USA Trip -- July, 2007

The Return Trip to Cambodia
30 July-1 August 2007

All good things come to an end and after returning from speaking in St. Joseph Parish in Crescent Springs, it was time to prepare for the return journey to Cambodia. I needed to make several phone calls so I didn't start packing until almost 11:00 PM and it took four hours. I finally got to bed at 3:00 AM on Monday morning only to get up at 5:00 AM to go to the Louisville airport with my brother-in-law Mike Davis as he went to work.

Airport scene The trip back was a bit shorter than the trip to the US. This time I flew Louisville-Chicago-Tokyo-Bangkok-Phnom Penh, only four sectors that took 37 hours to traverse.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows It was fascinating that people were reading the new Harry Potter book everywhere on the journey back. People across the aisle in the planes; people waiting at the gates; people standing in lines at passport control--many, many people were reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and last book of the series. I was reading it, too, thanks to two of my sisters who each bought a copy for me. I brought both copies back with me and will give them to the Royal University of Phnom Penh when the Maryknoll crowd finishes them.

One disappointment and irritation on the trip was flying with Air Asia, a budget airline that I took between Phnom Penh and Bangkok. They advertize their tickets as $12 and up each way. Of course, with the fuel and security surcharges and the departure taxes, the actual cost for my roundtrip ticket was about $84 but that still is much better than the $140 or more it costs on other airlines.
BUT--
I found that Air Asia will not transfer baggage to another airline nor accept it from another airline which meant that coming back I had to go through immigration in Bangkok, claim the luggage that arrived in Bangkok via United Airlines, keep it with me all night, and then check in again and go through immigration again as if I had been a tourist in Thailand.
I had to pay a departure tax from Thailand (about $20) which I wouldn't have had to pay if I were flying on another airline like Bangkok Airways. If I had been flying Bangkok Airways, my luggage would have been transferred from United to Bangkok Airways without my intervention and I could have stayed in the transfer area of the airport and would not have had to pay a departure tax.
Worst of all, Air Asia imposes a strict 15-kilogram weight limit on checked luggage. That is really unreasonable for international travelers. I had 37.5 kgs of luggage, and they charged me more than $80 for the excess! That is a terrible policy and you can be sure Air Asia is never going to take advantage of me again. Bangkok Airways maintains a 20-kg weight allowance, but if a person arrives on an international flight with more than that, Bangkok Airways will honor what the other international airline allowed, at no extra charge. Air Asia is cheap and miserly.

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All good things come to an end and after returning from speaking in St. Joseph Parish in Crescent Springs, it was time to prepare for the return journey to Cambodia. I needed to make several phone calls so I didn't start packing until almost 11:00 PM and it took four hours. I finally got to bed at 3:00 AM on Monday morning only to get up at 5:00 AM to go to the Louisville airport with my brother-in-law Mike Davis as he went to work.
	The trip back was a bit shorter than the trip to the US. This time I flew Louisville-Chicago-Tokyo-Bangkok-Phnom Penh, only four sectors that took 37 hours to traverse.
	It was fascinating that people were reading the new Harry Potter book everywhere on the journey back. People across the aisle in the planes; people waiting at the gates; people standing in lines at passport control--many, many people were reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and last book of the series. I was reading it, too, thanks to two of my sisters who each bought a copy for me. I brought both copies back with me and will give them to the Royal University of Phnom Penh when the Maryknoll crowd finishes them.
One disappointment and irritation on the trip was flying with Air Asia, a budget airline that I took between Phnom Penh and Bangkok. They advertize their tickets as $12 and up each way. Of course, with the fuel and security surcharges and the departure taxes, the actual cost for my roundtrip ticket was about $84 but that still is much better than the $140 or more it costs on other airlines. BUT-- I found that Air Asia will not transfer baggage to another airline nor accept it from another airline which meant that coming back I had to go through immigration in Bangkok, claim the luggage that arrived in Bangkok via United Airlines, keep it with me all night, and then check in again and go through immigration again as if I had been a tourist in Thailand. I had to pay a departure tax from Thailand (about $20) which I wouldn't have had to pay if I were flying on another airline like Bangkok Airways. If I had been flying Bangkok Airways, my luggage would have been transferred from United to Bangkok Airways without my intervention and I could have stayed in the transfer area of the airport and would not have had to pay a departure tax. Worst of all, Air Asia imposes a strict 15-kilogram weight limit on checked luggage. That is really unreasonable for international travelers. I had 37.5 kgs of luggage, and they charged me more than $80 for the excess! That is a terrible policy and you can be sure Air Asia is never going to take advantage of me again. Bangkok Airways maintains a 20-kg weight allowance, but if a person arrives on an international flight with more than that, Bangkok Airways will honor what the other international airline allowed, at no extra charge. Air Asia is cheap and miserly.