Ride For Cambodia?

[George]

I'm looking at travel insurance, looks like a couple hunnert for 8 weeks (mid Jan to mid Mar), includes evacuation if needed, covers MC, also covers world wide. This is just a first glance.

Haven't looked at air fares again but figuring ~$1400.

Haven't looked at those motor vids yet, Danny. That's up for this evening.

Visas appear to be a non-issue.

The one Bike Sale site I was looking at is North and East of Bangkok about 300 Klicks. Something more on our route makes more sense so still looking. (Found one interesting bike, an old Honda MotoCross 2-stroke with a new 250 4-stroke motor. Not street legal tho. )

Oh, I'm up for a sail too,,, covered by the same policy. This site is just an example, make yur own choices. Note their upper age limit is 66 so I would just squeeze in.

Joe, agree AU is a probably a future trip. I'd like to spend a couple months in AU/NZ alone. Same with the PI, it's a worth at least a month. I gotta get back below our own border too so choices gotta be made.

Keep planning...

 

[George]

Logistical stuff:
The discussion forum for Ride For Cambodia is back up, suggest we each register there. It's the "official" site for meet 'n greet, and requires no FaceBook, Joe.

(I'm having registration issues but I'm the first to try so we'll get it resolved soon.)

Also, two suggestions for international travel insurance. (Ya buys yur ticket 'n ya takes yur chances):

I found this one on-line: World Nomads

Dean from AU suggests this one: Med Jet Assist

(BTW, Dean busted an ankle pretty bad in Costa Rica just a few weeks ago, spent a week in hospital there and got home without any of the "fancy" insurance. Sez now he wished he'd had it. First time he's traveled without it and never needed it before. Just shows to go ya, insurance premiums are to insure ya don't need the insurance. :crackup)

 

[Raven]

I've signed up on the forum and am just waiting on Dean to approve it. Meanwhile, I'm also looking at Good Sam Travel Assist as the emergency insurance since I'm already a Good Sam member.

http://www.goodsamtravelassist.com

Meanwhile, looking at flights to Phnom Penh and travel shots!

 

[Digiamo]

Welcome Dace. I made my first post there today asking if we can buy bikes in Thailand and ride them over to RFC in Phnom Penh. Hopefully that is a possibility with a cash donation instead of having it tied to the sale of the bike.
Looking forward to seeing you in Cambodia.

 

[Raven]

@Digiamo - yep, saw that (which is why I haven't settled yet on where I'm flying in).

 

[olegeezer]

Logistical stuff:
The discussion forum for Ride For Cambodia is back up, suggest we each register there. It's the "official" site for meet 'n greet, and requires no FaceBook, Joe.

(I'm having registration issues but I'm the first to try so we'll get it resolved soon.)

Also, two suggestions for international travel insurance. (Ya buys yur ticket 'n ya takes yur chances):

I found this one on-line: World Nomads

Dean from AU suggests this one: Med Jet Assist

(BTW, Dean busted an ankle pretty bad in Costa Rica just a few weeks ago, spent a week in hospital there and got home without any of the "fancy" insurance. Sez now he wished he'd had it. First time he's traveled without it and never needed it before. Just shows to go ya, insurance premiums are to insure ya don't need the insurance. :crackup)

George, I registered on the RFC site today. On insurance, I am covered on my mastercard that I put my ticket on, plus I bought trip insurance that came up on United Airlines website when I purchased the ticket for $78. I hope this is all I need and if you need details on the coverage I will get you a summary. Since Danny and I are planning on being there for 3 months, I like his idea of buying in Thailand and reselling there in lieu of buying the scooter in Cambodia and then renting the remainder of the time in Thailand.
I think the AU leg is not practical and I am going to focus on Thailand/SE Asia.
The sailing side trip should happen after Cambodia and needs to be a group trip to share cost. I have experience in renting sailboats and can manage most of that on my own if others want to do it. If no one else wants to sail, I'll just whine about it.....

