July 4th, 2017
First time for everything….
I think it is Wednesday morning, July 5th. This trek has seemed a little longer than normal to me. Perhaps just because of generally being completely worn out prior to the departure, my patience is low. We were up at the airport in Vancouver on time for our noon departure on hong kong airlines. At first I was concerned as this was to be a 13 hour plus flight and there was no inflight entertainment system. Not even the old style ths that pop down from the ceiling. I thought to myself, maybe this will prompt me to sleep more. But then the first thing that happens after departure was the gals came out with Carts of iPads and headphones. So ya, not so much sleep for me….I had movies to watch 😂😂. A couple not so bad airplane meals and a snack and drink bar back by the bathroom made the 13 hours fly by (excuse the pun). How can you complain about an airline that has complimentary kit Kats. (Pic forthcoming). The dessert for one of the meals even had a little chocolate wafer with a Canadian flag on it.
We arrived in Hong Kong safe and sound, and had a 5 hour layover (boo), but I did take a nap towards the end. We got on the second flight to Bangkok. Take off took forever (apparently-as i was sleeping😉) But the flight itself was a little over 2 hours. There was a “sausage roll” offered, it smelled good, but in the end was a really a pig in a blanket. BK this ones for you 😘
We rolled into Bangkok at midnight local time and as always had our paperwork all ready to go, we hustled to immigration because we know the line up can be long. And it was, and there were very few windows open. So that took over an hour!! By the time we got through immigration, it was after 1pm and we were making a decision really time whether to bother going to the hotel I’d booked. We would have to be back by 6:30 am to catch the flight to Chiangmai. There is a wait and a shuttle both ways involved….well the decision was taken out of our hands as our one lonely little bag I bragged about packing was nowhere to be found. In all the years (9) we have been coming here in the summer, we have never not had a bag show up. But this was our year I guess. So we looked, searched and waited and then accepted the fact that we were going to be those people that had to go to the lost baggage claim counter. They looked it up and told us the bag was still in Vancouver. Wait-What? So apparently it would be put on the same flight the next day, would come to Bangkok and could they deliver it to us at hotel. I said “sure–in ChiangMai!” So she said “oh yes, we will fly it up there and someone will drive it to our hotel” and then I said, “ok, we will be out in MaeRim.” She said “no problem”. We asked about temporary supplies. She said they couldn’t help us with that, but if we kept our receipts that Hong Kong airlines would reimburse us for our inconvenience. So we continue on, in the same clothes we’ve been wearing for three days, and I am pretty sure I’ll never see my favorite sandals again…..trying to keep my spirits up. I’ll keep you posted.
