected and also look for monthly rentals if you are staying that long. This will give you the best price possible. We rented a really nice apartment with gym, pool full kitchen and washer for $298 USD a month.