The Arrival

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This morning I woke up for the first time disoriented and confused in Bangkok, Thailand. I looked over at my new friend, Beka, whom I was lucky enough to meet up with in Chicago, and struggled to remember who she was and where the heck I was. We arrived in Bangkok last night, December 28th, at 11:50 PM (Bangkok time) or 10:50 AM (Minnesota time). For how long my flight was, I had one of the least complicated traveling experiences of my life. On December 27th at 10 AM (Minnesota time), my parents dropped me off at the Rochester airport. Of course we got there way to early and they waited with me for an hour and a half until it was about time for me to board. The rochester airport was small and simple, with only about six gates, it was a very easy first leg to Chicago. Dad, you were right, the flight was only 45 minutes long and I arrived in Chicago.

If any of you have ever flown international from Chicago, you know how its completely absurd. There international gate is at another terminal that is at least ten minutes from the main terminal, thankfully I had two hours to get to my new gate. I was lucky enough to meet a sixty year old couple, Josie and Roy, from the Phillippines in line who were so nice and excited for my trip. They kept an eye on me as we went through security and encouraged me to visit their country during my travels. After rechecking in and going through security, I waited anxiously at my gate for another girl in my program, Beka. I was getting a little nervous that she wasn't going to make it, but thankfully, about ten minutes before our plane started to load, she arrived! She had not had such a simple traveling experience but nontheless had made it, and I now thankfully was no longer traveling alone. We had a 15 hour flight ahead of us where we had about a ten foot area in which to eat, sleep, and entertain ourselves for the duration, and we were not sitting by each other. Cycling through books, movies, eating, and music, I did my best to enjoy the long flight. Thankfully, we were on an Asian airline, if you've traveled on them before you understand, if not, they are the best and you should attempt to fly with them whenever possible.

The layover in Hong Kong was fairly uneventful except Beka and I found another student, Chris, from our program, who we would be traveling with on our last leg. At this point I would tell you what time it was, but I had no idea what the time or date was, and, of course, Hong Kong was in a different time zone than Bangkok. My last flight was again very easy and we landed in Bangkok around 11:50 PM (Thai Time). Chris and I immediately exchanged some money for Thai Baht, the exchange rate is about 1 USD to 30 Thai Baht. The exchange rate in airports is always the worst, because you're desperate, so I just exchanged $100. We went to get our luggage from the carousel and all of our luggage had arrived.

After a bit of confusion, we found our ride, and were immediately greeted with the kindness that we had been told so much about. Our hotel was about a ten minute ride from the airport. We checked in, and two gentlemen from the hotel carried our bags up four flights of stairs (they weren't super light) to our room. This morning we awoke before our alarms, and we are getting ready to meet up with our fellow group members for an orientation on the west side of Thailand in Kanchanaburi by River Kwai! I am so excited, and I can not wait for the next five months.



Love You All!

Taylor Ann

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