Stay on Top of your Visa Applications

Finally got our passports and approved visas back. Last week I called to check on the status, and the travel agent who took our application for processing told us that there was some sort of a delay due to a mistake on the side of the Vietnamese embassy. Not sure if they were telling the truth, but, nevertheless, we were told to call back later in the week.

I called today, and--after reminding the agent of my call with her last week and that she was, in fact, the one who took our application--found out it was ready for pick up.

Five-year visa with multiple entry!

Key points:

1. If you go with a third-party to apply for a travel visa, stay on top of your visa applications and passports. Chances are that the third-party may not keep you top-of-mind, and you want to have your passports back at home ASAP.
2. Give yourself enough time to apply for the visa and deal with any issues or delays that arise. If we applied later and they lost our passport, then we would definitely be screwed.

Adjusting Finances to Accommodate the Trip

As summers usually go, we've had some unforeseen expenses come up that have eaten into our savings a bit. After a bit of scrambling and planning, we found some unique ways to compensate and put ourselves in a better financial position going into Vietnam.

1. Wife--bless her heart--is taking on medical locums. She found an easy, 8-to-5 4-week gig that doesn't cut into her evenings and weekends. The additional income from this work definitely pads the savings.
2. Wife also had the brilliant idea to defer our student loans. My deferment application was approved immediately. Thuy is still working on hers.
3. As mentioned in an earlier post, we rented out our place for a weekend. That brought some extra cash that we didn't expect to have before. We'll continue to make the house available while we're still here. Our friends and family are kind enough to have us stay with them when we have renters in the house.

We've come to terms with the fact that we'll have to live off of credit cards in order to achieve our larger travel goals. The adjustments taken above will help us push out that reality just a bit further down the road.

Calming a Nervous Parent

When I told my parents that we were planning on doing this trip, my dad was immediately against the idea. He didn't outright say that I couldn't go (mainly because I'm a grown man and he know I wouldn't listen), but he did express his concerns and overall disapproval.

He called me yesterday night asking me to come over to their place to talk. When I asked him why, he refused to tell me, but instead insisted that I come over.

Fearing the worst, this morning I stopped by to have this conversation. He sat me down, and he explained to me that this trip was keeping him up at night, and that he's really concerned for our safety. Coming from a 50+ year old Brooklyn-born, tattooed man who at one (or more) point in my childhood exercised corporal punishment to set me straight, I had to give his concerns the respect they deserved.

His main worry was that we were going to be involved in the obstruction of the sex trafficking industry. To put it more plainly, we're going to be messing with the livelihood of some very bad dudes. Furthermore, he fears that the corruption he observed during his time in the Vietnam war hasn't changed much, and that these bad guys won't have any issue with bribing the necessary government officials to make us "go away" or to have them look the other way while we're kidnapped and killed.

He mentioned this concern in passing over the past few weeks, but I figured that he'd just get over it. During this unexpected heart-to-heart with my dad, I came to the realization that a parent really never "gets over" the idea that their child would willingly walk into a situation that has the inherent, but remote, danger of harm. I even told him that as much as I appreciate the concern, I won't really know how he's feeling until I have a child of my own.

He gave me some information on orgs that are fighting the sex trafficking industry, information that he's been collecting from a teacher in the school district where he works as a custodian. Apparently he's been sharing his concern with others.

I made an agreement with him that I will gladly accept and follow up on any information and contacts he provides if it helps put his mind just a bit more at ease while we're away.

This reminds me of something a former colleague once told me: "It's ok to give your parents at least one thing to worry about once you've grown up."

Key point: Sometimes parents will still be parents. Call them, make sure to let them know that you're still alive and safe from time to time. Otherwise, they'll freak out and worry themselves into illness, and you don't want to be the cause of that.

Vaccinations...Get Them.

Last month I convinced my wife that we needed to visit the travel clinic at UW-Seattle's Hall Health. the travel clinic is exactly what you'd expect: They have a few doctors on hand who specialize in all things related to travel. When you make an appointment with the travel clinic, they'll send you a form for you to complete and bring with you to the appointment. On this form you'll list all of the places you'll be visiting. With that form, the doctor can print out a host of resources and information on how to keep safe against the various diseases and virus in that area.

The doctor was very helpful and knowledgeable about the places we plan on visiting. She explained to us the health risks and ways for us to stay safe against contaminated water, mosquitoes, and other dangers that we might forget about. She then gave us a list of vaccinations that we could get at Hall Health and at our preferred pharmacy.

We received vaccinations and medications for:

• Japanese Encephalitis (two shots, the second one taken 28 days after the first, $330/shot),
• Typhoid Mary (four pills, each taken 48hrs after the other on an empty stomach),
• Malaria (Doxycycline, take every day until four weeks after leaving)
• Traveler's Diarrhea (Azithromycin, 2/day, up to three days)

It's worth noting that our insurance did cover the visit to the travel clinic, but they did not cover vaccinations and medications for travel. I hear that this is the case for most insurance policies, so be prepared to pay over $1,000 for the recommended treatments. They're expensive, but beats the alternative.