 

[Mellow]

I think the AU leg is not practical and I am going to focus on Thailand/SE Asia.

I think you guys can easily get a Ride for Australia trip planned for 2014... just an idea... LOL

 

[George]

I'm also in for the sailing trip. Expect after CAM would be most practical but not adverse to before if we can fit it in. I'm looking at 1-14 to 3-14, arrive BKK late on 15.

I also like the idea of buying bikes in Thai and reselling there (would be good to negotiate that upon purchase as Dean suggest for the Cam people.) Perfectly willing to take a "hit" on the repurchase just for the convenience. I wouldn't expect the Cam SC folks to balk at a cash donation.

I'm budgeting $1500 for air fare, RT. Gotta say Price Line is not the bargain Capt. Kirk advertises. (Beam me up, Scotty.)

cheapOair has the best prices but the name doesn't inspire confidence.

Dace, if you could get away a day or so earlier, BKK to PHN would be do-able. Luv the idea of that ride. If we show up in Phnom Phen with bikes in hand, we're a day ahead of the game.

I plan to bring an old pair of "throw-over" nylon saddle bags with a small, empty tank bag stuffed in. That's my luggage. I'll wear my mesh outer gear onboard the plane and strip it off there.

I figure minimum clothes, can always buy in country.

GPS?

Smart phone with appropriate SIM card? (Deba sez we can buy cards ahead of time on E-Bay, haven't checked that yet.)

Compact wi-fi screen, something smaller than my Acer.

Insurance. Joe, I didn't understand yur insurance comment, where did you find a ticket for $78? (my inner Grammar Nazi is emerging. )

I did see a round trip from Seattle to PHN for $933, but getting to Seattle would prove prohibitive. All the flights I'm looking at from 'Vegas go to LAX.

 

[Raven]

Hey George,

I was checking flights today and am seeing Tucson to BKK for $850 (they were $1200 last week). That's about $300 less than PP so I'm considering going into BKK, picking up a bike there and heading down to PP. It's about 450 miles so I'm looking at a bit earlier to allow bike buying time and travel time.

 

[olegeezer]

I think you guys can easily get a Ride for Australia trip planned for 2014... just an idea... LOL

I like your ideas Joe, even if they do call you the "Deleter". Would ya rather be called the "Decider"??
I know it wouldn't be "prudent" to get political here......
I bet we could find a few volunteers here for a Down Undah charity ride in 2014.

 

[George]

Cool-O, Dace,,, the Four Musketeers: D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Arami.



Danny, have you heard from Georgette's friend of a friend in country?

 

[George]

Where did ya find that fare, Dace. I'm still seeing ~1200 from 'Vegas.

 

[Digiamo]

I was checking flights today and am seeing Tucson to BKK for $850 (they were $1200 last week). That's about $300 less than PP so I'm considering going into BKK, picking up a bike there and heading down to PP. It's about 450 miles so I'm looking at a bit earlier to allow bike buying time and travel time.

That's what Joe, George and I are kicking around. Maybe we'll be four on the road to Phnom Penh.
What airline did you find that price with? It may be a better idea to find a low price whatever way you can but when it comes to purchasing a ticket, go to the airlines directly.
I've even found lower prices by searching the airline websites.

I would not count on any less than two days to do the klicks from BKK to PP on any vehicle, let alone 100 cc bikes. (or whatever we finally find ourselves on)
From the looks of it, we'll want to take our time anyway, since it's going to be some coastline roads. We might consider leaving BKK about 1/17 to ride to PP.

GPS?

GEORGE, Heavens to Betsy, of all people...did you ask about GPS? Welcome to the 21st century.
I'm looking into it but we'll need a 12volt wire to the battery or we can just turn it on via it's battery if and when we get lost. MAPS for those areas are gonna cost some cash.

Don't forget all SE Asia is on 240 ish volts so bring a stepdown and the adaptor for the gizmos.
I don't think anything can be done to change the 50 Hz to our 60 Hz but I don't think that matters unless you're running an old style Hz sensitive clock.

