Thailand, part one of many.
For a little backround on the trip, My little (in years not in tallness) brother is doing a semester at sea trip, and my parents thought it would be a great idea (excuse to take an amazing tip) to meet him at one of the places he's stopping at. Originally we were going to Vietnam for some reason, and then we changed it to Thailand for another reason I don't recall.
Anyway we started our trip by flying out of the Philadephia airport on wendsday. We had lunch there and I ordered Philly roll, but the airport sushi place made it with crab stick??? I've never seen that before, smoked salmon is the norm. My Dad gallantly ate the strange philly roll imposter and I made the sushi place make me a real one. Comeon guys, it is a roll named after your city, please get it right! Then we waited in the airport lounge, and I had a discussion about the pokemon game I was playing with a little boy who nearly sat on my lap. My parents were mildly surprised at my calm reaction to this and then remembered "oh yeah you work at a school right?" lol
Anyway, the flight from Philly to LA was relativly uneventful, we got to fly first class because my Dad called the Airline over and over again until they put us there.
Oh look a photo! The snow that thinly blanketed the local countryside as we left. Later I used this photo to amuse a few Thai people when they asked were we were from. Thailand is hot! XD
Mountians, somewhere in the US of A
When we got off the flight in LA, we went to claim our bags. The little brother of the boy who asked me about Pokemon was watching the baggage carasol from his stroller like it was the best thing ever! Cute!
Because of how the flights worked we spent the night in LA at a hotel. Our room was on the 13th floor (ooo! Unlucky!). We all had two rolling bags a peice, and when we got to the 13th floor, my Dad managed to get off, but the door closed before my Mom and I could, so we got sent back to the 1rst floor. So my Dad like turned around and we were gone lol We had to take the elevator back up. Also in the lobby my Dad stepped by accident on a random lightbulb laying on the floor and broke it with a loud POP!, someone must have dropped it, because there wasn't a light fixture anywhere near.
So in the morning we went back to LAX to take the first of two flights to Thailand. Once we got past security my parents decided to buy a bottle of rum to put into fruit juice for evening cocktails.
Cute Flight Attendents who I thought were from Japan Air, but were really from Korean Air. I really like their trenchcoats. I found out later that all the Flight attendents from the Asian airlines wear really cute outfits, and in general the Asian airlines are like tons better then ours. I am spoiled.
We had quite a bit of time before our flight, so we hung out in the Japan Air buisness class lounge. There was food (and drinks) served there, which began the trend of lots and lots of free food while we traveled XD I decided to try a rice porridge and top it with what I thought was grated cheese, but turned out to be grated ginger lol. Not really to my taste.
Huh-huh, dumb photo. This was my seat in buisness class for the first leg. Tecnically we were flying a japanese airline although it wasn't branded/billed as such? Anyway, the seats were nice.
Here is the point were I crow about my Father XD My Dad has been doing traveling for buisness since I was like 6, and so has gotten alot of experience (and points) from it. This combined with the Hetherston trait of figuring out every trick and loophole you can use to your advantage made our trip very comfortable. We flew all buisness class except for the flights from LA and back, which gave us access to the Buisness class lounges in the airports. All the flights other then the ones from LA and back (which got upgraded to first class free), and all the hotel rooms other then the Atlanta were "payed" for by points. My Father is a Traveling Super Hero. He is Uber Traveler! Thankyou Dad!
On the flight we got a choice of several "western" meals, or a Japanese meal. I got one of the western ones (steak?) but my Mom decided to get the Japanese meal. It was very very strange. Lots of tiny portions of strange seafood prepared in odd ways. This wasn't the kind of Japanese food you would get in an american japanese resturant, it was true Japanese food.
Her rice came topped with this condiment. Can't see what's weird about it?
I can see you! with my dead silvery fishy/shrimp/squid? eyes!! I don't know what these were exactly, but they kinda creeped me out. My Mom mostly pushed them to the side, and ate the rice with her eyes closed. Apparently they tasted very fishy. One of the other things she got was an "Abalone and Surf jellyfish salad", which was kinda like a civiche which she sent to my Dad by one of the flight attendents. She returned saying "Your husband really likes!" and seemed pretty charmed by the whole thing.
Umm yeah the parfait they served us. Looking back on this photo, I think I must have been really bored. On the Transpacific flights they spent most of their time stuffing us with food and drinks. On a later flight I got offered bread like 3 times in one meal, and after dinner port! Uhh yeah Asian airlines are great!
My parents slepted on both flights, but I really didn't sleep much on either.
