Budget travelling on Jetstar

I recently went on a budget trip to Perth on Jetstar. I was glad that all the horror stories I've heard and read regarding budget airlines did not happen during my flight.

Since carriers charge really low nowadays, more people can afford to fly. I therefore compile a list of things that can be useful if you want to travel on a budget.

I have not tried the rest of the budget airlines but since Jetstar left a good impression on me and I will definitely fly with them again, the following are based on a Jetstar flight.

Booking
It is always cheaper online and book months earlier. Booking nearer to flight dates always equals expensive fares.

Flight
Choose a night flight. This allows you to sleep especially for long journeys which means you save on meals and/or entertainment on the plane too. Also, reaching your destination early in the day means you save on a day's accommodation the night before and have time to explore your destination before you check in to your accomodation.

Baggage
A JetSaver Lite fare allows a maximum of 10kg carry on baggage. If you travel in pairs and need a total of >20kg but <40kg of baggage allowance, then get the JetSaver plan at an additional $20 for only one of you. This adds another 20kg to your allowance and you can have the option to check it in. To do this, book two tickets separately. To ensure that both of you get side by side seats, open up two browsers and book each ticket simultaneously.

Seats
Jetstar flies the Airbus 320 where all seats are similar. Avoid seats 29D-29F because the back of the seats is the toilet wall which means you cannot recline the seats like the rest. Although the other seats can recline only one step, it is still better than nothing. Also, the baggage compartment above seats in the row 28 and above are taken up by the crew and their equipments so if you like easy access to your baggage along the way, take this into consideration.

Entertainment
Jetstar has an in-flight portable entertainment unit that cost AUD10.



This is really worth the money for a long trip. It comes with a stereo earpiece which you can share with another person. Flight can be noisy so the volume might not be enough even at full blast if you share. So get a stereo jack splitter and bring your own additional earpiece so that both of you can have full stereo audio with less noise.

Food
You can pre-pay your meals and enjoy unlimited non-alcoholic drinks, such as water, juices, soft drinks, tea and coffee during your international flight. Select the FEED ME option for $25-$30 each way for just one of you if needed. Share your meals with your partner.

Maiden

We finally set the ball rolling for our maiden backpacking trip to Perth yesterday instead of the initial plan to go Sarawak in a group.

One thing I learned so far from a couple of small trips I organised is that there has to be a dateline. By the time that is up, the only way is to proceed with whatever the situation is then because if not, nothing will happen.

Consensus is not a privilege because any intentional delay simply means paying more for transportation as fares go up as the date gets nearer. So once I got signals that the original plan is set to go crash and burn, I decided to stop wasting valuable time and focus on just us hence the switch of plans.

We sat in Axela near a McDonalds outlet to tap on wireless@sg and booked the tickets. The flight schedule is at odd timings that it scares me a little as to what screw-ups will be coming our way then.

But they say that's the fun of backpacking - the unknown, and we might be putting ourselves deeper into unchartered waters by trying to get a freeloaders stay there. Although Perth is practically safe, doing anything for the first time will always be a little scary.

The trip will be on a very strict budget although to me food is something that I can exclude from that as compared to other aspects. Going hungry is never fun.

Lots of things are maiden on this trip apart from it being our first attempt at backpacking. A first together on a trip (not a getaway). A first to Perth and the first to Australia for her. It might snow there too so it would be another first for her.

Of the things in our list of 'firsts', this being the first time we really sat down planned something tops it all.