Our Indochina
Adventure

Thailand requires no Visa. You need to get your Vietnam visa in the United States before you leave. Laos & Cambodia visas are obtained as you arrive in that country in US dollars. You have to take a passport-sized photo with you for each visa. The Cambodian visa costs $20 per person. The Laotian visa costs $30 per person. Get your Vietnamese visa from Generations Visa Service. They have given us great service for many years.
Don’t take or wear jewelry. You might even consider leaving your walking shoes and not bringing them home. We had the best group of seasoned travelers on this trip and many women had no ear rings or jewelry, just a travel wedding band.

We did not take malaria prophylaxis as we often do. I understand that it may be recommended in the rainy season. We didn’t need any additional vaccinations but we travel a lot & are up to date. Check with the CDC before you go. Vaccinations need a month to work generally so don’t wait till the last minute before planning trips. In the Far East the real health threat that ruins trips is influenza and we strongly recommend flu shots. Never go barefoot in Southeast Asia!
One of the Vantage travelers came down with cystitis in Kampong Cham. As a retired physician I accompanied the passenger & our Vantage guide to a pharmacy. I was impressed with how professional the pharmacist was in asking the symptoms and then giving a bottle of what I would consider a good antibiotic choice at a charge of $2.50 and accepted dollars. This is a common practice in many countries. Another passenger had what could have been a serious eye problem. Our Vantage guide located a western-trained Ophthalmologist in Phnom Penh, made an appointment, arranged water taxi, arranged car taxi, and sent a RV Saigon Pandaw crew member with us to the physician office 2 days in a row. I accompanied this Vantage traveler and was impressed with the care! Another passenger had a serious leg infection in a remote location and a survey of the other travelers turned up what I considered to be the correct antibiotics so we could avoid changing course of the ship. All three persons had a complete recovery. Make sure you have checked with the Center for disease control about any special requirements and be sure that you carry antibiotics, eyedrops, ear drops, Tamiflu, cold medicine, antibiotic ointment, cortisone cream, and that all medications or an original containers. You don't want someone to think that you are carrying contraband medication and put you in jail.

We took 4 cameras and they all had a place. Susan took pictures with her Nikon D90 with an AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm 1:3.5-6.5 G ED lens which was the most used camera and best choice. She also used her Canon Powershot Elph 300hs 12megapix tiny point and shoot in some locations. I took pictures with my Nikon D90 and a Sigma EX 10-20mm 1:3.5 DC HSM lens. The wide angle shots really complemented Susan's ones but we discard most of my wide angle pictures. I also took my waterproof Olympus Stylus Tough 8100 14megpix point and shoot camera. On rainy days this really came in handy. I saved a copy of the memory cards each day to my Wolverine and then imported them into Apple Aperture renaming the files to reflect location. It helped that before we left on the trip I had made a picture folder containing folders for (already named and dated) each day of the trip in Apple Aperture. I rejected and rated pix as fast as I could while on the trip when I remembered how meaningful subjects were. It is very important to carry is a lock plastic bags in which to place your cameras inside air-conditioned rooms. You leave your camera inside of these bags until they have warmed up outside so that they don't flog up.
I carry a small Nikon binocular that was very popular and in almost constant use during the cruise portion of our trip.

There is no internet on the boat. An occasional hotel still uses wired (CAT5) internet so carry your cable & don’t always count on wireless. We could pick up wireless from coffee shop when docked in Phnom Penh.
For years we carried a prepaid quad band phone with a British phone # because that’s was the best general way to get your calls. This trip Verizon advised us to just use our iPhone 4s and turn off the data plan (they recommended only using wifi for data). Texts were 50 cents to send and 5 cents to receive and were what they recommended people at home to use to communicate with us.
I absolutely love my MacBook Air. Almost everyone on the trip had an Amazon Kindle or an iPad. I believe that at this time, these are the only two choices for good book readers. I would not have been able to edit my pictures without the MacBook Air, however. We took almost 80 GB of pictures on this trip and were also able to download memory cards from fellow passengers on to the Wolverine or MacBook Air.

We long ago learned to shop for appliances (battery chargers, shavers, hair dryers, iron, curling iron, etc) that run on 220 as well as 110 volts. It’s nice to have a power strip or cube as outlets are limited. We had 220 volts with standard European-style two prong plugs. Since all of the electrical appliances & chargers we carry are dual voltage, I need only one 220 to 110 plug adapter to an American style cube or power strip for everything. Most of the plugs were European 2-prong plugs but in Hanoi & Saigon, the British style is often used instead. Susan always checks on the availability of hair dryers and irons at each hotel & ship on which we stay. It’s not uncommon for her not to take one or both on trips anymore. I still like a battery-powered alarm clock.

