Advertisement
Published: December 20th 2006
Edit Blog Post
The star and Ritchie
Ok so he looks a little bored! Well what an eventful day i had yesterday. Are you sitting comfortable, then i'll begin.
Left my hotel in Bangkok around 9 after getting breakfast and doing a bit of shopping. My plan was to get the bus to the aiport and then fly to Sarat thani on the coast, then if there was time i was going to try to catch the afternoon ferry to Ko Samui, otherwise get it the next day.
Got to the bus stop and after a few minutes wait the 556 rolled into view. It safely deposited me at the bus terminal were i found the free shuttle bus (with a little help from the friendly conductor) to the airport. Once at the airport i checked in, an hours delay on the flight but i didn't mind that and then i got something to eat, as i went into the restaurant i noticed there was a gate change for my flight but didn't think much about it. About 10 minutes before i was due to get to the gate i wandered over to have a look at the boards again, same information was shown, new gate number. So headed up to the new
Propellor
I was rather hoping for an engine gate and sat in the lounge waiting for the flight to be called.
The lounge filled up and there was lots of frustrated faces as a call came over the tannoy but i didn't quite catch it so just assumed the flight had incurred a further delay. About 10 minutes after the flight was due to take off i started to notice that everyone else seemed to be holding departure cards for a different air line, this is when i started to worry. As there was no boards in the lounge and no staff i left the lounge to find someone to help me only to find my flight had left. How could this be, i was sat there and nothing was called and noone went anywhere. In order to find out what had happened i had to go all the way back to the check in desks. There they confirmed that the flight had left and that it had gone from the gate that was on my departure card. I tried to tell them that the boards had said there was a gate change but they just dismissed it. It was then i started to doubt myself and guessed i was dafter than i thought and had read the wrong information twice! They informed me that the next flight was tomorrow and i would have to pay 5ooB to change my ticket. This was not good news, it meant a trip all the way back across Bangkok to the cheap hotels or a night in the airport hotel, which i really couldn't afford. On the bright side my backpack had been off loaded and they promised it would be brought up in 10 minutes.
I decided to see if there was an airline with a direct flight to Samui leaving that evening. I was in luck Bangkok airways had one leaving in an hour, so begrudgingly i paid out the extra 3800B and booked the ticket. The woman told me to go straight to check in as it was closing in 20 minutes. I ran back to the original flight desk and there i noticed 2 people waiting. I was sure i'd seen them earlier in the day and asked them if they had missed their flight. They had indeed and the reason was because the board had shown a gate change and they had also been sat at the wrong gate. I knew i wasn't daft! We argued with the staff that we couldn't both have read this information wrongly and they simply said it wasn't their responsibility what was on the boards, that was a different department. In other words tough! The other couple and i aren't happy with this, we have both had to pay out for tickets because of a mistake that neither of us were responsible for so will persue it more at a later date. All that aside i was still waiting for my luggage to arrive. The seconds ticked by and soon i was getting very worried about making this other flight. I kept telling them i had a new flight to catch but they just didn't seem to be bothered. I ran back to the Bangkok airline desk and asked them to hold check in for a few minutes till my luggage arrived but they couldn't do that. The only thing they could do was to suggest i flew without my luggage and got it on a later flight. I wasn't happy to do this so just had to step back while check in closed and i missed my second flight of the day.
Eventually i got my stuff-yeah thanks 1-2-go airlines, you were great. I managed to get squeezed onto the 6pm flight and went and sat at the gate an hour early just to make sure. In an empty lounge i sat nervously, a youngish good looking lad came and sat opposite me, odd i thought, there was a whole lounge why did he need to sit so close, still he was pretty nice to look at so didn't mind too much. On the flight i notice pretty boy was only a row or two behind me and it was then i started to think he looked familiar. The flight was only an hour and we landed in the great little airport here in Samuii about half seven. Waiting for the bags to arrive i realised who i thought this lad was. Feeling brave i wondered up and asked him if we'd met before-corny i know but didn't want to say hey didn't you use to be famous!. He said he didn't think we'd met, so i told him he looked very familiar, is there a reason i might know his face. He confirmed that he'd once been in a boy band. It was Ritchie from 5!! He was the good looking one with steely blue eyes. I had a picture taken with him and we chatted a bit. He is on the same island as me for Christmas so you never know i might be meeting up with some of my old celeb friends over the Yuletide!!
Eventually got to a hotel of my liking around 9.30pm. A long and eventful day so i slept pretty well last night and it was lovely not to have to get up today. So its been a slow and relaxing day today and i plan much the same for tomorrow. Am thinking about hiring a jeep one day to explore the island, i'll let you know how i get on. XX
Advertisement
Tot: 0.065s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 6; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0368s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Baglady
non-member comment
MADNESS
Me again to nag you. All of this is rubbish and not safe. Roll on February when you are home. Wandering around without a home bloody daft. All these people who encourage you on are quite simply mad. Tell them to take a look at our St Lukes the nut house cos thats where they should be. Keep in touch so I know you are safe.