Congratulation to AirAsia! In recent Skytrax’s 2010 World Airline Award, AirAsia won for the 2nd consecutive year as the best low cost airline in the world. It was the winner in 2009 after beating all other popular budget airlines around the world such as Ryanair, Jetstar, Tiger airway, Air Berlin, Virgin Blue and so on. As the award was voted on by passengers, the result actually reflected the satisfaction index of passengers towards the airlines.

I’m so lucky to be in Malaysia who can fly whenever I like with AirAsia and I did fly in AirAsia for my recent tour to London as well as Phuket. I have had few flying experiences with them and my only comment on AirAis is that they are really getting better and better as a budget airline. From my first AirAsia flight to Bali to the most recent flight to Europe, huge improvement could be easily noticed, from the services they provide, the transparency of their pricing, the comfort of their seating and most importantly the punctuality of their flight.

I had 2 experiences of flying with Ryanair and Transavia recently in Europe. Comparatively and surely to conclude that, I had a better flying experience with AirAisa instead.

In fact, AirAsia had become the market leader in the local airline in terms of innovation. AirAsia always leads while other Malaysian airlines could only follow.

I love its transparency in terms of pricing. travelers can always get cheap or even free air fares if they decide where and where to go earlier, at least 6 months ahead. Every 6 months AirAsia will start a Zero Fare campaign for budget conscious travelers to grab a limited allocated seats to most destinations. After free seats have been taken up, price will progressively go up in stages, depends on number of seats allocated for each price stage until the ceiling price. Airport taxes are excluded. All other costs such as seats selection, check-in baggage and meal on-board are excluded. You have the options to buy or not. Other than that, there isn’t any hidden cost. This is called pricing transparency. Unlike other airlines who always rip you off with ridiculous pricing, passengers of AirAsia are the one to control the flying cost, not the airline. Check out my top 5 tips in booking Cheap AirAsia flights before doing so.

With the quality of their services being improved so much, I have more confident to fly with AirAsia for my upcoming worldwide travel and hope AirAisa can add more world’s destination into their map and long haul flights to US and Europe. Well done!

Again,  I’m not attached to AirAsia in any way. I’m just a budget traveler who loves to visit other parts of this world with limited budget. Because of AirAsia, I have more opportunities to realize my travel plan and travel wishes. – Travel Feeder, the ultimate travel photo blog

I love Sunday. Sunday is the best time for me to surf net at my leisure. New travel ideas always come up from here. Checking through the weather forecast of Beijing today, end of October till beginning of November seems to be perfect for visiting if I want to go there this year. Emm… alluring.

Planning for travel sometimes for some places need a long time ahead. Especially when the destination is so popular and there is only certain time in a year open to public, such as Tulips garden or a ski holidays. If I were to plan over my Europe tour again, I would have a short stay at one of the ski resort in French Alps region included in the itinerary.

Ski Holidays in Southern France and Northern Italy and Switzerland receive overwhelming response each year that finding accommodations during the peak season is difficult. What ski lovers could do are to book those ski resorts well in advance. The best bet to avoid disappointment of fully booked resorts, one shall need to confirm their ski weekends holidays up to 6 months ahead of their travel schedule!

If the best time for skiing falls on January onward each year in Europe, 6 months ahead means now is definitely the best time to plan your ski holidays and book for Ski weekends at one of those popular ski resorts in Rhône-Alpes and Alpes-Côte d’Azur.

I just realised while surfing nets, though Summer is around the corner, there are many ski deals around where enthusiasts of this sport can actually book for their ski holidays next year online. My suggestion for a ski holidays while you are in Europe is to start planning your Europe tour now. Have you grabbed the AirAsia zero fare tickets to London next year? If it falls on March, you could insert a short ski weekend stay in Southern France ski resorts en route to Milan or Venice from Lyon or Paris.

Skiing in March is much cheaper and less crowded in the Three Valleys ski area. The Three Valleys are home to eight highly individual ski resorts that are linked together by a unique network of ski lifts and ski runs. The ski area of the Three Valleys is one of the largest in the world with 600km ski slopes and 200 ski lifts which caters for everyone, from beginner to expert.

