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Published: September 5th 2010
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THE SHORTEST FRIDAY Since this BLOG is not meant to be a blow by blow of our entire trip, I will not bore you with intense daily details. However, I thought it appropriate to say a few words about the journey to Thailand.
I have found that when booking trips, (ok this is nothing new you probably already know this) that it is often cheaper to originate the main portion of the trip from a bigger City. Portland only has 3 major international flights, so for us it was cheaper to book two different round trips: Portland to San Francisco (using miles at united) and San Francisco to Bangkok (booked on expedia along with our hotel).
The entire trip from door to door took 27 hours and we lost Friday in there somewhere. We left Portland at 7:17 pm Thursday and arrived in Bangkok at 10:00 am Saturday. Before we left I read several reviews on China Airlines none of them were good. I disagree with all of them. True the plane was an older 747 without personalize TV’s in each seat, but it is economy, you get what you pay for. Both the service and food was
much better than many domestic flights I have been on (and there was actual food that you did not have to pay for or eat out of a box).
I do not like to fly and was extremely nervous about such a long flight. My fears were unfounded. The flight was smooth and uneventful. We were fortunate because our flight from Portland to San Francisco arrived several hours before our next flight was scheduled to leave. Fortunate not because we got to spend 5 hours in San Francisco Airport, but be because this allowed us to be the first to check in. By checking in early, we scored emergency exit rows and thus leg room upon leg room. This alone makes the almost 13 hour flight acceptable when you’re in coach. Of course business class would be great, but then we are not a Kennedy, hell we are not even Kathy Griffin (she at least is on the B or is it C list and the only list I am on is the Bon Appétit mailing list.)
The only glitch in the entire trip was our pre-arranged car service from the Bangkok Airport to the hotel. We simply could not find them, discovered later that they had the wrong arrival time. I of course, being a little tired from the flight, quickly brook the first rule of Thai travel: Do not raise your voice or show frustration. The Thai people simply do not deal with anger and they just become nicer the more frustrated you get, naturally making you more frustrated because, unless you speak Thai, you have no idea what they are saying or how to solve the problem. Fortunately, the Thai are extremely friendly and helpful people. Some one from a different car service called our company and had us on our way in 15 minutes.
Let me explain, when I say I broke the first rule, I don’t mean to say I was yelling and screaming, but I was very frustrated and when trying to speak to the company representative on the phone (not my cell phone of course, that is a story that is between me and AT & T.) I clearly had a tone (not my lawyer voice for those of you who know me) but a tone. And in a country where a word changes its meaning by the tone or infliction that can only cause trouble.
In any event, we arrived at our hotel and our adventure truly began.
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