Come ci si va? How do I get there?

   Well, you can't just fly from upstate New York to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Oh, you can if you fly from Syracuse or Albany to JFK or some other major hub, but I don't trust these regional airports. I've been burnt too often in the past with cancelled connecting flights which resulted in lost travel days. So I booked my flight from JFK to Phnom Penh via Korean Airlines. I will be departing JFK On Friday Feb 4 at 12:40 pm on Korean Airlines flight 82. Land in Seoul Korea at 4:50 pm on the 5th and then depart on KA 689 two hours later. Final arrival at Phnom Penh airport is scheduled for 10:40 pm on the 5th. That's a total  of 20 hours of travel time getting there. Boy, am I going to find out if my iPad battery really lasts for 10 hours! Hopefully there will be WiFi at Seoul airport and I can update this blog en route.
   The other big issue for me is getting to JFK, my least favorite international airport. There is nothing wrong with the airport per se, it's getting there that is the problem. I have seen it take 3 hours to get from the Whitestone bridge to JFK, that's how bad the traffic can be. Then there is the cost of parking your car. Long term parking is $18 per day and I will be gone 12 days. So I am considering a rental vehicle down and taking Amtrak back home. The rental down is about $100 but coming back here from JFK, they want $170. Bye bye savings on the parking. The train is only $45 each way but there is no train early enough on the 4th to make my flight to Seoul. I'll have to finalize those plans next week.
   Got my visa as you can see above. This was really cool. I did it over the internet. Uploaded my "passport" picture taken for free by AAA (advantage of being a "PLUS" member), filled out the application and charged the $25 fee to my visa. One day later I get a pdf file with my e-visa. And you thought I was going to a thrid world country!
   OK. Back to work. More later.

How this all went down

   Initially, my wife, Evelyn, and I were going to visit a friend, Lam, who is a principal at a high school in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). Lam is a world traveler and has been to the US many times, bringing high school students to Utica College, some of whom have enrolled at UC for their college education. Needless to say, we were thrilled when she invited us to visit her country. But, alas Evelyn's knees began to really bother her and the thought of a 20+ hour air plane ride was not looking inviting.
   At this point I became aware of a photo trek Pop Photo magazine was running to Viet Nam and Cambodia. Having taken their photo trek to Egypt in the fall of 2009, I was anxious to go again with these folks as the Egypt trek had been fantastic. Unfortunately, the trip was already booked up and though they put me on a waiting list, I decided to look for other options. Googling "photo workshops" I came across a British company, "All Points East", that had a photo trip to Cambodia during the month of February, which was pretty much the only time I could go, because of work conflicts later in the year.
   I know, you are probably wondering how I could leave Ev with her knee issues, and quite honestly I almost cancelled out on the trip, but then she told me she was going to Grand Cayman with friends from work in March. And when I brought up going on this trip she just said, "Go!". I think she meant on the trip! So here I am departing for Cambodia Friday February 4 on Korean Air (glad to say it is not flight 007!).
  BTW - here are the links to the websites of All Points East and Nathan Horton, the photographer who lives in Phnom Penh and who will be leading this workshop. www.allpointseast.com and www.nathanhortonphotography.com
  Can't wait to see Angkor Wat!! What you say?? Just kidding, couldn't resist. I have this really corny sense of humor.