So what are you waiting for? – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel photo blog

Guest Post by Jon

Ever consider spending your holidays on cruise? Cruise holidays are becoming an increasingly popular choice for holidaymakers, due to a host of factors including increased media coverage, price reductions and deals coupled with the many recent problems faced by Airlines.

Regardless of the reasons for an increase in people opting for a cruise holiday over a traditional land based holiday, the fact is that cruises holidays offer so much that you can’t get from a land based holiday. Below you will find the top 5 reasons for choosing a cruise holiday.

1. Better Value – Most of the time you will find that cruise holidays offer much better value than land based or beach holidays. The reason for this is that most of the extra’s are all included within the price of the cruise. Food, Drink and most of the entertainment all come as part and parcel of the cruise, not to mention a wide range of activities available on board. Of course you can book an all inclusive deal for a beach holiday, but most of the time this will still work out more expensive than a cruise. There are also a number of options for a cheap cruise deal, which you can find through a quick internet search. A recent poll showed that over half of passengers agree that a cruise offers better value for money than an all inclusive package.
2. Fine Dinning – Cruise ships offer up some of the finest food around with celebrity chefs frequenting the best cruise ships. There is always a wide range of choices available with speciality restaurants offering dishes from all corners of the globe.
3. The Best of Both Worlds – Just because you are on a cruise holiday it doesn’t mean you have to spend the whole time aboard the ship. There is a huge choice when it comes to destinations and stop off’s with different cruise lines covering all parts of the world from a scenic Alaskan cruise to fun in the sun on a glorious Caribbean cruise and everything in between.
4. Fun for the Whole Family – A cruise holiday is a great option for families. With a large selection of activities on board to keep the kids entertained, and plenty of room for parents to relax and soak up the sun on deck you are sure to have a hassle free holiday. There is also usually plenty of entertainment for the adults such as shopping and casinos, if you need a break from the sun.
5. Tailored to Suit Your Needs – When it comes to choice nothing beats a cruise. Whatever type of holiday you are looking for you are sure to find a cruise that suits your needs. Special Interest Cruises are a big part of the cruise industry and there are lots of options, whether it’s a singles cruise, family cruise, senior cruise or even a honeymoon and wedding cruise that you’re after. These are just a few of the many good reasons to choose a cruise holiday, and with prices continuing to drop you are sure to find a great deal.

If you felt tired of flying few hours to your destination and walking after walking from one travel site to another, cruise holidays would be another travel option that you should try at least once. – Travel Feeder, the ultimate travel photo blog

Starting today until 23rd of May or this coming Sunday, The world best budget airline, AirAsia of Malaysia is giving away Free seats to all destinations within its route map! This zero fares offer does not include airport tax, check-in baggage, on-board meal and seat selection. However, it is still tremendous value to have free tickets for most of its destinations especially for AirAsia X flights to Australia, UK or China.

Book your flights in advance during this period and fly to your destinations FREE between 3rd January to 8th May next year 2011 .

If you want to travel to Europe next Spring, grab your free seats now online! Last November, I managed to grab some cheap tickets, though not free, for my recent trip to London and subsequently other parts of central Europe countries last week. Spending RM1,900.00 on a AirAsia X Airbus A340 flight Return Tickets to London inclusive checked-in baggage, on-board meal and seat selections were truely fantastic value that I have just experienced!

Go ahead NOW and try your luck as the airline website is too busy to surf and book smoothly. You might need to try and try and try again to complete your booking process! Try to get access during midnight when traffic is lower. Good Luck! – Travel Feeder,  the ultimate travel blog

p/s: I’m not attached to AirAsia airline in any way. I’m just a big fan of budget airline which benefits people like me with limited budget but passionate to travel.

This is a post what many travelers are missing out on! No introduction I think is needed for this place. Those who have been to Phuket and Patong Beach before must have also visited this travelers’ hot spot. For other travelers who are planning to visit Phuket, you must have also heard about these lively night scenes. Where am I referring to here? It has the most happening nightlife in Phuket. It sleeps at day and wake up at night. It’s also the heaven to those ‘desperate’ man. Bingo! It’s Bangla Street of Patong, Phuket. How much do I love Bangla Street?

