What Happens When You Don’t Do Your Travel Research

When you fly in from one country at 1 AM and out for another at 1 pm, you don’t get a lot of time for turnaround. A smart person does all their travel research before both trips and is confidently prepared.

And then there’s me.

Let this be a cautionary tale.

1. You end up borrowing your boyfriend’s clothes.

Why do I never ever ever research attire? My bad pre-planning habits meant that I looked like a schlub in Saint Petersburg, had no hiking shoes for Bali, and packed zero long skirts for conservative Southeast Asia.

About six hours before I boarded my flight to Siem Reap I had the presence of mind to open my laptop and casually Google “what to wear at Angkor Wat.” (Thank God for the Internet.) Reports were conflicting – everything from official guides recommending full conservative dress to travelers assuring that the dress code was more like a guideline anyway. But experienced travelers reminded people that Angkor Wat is a deeply respected religious site in a conservative country and it was better to respect local culture and dress appropriately. Hide those knees, ladies.

Ok, I thought, I don’t have a lot of puritan outfits here in Singapore, but I can pick up some breezy skirts in Siem Reap.

Until I read this – Ladies, do not wear skirts unless you want to give the world a show. You’re going to be climbing heaps of steps – and not gracefully.

Fear gripped me. I had only brought one pair of thick skinny jeans with me, which I hadn’t worn once in the unbearable Southeast Asian heat. Was I going to succumb to the catastrophe of elephant pants?? No one wants that.

Instead, I borrowed two pairs of pants from my boyfriend, praying that they would fit well enough to stay around my waist. Nothing says classy travelers like khaki linen pants that gather around your ankles a la Aladdin.

2. You run through the airport looking for a photo booth.

Some things I had forgotten to do before we went to Bali – like get the two passport-sized photos for my Cambodian visa. Things like this are easy enough to get done in your own country, where you know exactly where to go (and there’s a CVS on every other corner). But move to a different country and all of a sudden it’s a half-day scavenger hunt requiring two hours of Internet research and a compass to find envelopes. Throw in the fact that it’s a Sunday and your timeline is already cramped because you put the laundry machine you don’t know how to operate on a weird three-hour long cycle. There’s no time to even use Google Maps to sort through the dozen places that might have what you’re looking for.

You need visa photos, and you need them to be en route to the airport.

Luckily, someone has written a blog post about everything. Including the exact location of a photo booth in the vast Changi Airport (again, thank God for the Internet and bloggers’ proliferation of content).

I spent the whole hour train ride to the airport running through Plan C, D, and E scenarios of what to do if the photo booth was gone or worse – out of order.

I all but dashed out of the MRT station and up the escalator stairs – and there it was, with a near holy glow around it. After breaking a hundred dollar bill on coffee (sorry!) I was the proud owner of the most terrifying visa photos I have ever taken.

3. You end up bothering the cabin crew incessantly as you sweat through your flight.

BING.

“Do you have an application for the Cambodian visa?” Because I totally forgot that I needed one and am imagining all the stern and disappointing looks I’ll be getting from an oddly Russian-esque border agent.

“Sorry, no. You can probably get one at the airport.”

Probably?!

BING.

“Do you have scissors or something to cut my visa photos with?” Because I couldn’t plan far enough ahead to even get these photos, much less get my application organized. What will the visa agent do when I hand over an uncut sheet of photos? Roar, “This isn’t STAPLES!” and then smite me with a “cutting out the visa photo fee”?

The flight attendant looked a little alarmed. “No, we don’t have any scissors on board.”

Of course not. Not even flight attendants are allowed to have pointy objects on board anymore.

That was the end of my questions.

4. You miss out on helpful free things.

Like a free airport transfer from your hotel that you could have used to escape your taxi driver’s incessant pitch for his Angkor Wat tour. Next time, maybe read your hotel confirmation all the way through before spending an hour researching how to get to downtown from the airport.

5. You start to map out strategies for getting past stone-faced immigration officers.

Your worries don’t stop once you get on the plane. What if my Cambodian visa application is denied (for what reason – who can say)? Do I burst into tears? That’s never worked for getting me out of anything, from speeding tickets to my family grilling me about my love life. I’m pretty sure crying will only irritate a border agent further and cement my traveler’s doom.

What if I have to bribe someone? I’ve heard stories of travelers refusing to pay insignificant amounts of money on principle – and I applaud them – but I just don’t have the constitution for that. I also don’t have the smoothness to pull off a good bribing. It’s more likely I would shout, “TAKE MY MONEY” while I drop bills on the floor, blowing the whole operation wide open.

Could I possibly sweet-talk anyone? I started rehearsing my speech in my mind.

“Listen, I don’t have a lot of money, but what I do have is a small travel blog with a limited reach and nominal social influence.”

Yeah, I moved on from that one pretty quickly.

6. You pray that the friendliness and hospitality of the Cambodian people outweighs the universal awfulness of immigrant officers.

Because at a certain point, that’s all you can do.

And you luck out – or maybe the Cambodian people are all really that friendly and gracious – because the visa agents in Cambodia are surprisingly easy-going. The man you submit your visa application to laughs when you almost leave without your change. The agent giving back visa-slapped passports is indulging in his role as MC, calling out names from all over the world, sliding passports down the length of the counter like a showy barman, teasing visitors.

“Fred?” He calls out, and then, as the passport owner comes forward, “Oh, do you know this man?”

I jumped forward for my own passport, relieved to see my Cambodian visa is mercifully photo-free, and I swear to myself – I’ll always do my travel research way in advance from here on out.

Now, where am I flying this week?

Have you ever made a travel faux pas due to lack of research? Caught yourself before any big bad mistakes?