Flight Booked: Manila - Kuala Lumpur - Phnom Penh Last Week Of September

After religiously (from morning to midnight) checking various low - cost airlines and nearly giving up, I have finally found a reasonably affordable roundtrip flight to go to Cambodia. I was thinking this trip will be in October that perhaps I can also do a sidetrip here if I am able to go to Thailand but the contact person said it has to be sooner by September. Flying here is never part of my bucket list by the way, the one I was preparing is the TBEX in Thailand this October. But an opportunity came when I learned about this  hostel that is open to accommodating individuals to stay to them for free as part of their creative hub project.  I quickly sent a pitch of what I can offer in return and glad that they reciprocated positively.

I have intentionally  removed the 2 blog posts regarding this as I want everything to be a surprise for now. I honestly do not know what is there waiting for me nor know anyone when I get there so aside from an overwhelming excitement, I feel worried as a solo girl traveler. But of course this is never ever gonna block my way to travel every place in the world if this is a choice!

As I said in my previous post,  "The pitch I made is solely crafted by yours truly and this is usually the format I send to travel brands. So far though I always receive a positive reply. I have already removed and/or erased the complete details because I believe pitch is "sacred" and my own "intellectual property". I have all the rights and accountability of the content there.   A pitch usually makes or breaks a dream of a blogger or a marketer or an entrepreneur. "

"To those who have no idea what a pitch is, it is like a detailed offer in exchange of what you can do.  I have to admit this I have no gazillions of followers on social media but my edge is all about providing extra efforts to put the brand for more exposure and also a bit of SEO (search engine optimization).  I first encountered this word during my early days of blogging whenever I would attend startup meetups where a founder or co-founder of an app,  project project, business pitches for  about 5 minutes in front of investors.  If they liked your pitch, you'll get  hundreds of dollars if not millions, connections  et cetera to fund your idea to reality."

The budget airlines I have been checking are Cebu Pacific, Tiger Air, Jet Star and Air Asia. These are the ones always recommended everywhere online. I did a number of researching about how to score the cheapest flight out there.  I really learned a lot along the process. There are search engine apps like Hooper, Skyscanner  and Kayak that compare flight prices. I also tried Google Flights and Hopper, these are websites that does the same.   I want to thank my brother Ronnie for letting me use his credit card, without him this is nothing.  I have let go of my own credit card last year when I took the freelance life and vowed a life within if not below my means.  

Finally it was Air Asia that finally made me say yes to book it.   One thing that I never I did not see coming is that this includes an overnight stopover in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia! I am seeing 3 options: Couchsurf (stay to a stranger / fellow traveler's house for free),  follow the advice of a friend to just sleep overnight inside the airport or find a cheap accommodation.  I am still weighing on which one I will choose.

I have already started talking with the contact of this hostel.  I was also not expecting that apart from the free stay, he also offered an online work to be done while staying there which is mostly updating their guide list on their website and it has a pay of up to $300 to effectively cover my flight expense. I have no idea how is this going to push through yet.

I know the trip is really just around the corner.   Please pray for  / wish me a happy trip :)