So we made it! We traveled across the Pacific Ocean and are in Bangkok now. It's about 2am here (still 75 degrees out) and I'm writing this blog post at our hostel common room. This is going to be a long post because I don't have anything else to do at 2am so sorry for that. You'll see why I'm awake at 2am in just a bit.
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| Waiting at Chicago Airport |
Our journey started with 3 flights to get us to Thailand. Our first flight from Minneapolis to Chicago was extremely uneventful and short. We took the airport train to the international terminal and found that our airplane company didn't have a desk set up for checking in. We got a little worried so I asked the information person what was up. He said they normally don't start staffing the check-in desk until 3-4 hours before the flight (we were 6 hours early). We found some chairs to hang out in and watched Netflix on my laptop (Great British Baking Show is awesome btw). Nervousness about eating was beginning to creep in because all the food places close at 9pm and we didn't know if we would get in the terminal before that.
After checking the desk every half hour, we got checked in and found some food in the international terminal. The food wasn't very good; it had been sitting out for at least 4 hours I think haha. The rest of the waiting time by our gate was spent calling family members and watching more Netflix.
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| Hello Kitty |
The plane was HUGE with over 70 rows of passengers. The flight was Hello Kitty themed which was hilarious. There were Hello Kitty pillows, Hello Kitty boarding passes, Hello Kitty seat covers, and Hello Kitty screens. Even the flight information video had some Hello Kitty stuff in it. Our flight plan had us fly across Canada, Alaska, Russia, and Japan which was cool.
We did something a little weird and got seats across an aisle from each other. Neither I nor Lacey wanted to sit in the middle seat. I think it was a good strategy in practice but the seatmates were not good. The person in front of Lacey's seat had his seat reclined the ENTIRE flight so Lacey and I switched spots after an hour or two so she had a little more room to sleep (I wasn't going to sleep anyway). Also, there was a mom and son in the same row and the little kid puked 2 different times. They were really nice but having someone puke by you is uncomfortable. I didn't sleep at all. The movie selection wasn't great. Basically, it was a pretty bad experience for me. Because Lacey is smaller than me, she had an easier time figuring out a way to sleep. However, she got motion sick with about 9 hours to go which wasn't great. The flight was 15.5 hours and we felt every minute of that. The food was okay though, I liked the breakfast more than the dinner.
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| 2 flights down (of our 9 flights total on the trip) |
We got off the flight (thankfully) in Taiwan and then had to get in one of the longest lines I've ever seen for a "security re-check". It was a mess and they didn't even actually check our bags or anything. The Taiwan airport was nice and it was cool to just be able to say to each other "we are officially in Asia".
The flight from Taiwan to Bangkok was much, much better. After the 15+ hour flight, a 3.5-hour flight seemed like a breeze. I read a book most of the time and the meal we got (breakfast fried rice) was really, really good. We landed in Bangkok and immediately changed our clothes. We got money from an ATM and started looking for SIM cards for our phones. I tried to get one for my phone but I'm dumb and didn't get my phone unlocked before we left. It's easy to do now that I researched it but I missed the boat on that one. Lacey got a SIM card though so we have Google maps and access to our email.
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| Taxi ride to the hostel |
Our plan was to take the SkyTrain as far as it could go and then take an Uber the rest of the way (to cut down on costs). The SkyTrain was great but we couldn't get an Uber to pick us up. Instead, we got a taxi ride which actually worked out great.
Our hostel is nice and our room is air-conditioned thankfully; it's very warm and sticky here. It's called Here Hostel and has a slide from the 2nd floor down to the exit which is funny. The hostel is just a few blocks from Khao San Road which is the main backpacking/bar/hangout area. Our original plan was to nap for just a little bit and then go explore in the afternoon/evening so our sleep schedule would be correct. Instead, we slept for 10 hours and now it's 2am and we're both wide awake. Our beds are the stiffest mattresses I have ever slept on.
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| Our room at Here Hostel |
From my cell phone to the seats on the plane to "taking a short nap", we've had to do some adjustments to our well-laid plans already haha. Today we'll hit up the big tourist sites like the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, and Wat Arun.
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