International Travel and Adventure

I think I'm spoiled. When I was a very young professional, I had the opportunity to travel all over the United States. I was the technical part of a sales team, and our territory was everything West of the Mississippi River, which turned out to be a wide and vast number of customers. I got used to the different airports, procedures, rental cars, hotels, shuttle busses, and the like. Unfortunately, all of that experience was domestic, and I have rarely traveled internationally. Boy, I was in for a wake-up call during my trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand.

25+ hours of travel time later, and my journey from San Francisco to Chiang Mai was complete. But, what an adventure.

I left San Francisco at 12:05am on TH morning. I remember my brother and his family making the mistake of thinking that was the ‘next’ day, and then they paid massive penalties to re-issue their tickets, so I made sure early and was good to go. I’m usually well prepared, have checklists and such together, and have my things packed, all my paperwork stashed away, and of course, have all my gadgets and gizmos, and fancy stuff as well.

One thing I absolutely love is my PacSafe 300 Messenger Bag. It’s one of those anti-theft travel bags, with lots of security features, and it made it really easy to put everything of value (laptop, noise canceling headphones, passport, and such) safely tucked away. By the way, I also got some Audio Technica Noise Canceling Headphones ... uh, worth their weight in gold. Next time, my ignorant self won’t forget the ‘airline adapter’ that came with it, should’ve been brought also. I ended up with monaural or no audio for some legs of the flight, or just used the generic headphones.

So, my outbound flight my SFO to Hong Kong was via Cathay Pacific. And I must say, that’s a great airline. It was founded post World War II by a couple of WWII fighter pilots, and “Cathay” means “China” (old ancient name) and “Pacific” because the founders envisioned flying across the Pacific Ocean, which wasn’t possible in the late 40s mind you. Service was great, food was decent, and the entertainment system was top-notch. I ended up watching Cyrus (great flick), Predators (yuck), and Despicable Me (lovely) and it really made the 14 hours go by without a hitch. I slept in between luckily and felt great heading into the next leg, Hong Kong to Bangkok, and that’s where the fun started.

Hong Kong International Airport is a trip. I’m a transfer passenger, going from one Cathay Pacific flight to another, and I (and everyone else transferring) have to go through security checkpoints again. Not that I mind that, I don’t. But, they were so undermanned that literally 1000 people lined up in a choke point to get through their security checks. One poor lady told me that she had the same plane/same gate, and they made her get, go in a circle, get in this long line, and reboard the plane. What’s up with that? So, anyway, I had a 3 hour layover in Hong Kong, got to my gate after an hour waiting in line, and just ate a little snack, got online, and sent messages home telling everyone I made it safely. A few things. One, cell phone roaming charges are outrageous. For me, it would cost $1.99/min talk, and $20/MB for data. WTH? Two, I made the mistake of not getting into the 1000 people choke point early on, when there was like 200, because I didn’t know where to go. By the time I got there, oops, 1000 people. Next time.

Okay, so the flight from Hong to Bangkok was about 3 hours, not too awful. I was a little tired, and they fed us a 2nd breakfast (had breakfast already on the SFO->HKK flight). When I boarded the flight and took my seat, I put down a copy of my boarding pass, then couldn’t find it. Usually I wouldn’t trip, but for some reason, my intuition told me I should probably find it. It turns out, the guy in the middle seat next to me was sitting on it, so I tapped him on the shoulder and retrieved it, and put it away. Okay, so now we’re close to Bangkok, and that’s when the stewardess asked if I needed an “Arrival Card”. I told her my final destination was not Bangkok, but Chiang Mai, so she said I didn’t need one. Oops, big mistake, more later.

Alright, so now I’m in Bangkok, and I purposely scheduled it so that I would have a very long layover here (4 hours). I could’ve done two, but I was changing airlines to a local carrier, I had to get my bags and re-check in, and yadda yadda. So, the first thing I need to do is go to baggage claim and get my bag. Well, there’s a “Passport Control” line (many of them actually) that I have to get through before I get to my luggage. So I wait in a long, long line, probably 50 people, and it’s slow, brutally slow. About an hour into it, it’s my turn. I tell the lady my final destination is Chiang Mai and she says “Arrival Card?” not really understand what I’m talking about. She tells me I need to fill one out and get back in line. Damn. So I fill one out, talk to the nice lady there and she explains to me that in order to get to baggage claim, I need to get through Passport Control, then I can step through get my bags, head upstairs, and go to my domestic flight. Ugh! I get back in line, thankfully a bit shorter, wait about 45 minutes, a new lady now checks my documents and says, "Do you have your boarding pass?" Uh, yes, and darn that was the same boarding pass I had almost lost and not worried about. Whew! I finally get my bag, which by this time is stacked up with all of the other ‘leftover’ luggage from my flight. No worries, I have 2 hours left (thank goodness I left extra time) to grab a bit to eat, and chill a bit.