The Moniter in addition to playing movies, shows, and games, also had a nifty "where are you in your flight" feature. It showed the flightpath (in realtime), altitude, outside tempeture, times in major cities, ect.
The flightpath coming into Tokyo. We ended up doing this funny looped course because of weather/turbulence. At one point the plane actually kinda dropped a bit. Not much, but enought to make the bottom drop out of my stomach. A tad scary lol
Because of this we ended up having like a 15 min layover in Tokyo rather then an hour like we were supposed to. After exiting the plane we were met by a very charming japanese woman working for the airline. She proceded to take us on an epic dash through the Tokyo Airport. One section had us doing olympic style escalator manuvers, and another section was like tunnels of people movers that we ran down. We ended up having to go through security a second time (although we should have been behind it still) and got our rum we bought in LA confiscated it. Enjoy Japanese airport security men!
I have to admit to having being dissapointed about getting like no time in Tokyo. I would have liked to atleast gotten a chance to wander a bit around the airport, but yeah it didn't happen. Man I sound like a weebo >.<
Anyway we made it to our flight, and it was pretty uneventful. I didn't sleep much, and I think got more then a bit grumpy. The plane had a projection screen, and a camara on the nose of the aircraft and we got to watch the plane take off.
We arrived in the Bangkok airport and got through customs with no problems. So we went to arrange a Taxi to take us to the Atlanta Hotel. We walked past the area for "non-official" taxi drivers, which was a very tiny space fenced in with like metal dividers were they would wave signs and yell at us. lol Rather then them, we opted for the "official" airport taxi, which meant getting in a rather large line and waiting for a bit.
When we got to the end of the line they took one look at us and told us we would have to take two taxis because all of our bags wouldn't fit into one. My Dad asked if one taxi could follow the other, and they assured us it would. So we split up into two cars, my Dad in one, and my Mother and I in the other. As we got onto the highway it got quickly clear that there was no following of anyone. XD I started getting more and more on edge, but figured that the driver must know were he is going.
We came to a toll and the driver turned around with an outstreached hand and said "20 baht". Apparently it's the custom in thailand for the passangers to pay for tolls, which I think I read months before the trip and forgot. My Mom and I tried to explain to him that we didn't have any Baht, and that the man he was supposed to be following had all the money, but he kept saying "20 baht! 20 baht!" which the helpful lady in the toll booth took up as well "20, baht, you pay, you pay!". I got out my phrase book and tried to explain again our situation, even offering it to him as a means of communication, but he understandably wasn't having it.
Finally he got tired of holding up the line and payed the toll, drove through, and then pulled over immediatly on the side of the highway, and got out, I think to try to find someone who spoke english. My Mom at this point was freaking out. I asked her if she had any US dollars on her, but she didn't. I remembered that thankfully Melanie had given me some cash just in case and I had stowed it on my checked luggage. I got out of the car, motioned to the driver, and then motioned to the trunk saying "I have money in the trunk, Money in trunk, Baht in Trunk!". He opened it and helped me wrestle the bag onto the ground. I took my nail clippers out of a side pouch, clipped off the ziptie the japanese airline had thoughtfully put on, opened the main compartment, found my makeup bag, and carefully and unobtrusivly pulled a 5 dollar bill (about 160 baht) out of the wad of cash in the little inside pocket of my makeup bag. I gave it to him, He (and the toll woman who had followed us to the side of the road) seemed very happy, and he helped me put my bag back into the trunk, and we continued on our way.
We went through another toll, and he held up the 5 dollar bill and said "20 baht", making sure we knew he was keeping track of the amount and was not trying to take advantage of us. So we pulled off the highway and into Bangkok proper, in the neighborhood the Atlanta is in. The driver starts pulling up to hotels, and gesturing to them. So we reply, "no, Atlanta" hotel. It becomes very clear he has very little idea were it is, and is just taking us to the well known hotels. After like the 6th one, I decide that I'm going to get out at the next one and talk to the desk clerk, who is likely to speak english. We pulled up to one (they keep getting progressivly smaller), and dodging the helpful bellhop rushing up to get our bags, catch the eye of the clerk and say "we are trying to get to the Atlanta Hotel, our driver doesn't seem to know were it is and doesn't speak english, can you help please?" He thinks a moment and says "landmark hotel??" Which turns out to be another relativly well known hotel in the area. realizing our accents are the issue, I run to the car, pull out my sketch book and write out "atlanta hotel". After confering with a random older man hanging out on the sidewalk with a dog, he tells the driver how to get too it. yay! Turns out it was only like a block away lol. My poor Dad had been nervously waiting outside of the hotel for us.