 

[George]

Dean sez they have a paper map available for Cam when we get there. If there's wi-fi available, we have Google Maps. Plus, there's always dead reckoning. (Dead in this case might mean finding a mine field tho, so... :22yikes

Burn phones? We should each have one. I just looked at "rental SIMs" for smart phones and they look like ~$10/day with some data. All I really want is a "walkie talkie" so we can stay in touch if we get separated and voice only burn phone will probably work for that.

Gotta find that 240V step down,,, thanks, Danny.

Wow.

I want a 125, no smaller, no bigger. Still perusing the possibilities.

 

[Digiamo]

Gotta find that 240V step down,,, thanks, Danny.

Further research reveled we may not need any adapters or stepdown transformers. I found several sites that indicate the plugs are the same as our in SE asia. The higher voltage may be already taken care of by your chargers. Take a good long look with a magnifying glass at the voltage inputs and Hz ratings on your chargers.
Both of mine ARE rated to handle 240ish and either 50 or 60 hz.

Now I just have to decide if I'm even bringing the darn cell phone. In Central America I got charged very VERY high rates to call and for data. A few of the bills were around $700/month and that was just my average usage.

Boots n all (Bootsnall.com) asks some pretty in depth questions to arrive at weather or not to bring computers or phones.
http://www.bootsnall.com/rtw/laptops-and-cell-phones-on-rtw-trips.html

Jury is out this trip but I will be buying a local pay as you go phone in Thailand. More research needed to determine if these will work in the other countries or if we'll need to buy one in each. Oh well...it's only money!

I may just bring the phone and only use it a WiFi hotspots. Not sure yet but I'd miss the notebook computer.

 

[George]

I'm thinking burn phone(s). Dean and Dave strongly suggest one phone per participant and I won't argue.

I'm thinking a new 3G Kindle Fire for 'puter function. All I wanna be able to do is post some pics 'n keep up with e-mail, etc. Something smaller and lighter than the ol' Acer.

Yur on to something, Danny: the charger for this thing sez 100 to 240 and 50-60Hz. Output is 19V. Need to check the charger for my camera batteries tho I have a 12V charger for that. (Gotta remember to pack an aux. cigarette lighter plug.)

Looking at bikes in Thai right now.

 

[Raven]

Hey George -
I found the good flight prices at vayama.com

Why not fly out of Tucson? We could fly together!

So, I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a flight to BKK leaving Tucson on Sunday 1/13. There's a (stupid) 12 hour layover in Los Angeles and a fabulous 14 hour layover in Beijing (and I've done some checking and one can get into the city from the airport and do a quick tour in that amount of time on a free 'stop-over' stamp). I'd be landing in BKK the evening of the 15th which should give time to bike shop and get to PP.

The return I'm looking at is leaving BKK on Wednesday 2/13 with another 14 hour layover in Beijing (yeah, another mini-tour) and only 2 hours in LA. That gives about a week after the official tour is done for some bumming around with you guys before heading back to BKK.

+1 on shooting for a 125cc - small enough to play on, big enough to crank out a few miles if we have to.

Also, I'm looking at pulling the trigger on the SPOT communicator with a smart phone - seems like it might be the best compromise to stay connected.

 

[George]

Muskateers, I'm thinking we ought' do our non-Cam talking mostly here and reserve the Cam forum for that part of the adventure. Those guys probably won't be that interested in our extra stuff. Just a thought.

Good info here on buying a bike in Thai. I'm going deeper into this site.

I'm looking deeper

 

[George]

This is sounding less simple. Would be like buying a bike in Delaware and not being able to go to NJ, MD, or PA.

Lots of info here. (That'sthe home site of the link in the previous post.)

 

[Raven]

Hey again,

I've just done some checking on shots and am having a bit of sticker-shock. Looks like it's about $500 to get the recommended shots (although they aren't required). YIKES! What are you guys doing about shots?