So, now I need to make the last leg, from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. And I’m taking a local carrier called “Air Asia” a highly marketed outfit like Southwest Airlines (almost a clone), but with a huge difference. They nickel and dime you for everything, which I really didn’t like. If you want to take a carryon bag, no more that 7kg, else you can’t board. Want a bottled water, $1. Pick your seat, $5. Stuff like that. And then, there’s the line to check in. Much like the Passport Control line, there were about 20 people ahead of me and it was brutally slow. I finally got my stuff checked in, and had about 90 minutes to spare. So, I exchanged some money since the vendors at the Airport only take Thai Baht (their currency) or credit card. And my credit card company charges a hefty fee for any foreign purchase, so forget that. I went to a cell phone kiosk and tried to get a prepaid SIM card for my iPhone (very cheap, like 500 Baht, $15 or so) but it didn’t work because my iPhone is locked, oops! So, no cellular use for me on this trip. Thank goodness for my Netbook, it’s a godsend. Okay, then I finally sat down, had some Thai food, and I was good to go.

Alright, so now I’m in Chiang Mai and a driver is supposed to be there waiting for me. But, I don’t see anyone. Maybe he’s late or maybe they just forgot about me. I was beat, not thinking too much, and I ended up getting a cab myself. It was rather inexpensive 550 Baht (about $20) to go what seemed like an eternity to the resort. The sights and sounds of that cab ride are something I likely will never forget. I mentioned in the beginning that I think I’m spoiled. Well, seeing the sights and hearing the sounds of inner city of Chiang Mai was both humbling and eye-opening at the same time. It was beautiful, radiant, crazy, and surreal.
The first thing I noticed, of course, was the driver on the right hand side, and us driving on the left hand side of the road, took a while for the brain to adjust, and I’m glad I didn’t get a rental car and drive. The second thing I noticed were the signs, all in Thai, very little English. How in the world would I get around this place if I drove? I don’t even think my GPS, in all it’s glory would’ve helped me here, it was seriously confusing. Next, were the gates and the police guarding them. It wasn’t like they were stopping traffic and checking people, but near the airport, there were a series of these gates that we sped through. Traffic was heavy! And there were lots of cars, scooters, and motor bikes sharing the road. Young and old were on their motorbike and scooters, most without helmets, some in dresses, some riding as passengers, some even riding side-saddle. Many riding dangerously close to cars, going the wrong way when traffic was stopped, and just riding free. It was crazy to see that. The streets of Chiang Mai feel weird. Think, highway, mixed with neighborhood, mixed with outdoor shopping mall, and that’s what you get. There were little shops everywhere, most people seemed to make their homes their shops. Construction was shoddy at best, I think I saw a building being erected where the scaffolding was literally bamboo tied together and all odd angles imaginable. And many of the buildings looked old and run down, like a post-apocalyptic scene. And the people. Man, one image I will not forget is a little girl about my youngest daughter's age, sitting down cleaning out a plastic water bottle with a brush, dunking it water per Grandma’s instruction, and doing that again and again ... all while cars were speeding by her on the ‘highway’. It was surreal to say the least. I thought I saw it all, when we were stuck in traffic (it was very heavy) and two young Buddhist Monks were dancing across the highway, dodging cars to get to the other side. Man, I was thinking Frogger, as one of the them made it across and laughed, while the other was shaking his head waiting for an opening.

Ah, well. So after 25+ hours of travel, my cabby finally got me to the resort entrance. Man, I swear I was nervous he didn’t know where he was going, but he got me there. The price was 550 Baht, and I gave him 700 Baht (150 Baht is about $5), asked if that “was okay” and he was so incredibly happy. He put his hands in Namaste (as many Thai do) and wished me well. I’m glad that little money helped the guy out, that was a long drive! I finally met up with the hotel receptionist, who treated me like a king, and then I met up with my group here at the resort’s restaurant, grabbed a healthy meal, traded some stories with everyone, and headed back the best sleep I’ve had in a long while. The resort here in Chiang Mai is stunningly beautiful. I’m here to rest, relax, recharge, and get in tune with my inner being, my inner soul. After that long travel adventure, I’m ready to get started.