Bangkok, Thailand - March 8-9, 2013

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March 8-9, 2013

Wow, we were up early this morning, March 8. Todd was up at 3:00am, everyone else at 3:45am. After one last review of our luggage, we left for the airport at 4:30am.

We arrived at the Houston airport around 5:45am for our 7:05am flight to DFW. This year, no delays on American due to maintenance issues. Our flight arrived on time in DFW for about three hours we sat in the Admiral’s club before our 13.5 hour flight to Tokyo’s Narita airport.

The 13.5 hour flight to Tokyo’s Narita was uneventful, and we actually go on this flight without a hitch (not so last year). Cindy and Jenny sat in 31 A & B (emergency exit with a ton a leg room) and Michael and I sat of the opposite side 31 F & G. We were so glad we got these seats which allowed us to stretch out. Since the flight was so long, there were a lot of movies to be watched. I watched Argo and Lincoln, Cindy watched Argo. I did not like Lincoln; it was too in-depth for me, even though I understood the plot of the movie. I really loved Argo. Not only is it based on a true story, the whole movie was suspenseful and really had a lot of meaning. Michael agreed, he also watched.

We had three meals, all were very diverse. Most of meals were good, even in coach.

Meal One

Salad

Sushi I think wrapped in salmon

Chicken/Mashed Potato/Green Beans (a elementary school favorite)

Roll/butter

Cheese/crackers

Packaged cookie

A small white wine (yes, adult beverages)



Meal Two

Ham/cheese sandwich with miscellaneous candies



Meal Three

Personal pan pizza

Fruit cup



The flight crew on American was super nice and very easy to talk to. They were willing to stop and talk about anything. They constantly check on you to make sure you were satisfied. We arrived Saturday afternoon at 3:30pm. Still amazed me with the time changes going overseas.



Before we went to our next gate, we had to go through additional security screening for connecting international flights. Security at the Narita airport is so much different than any airport in the states. Just regular scanners, not a body scanner, there is not such a stress level going through the security area, and the people in the security all had a smile on their faces. You still have to discard water bottles and remove laptops from your bag. Todd did get pulled over for extra screening on his backpack; however they were very nice about.

After leaving the security area and Japanese gentleman approached us wanting to know where we were heading to next. He showed us the gate, city, and departure time on the board and gave us directions to the gate. As we walked away, Michael made a comment that people in Japan are so nice and they probably won’t be that way in Thailand. I assured him that everything will be fine.

Before departing to Bangkok, we had a few hours. We visited the Admirals Club. We all have vivid memories of this club. The staff is very nice and the food and drink selection is great. All of it is complimentary, whereas in the states you get coffee, water, and cookies. While at the club, we all checked email, Facebook, and just lounged around. Michael took it to another level, wanted to take a shower. I have always seen the shower areas at the Admirals Club’s, however never used one. The desk gave us a key and Michal was off to taking a shower. Life is good for Michael.

Around 6:00pm we boarded our Japan Airline flight from Tokyo to Bangkok, a 7.5 hour trip, ugh. This flight was different. Since we were not able to reserve our seats until this week, our seats were way in the back of the plane, row 54 and 55. The spacing between seats were cramped and uncomfortable. Also the plane was very warm, never cooled down. After about an hour in flight, we got a packaged snack and a drink. About two hours into the flight we received dinner. I attached a photo of what our food selection was, very interesting, however not too bad. For dessert they provided a small Hagen Das cookies and cream ice cream cup. This was awesome.

We arrived in Bangkok around 11:15pm. This airport is huge, not what I expected, however it is a very busy airport in Asia. After clearing passport control/immigration we gathered our luggage and headed to meet our driver to go to the hotel. Our trip to Conrad Hilton in downtown Bangkok was about 35 minutes. We traveled in a very upscale Mercedes van. They had water and a newspaper waiting for us, good stuff.

We arrived at the hotel after midnight local time and we were the only ones checking in. There were 4 bellman waiting, one took us to the front desk and the others loaded our luggage on the cart. At the front desk they informed us that we were upgraded to a suite. The front desk receptionist took us to our room.

When we entered our room, wow is all I can say. We all felt like we were celebrities, the suite was just like this. Each of our beds had a souvenir, cloth elephant. This is for us to take home as a keepsake and a memory of Thailand. I attached a few photos of our hotel room. We have never stayed in a hotel room this nice ever. The kids said let’s just stay here the whole time.

Tomorrow, Sunday, we are going to tour the city. Stay tuned for my next blog entry.

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Photos

Master Suite bathroom
One of the two master bathrooms in our suites

Suite Area
Beautiful and relaxing room

Stuffed Elephant
Each of us had an elephant on our bed.