Planning and Panic

I am leaving for Cambodia in just a few days. I am so excited and nervous and know that there is no turning back now!

Just to review where all the info from this trip came:
I found out about the flight through The Points Guy on Facebook. His main schtick is getting miles from credit cards, but he also posts really good air fare deals when they become available. My round trip flight from Chicago to Phnom Penh was under $450. That is the entire reason I decided to take this trip. Give me a good deal and I'm there!

Hotel -
When it came to booking a hotel in Asia, I had absolutely no clue where to begin. I first looked at AirBnB, which is what I used exclusively during my Canada road trip this summer. There were many great listings, but I realized that I didn't know enough about the city to figure out how far away the homes were from the airport or tourist attractions. My main focus on this trip is comfort and convenience. I will gladly pay more to be dropped off at the door of wherever I am going. This trip has such a fast turnaround and such immense probability of jet lag, that I don't trust my ability to navigate on my own after traveling for 39 hours (this includes my overnight in Tokyo).

Next I went to the Lonely Planet website and found the Cambodia Forum. This led me to Booking.com and Agoda. Agoda is where I booked my rooms for Phnom Penh and I booked Tokyo on Booking.com. Booking.com does have price match, so if you find your room cheaper elsewhere, they will match it. I didn't use that feature, so I can't report on that.

TSA - I did apply for pre-check from the Transportation Security Administration. The cost was $85 and lasts 5 years. I did this last month, and here in Indianapolis, I was able to get an appointment the next day. I did not do the Global Entry, though, which apparently requires an actual interview in addition to the fingerprints. When I went, the person just asked me the same questions from my online form and took my fingerprints. I don't know if Global Entry is different. I do know that it costs more and word on the street is that in some cities it is hard to get in to schedule an interview.

As for activities while in the cities, I have found ideas from Trip Advisor and Viator. Viator is apparently the same company as Trip Advisor. I would read reviews on Trip Advisor and check out prices on Viator. So far, my plan includes a Robot Cabaret Show in Tokyo.

Did I mention I am staying at an internet and manga cafe and sleeping in a capsule in Tokyo? Yeah, just going all in.

In preparation for Tokyo, I ordered Japanese Yen from my bank. It should be in tomorrow. They were not able to order Cambodian Riel. I have no idea how one would get that money here, but I read that they also widely accept and prefer the American dollar.

This summer in Canada, my debit card would not work at stores, so I am going to have my credit cards at the ready in case I run into a similar situation. I want to have many options so I don't find myself in a financial bind.

Oh, and you have to have a visa to enter Cambodia, but you can get that at the airport upon arrival. My plan was to get it ahead of time on their website but I got tripped up by having to upload the photo and not having a scanner for my passport picture, and next thing I knew, I was out of time. D'oh.

What started out as an impulse buy has definitely turned into a lot of moving pieces fitting together. I also contacted a school in Cambodia and will be spending a day there while I am there. That is one of the things I am most excited about. If I had thought of it sooner, I could have tried to arrange more meaningful for my time there. I learned at the volunteer work camps on vfp.org, but there are none going on during the week I am there.

Whenever I become overwhelmed by a big trip, I think, "Just follow the end of your nose". Putting one foot in front of the other, I will make it there.