Welcome to bangkok!!
Our veiw onto the Sukhumvit road out of the hotel room at The Atlanta.
To be continued! XD
Anyway we started our trip by flying out of the Philadephia airport on wendsday. We had lunch there and I ordered Philly roll, but the airport sushi place made it with crab stick??? I've never seen that before, smoked salmon is the norm. My Dad gallantly ate the strange philly roll imposter and I made the sushi place make me a real one. Comeon guys, it is a roll named after your city, please get it right! Then we waited in the airport lounge, and I had a discussion about the pokemon game I was playing with a little boy who nearly sat on my lap. My parents were mildly surprised at my calm reaction to this and then remembered "oh yeah you work at a school right?" lol
Anyway, the flight from Philly to LA was relativly uneventful, we got to fly first class because my Dad called the Airline over and over again until they put us there.
Oh look a photo! The snow that thinly blanketed the local countryside as we left. Later I used this photo to amuse a few Thai people when they asked were we were from. Thailand is hot! XD
Mountians, somewhere in the US of A
When we got off the flight in LA, we went to claim our bags. The little brother of the boy who asked me about Pokemon was watching the baggage carasol from his stroller like it was the best thing ever! Cute!
Because of how the flights worked we spent the night in LA at a hotel. Our room was on the 13th floor (ooo! Unlucky!). We all had two rolling bags a peice, and when we got to the 13th floor, my Dad managed to get off, but the door closed before my Mom and I could, so we got sent back to the 1rst floor. So my Dad like turned around and we were gone lol We had to take the elevator back up. Also in the lobby my Dad stepped by accident on a random lightbulb laying on the floor and broke it with a loud POP!, someone must have dropped it, because there wasn't a light fixture anywhere near.
So in the morning we went back to LAX to take the first of two flights to Thailand. Once we got past security my parents decided to buy a bottle of rum to put into fruit juice for evening cocktails.
Cute Flight Attendents who I thought were from Japan Air, but were really from Korean Air. I really like their trenchcoats. I found out later that all the Flight attendents from the Asian airlines wear really cute outfits, and in general the Asian airlines are like tons better then ours. I am spoiled.
We had quite a bit of time before our flight, so we hung out in the Japan Air buisness class lounge. There was food (and drinks) served there, which began the trend of lots and lots of free food while we traveled XD I decided to try a rice porridge and top it with what I thought was grated cheese, but turned out to be grated ginger lol. Not really to my taste.
Huh-huh, dumb photo. This was my seat in buisness class for the first leg. Tecnically we were flying a japanese airline although it wasn't branded/billed as such? Anyway, the seats were nice.
Here is the point were I crow about my Father XD My Dad has been doing traveling for buisness since I was like 6, and so has gotten alot of experience (and points) from it. This combined with the Hetherston trait of figuring out every trick and loophole you can use to your advantage made our trip very comfortable. We flew all buisness class except for the flights from LA and back, which gave us access to the Buisness class lounges in the airports. All the flights other then the ones from LA and back (which got upgraded to first class free), and all the hotel rooms other then the Atlanta were "payed" for by points. My Father is a Traveling Super Hero. He is Uber Traveler! Thankyou Dad!
On the flight we got a choice of several "western" meals, or a Japanese meal. I got one of the western ones (steak?) but my Mom decided to get the Japanese meal. It was very very strange. Lots of tiny portions of strange seafood prepared in odd ways. This wasn't the kind of Japanese food you would get in an american japanese resturant, it was true Japanese food.
Her rice came topped with this condiment. Can't see what's weird about it?
I can see you! with my dead silvery fishy/shrimp/squid? eyes!! I don't know what these were exactly, but they kinda creeped me out. My Mom mostly pushed them to the side, and ate the rice with her eyes closed. Apparently they tasted very fishy. One of the other things she got was an "Abalone and Surf jellyfish salad", which was kinda like a civiche which she sent to my Dad by one of the flight attendents. She returned saying "Your husband really likes!" and seemed pretty charmed by the whole thing.
Umm yeah the parfait they served us. Looking back on this photo, I think I must have been really bored. On the Transpacific flights they spent most of their time stuffing us with food and drinks. On a later flight I got offered bread like 3 times in one meal, and after dinner port! Uhh yeah Asian airlines are great!
My parents slepted on both flights, but I really didn't sleep much on either.
The Moniter in addition to playing movies, shows, and games, also had a nifty "where are you in your flight" feature. It showed the flightpath (in realtime), altitude, outside tempeture, times in major cities, ect.