There are no formal nights on the tour or the boat. The weather is hot and you need to make several small flights on local airlines. We take less and less on our trips and we traveled with carry-on luggage only. We didn’t check any luggage and took no chances that luggage would not arrive. Also, living out of a suitcase is easier if there are limited choices of clothes. We wore synthetics and washed our ExOfficio underwear & quick drying socks nightly. You don’t need much! It rained on us less than 2 hours total on the whole trip at this time of the year

There were a few people on our travels each time whose luggage had not arrived from their airline flight and of course the tour left on time. If possible, spend a day or two at the first destination before you are supposed to leave to give late-arriving luggage time to arrive. We did not check luggage at all for this trip as we only carried travel clothes, there were no formal nights, laundry service was cheap, and it was hot weather. If we had of had checked luggage on the trip there we wouldn’t have been able to be quickly rescheduled after the Chicago airport was closed due to snow.
Generally a 22 inch bag is the maximum carry on size. Look at Rick Steve’s website at how he packs for trips. Don’t even consider the luggage (carry-on or checked baggage size) with four wheels as the wheels are fragile and someone on every trip we are ever on has a bag with a wheel broken off that won’t sit up straight!! We also carry a backpack each. If your 22 inch bag is expandable, you can check it on the way home. It doesn’t matter as much if baggage arrives late at your home after the trip is over!!
We carry plastic bags with us on the tours to put cameras etc in if it rains. We carry a few thin trash bags in case we have to carry wet bathing suits in our luggage. You can get cheap luggage or gym bags on location if you buy souvenirs but it’s even better (& easy) to ship things home.

In Cambodia, Viet Nam & Laos American currency is widely accepted & most people don’t exchange money. You end up with foreign coins good for bathroom entrance etc. In Thailand you need to exchange money. Get $1 & $5 bills in large quantity before leaving the USA. Having a lot of these bills on you is the one thing that makes traveling in second & third world countries a ball. I recommend at least $150 in one dollar bills and $200 in five dollar bills.
We have found that having a couple hundred dollars each in one and 5 dollar bills (or euros in parts of the world) opens up so many possibilities to get us good service, pay porters, and buy trinkets. We find out immediately upon entering a country how to tip and who. The US dollar is still king. We split up our credit and debit cards so if we are robbed we can continue our trips. One of the most important thing not to forget is to take some photo copies of your passport picture page. Because you use the photocopy of your passport rather than the actual passport (which the ship holds for you) you may still need your driver's license or other government issued ID at some money exchanges etc or if you have marked your credit cards CID. I have records of credit card numbers and the international phone number for the card. We know which ones have foreign transaction fees. Before we leave on our trip we call the credit card company and let them know which days we will be in each country so they will allow the transactions. We still have cards frozen by the banks when we withdraw large amounts out of the country or make large purchases. This problem is easy to resolve by logging in to the card's web page and checking messages. Keep up with your plane tickets and any vouchers you carry with you. In Europe and Japan in particular be sure your credit cards have been upgraded to Smart Cards that carry the computer chip.

In totalitarian states, tour guides should not be pushed to express their opinions about political issues. There is no reason to try to get them in trouble. Look things up online, if the tour guide was uncomfortable about answering the question.
We love our travel agent Dianne Blackburn at Gateway Travel in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She usually follows our progress when we fly and has even called ahead and rebooked flights when she knows we won't make connections. We call her from all over the world. We have used her for over 20 years and feel she consistently gets us the best deals. Susan takes whatever deals she can find to her and Dianne tries to get a better deal. Even when we book a cruise etc we make sure Dianne gets credit with the Cruise Line.
A trip as long as this attracts retired people who are older, especially on trips “pre” & “post” extensions. Working people can't take this much time off. Older people have more disabilities, especially mobility issues. Vantage Travel had gone to great lengths to advertise the exertion and number of steps required for each phase of this trip. They did a good job of choosing the correct amount of itinerary for each day for people in the 65 to 85 year range. This also was an extremely hot area at this time of year (I wouldn't even want to know how hot this was in the summertime). Temperatures reached 106°F in Thailand, but the weather was cold in Hanoi. A large cruise ship has medical facilities onboard, but we were at great distances from medical care at certain times on this itinerary. One person had a very bad ankle, soon to be replaced. Another had a bad knee. Our tour guides made it possible for both of these people to take part in every single part of the itinerary. I was very impressed.
Chakkrit (Chris) and Mr. Hai were exceptional tour guides. We have never had as much cultural information given on any tour. Chakkrit covered the details of each person's medical problems, dietary preferences, airline reservation, and like each specifics better than tour guide we have ever encountered. Sophea & Mr. Udom also exhibited extreme professionalism and gave us a rich cultural experience. My hat is off to Vantage Travel.