October 7, 2014

Just booked my next trip…

With the amount of planning that only a (legally) single guy can do, I booked a flight to my next destination. On December 21st, I’ll be flying to Southeast Asia and spending 20 days touring Thailand and Cambodia.

I’ll drive to Tampa on December 20th and then fly out the next morning on the 21st. Coming back, I’ll fly in to Tampa on January 11th, then take two days to drive back to South Carolina.

I haven’t used any of my 10 days of vacation yet this year, so I figured taking an extended trip made a lot of sense. In the calendar above, green is holidays I get off from work and blue is vacation days that I’m going to take. At the end of my trip, I’ll have six vacation days left which would allow me some flexibility in 2015.

One of my new concerns with traveling has been my dog. Boarding rates are around $25/night which adds up really fast! Luckily, I still have friends (and family!) in Tampa so Candace will be well taken care of.

My flight cost $2099.80, but I had a $600 voucher on Delta which brought it down to $1499.80. Despite the expensive airfare, my travel expenses will be very inexpensive once I’m there. The hostels I’ve done preliminary research on cost about $8/night and a really nice meal might only cost $11. Transportation is cheap as well with flights between Thailand and Cambodia costing less than $200 round trip. Renting a tuk-tuk driver for a day might cost $15.

The favorable economic climate for a traveler comes at a cost however. Thailand, and more-so Cambodia, aren’t the most developed countries. Minimum wage in Thailand is $10/day and one figure I saw put the average annual income in Cambodia at $750/year. That amount of poverty is really hard for me to comprehend, but its something I should be ready to encounter.

I haven’t done a large amount of planning yet so the next step is to determine what places I want to visit and for how long. After that, it’s relatively easy. There are a few things that I know I want to do – like get close with an elephant, tour the Killing Fields, and relax on Thailand’s beaches. Looking at pictures online has gotten me pretty excited!