Advertisement
Published: December 8th 2011
I got up early again today so that I could pay another visit to the gym before leaving for Australia. I'd felt so good after my visit yesterday that I thought I spend my morning wisely. I'd become hugely out of shape since leaving home and if I was going to get a part-time job at Fitness First in Brisbane I needed to start sorting myself out! As with any gym on a Sunday morning it was quiet, so I had almost the full run of the place.
I didn't get back to the hostel until 11.30am and spent the next half hour packing my bag ready to check out. I knew that after trekking to the BTS in the midday heat and humping my bag to the airport I'd be a sweaty mess, so I put aside a change of shorts and T-shirt to change into at the airport. I hung my damp gym clothes in the blazing heat of the Bangkok sun to dry as I handed my room key back in. It felt like I was leaving to go home and I was unsure of how I would feel once I got to the airport. I sat and fiddled on the computer for a while and had some boiled eggs and toast to keep me going before collecting everything together. May, the owner, thanked me for staying and said she was glad I'd come back. She spoke excellent English with a slight American twang, and was a little bit mad - somewhat of a theme for my hostesses in Thailand. She made sure I knew which BTS line to take to get to Suvarnabhui airport before waving me off through the door. It was hellishly hot as I trudged the streets to the BTS and even though it was only a short walk I could feel the beads of sweat running off of my forehead. It didn't get much better as I changed trains and hopped aboard the express train to the airport mopping my brow and wishing for air-conditioning.
I arrived and was desperate for a change of clothes. I had packed a change in a separate bag and was so glad to change into something dry. I had enough time to complete a few final tasks before boarding. After check in I bought a card to send to the owner of the guesthouse I stayed at in Chiang Mai to thank him for returning my iPod. He'd gone to a huge effort and they could just as easily have kept it so, posting him a couple of hundred Baht to say thank you seemed like nothing to get my tunes back! I headed through into departures and managed to get hold if another memory card for the camera and a new set of earphones for my iPod. The left ear had stopped working at some point in Malaysia but I wanted new ones whilst they were cheap. I was all set to head to my departure gate.
Once I'd boarded and settled I got a few bits from my bag for the flight. Mum had written me a card and stuffed it into my bag before I left. I hadn't read it but was saving it until I felt a little homesick. Even though my journey wasn't over it felt like I was leaving part of me behind in Asia, or perhaps I was taking a new bit of me that I had found - either way it was time to read it. No sooner had I opened Mum's card and saw her hand writing my eyes started to well up, so I tucked it away again to read while everyone was distracted. We taxied to the runway and as the plane rose from the runway I opened the letter and read it. It felt as though I could hear her voice speaking the words to me as I read and I was happy and sad all at once to be reminded of all the people I loved back home.
The flight was fairly uneventful and as ever settled down to watch the movie selection on board. Sadly just before they came round with the ice-creams the entertainment centre crashed and 'The Season of the Witch' came to a rather abrupt end. It was soon back on and I watched another couple of movies whilst trying to get some shut eye and being intermittently bothered with the offer of more food. It was a three hour time difference between Thailand and Australia, with the flight arriving at 5.15am. My workout hadn't left me tired but I hoped that the gentle rocking of the plane would soon send me off to sleep.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.11s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 6; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0838s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Julie Barilone
non-member comment
HA.......
And I thought you had given up on the blogging. You have some serious catching up to do. You still flying into San Francisco on the 17th?