Travel to Thailand

 It's Wednesday morning and the trip is officially off to an interesting start. John had been watching the uber reservations on his Uber app since we got up at 3am to make sure our driver was on his way. Everything looked good until 15minutes prior to pick up time when the app suddenly switched from "your driver is on the way" to "looking for driver". That's never a good sign when you are on a time crunch to catch a flight. We immediately pivot and I knock on Rob and Julianne's door to wake them up. We need a ride to the airport!

It's now 4am and we are back on track. Rob is dressed and, in the car, along with the excited travelers and our luggage. :) We get to airport, check in and everything is going well. We even have time for a quick bite. The one restaurant open this early in our terminal is serving...Tacos! Well, tacos or burritos. We opted for burritos. The tortillas were excellent, the burrito part (insides) average at best and the bean looked like a pile of runny...well, you know what. 

We found our gate and got comfortable for a small wait. We waited, and waited, and waited. The plane was delayed. No problem! We had plenty of time. We were scheduled to have a three-hour layover in Seattle before catching a connection to Seol, then off to Thailand. I started listening to one of my audibles to get caught up on my Colson homework that I am very behind on. As time passes, we started to get a bit nervous. The announcement arrived that "they are fixing the plane". There is a part that is being delivered and should get installed and get us back on track. That part did eventually arrive and got installed. We then boarded the plane. Once we boarded and got to our seats, the announcement came that we were now simply waiting for them to refuel the plane. The pilot did extend his apologies along with a very annoying, "We are all in this together" speech. What? They waited all that time and didn't think to refuel the plane while they were waiting for the broken part to be replaced? ugh! Then, Takeoff! We are in flight and on our way.

Arrival in Seattle- We arrive just in time for our flight to be boarding in terminal "S". We are in terminal "B". The flight attendance in kind enough to ask all other passengers not trying to catch a tight connection to stay seated so that the rest of us could try to make our connections. We got off the plane fairly quickly and ran and ran and ran, then took a tram and ran some more. Alongside us for most of the way (until we got so far ahead), was a woman hurriedly dragging her child behind her. They were also trying to get to Seoul. We exchanged friendly looks and expressions of relief for our short respite when boarding the tram. The tram arrives at gate "S", and we are running again! We finally make it to our gate and can see the plane but...the doors have been closed. The gate attendants look at us with unconcerned eyes as they tell us that the plane has already been weighed and they cannot open the doors for us. 

Back to gate "B" to figure out plan "B" to get to Thailand. This time, we walked. We arrive at customer service to get rerouted. That took quite some time as many people missed their connections and had to get rebooked. During this time, I got to smile and make friendly faces at Zoey, my new friend from Seoul who was waiting patiently and soundlessly on a seat near me as her mom is in line next to John waiting to rebook her way home. Zoey motions for me to come to her seat as she has something to show me. She has made my portrait out of colorful string like material that is colorful and sticky, all on the back of her chair. How creative and sweet! this whole time, John has been helping others in line by looking up alternative flight paths for them to get to their destinations. It reminds me of the insurance commercials where a man keeps talking to others in an elevator all while his life coach (trying to train him not to become his parents) is looking on with disappointment. I love when this John shows up and the kindness for others shines in an otherwise stressful situation. Let me end off by saying that we were very blessed to have carried everything on board with us and not checked our luggage as it would surely have been lost. We had everything with us and are convinced this is now the way to travel!

Rebooked!- We are now rebooked and on a flight to Qatar with a connection to Thailand. The customer service agent hands us a handwritten confirmation code along with flight details and instructions to see the folks at the designated gate to get our tickets. A few hours wait and we are back on track. This only delays our arrival approx. 8 hours from what was anticipated. 

We make a quick stop for lunch at a seafood restaurant. I think it was called Salty's. Excellent clam chowder and fish and chips. What a ray of sunshine in our day!

14 hour flight to Qatar- As we approach the gate desk to get our tickets, they immediately look at our bags and tell us that we must check two of them. My heart drops! Didn't I just learn that you never check your bags if you don't have to? I looked out the windows to our plane that looks HUGE and start to throw an internal temper tantrum as John looks at me to figure out what bags to check and what we keep with us. I sacrifice HIS bags. Wouldn't any woman do the same? He kindly and gallantly complies. I do a little shuffling to ensure that I have my medications as I had packed some of my stuff in his luggage as usual. What? Don't judge...I ran out of room! One carry on and one backpack. I think I did pretty good. Lastly, I ask if they have first class seats left. They don't have first class, but they do have "business class". I ask how much. $2070 per person (one way). You can guess what I did. Said thank you an took my coach tickets with humility as I can't bring myself to pay that kind of money to upgrade- probably never will. Next, we board the plane. BTW...business class looks pretty amazing with pods that have seats that reline back to sleeping units. So nice! We get to our seats, and we settle in to our (coach) seats designed for the rest of us. John has an aisle seat, so I have hope of an easy ride. 

I settle in, take a nap, watch a movie...or two and listen to an audible to get caught up on some of my Colson homework. They provide us small but acceptable meals along with snacks on the flight to ward off hunger. I am thankful for this. I end up sharing mine with John as I am sure that these tiny offerings in no way will fill up John's tummy. He accepts a few of my donations graciously. 14 hours is a long long time on a plane with little capacity for movement. I think of those poor animals kept in cages their whole lives to keep their meat tender for those rich enough and capable of overlooking the cruelty. I quickly get that out of my mind as I am not capable of going down the vegan trail. I am a meat eater. A KIND meat eater though!

