PANIC on the Border

Flying standby is stressful for most people. 


To me though, it is half fun. It is the reason I once ended up in Korea instead of Japan, and what an amazing vacation that was. 

However, three people flying standby from different airports and on different airlines gets a bit tricky. Somehow though, Deidre, Peter and I figured out a flight route that allowed all three of us to land in Vietnam around the same time. We were ready to cry hurray but stopped ourselves when we realized that we needed a visa to be allowed on Vietnamese soil and had less than 24 hours before departure time.

Thankfully though since all three of us are American, the Vietnamese Visa Process  only took us 10 minutes online, one quick picture and $45 on arrival. As of Cambodia, I was not the least worried. There was an app for it, or just $35 on arrival, and voila. 

But when one is out of pages on their passport, well things get complicated, really complicated. Even more so when it is 5:45 pm and both the Vietnamese and Cambodian borders close at 6 pm.

We cried, we begged, but to no avail. So naturally, bribing seemed the next best and only option left, but that failed miserably as well. And could have sent us all to Cambodian jail real quick.



So crying began again and cheesy sentences like "I just want to see your beautiful country" were said.  But "Go back to Vietnam" was the immigration officer's answer to pretty everything we said.  Not that it was really an option, the Vietnam border had already closed shop for the night and he knew it. We needed a miracle, or else we were stuck in no man's land for the night. 

But thankfully miracles do happen and the officer finally agreed to apply the Cambodian visa on an information page of Deidre's passport. Not sure it was legal, but we didn't question the police officer. 

All that mattered to us was that we got through!

Sihanoukville 
us the next day on the beach celebrating our jail-free vacation 

But it was very stressful and almost ruined our trip to Cambodia, which is truly a beautiful country you don't want to miss, which is why I HIGHLY recommend counting your passport page before leaving your country of residence, not after. 

Check out more pics of Cambodia if you are still hesitating about adding it to your bucket list:
Koh Rong Samloem Island 






Angkor Wat 




And now that it is obviously on your bucket list, go check your passport. 

Live, Love, Laugh & Travel

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