We stayed in Safari Beach Hotel which is just around the corner from Bangla Street (highly recommended hotel if you’re staying in Patong). So on the night itself after we arrived at Patong Beach, tried some local foods, did some shopping in Jungceylon, dived into the sea of Andaman in the evening, shot some exciting sun-setting, and took a bath in the hotel, we headed back out again at night to take our first seafood dinner in Patong and off course, to do some pub crawling at Bangla Street!

Welcome to Patong!

The real crowds at Bangla Street drew in very late. When we passed by it at around 8pm, there were still not many people seen on the street.

But pubs and restaurants already started their business…

However, It was the best chance for me to take some photographs over those pubs freely without any obstructions from the crowd.

FBI in Phuket? It’s actually Finest Bar In Thailand night club.

We chose this 99 Restaurant along Rat-U-Thit Road at the end of Bangla Road because of this huge signboard of 99! We did not expect any surprises from here as what you can see from their signboard, they are mainly for tourists!

We picked and ordered some simple seafood without the lobster. The food tastes fine but not as good as our lunch at Jungceylon. The price is reasonable. It cost us RM200 for 6 of us.

Too full for beers? Nevermind, we took a walk along Rat-U-Thit Road. Rat-U-Thit is the main road in Patong and you can find various souvenir shops and stalls along both sides of the road.

Jean loves these very much…

These lanterns are beautiful… but not the Chinese wording. I know Chinese language but I don’t understand what they are writing. They are just single words being copied and pasted.

This is interesting…. tools and weapons for self protection. Do we need any in Phuket?

We were a bit thirsty and we caught this Gelato shop. We tried a scoop. Not bad. But I’m looking forward to try the original in Rome this May!

Along the Beach Road, there are many up market seafood restaurants and bars also.

What a contrast. A pinoy band singing in front of the ‘Four Faces Buddha‘ statue.

Alright! It’s time to go back to Bangla Street. First look at this Bangla Area Map. It’s the directories of all bars along the road. There are easily more than 100 drinking holes there. Read also the warning on top right corner: Have Fun, Be Safe, Look After Your Bag. Let’s go bar hopping!!

Crowds started to come in from all over Phuket…

Drinkers started to fill the space of all bars…

The highlight of the street! Lady boys in action!

Look at the crowds. People were drawn into the frontage of this lady boy bar.

Not only lady boys performance, they are also pole dancing show on 1st floor.

The best spot to see these show is not inside it (though we did drink inside to get them up close… and up skirt) but the bars opposite the road with road side seating.

Lay boys podium dancing! Oh my god! Do you have the same body figures as them, ladies? It’s actually against Buddhism restrictions to disclose their bodies in public. If you are coming to Phuket for Buddhism travel, stay away from Bangla Street at all times.

Instead of mugs on coasters in Europe, bars in Patong serve bottled beers in beer jacket with attractive graphics.

The red light district of Patong and Phuket. It was stimulating indeed. Most of them are on offer to be tourists’ ‘escorts’.

Apart from drinking, there are also dancing clubs and snooker centers around the area. We had a really good time on the first night in Patong. Beers are cheap at around THB50. Cigarettes are being sold at dedicated stalls only for THB90 per packet of 20′s. There were so many bar girls for patrons to grab away (that’s what Bangla Street is infamous for) but just try to behave yourself. Drugs are illegal in Thailand though many patrons having fun here are taking soft drugs such as Cannabis and Yah Bah. I’m not one of them. Alchohol had made me high enough to do anything crazy… – Travel Feeder, the ultimate travel photo blog

You can view all photos in full resolution in my Flickr page or slideshow below. Happy viewing!

All photos was taken with Nikon D60 with Nikkor 35mm f1.8 lens.

p/s: If you think this travel photo blog has something you are looking for and is worth for your reading, please support me by one of these ways: Subscribe to Travel Feeder’s feeds for free upcoming stories via RSS or email; Search and purchase my favourite photos from istockphoto; Get your camera stuffs through my link to Amazon where you won’t lose anything and I could earn some commission, or, buy me a cup of coffee. Thank you. – Travel Feeder.