Asia 2025

Even in the Portuguese Algarve, winters are cold, so Bina and I look for alternatives. As she says, “Where can we find sandal weather?”

Last year, Asia offered a good solution in our trip to Thailand and Cambodia. Searching for something similar this year, we put together a journey to Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Qatar. This was a lot of ground to cover in 19 days, but we kept our visits tightly focused on one place in each country. We built the Vietnam trip, for example, around a boat cruise in Halong Bay, near Hanoi; in Malaysia, it was Penang Island, on the northwestern coast. And Singapore itself is a small place, just one city.

Leaving Lisbon on February 6, we flew Qatar Airways to Singapore, with a two-hour layover in Doha; Singapore to Hanoi on February 11 via Vietnam Airlines; AirAsia on the 16th to Kuala Lumpur; Air Asia the next day to Penang; then Penang back to Singapore on the 19th via AirAsia. For the return to Lisbon, on the 21st, we flew Qatar Airways but this time stopped in Doha for a two-day visit, not reaching Lisbon until February 24. So, eight flights in all on this trip, and remarkably, all of them went smoothly!

Travel Tips: As you might have noticed, we frequently use AirAsia. This is a discount airline — think of it as Asia’s Ryanair — and a good choice for short flights. We found Qatar Airways good for the long segments and Vietnam Air, a state-owned company, turned out to be a pleasant surprise, with soothing teal colours in the cabin and efficient service from Singapore to Hanoi.