I know many of you probably travelled to SE Asia for a couple of weeks without vaccinations or medications and escaped unscathed. However, we decided to err on the side of caution because we are going to not only stay in Vietnam for an extended period of time, but also do some adventurous traveling across the rest of SE Asia that may last more than a month. I'd rather shell this money out now than be confined to a hospital or worse.

Key point of this post: See if Hall Health is in your insurances network. If they are (or even if they're not), then consider paying them a visit. Even if you opt not to get what they recommend, it'll still be helpful to hear how best to prepare for your trip, especially if you're going to developing countries.

Airbnb Trial Run a Success!

This past weekend, my wife and I rented our place to three Airbnb renters from Florida. We wanted to give the Airbnb rental experience a shot while we're in town, that way we can fix things and make improvements before we leave, and we can experience having others stay at our place while we're gone. Two good friends of ours invited us to stay at their place during this experiment.

Overall, the trial run was a rousing success. Our guests left our place clean, if not cleaner than how we left it for them--and we left it pretty damn clean to start. The money was deposited into our account when they checked in. They even left us a thank you note! At first I was cautiously optimistic given the warnings I read online, but this positive outcome definitely gave us more confidence that the Airbnb process will work out for us while we're away. We know not every experience will be as positive as this one. We'll continue to set the right expectations up front on the listing page with the intent of attracting the right guests for our place.

Major thanks to Val and Kalid for opening their home to us this past weekend.

Preparing the House for Rent on Air B&B

Quick update on what we're doing with our townhouse: We've decided to put it up for rent on Airbnb. This is primarily because we don't know when we'll be back. We'd hate to rent it out for a year, only to come back and evict the renters. It'll require a bit more management on my end, but fortunately we have a couple of friends and family in the area who offered to check up on the place.

This move naturally provides us a great chance to purge unnecessary items laying about the house and in closets. We've already made a few trips to the local Goodwill donation drop-off site. Don't be surprised if I'm offering random goods to you when you visit.

Turns out Airbnb is really easy to set up. Their user interface is really straight forward and easy to use, they connect to your PayPal account for quick receipt of payments, they offer to send a free photographer to your place to take professional photos for use on your listing page, and they have a mobile app that helps you manage your listing and communication with potential renters.

There are definitely risks in using Airbnb, but in our case, we're planning on leaving our place in such a way so that there isn't anything worth stealing or that couldn't be replaced quickly and cheaply.

Along those same lines, we have to explore the insurance angle to make sure that we're not voiding any policies or otherwise breaking any contract obligations. We don't want our insurance company to balk at helping us if anything catastrophic were to happen to the house.

If you have any experience and advice for using Airbnb, please do let us know!

Tickets: Purchased!

We bought our plane tickets! We used a local travel agency; they offered a price comparable to what we found online, and they will also manage our visa application.

We purchased our ticket for an October departure two months in advance. We paid approximately $660 per person. The 5-year visa option was $125 per person. Fortunately, this travel expense will be reimbursed by the One Body Village organization in trade for our work as volunteers. I figured that it's worth noting the price on this blog in case any of you are interested in purchasing a flight around the same time.

We had to decide between between buying a one-way or round-trip ticket with the option to reschedule a departure within a year. We opted for the one-way because we're really hoping to stay there for longer than a year, assuming I find a job soon after we arrive. The overall decision on a one-way was based on a gut feeling more than anything else. I have no idea what is going to happen when we arrive. We might be forced to leave back home in three months. I also might find a job and stay for longer than a year. We made the optimistic decision to buy a one-way and risk the additional cost of buying a more expensive ticket home within a year.

My personal recommendation is to have the travel agency prepare and submit the visa application. This is mainly because I want it done right the first time. When deciding on visa options, we were provided with the unique option of applying for a 5-year visa that requires us to reenter the country every three months. This option is provided only to overseas Vietnamese. Visa applicants don't have to be Vietnamese nationals, just born in Vietnam, as was my wife. Since we're married, I'm also eligible for the same visa. A 3-month visa required reentry will certainly motivate us to visit neighboring countries since we're in the area.

I wanted to fly Asiana, and I was told by the travel agent that we might have an issue with the fact that we don't have a return flight. Apparently foreigners are not allowed to stay in Vietnam with any level of permanence unless there's some sort of a work opportunity and work visa already secured. The travel agent instructed us to call them for a ready-made solution in the event that we run into any issue at the check-in counter. Essentially, the agent will inform the counter representative that we do have a return flight home, and that we should be allowed to proceed to boarding.

In summary, we pulled the trigger, and this is finally going to happen. We're really excited to embark on this adventure, and equally as thrilled that we can share it with you. Please keep in touch, be it through this blog or through our own Facebook pages and emails. We definitely want to hear how things are going for you at home. It'll give us a great amount of comfort and ease to know that you're doing well as we gradually adjust to a new life abroad.