In exactly two months from today, I will be hopping on a plane to Asia!! First stop: Hong Kong! For the past three years, I have been dreaming of the day I get to return to my favorite city in the world. The layover will be less than 24 hours, but I’m planning on packing in as much as possible: cupcakes at Sift, xiao long bao at Crystal Jade, a peek at my old apartment, a jaunt through Hong Kong Park, and hopefully a ride up to the Peak. I am beyond excited about the entire trip, but these mere 40 hours (20 on the way there, 20 on the way back) are what I’m the most geeked about. Hopefully, I’ll even get to catch up with friends (if that’s YOU and you’re reading this in Hong Kong, save Dec. 10 and 29 on your calendar!).

I’ll be traveling with my friend Lindsay from Chicago for 10 of the 21 days I’ll be gone. Our flights were awesomely cheap. Get this – to fly direct to Hong Kong is $1,040; to fly to Phnom Penh, Cambodia through Hong Kong is $840. It’s $200 cheaper to take two additional flights. I don’t get the logic, but I love it!

From December 10-20, I will be galavanting around Cambodia and Laos, both with Lindsay and a new friend I met in Mexico City who’s traveling the world for a year. We’ll hit up places like Luang Prabang, Siem Reap, including Angkor Wat, and Phnom Penh (click on the links for more info from Travel Advisor). Our exact itinerary isn’t set since we’re planning part of the trip on the fly, true backpacker-style. These are the three cities I really want to go to, and everywhere else will be decided when we’re there.

The last super exciting thing is that I’ll be going to a yoga retreat in Siem Reap, Cambodia! It’s 6 days of yoga, mediation, vegan meals, massages, and pure relaxation. I’ll be there December 21-26, which means I’ll be missing Christmas with my family, though this isn’t my first time away from home at the holidays. My flight back to the U.S. is on December 29.

As much as I want the trip to be RIGHT NOW, I am also jazzed about the planning and the anticipation. Each day, I look up a little bit more information, work on my packing list, or daydream about all of the great places I’ll be. My plan is to write each day that I’m there, or at least have a blog post about each city, so stay tuned for more info!