Let's say I decide four friends and I are going to Phuket, Thailand, for a week in early April. I find a $498 round-trip fare on China Eastern from LAX. Now all I have to do is find a reasonably priced place for us to stay. In a resort town.
Scarcer than hen's teeth, as my grandmother used to say. But there may be a way to take the bite out of that bill. Thanks to airline competition, we've seen amazing fares to Asia as low-cost carriers keep nudging their higher-priced competition in the financial ribs.
That fare mentioned above was found Feb. 20 for a longed-for but not yet realized trip April 3-12. (With airfare volatility, this fare may no longer be available.)
Chinese carriers have added capacity, which puts continued downward pressure on fares, said Tom Spagnola, a senior vice president of supplier relations for CheapOair. And not only on fares to China, he said in an interview in late 2016, but also to Thailand and the Philippines.
Even if I get a bargain fare, there's also a place to stay. My back tells me it will hate me more than it already does if I sleep cheap.
Although the top end is well represented and the hostel end is certainly present in Asia, the cupboard of the midlevel hotel is, if not bare, not exactly overflowing, said Srikanth Beldona, a professor at the University of Delaware who runs the school's hospitality business management program.
Maybe I'll rent a place. A penthouse on the Chao Phraya River that cuts through Bangkok for $50 a night or so sounds good.
And I can have it if I cast my lot with HomeAway vacation home rentals. That mode of travel stay is nothing new in Europe and even in the U.S. but it is in Asia, which is just beginning to embrace this way of stay while you play.
For many travelers, hotels are a cocoon, especially if language is an issue. They promote an "I-am-on-vacation" mind-set.
Hotels "are offering a completely different product _ a full-service experience _ and many travelers are looking for a break from being 'at home,'" Dillip Rajakarier, chief executive of Minor Hotel Group, said in an email. Minor, founded in Thailand by William E. Heinecke, has numerous hotels in Asia, including the highly touted Anantara brand.
Rajakarier applauds "different options in the market" because that means "there is something for everyone."
A vacation rental does have much to recommend it, including privacy and flexibility, said Jeff Hurst, chief commercial officer for HomeAway, which is making headway in the Asia market.
If you're a group of friends traveling together, cooking together may be a better option than "being in a crowded restaurant where you may not be able to hear each other," Hurst said.
And for parents traveling with young children _ Hurst has two _ if the kids sack out for the night at 7:30, Hurst said,
"If you have a house, and they're in their own room, you have a bottle of wine or watch a movie. You've just got options."
Technology helps address some of the needs that home-stayers might miss if they're not in a hotel, Hurst said. Food delivery apps, for instance, mean you aren't tied to the kitchen.
Being part of a community also fulfills an increasing need among travelers for authenticity.
Shopping where local residents buy, having coffee at the local bistro and interacting with the residents brings you closer to a culture.
That's partly what has fueled the success of Airbnb, which told me in an email that it has 74,000 accommodations in China, 48,000 in Japan and 47,000 in Thailand (all kinds of spaces, not just whole houses).
These "sharing economy" accommodations are the antidote, its email said, to "mass-produced tourism."
The market has room for growth. Cambodia, Airbnb said, so far has only 4,000 travel offerings in a country rich with opportunities.
For West Coast travelers, Asia is an opportunity to experience a region that is quicker to get to than Europe, cheaper, in many cases, and offers insights into countries that haven't yet been loved to death.
My trip to Asia is still a distant dream. But on HomeAway, I just saw a four-bedroom villa on Chang Noi beach, about 200 miles from Bangkok, at $127 a night.
Divide that by five, and that's less than $26 a night, and that is a budget traveler's sweetest dream.
