Thailand Here We Come

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It is Thursday morning and we are leaving during a northeast snow storm. I just left Erie, PA where we experienced 121 inches of snow during the month of December. I was hoping not to see snow for some time; however, it seemed to have followed us. Greg and I decided to stay in a hotel near Dulles so that we did not have to stress over the rush hour traffic and inclement weather. We quickly discovered that we had made a wise decision. OK, Greg had made the wise decision. I will give credit where credit is due.

All 13 students arrived on time, in fact, many were early. A group of students had decided to stay overnight at a local hotel so they just had to take a shuttle to the airport. The other students had planned enough time into their morning schedule to accommodate weather delays. Every student came with the maximum number of luggage and all underweight. This will be very good for our return trip home. Our time at the airport was uneventful. After our Dunkin Donut stop for breakfast we only had to wait at the gate for 35 minutes. Not so bad for a morning that started out a little uncertain.

The flight to Chiang Mai went well. Despite all of my efforts, we were not seated together during the first flight. This flight seems to always give me problems; however, we were seated together from Seoul to Chiang Mai. The next 14 hrs were spent eating, sleeping, watching movies and playing games. By the time we arrived at Seoul, everyone was ready for a stretch break. It is now Friday afternoon and our layover was less than 2 hrs which was perfect for us to go through security, grab a bite to eat & drink and hit the restroom for some freshening up.

The second flight tends to be around 6 hrs. To minimize jet lag, everyone was instructed to not fall asleep; however, that is much easier said than done. I believe everyone slept, some more deeply and longer than others. We arrived on time (10 pm Friday evening), moved through immigration rather quickly, and gathered all of our luggage. The BCNC faculty and buddies were eagerly waiting our arrival. It was so neat to watch the students as they met their buddies face-to-face for the first time. They have been communicating on Facebook prior to our arrival so there was a sense of familiarity with each other. After we had hugged, greeted one another and took our group photo, we were ready for the 15-minute ride to BCNC.

After a brief orientation we unpacked, showered and went to bed. I believe everyone was in bed by 3 am. Some students reported they only slept for 4 hrs where as others of us were able to sleep more like 6 – 7 hrs. It won’t be long before we will be able to determine those that received little sleep.

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