5 weeks to go until Southeast Asia and the To Do list is long!

[AddictedtoTravel]

Just received my box from ABD for our upcoming trip to Southeast Asia. I am feeling completely overwhelmed with all that needs to get done. To top it off I'm heading to Puerto Vallarta for Thanksgiving for a week and then a long weekend in Chicago to see the Bowie exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Anyway ... we will be staying in Cambodia after for a couple of days at the end of the trip. Does anyone have suggestions? Places to eat, things to do ...? In addition, I haven't been on a ABD for the holidays. Do they celebrate it in anyway? We will be there for Christmas and New Years.

 

[kristilew]

I have been on the Ecuador ABD over Christmas. We were actually on the ship on Christmas Eve and flew back to Quito on Christmas Day.

The ship's crew did a lovely Christmas dinner, with a Yule Log cake dessert, and wished us all Feliz Navidad, as Ecuador is a largely Catholic Country. The ship itself was also decorated with a Christmas tree. I would imagine in Asia, you will not have as much of a cultural focus on this holiday.

The ABD folks kept the holiday stuff very low key. About half the families on our Adventure were Jewish, so it would have been inappropriate to do an official celebration. We did do the white elephant gift exchange on Christmas morning, but I think that just happened to be the day it fell on. They use it as a time filler while our group is waiting to disembark.

I would guess that you will see more of a focus on the New Year's celebration on your trip, since that is a more universal holiday. But please report back and let us know!

To add one more thing - we loved traveling over the holidays! It was a such a nice way to keep the focus on being together and appreciating our amazing world instead of running around like a crazy person and baking endless cookies. We loved it so much we booked another ABD over this Christmas! Just got our box too.


If no one here weighs in on what to do on your post days, I'm sure your guides will have tons of suggestions.

Have a great trip - and PLEASE do a trip report when you get back!

 

[Cousin Orville]

No worries. You'll have a great time. I wrote a trip report that has a couple of recommendations for meals in Siem Reap. A link should be in the trip reports thread around Summer 2013. Enjoy and report back! I'd love to hear what it's like over Christmas.

 

[canter2u]

We are going on the dec 20th Southeast Asia trip. Weather seems to vary this time of year from the south to the north. can't wait!

 

[acndis]

We are booked for this trip December 2015 so I am really hoping for tips and a trip report! I have read Cousin Orville's (which sold us on the trip) but are eager to hear about the differences in December.

I am starting to look at flights. We've had really good luck booking the first day they become available (331 days out) on our last 3 Int'l ABDs. What/how are you flying? The connections and flight times range from the crazy to the insane. We are in Austin, TX so flying out of DFW or IAH are great options.

 

[Cousin Orville]

We are booked for this trip December 2015 so I am really hoping for tips and a trip report! I have read Cousin Orville's (which sold us on the trip) but are eager to hear about the differences in December.

I am starting to look at flights. We've had really good luck booking the first day they become available (331 days out) on our last 3 Int'l ABDs. What/how are you flying? The connections and flight times range from the crazy to the insane. We are in Austin, TX so flying out of DFW or IAH are great options.

Thanks! I'm excited for you guys. This ABD is so awesome - quite possibly my favorite so far.

We did Singapore Airlines from IAH-Moscow-Singapore and then Singapore to HCMC. That was the best ABD could come up with more. The other options had worse schedules and were much more expensive at the time. Many people on our ABD seemed to be going through Incheon, so I guess they flew Korean. Good luck! Flying into HCMC and out of Siem Reap is not easy to say the least. But it's worth it!

 

[chats9195]

We are on the January 2015 SE Asia trip. We are traveling on United from IAH to SFO to Hong Kong to HCMC. On the return we go from Siem Reap to Incheon to Narita (Tokyo) to IAH. Wanted the out bound on the nonstop flight from Houston to Tokyo, but business class upgrade with miles was not available, so we go through Hong Kong instead.

 

[acndis]

Thanks so much for the input on flights. I am going to start looking at 331 days and book anything that I can live with. Most of the flights I have seen are Asiana through Korea but my dad is really hoping for a oneworld as he has platinum status. I will keep looking.

In the meantime for those of you who are traveling, have a wonderful trip! We can't wait to hear all about it

 

[Kez250]

I can't believe we leave on Friday for our trip, we are spending a week in Singapore first, so DH can have work meetings and the kids and I can get over our jet lag in time for HCMC.

We're flying with Air China from JFK to PEK then to SIN, Singapore Air to HCMC and Air China from REP to PEK and then direct to JFK

So excited

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I can't believe we leave on Friday for our trip, we are spending a week in Singapore first, so DH can have work meetings and the kids and I can get over our jet lag in time for HCMC.

We're flying with Air China from JFK to PEK then to SIN, Singapore Air to HCMC and Air China from REP to PEK and then direct to JFK

So excited

I just flew Air China PEK-SEL in business class and it is a really substandard airline.

Transiting through PEK is a real pain. You have to go through immigration and get your passport stamped before going through security again. Their security people make the TSA seem like the greatest, friendliest, most efficient screening force ever. Don't get me started on the woman working in the Air China business class lounge who refused to even acknowledge our presence when we needed help changing our seat assignments (screwed up by the airline). My husband and I agreed that we will avoid flying them in the future.

 

[acndis]

We had a wonderful time on Knights and Lights but can't wait to hear how the December SE Asia trips went because we are booked for next year (12/15).

I hope you had a wonderful time and I can't wait to hear the details!