Bird trip Planning and travel...how much wiggle room around flights? (1 Viewer)

[Mysticete]

Hey folks,

I know there are lot of people who do a fair share of international birding. I am trying to work out the logistics currently for a tour that is basically on the other side of the planet from me. This will be the longest I have traveled for a tour and the flight arrangements look...pretty complicated (Wisconsin to Malaysia, and I don't have a major airport next door), and adding to that complication is a desire to shove in some additional birding.

Basically, if you know your trip starts at destination X at, say 6:00 pm, and you want to make sure there are no issues with missing the first day or other problems, when would you schedule your flight to arrive? I am just trying to figure out what is a reasonable time frame and what is me being paranoid.

 

[jurek]

Flightstats and similar websites tell you how likely is the flight to be delayed. I would aim to arrive anytime before the official start of the trip, and be at the airport 2-3 hours earlier. If you are going to Malaysia, don't worry. It is a well connected country. Even if you miss the start of the tour, you would have no problem catching up with the group. If it was a boat leaving to Antarctica, I would try arriving a day earlier.

BTW Many start destinations are actually worth seeing on their own if you have time. I would not be bored in Kuala Lumpur, definitely. Also, sometimes breaking a long journey is also cheaper. I discovered that flights from Europe to Bangkok and Bangkok to Papua New Guinea with a 24 hour layover together are much cheaper than Europe to PNG. And I enjoyed Thailand as much as PNG!

 

[Lerxst]

Well I've done the Minnesota to SE Asia trip many times, usually for work (but those were always actually birding trips, ya know... ). As a general rule I would arrive at least a day before I was going to do anything; work, guided birding trip, whatever. Believe me it is not wasted time or money. Having a day to acclimated and not have pressure or rushing around is very good for your sanity. If there are delays in flights you now have some buffer. If all goes well and you have energy, you can go out on your own. You want to have some easy to navigate site (like a city park) planned out to go to and get some easy birds and local food. I'd always do that in Bangkok. The excitement of being over these is usually so keen that the jet lag can be ignored (coming home is when it is brutal, I've found).

 

[etudiant]

Hey folks,

I know there are lot of people who do a fair share of international birding. I am trying to work out the logistics currently for a tour that is basically on the other side of the planet from me. This will be the longest I have traveled for a tour and the flight arrangements look...pretty complicated (Wisconsin to Malaysia, and I don't have a major airport next door), and adding to that complication is a desire to shove in some additional birding.

Basically, if you know your trip starts at destination X at, say 6:00 pm, and you want to make sure there are no issues with missing the first day or other problems, when would you schedule your flight to arrive? I am just trying to figure out what is a reasonable time frame and what is me being paranoid.

VENT birding travel also recommends arriving a day early.
In my experience, it is a very sensible suggestion, as it largely eliminates the tensions that arise when there are delays.
Obviously even better if the destination offers some local birding as well.
Really the only objections are that your time may be too limited or that your budget won't handle the extra day.

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

It varies, but I usually try to arrive at least a day before the trip starts. It depends on the frequency of flights, number of connections, etc.

If the trip is slated to start with a group dinner (i.e. day X at 6 PM), I try to arrive at the tour starting point sometime the day before. That way I can use the morning of the "dinner day" for acclimation, sightseeing, or a bit of birding. The choice between the three options depends on whether I've been to the place before. Now if the trip starts first thing in the morning (i.e day X at 6 AM), I often try to arrive two nights before.

If I'm traveling on a non-stop flight, I might reduce those times, since the likelihood of an international flight with a major airline being totally cancelled is small, while the likelihood of missing a connection is fairly high. And if you miss a connection on a long international flight such as to Malaysia, odds are you could be delayed an entire day. Been there, done that.

OTOH, if I'm making an extended stop someplace nearby, I'll drop the day-before rule.

Some examples:

1) I'm taking a tour in Malaysia in May. The tour starts first thing in the morning on the 10th. If I were flying from the US to Malaysia with a connection in Japan or Korea, I'd plan to arrive on the night of the 8th. That way if I miss the connection in North Asia and have to overnight, there are plenty more flights to get me to Malaysia the next day. I might miss dinner, but I wouldn't miss any of the tour.

2) In reality, for that Malaysia tour I'm stopping in Singapore for a couple days mainly for sightseeing and maybe a little birding before I go to Malaysia. In that case, I'll fly from Singapore to Malaysia around lunch time on the 9th. There are dozens of flights between SIN and KUL, so if something happens to mine, I get put on a different flight. Again, I might miss dinner, but I won't miss the tour.

3) I'm thinking about a trip to Brazil in November. That trip starts with dinner on day X. I'll probably book a non-stop flight that arrives on the morning of day X. IMO, the likelihood of the flight being totally cancelled is pretty small, but if it's delayed by a few hours, it's not that big a deal.

