Once the pandemic is over, I’m sure millions of people are going to gear up to travel as much as possible. One such destination is Asia. I grew up in Asia for 13 years and it is my favorite region of the world to explore. This post goes into the cost of traveling to Asia to help you save and plan.

Much of Financial Samurai’s culture is about bringing various worldwide perspectives to financial topics we care about. If we can assemble the best aspects of each culture onto one site, we could create a valuable resource of wealth and happiness for millions.

From 2011 – 2017, I traveled to Europe for several weeks at a time to understand the happiest people on Earth. We looked into more sensitive topics such as combatting apathy and whether it was so bad that America was turning into Europe with higher taxes, increased welfare, and an overall larger government presence.

I could go back to Hawaii or Lake Tahoe for a vacation, but I’ve decided it’s time to return to a region where I spent the first 13 years of my life. It’s been four years since I’ve been back and I’m curious to see how things have changed.

Communist China is really a capitalist country in overdrive. I’ve been covering China’s economy since 1999. Further, I studied abroad in Communist China in 1997 for six months.

As soon as Houston Rockets General Manager’s, Daryl Morey, tweeted “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong,” the lucrative relationship between the NBA and China began to disintegrate.

Given the Communist China market is worth roughly $1 billion a year to the NBA (versus $0 for FS), it was fascinating to see some owners, coaches, players, and the commissioner either say nothing, throw Daryl under the bus, or grovel for forgiveness.

If you care about your reputation and want money, sending one-liners on social media about a controversial topic is probably not the best idea. Wait until you are truly free. There is always two sides to every conflict.

Of course everybody is going to be pro freedom. But to think the Chinese people are tyrants and don’t want freedom and prosperity themselves would be naive. Please differentiate between a country’s citizens and its government.

Europeans see money differently from Americans. Where Americans are obsessed with money, Europeans seem to have a lighter approach about money. In other words, Europeans work to live while Americans live to work.

After almost finishing my loop around Stonehenge, I stumbled across a French woman who was lying on the ground sideways. She adjusted herself a little bit to get more comfortable, but paid no attention to fellow tourists wondering what she was doing.

She made me want to lie down sideways as well to see what she was seeing. I didn’t because I felt a little silly copying her in broad daylight. So instead, I took this picture and tilted my phone. Perhaps you are now bending your head sideways or lifting your laptop sideways to see what she sees.

What do you see?

When I was a young buck, I used to travel like a maniac for work. I racked up travel miles fast because I was earning them non stop. I was based in Manhattan and had to cover clients in Florida, Bahamas, Iowa, Texas, Colorado, and California.

Then, there were the necessary quarterly or semi-annual pilgrimages to Hong Kong to kiss the ring. When you’ve got a corporate card with unlimited credit, you feel a little better about taking red-eyes to your 8am meetings.

But after a while, the novelty wears off and all you want to do is take the Chairman’s Flight (fly in the middle of the work day).

Travel miles and credit card rewards points were my combination of choice because not only would I gain more points flying more miles, I would then gain rewards points for every dollar I spent on the ticket, hotels, food, and entertainment.

For example, I’d earn 16,100 points for flying to Hong Kong from New York City roundtrip + 5,000 points for the cost of the business class ticket + 2,500 points for seven nights in a hotel + 1,000 points for food + 500 points for entertainment. The total rewards points accumulated would therefore equal ~25,000 for a one week business trip to Asia.

Related: How To Book A Flight For Someone Else Using Your Miles Or Points

Figuring out how much to tip is one of the most awkward things to tackle because tipping is not mandatory. But if you live in America like I do, it’s part of our culture. Not tipping for service feels weird, so we tend to do it anyway even if it’s not a part of another country’s culture.

Although each country in Europe has a slightly different tipping culture, I’d like to provide a rough guideline of how much to tip any waiter or hotel staff while traveling in any country in Europe.

The tipping amounts have been researched through my own travel experiences and speaking with numerous travel industry veterans. And if you’re ever in doubt, you can always tip more!

Tipping Guide In Europe

Some of you might have an anti-tip mentality because you don’t feel people who provide you a service should get anything extra since they are already getting paid to do their job.

Perhaps you don’t like to tip because you’re trying to keep vacation costs low. One of the biggest problems with being frugal your whole life is that it may stunt your generosity to others. Whatever your reason for not liking to tip, I get it.