We arrive in Doha, Qatar and change planes. The next flight was scheduled for 6 hours, and we find that we have been assigned the window seat and center aisle next to an elderly gentleman that was of similar size to John. Did you just have the same reaction as I did? Me, in the center aisle with absolutely no room. My arms were glued to my sides with no way to move side to side. only forward and back were my options. John was squished and had no choice but to "share" my allotted space. The gentleman next to me with the aisle seat insisted on using the armrest between us. I agree with having the armrest down to keep our space sectioned off, but I mean that he "used" it himself by putting HIS arm on the armrest leaving me less room that I had to start with. Don't people know that the middle seat gets the armrest as a consolation prize? He apparently didn't read the airplane etiquette manual. One last thing...he had gas. Yes, it was terrible. I couldn't find my masks, so I had to wrap my eye mask around the front of my face to filter some of the smell. This lasted at least half of the flight. This 6-hour flight felt longer than the previous. Very long!

We arrive in Thailand to a beautiful sunrise! So excited to get off the plane. We are one of the last to get off as we were towards the back, and I had to use the restroom. This places us as the last to get to immigration at the very back of the line. We were fine until halfway through when John sees that our line is going much slower than the other line next to us and the injustice of it all starts to make John go crazy. The pacing starts. He is now making comments to me at his frustration of the lack of professionalism on behalf of the immigration staff is making him begin to lose his cool. There is no fairness in what is happening. I turn off my audible and give my undivided attention to John so that he has someone listening to him. He must be heard! We eventually made it to the front only to find that they had left the guide ribbons opened and the other lane had been using our allotted two agents causing the delay. Anger again! Who is running this show. Ugh! John is super nervous that our luggage (that we didn't want to check) will not be there when we finally get through. When we finally do get through without incident, we can't find our luggage. In the almost two hours that it took to get through immigration, the bags had all been picked up and the baggage turnstiles were now silent...and empty! We walked around for quite some time and finally found luggage stacked against the far wall. Ours was there! Whoohoo! Next stop, our hotel. We managed to exchange some money, get a cab and take the 50-minute ride to the hotel without much incident. We even got there, got checked in and were kindly instructed to proceed to the free brunch that was provided with our previous night's visit that we were unable to enjoy (but already paid for). It was great and much needed.

We got to our room, showered of course. John's feet contained a smell that was quite unique! We felt much better! 

Now, off for adventure! we looked at the ferry schedule and discovered that we were 15 minutes late for that as they were refueling and wouldn't be operating for another hour and half so decided to go to "cowboy street". This is a place most often visited during the evening as it contains bars and lots of "lady boys". I had no interest in that part of it so daytime it was! We got a nice tour of the city. It felt a lot like some areas of New York. Very busy, dirty and crazy. We got out of the cab and walked around for quite a bit. The city smelled very bad, worse that John's feet after two+ days of flying. The electrical lines fascinated me as they are run overhead with bundles that make you wonder if they even have electrical codes in Thailand. 

After walking around for quite some time, we get massages (at a very professional establishment) and feel quite revived. There are so many scooters everywhere. The traffic is crazy, and I think that the traffic lights are much more of a suggestion that a rule here. Crossing the street is a potentially dangerous idea here. After getting back to our hotel, we decided to take a walk and find some dinner. We get to the first main intersection with a five-way crossing. There are crosswalks but we are not sure how to get across. there are no little walking people lights that we can see, and the traffic doesn't heed red lights, they just keep driving long after the lights have turned. We can't figure out how to get across. We eventually gain the courage and just go for it. We are walking in between cars and busses that are obstinately pushing forward despite the direction of the ignored lights. they are stopped but still in the middle of the road. We get passed the last bus and nearly crash into a scooter coming at high speed on the other side of the bus outside of visibility and clearly not following any "rules of the road". Life spared, we shakily get to the sidewalk which is feet away and look up to see that largest catfish imaginable, starting at us, hanging from a rack at the corner market/restaurant. John has immediately gone from loving Thai food to wondering if he ever really liked it in the first place. Was that even Thai food. This is the real Thai food! We walk past many more similar establishments only to decide to turn around and brave the same intersection to get back to the comforts of our hotel and the overpriced menu of Americanized Thai food. We get back to a beautiful buffet full of fish, my dream come true! John takes one look and has decided that there is nothing that he can eat. Bummer. I have to say that it was overprices as well. We ended up ordering at the bar. He got a hamburger. I got steamed fish in garlic and lime sauce. Sounds nice, right? Well, the fish was staring at the both of us the whole time and smelled really bad. It did taste wonderful though. If you are familiar with Asian cuisine, you know that they often use a lot of fish sauce in their cooking, thus the very fishy smell. Again, it tasted wonderfully though. You just have to close your eyes and nose!

We opted for an early night as it had been a very long few days. Went back to our room for another shower and got ready for bed. I got ready for bed as John promptly fell asleep on the couch while I was showering.  I was finally able to get him up and in the shower and off to bed. Day 1 in Thailand was a great start!

BTW...I am writing this at 2 am as I woke up feeling refreshed and hungry way before the day is ready to start. I don't see a room service menu and I only have plane snacks on hand when what I really want is a hamburger. :(