If you want to discuss any particulars, feel free to PM me.

 

[Jos Stratford]

I'd go for multiple days before, purely for extra birding 🙂

And if the tour is only in Malaysia, I'd think of flying to Singapore not Kuala Lumpur, doing a couple of days there, very easy independently, then taking a local flight to Kuala Lumpur - these are cheap and there are dozens of flights each day making the short hop.

 

[Mysticete]

Actually I didn't even consider flying into Singapore! These are great suggestions, especially since I know that Singapore is pretty straightforward to bird via public transit. So I could easily squeeze a half a day of birding there and get into Kuala Lumpur the day before my tour starts, giving my a whole day pretty much to try Bukit Tinngi with a guide

 

[DMW]

I think there are two approaches to this question depending on how much time you have available. If your time is short and your main concern is basically insurance against delay, I'd say arrive the day before and spend the night in KL recovering from the flight. The fewer complications the lower the stress.

If you can spare a couple of days, Singapore's a decent idea, but if your tour is to Peninsular Malaysia, I'd consider flying to Kota Kinabalu and having a day or two on Mt Kinabalu. There are lots of daily flights from KL to KK, it's very easy to get to Kinabalu, and frankly the birding is way better than Singapore. If you can eke out a few days, you could even add Sepilok Rainforest Discovery Centre into the mix.

 

[jurek]

Just remember that Mysticete is going for a birding trip later, and likely will see the same birds again. There are only few birds in Singapore which are more difficult in Peninsular Malaysia, like Red-legged Crake in the Botanical Garden and Mangrove Pitta in Pulau Ubin. But Singapore is a good city for sights and culture. One of my favorite cities of the world.

Borneo / Sabah is a great place to bird, but the main airport is Kota Kinabalu, and there are no especially prominent birding spots in or very close to Kota Kinabalu. It is more a place for a trip of its own.

 

[DMW]

It's really a question of time available and inclination. I wouldn't personally fly to Singapore for a day's birding if I was doing a tour in the Peninsula. I'd just chill in KL. With more time at my disposal, I'd try to go somewhere better, and Mt Kinabalu is pretty easy. There are lots of flights from KL to KK, you don't have to clear immigration again, it's under 2 hours from KK airport to the park entrance, and you can bird on foot. Plus it's really easy birding in pleasant temperatures. Obviously it's just scratching the surface of Borneo but it's a really nice and inexpensive place to spend a day or two.

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

Actually, I went to Pulau Manukan near KK for Tabon Megapode and Mangrove Blue Flycatcher before my tour in Borneo started.

But if Mystecite's never been to Singapore before, it's definitely someplace he should spend some time, IMO.

 

[Montereyman]

Hey folks,

I know there are lot of people who do a fair share of international birding. I am trying to work out the logistics currently for a tour that is basically on the other side of the planet from me. This will be the longest I have traveled for a tour and the flight arrangements look...pretty complicated (Wisconsin to Malaysia, and I don't have a major airport next door), and adding to that complication is a desire to shove in some additional birding.

Basically, if you know your trip starts at destination X at, say 6:00 pm, and you want to make sure there are no issues with missing the first day or other problems, when would you schedule your flight to arrive? I am just trying to figure out what is a reasonable time frame and what is me being paranoid.

I plan to arrive at least a full day in advance and preferably two days in advance. Much less expensive to do this than it is to try and catch up to a tour goup that left the day before. It also allows time to get any checked luggage that may have been misrouted or lost or to buy replacement clothes and toiletries.

I make the reservations myself to allow sufficient time at the hubs. For example the travel agents often would book me to arrive in Dallas 20 minutes or less before my next flight was to leave the gate. I would change the reservations to allow a couple hours and so insure I made the flight and I used the time to eat, which is even more important with the meager food portions served by the domestic carriers.

 

[Mysticete]

I think there are two approaches to this question depending on how much time you have available. If your time is short and your main concern is basically insurance against delay, I'd say arrive the day before and spend the night in KL recovering from the flight. The fewer complications the lower the stress.

If you can spare a couple of days, Singapore's a decent idea, but if your tour is to Peninsular Malaysia, I'd consider flying to Kota Kinabalu and having a day or two on Mt Kinabalu. There are lots of daily flights from KL to KK, it's very easy to get to Kinabalu, and frankly the birding is way better than Singapore. If you can eke out a few days, you could even add Sepilok Rainforest Discovery Centre into the mix.

I'd like to save Borneo for a future more dedicated birding trip, with a little extra time around Kuala Lumpur to try for some Peninsular Malaysia specialities on this trip

 

[jurek]

If you decide to spend a night in Malaysia, you can very easily book a hotel online via booking com or similar. However, in Fridays and Saturdays, hotels near natural places in Malaysia get surprisingly full and are better booked in advance. Malaysians like to spend weekends close to nature. This was somewhat unexpected for me.