My daughter (22) and two of her friends will be going to Thailand for 6 weeks. They will stay at youth hostels and cheap places. How much money per day would you recommend they consider having available? This would include transportation (trains and buses), food, lodging and a few things to bring home. Thanks!

its a very difficult question without more facts....but as far as lodging and food it can be a surprising low amount...

others can tell you about hostel costs, but food from street vendors can be as low as a dollar or two per meal...

In part, this depends on how much traveling around they want to do. If they are traveling every few days, it will cost them more than if they are visiting two or three places in three weeks.

Everyone is different. Some are willing to skimp, others want to engage in activities that would eat up a whole day's budget in a couple of hours (sea kayaking, for instance). To give them some leeway, I'd say US$50 per day is generous.

I would say $50 is more than generous for budget travel. Lonely Planet says 500 baht ($14) a day outside Bangkok. I'd aim for somewhere in the middle. Take a look at Lonely Planet or Rough Guide to get an idea of actual costs. (Or at least actual costs from the year before the copyright date.)

$50 goes mighty fast in Bangkok even though its cheap. They will see lots of clothes they'll want to buy, for sure!

Thanks so much for the responses. I thought $50 a day as well. Now it looks like they may take a trip to Vietnam. She says that there are $49 flights including tax from somewhere in Thailand. Find that a bit hard to believe, but whatever.

I also think that when they get there they will be overwhelmed by the great shopping opportunities.

I expect you are right, they will be overwhelmed by the shopping!

There are some very cheap flights on budget airlines intra-asia. I'm sure they will have a wonderful trip!

PS I expect they know, but just a reminder that they must get a visa in advance (or a pre-arranged visa) to enter VN. No visa - no flight.

Am not so sure about getting the visa beforehand. There were people on my flight from China who had no visas entering Vietnam and there was a Visa desk at the airport in Hanoi. It is always better to be safe than sorry, so if they really are considering Vietnam get the visas beforehand.

Nywoman, the visa desk is for people who have pre-arranged visas. They must bring their email receipt showing they have a pre-arranged visa in order to board the flight. The visa they have pre-arranged and paid for will be put in their passport at the "visa desk" and they will be stamped into the country and charged a "stamping fee."

Definitely have to have a visa in advance for americans going to Vietnam. You can have one in your passort, on a separate sheet of paper, or in the computer for pick up on arrival.

That said, one of my travelling parners last June had her visa on a spearate sheet. Vietnam Air didn't ask to see our visas when we boarded in Kuala Lumpur, so she didn't realize she'd lost it till we were at immigration in Saigon.

Nothing like being led off to the interrogation room by the very serious communist guards! They were going to make her return to KL, but eventually they had her pay the "new fee" of $50 ( I'm sure the guard had a nice dinner that evening) and let her in, but that was only because the visa was in the computer system.

$50 will cover the bare essentials, but Thailand is a shoppers paradise. Having some extra will be a good cushion for the inevitable. I'd raise it up to $75 per day for the inevitable.