What does a 25 hour trip look like?
Three movies
A book and a half (I would've finished the second, but the light was broke on my second flight)
Five Two and a Half men episodes
Three twoish hour naps
Three airplane meals and two snacks (including ice cream!)
A lot of staring at the flight tracker mentally willing the plane to fly faster (Doesn't work).
The first flight of 13 hours wasn't bad until around t-minus 2 hours until landing when my butt just HURT. Flight #2 (clocking in at 6 1/2 hours) is when it got real. I was exhausted, it was well past my bed time, and the flight just kept gooooing. I didn't even make it an hour until I was d-o-n-e. But, as my lovely boyfriend pointed out, once you're up there, there's nothing you can do. So I just tried to make the best of it without going crazy.
I got into Bangkok around 11 p.m. local time (around noon EST). I hadn't slept the entire 6 1/2 flight from Tokyo so I was ready for bed! Americans don't need visas for Thailand so immigration was a breeze. Got my bags and found a taxi.
Now, in SE Asia, you hear a LOT about Taxi scams. The hostel had given me their phone number because taxi drivers aren't required to know the city. So I gave it to the dude and he chatted on the phone for a while. Turns out, in Thailand, you pay the highway tolls out of your own pocket on top of the taxi fee. The taxis also don't have seatbelts, which always breeds confidence.
To my credit, I didn't have a post-midnight freakout about driving on the left side of the road like I did in Ireland back in 2010.
Seeing the temples lit up at night was breathtaking. It was about a 30 minute ride to the hostel and we passed a dozen temples easily. They're shiny with gold leaf and so many sparkling jewels. It made me so excited to get to the morning so I could see them up close!
Everything is humid. So humid. Like it's hard to breathe humid. It's the first thing I noticed getting off the plane. I sweated going up one flight of stairs to my room (the main parts aren't air conditioned). In my room, there's a little unit, but it's pointed at a set of lockers and there aren't fans to move the air around so it's hot. I've NEVER been happier to take a cold shower in my life. I didn't even bother to figure out how to use the hot water heater thing.
Only slept about 5 hours before waking up to explore, but that's another post for later!
Three movies
A book and a half (I would've finished the second, but the light was broke on my second flight)
Five Two and a Half men episodes
Three twoish hour naps
Three airplane meals and two snacks (including ice cream!)
A lot of staring at the flight tracker mentally willing the plane to fly faster (Doesn't work).
The first flight of 13 hours wasn't bad until around t-minus 2 hours until landing when my butt just HURT. Flight #2 (clocking in at 6 1/2 hours) is when it got real. I was exhausted, it was well past my bed time, and the flight just kept gooooing. I didn't even make it an hour until I was d-o-n-e. But, as my lovely boyfriend pointed out, once you're up there, there's nothing you can do. So I just tried to make the best of it without going crazy.
I got into Bangkok around 11 p.m. local time (around noon EST). I hadn't slept the entire 6 1/2 flight from Tokyo so I was ready for bed! Americans don't need visas for Thailand so immigration was a breeze. Got my bags and found a taxi.
Now, in SE Asia, you hear a LOT about Taxi scams. The hostel had given me their phone number because taxi drivers aren't required to know the city. So I gave it to the dude and he chatted on the phone for a while. Turns out, in Thailand, you pay the highway tolls out of your own pocket on top of the taxi fee. The taxis also don't have seatbelts, which always breeds confidence.
To my credit, I didn't have a post-midnight freakout about driving on the left side of the road like I did in Ireland back in 2010.
Seeing the temples lit up at night was breathtaking. It was about a 30 minute ride to the hostel and we passed a dozen temples easily. They're shiny with gold leaf and so many sparkling jewels. It made me so excited to get to the morning so I could see them up close!
Everything is humid. So humid. Like it's hard to breathe humid. It's the first thing I noticed getting off the plane. I sweated going up one flight of stairs to my room (the main parts aren't air conditioned). In my room, there's a little unit, but it's pointed at a set of lockers and there aren't fans to move the air around so it's hot. I've NEVER been happier to take a cold shower in my life. I didn't even bother to figure out how to use the hot water heater thing.
Only slept about 5 hours before waking up to explore, but that's another post for later!
glad you made it safe. I enjoyed reading this. Christina
ReplyDeleteNice to have you traveling and journaling again!
ReplyDeleteAunt Carolyn