DAY 1: Sunday 21st April 2013
Here I am in the Melbourne airport, sitting and waiting to board our plane to Bangkok.
I'm feeling relieved, the heartbreaking 5am goodbyes to the kids are over. I cried but didn't want them to see me really upset. I held Elias and cried, he started crying, oh my heart. Anyway, we got to the airport and Toddy bought me a chai, i needed a sugar hit :)
As we were walking onto the plane I said my goodbyes to the cold and assured him (I think cold is a boy?!?) that i would miss him. I was cheered up on the plane by the lady sitting in front of us, she was reading a book and the chapter was titled, 'What does your dog teach you about Spirituality?' I had a good old laugh, you never know, she might be onto something!
I'm also feeling relieved that the International check in went smoothly, i had no idea what to expect and was rather nervous. But here, I have my ticket in my hand and im ready to go. I have entered the unknown and the adventure is about to begin. I wrote in my journal:
It's so surreal that I will get on a plane here and get off it far far away in Bangkok. My first experience as a International traveller- Bring It!
The flight to Bangkok took 9.5 hours. Here are a few snippets from my journal that i wrote during the flight:
Wow! The plane is so colourful! Yellow, pink and purple seats. And all the flight attendants are dressed in colourful Thai clothing. I like it. Im surprised.
5 hours and 40 mins to go: Im sitting here with a lovely purple blanket on me. I just watched Pitch Perfect. My knees are sore. Im feeling rather peaceful.
3 hours 30 mins to go: We are flying over Indonesia. Whoooo! Im watching the Silver Lining Playbook. Hello down there Denpensar.
That was a long 9.5 hours. I was so happy when we landed. Bangkok here we come!!
I first stepped off the plane and the heat full on smacked me in the face. I was like, "NOOOOOO". I found it hard to breathe and really thought I may suffocate. I was thinking, what have we done? Why have we come here? I'm going to die. How am i going to survive 10 days? All of this was running through my head before I had even stepped off the bottom step of the plane! On the outside, i looked very composed, im sure :)
They herded us onto a bus, which i wasn't expecting, and drove us to arrivals. I was rather panicked by this stage. I was stressed about getting through customs, i've watched too many Border Security shows! I was also worried that we wouldn't find our transfer and that we wouldnt find our luggage... all of those first time traveler stresses. Thankgoodness Toddy was with me!!!! He put on a brave face for me, even if he wasn't feeling it.
I was so excited to get my first stamp in my passport, that's what ive dreamed about ever since i watched, 'While you Were Sleeping' all those years ago :) So far so good, through customs, now where is the guy holding a sign with our name on it?? Good question! He wasn't there as we were told he would be. After standing there for 5 minutes someone told us to follow him, we did, cautiously, we had heard stories... he tried to put us in a mini van and Todd was like,"show me our names on your list?" But the guy wouldn't show us he just keep saying, "yes yes, get in bus." Todd's like, "No, where are our names?" The guy looked on his list and they weren't on there! He then led us to some parked cars and there we found our driver who said, "BARKER?" I'd never been so relieved to hear the word Barker. Im so glad that Todd was so adamant about not getting on that mini bus when the guy assured us our names where on his list. Who knows where we would have ended up! Our driver was lovely, and he reckoned that we should have 11 kids. No thanks :)
As were were driven to our hotel we got our first glimpse of Bangkok, I was in awe of all the lights. If I was a mosquito, i'd fly straight to the light and get zapped. Bright lights, Huge Billboards, traffic everywhere, it was all so exciting!! After a year of dreaming, planning and reading trip advisor reviews, we were here, BANGKOK!
Our hotel, Siam@Siam Design Hotel and Spa, looked exactly as I had expected, id walked the streets around it on Google earth ;) We where whisked out of the car and through to check in... it happened all so smoothly and quickly... we were put in a lift and they pressed a button, the door opened and we were directed to a seat... all so professional, i felt like a star!
This hotel was seriously funky, around every corner you would see something different and unusual. For example, look at the lift and our bedroom wall :)
I worte this after arriving in our room:
I am sitting in my room at Siam@Siam in Bangkok! Surreal. I can see the Skytrain passing below.
It's hot out there!! It's all been so rushed since we got off the plane- I need to settle. Man that flight was long.
To wind down we went up to the rooftop bar and had a drink. Pina Colada baby! The drinks were expensive but we had to do it, it was one of the draw-cards to the the hotel. What a view from the rooftop. It was glorious. I spotted the Bangkok eye far away in the distance and was so excited for the next day. Our Bangkok rendezvous with Liv and Ana.
Love xxxxx next time I will meet you there!!
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