Bye-bye Thailand

Our flight left at 8am so we had to get up really early. Yesterday's fruit was mangosteens, so we had them for breakfast. They were really good! Now I know why people rave about them - they taste so much better fresh.

We had booked a car with the hotel to take us to the airport. While checking out of the hotel they couldn't get my credit card to go through and no one was at the visa office to do an authorization when they phoned. Too early in the morning! The telephone lines sometimes don't work so they couldn't get my card to work with the authorization machine. We just hung out in the lobby chairs and waited... trying not to think about how much the final bill added up to. LOL Finally they just had me sign a credit card slip and we were off.

We were blessed with another maniacal driver. Half-way to the airport all of our relaxation in the spa was destroyed when the driver braked hard and almost wiped out an entire family on a motorcycle! (In Thailand it is not uncommon to see five people riding on one bike). Our hearts were in our throats pounding wildly - it was a really close call. When we finally got to the airport, I didn't tip the driver. Not only did I not have any baht on me, but I figure if you nearly get us in an accident you don't deserve a tip.

We went to check-in and the woman was just rude. I was really surprised. She wouldn't let us take our small suitcase as carry on. Last time we were there, the woman at the check-in counter escorted us to immigration. This time she just waved her hand and before we had even left the counter had called over the one other person waiting to check in.

I went and paid my airport tax - as my ticket was an airmiles ticket I had to pay tax separately. Then they said Hiroshi had to pay airport tax too. The Thai Airlines office in Tokyo told us that he had already paid airport tax there! In the end the Thai office in Tokyo had lied to us and Hiroshi did need to pay tax. This was a minor problem because they only accept baht - of which we had none. So we had to wait for a foreign exchange office to open. I was not happy to say the least.

While we were waiting, a bunch of young Thai girls who worked at the airport stores came in and sat down on the benches across from us. They had a giant bag of fruit (the ones with hairy spikes - don't know what they are called either) and offered to share them with us. Their kindness and excited talking put me in a bit of a better mood. Finally the exchange office opened and I exchanged some yen, we paid the airport tax and rushed to the business lounge. Yet again, we only had about ten minutes to relax in it. I went to duty free and picked up some souvenirs for my students though. (It's a Japanese thing). This time the duty free had a nice selection of smaller gifts. Last time they didn't have much except $10 boxes of chocolates. So it was good that I was able to find stuff that didn't cost an arm and a leg.

The flight to Bangkok is short but we got breakfast anyway. (It is only a one hour flight). It was a tasty Thai noodle dish. The transfer at Bangkok airport wasn't bad either. Last time it was horrid - maybe because my feet were badly sunburned and it hurt to walk the 2 km to our gate! This time I was able to relax in the business lounge. Hiroshi had an upset stomach, so he was doing more running to the toilet than relaxing. We had wanted to get some souvenirs for ourselves at the airport shops in Bangkok but didn't have the chance. Oh well.

The flight home was fine. The flight attendants rushed the food though. They kept trying to take away our plates even though we were still eating. I don't know why. I was really surprised because the other three business class flights we've been on, they've been really patient and right on the ball in terms of serving times. Strange. During this flight, we finally watched a movie on our personal movie screen. We watched it while we ate dinner. Hiroshi watched Scooby Doo and I watched Brother Bear.

Arriving at Narita everything was pretty straight forward. We took our time walking to immigration and customs. By the time we got to baggage claim our suitcase was already going around the carousel. Then we got tickets for the train home. By the time we actually got home it was 10:30 at night. It made for a long day. While it felt good to be home, I missed the fluffy pillows, king sized bed and sounds of the waves when going to sleep.