The flightpath coming into Tokyo. We ended up doing this funny looped course because of weather/turbulence. At one point the plane actually kinda dropped a bit. Not much, but enought to make the bottom drop out of my stomach. A tad scary lol
Because of this we ended up having like a 15 min layover in Tokyo rather then an hour like we were supposed to. After exiting the plane we were met by a very charming japanese woman working for the airline. She proceded to take us on an epic dash through the Tokyo Airport. One section had us doing olympic style escalator manuvers, and another section was like tunnels of people movers that we ran down. We ended up having to go through security a second time (although we should have been behind it still) and got our rum we bought in LA confiscated it. Enjoy Japanese airport security men!
I have to admit to having being dissapointed about getting like no time in Tokyo. I would have liked to atleast gotten a chance to wander a bit around the airport, but yeah it didn't happen. Man I sound like a weebo >.<
Anyway we made it to our flight, and it was pretty uneventful. I didn't sleep much, and I think got more then a bit grumpy. The plane had a projection screen, and a camara on the nose of the aircraft and we got to watch the plane take off.
We arrived in the Bangkok airport and got through customs with no problems. So we went to arrange a Taxi to take us to the Atlanta Hotel. We walked past the area for "non-official" taxi drivers, which was a very tiny space fenced in with like metal dividers were they would wave signs and yell at us. lol Rather then them, we opted for the "official" airport taxi, which meant getting in a rather large line and waiting for a bit.
When we got to the end of the line they took one look at us and told us we would have to take two taxis because all of our bags wouldn't fit into one. My Dad asked if one taxi could follow the other, and they assured us it would. So we split up into two cars, my Dad in one, and my Mother and I in the other. As we got onto the highway it got quickly clear that there was no following of anyone. XD I started getting more and more on edge, but figured that the driver must know were he is going.
We came to a toll and the driver turned around with an outstreached hand and said "20 baht". Apparently it's the custom in thailand for the passangers to pay for tolls, which I think I read months before the trip and forgot. My Mom and I tried to explain to him that we didn't have any Baht, and that the man he was supposed to be following had all the money, but he kept saying "20 baht! 20 baht!" which the helpful lady in the toll booth took up as well "20, baht, you pay, you pay!". I got out my phrase book and tried to explain again our situation, even offering it to him as a means of communication, but he understandably wasn't having it.
Finally he got tired of holding up the line and payed the toll, drove through, and then pulled over immediatly on the side of the highway, and got out, I think to try to find someone who spoke english. My Mom at this point was freaking out. I asked her if she had any US dollars on her, but she didn't. I remembered that thankfully Melanie had given me some cash just in case and I had stowed it on my checked luggage. I got out of the car, motioned to the driver, and then motioned to the trunk saying "I have money in the trunk, Money in trunk, Baht in Trunk!". He opened it and helped me wrestle the bag onto the ground. I took my nail clippers out of a side pouch, clipped off the ziptie the japanese airline had thoughtfully put on, opened the main compartment, found my makeup bag, and carefully and unobtrusivly pulled a 5 dollar bill (about 160 baht) out of the wad of cash in the little inside pocket of my makeup bag. I gave it to him, He (and the toll woman who had followed us to the side of the road) seemed very happy, and he helped me put my bag back into the trunk, and we continued on our way.
We went through another toll, and he held up the 5 dollar bill and said "20 baht", making sure we knew he was keeping track of the amount and was not trying to take advantage of us. So we pulled off the highway and into Bangkok proper, in the neighborhood the Atlanta is in. The driver starts pulling up to hotels, and gesturing to them. So we reply, "no, Atlanta" hotel. It becomes very clear he has very little idea were it is, and is just taking us to the well known hotels. After like the 6th one, I decide that I'm going to get out at the next one and talk to the desk clerk, who is likely to speak english. We pulled up to one (they keep getting progressivly smaller), and dodging the helpful bellhop rushing up to get our bags, catch the eye of the clerk and say "we are trying to get to the Atlanta Hotel, our driver doesn't seem to know were it is and doesn't speak english, can you help please?" He thinks a moment and says "landmark hotel??" Which turns out to be another relativly well known hotel in the area. realizing our accents are the issue, I run to the car, pull out my sketch book and write out "atlanta hotel". After confering with a random older man hanging out on the sidewalk with a dog, he tells the driver how to get too it. yay! Turns out it was only like a block away lol. My poor Dad had been nervously waiting outside of the hotel for us.
Welcome to bangkok!!
Our veiw onto the Sukhumvit road out of the hotel room at The Atlanta.
To be continued! XD