Myanmar or Kuala Lumpur
 

So...we are actually in Yangon right now and have an overpriced hotel room for two more nights. We've realized that pretty much everything in bagan and Inle Lake (and possibly everywhere else) is booked (and also overpriced). We have a flight to Kuala Lumpur in 10 days that we might pay to change to fly out of here. We're on a budget trip (our myanmar research was done too late to realize this was going to be a hard country to travel budget consciously!). Do we fly to KP early and spend some time there? Any cheaper options in myanmar? Anyone had good experiences with switching flights thru Air Asia with minimal fees? Thanks!!

Have you asked your hotel or guesthouse to call places for you in Bagan? I heard from someone today that everything in Inle is fully booked right now. I would recommend you try to stay in Myanmar if at all possible. It's a fascinating country. Too bad you didn't know about the accommodation situation before you went.

You could drop by a travel agency and see if they can find you anything (though it is more likely to be mid-priced than budget).

KL is not an especially inexpensive city. If you have to fly out, you might consider going somewhere other than KL. Bangkok would be more interesting and there are plenty of budget options.

Air Asia has typically charged the full fare for the new ticket, though I did hear recently of someone having success in getting a ticket change for less. They said there is a new ticket change policy on the Air Asia website.

Good luck!

I did change an Air Asia flight once and ended up paying the full fare, which wasn't a huge amount as the flights were still a month or so away. AA ticket prices will almost always increase the closer you get to departure so if you do want to change the sooner the better.

I can't comment on Burma as I haven't been but KL is great place to spend a few days and often underated by many on this forum. It has some of the best and most varied food in Asia, and enough to see and do for a few days. Budget style accommodation is cheap and plentiful and, unlike Kathie, I do find it a relatively inexpensive city. I find the best place to find budget hotels, hostals etc. is www.hostelbookers.com accurate reviews and great booking system and prices. If you have a few days extra to spare I would check out either Penang or Melaka for a couple of days. The bus system s pretty good in Malaysia and easy to arrange tickets. good luck sorting something out!

Indeed KL is quite an interesting place:
http://www.molon.de/galleries/Malaysia/KL/

There should be budget accomodation options (haven't tried these myself, because usually we stay in mid-range places).

Regarding changing your booking see here:

Can I change the time or date for my flight?

You can make changes online by logging on to Manage My Booking or access it from your mobile via AirAsia Mobile App or mobile.airasia.com, at all our Sales Office/Airport Sales Counter and through our call centre. A change fee is applicable.

If you have already checked-in, you can ONLY process the change via Manage My Booking.

You may change flights up to forty-eight (48) hours prior to the scheduled flight departure time, subject to the following conditions:

(a) if the new flight booked is in a lower fare class than that of the cancelled booked flight, the difference in fares will not be refunded to the guest

(b) if the new flight booked is in a higher fare class than that of the cancelled booked flight, the difference in fares shall be paid by the guest before the cancellation or change can be made;

(c) the change is not confirmed until it is reflected in your booking itinerary;

(d) route change is not allowed (i.e. changing flight from KUL-HKT to KUL-BKI).

when you say budget, what exactly are you expecting??

I love KL, but if you're already in Myanmar, I wouldn't leave early. Even if you are told everything is booked, once you get to a location, you'll find accommodation options that are not advertised at all and will likely have rooms available. You can generally always find somewhere to stay, but if you're worried, you could try going places that don't get quite so many visitors. Hsipaw was a nice town to spend a few days and I'm sure there are many other similar places closer to Yangon as well. Wikitravel has some decent information for locations in Myanmar or you could check out the travel guides here: http://www.danielmcbane.com/travel-g...-asia/myanmar/

Well, you can probably find somewhere to stay in Mandalay and you could go north from there. Accommodation north of Mandalay is likely to be definitely on the budget side (you don't say what price you think is budget). Do you have a guidebook? Because otherwise you're likely to have problems off the main route.

I agree with crellston about KL. Travel in Malaysia is very easy, either on trains or buses, and besides KL there's Georgetown, the Cameron Highlands, the Perhentians....

What did you eventually do?

Just wondering. I hope you stayed in Myanmar and saw a bit of the place.

Cheers, Alan