Hello,

I've never traveled to Asia before and we are planning a July/August trip. We would like to go to Bali, Jakarta, Singapore, KL. What's the best place to start and the cheapest/fastest way to fly from Toronto?

Thanks!

www.kayak.com

lots of options because Toronto is a major Air Canada/Star Alliance hub.

Lots of options, going east or west. The key is to get yourselves to Asia with only one stop in the middle.

I'd suggest you use Singapore as your hub. From there you can connect to your other destinations.

If you can afford SQ, the connection through Europe -- London or Frankfurt -- is good. Cathay through Hong Kong is also fairly painless.

Between Bali/Denpasar and Jakarta you'll need to choose an Indonesian carrier. I'd recommend Garuda though there are also less expensive choices. I'd also recommend that you consider a stop over in Central Java -- Yogyakarta and Borobudur.

You probably have a reason for including Jakarta on you list of destinations, but it's not an especially tourist-friendly city.

You should be aware that Ramadhan starts this year at the end of July and continues through to the Islamic holidays around August 30. This is not the best time for travel in Muslim countries.

cheapoair.com

good 1 stops YYZ to SIN on several airlines

usually cheapest fastest from $700 or so each way all in.

very cheapest hop an econo like Transat YYZ LON

then airasia.com STD to KUL and around takes more time

usually can be fun and breaks up your joureny...

If you skip Jakarta you can fly directly to Bali from Singapore on one of the major airlines that fly into DPS - it's a two and a half hour flight. Then it's easy to fly to Jogja on a short in-between flight of 45 minutes.

take a look at korean air, finn air, air canada, delta