Amy and Monica Take Thailand: Departure!

TO SET THE SCENE:  Monica calls me at 4 AM Saturday morning.

     Me: “Hello?”

     Monica: “Were you sleeping?”

     Me: “Yeah.”

     Monica: “Well, I found us a flight that leaves today at 4:40 PM.”

     Me: “Okay.”

    There was more to that conversation. But that was the important part. Then I realized all the things I still had left to do. I got off the phone with her around 4:30 AM and immediately sent my parents a text to tell them the news. I figured I didn’t need to wake them up just yet.

    I took about an hour to fall back asleep, and then decided it would be best to wake up around 6 AM. I had to shower, double check everything I packed, change suitcases due to a broken handle, and then anxiously wait for driving up to LA round 2!

     My dad woke up first, and saw my text and laughed. He had to take care of some car stuff and said that I could let my mom sleep in until at least 9. I woke up my mom at 9 and she was at first annoyed, but then realized that it was better this way. My dad returned from doing all the car stuff and we left the house around 10 AM (again).

     This drive was much more relaxed. We didn’t stop for food or anything like that. We just drove straight on up, and since The Parking Spot was such a steal when you don’t actually stay for the whole day, we parked there again. Luckily for me, right next to The Parking Spot was an In-N-Out Burger. Although at first I said we didn’t have to eat yet, I realized that Thailand probably doesn’t have any In-N-Out Burgers. So my final meal in the United States was an In-N-Out cheeseburger.

Mmmmmmmm

     We got to the airport around 2 PM. I checked in to the flight for myself and the woman I checked in with said, “And you know you have an 11 hour overnight layover?” I said yes and she handed me my boarding pass and said, “It looks like the flight is delayed about 20 minutes, so you will start boarding at 4:40.” Then we just hung out in the airport until Monica and her mom showed up.

     With about an hour to go until boarding, Monica and I finally get our goodbyes in with our families. There were surprisingly less tears than I expected (on my part at least). We get through security, I already break a zipper on my carry-on bag, and then I take my first picture to document the trip:

Airport art.

     We sit and do all of the last minute things we could think of doing before boarding the plane: withdraw more US dollars, charge our electronics, and make the last U.S. phone call to the boyfriends. Mine got a message while Monica actually talked to hers. And last but not least, I took a picture of our plane.

This picture is mostly Monica, but she needed a photo.

     And finally, we boarded our plane for the 13+ hour flight. Monica was in the middle seat in the row in front of me. Monica lucked out, a couple had bought the aisle seat and the window seat in her row, with hopes of no last-minute people like us coming on board the plane and filling in that middle spot, so they swapped her out to the aisle row. I was not as fortunate, the people in my row were not acquaintances. But I did sit next to a very interesting man who talked to me about all the travelling he’s done, his backpacking adventures on the east coast and in the Grand Canyon, and so much more. Aside from sitting next to Monica, he was a really good seat partner to have. And Monica was grateful to not be sitting next to mister talkative, but I do believe I handled all that pretty well.

     Overall the flight was pretty cool. We had our own individual screens on the seat backs in front of us so we could watch movies, listen to music, play some old school video games, or just watch the progress of our flight. I saw when we were flying over Hawaii, but I couldn’t see anything because it was night time. And I watched This Is The End and Love Actually. I played Tetris a lot and got ranked on the plane (granted, I don’t think anyone else was playing). And we got served 2 meals! One close to the beginning of the flight (dinner) and one close to the end of the flight (breakfast); even though judging by the time that we landed, it should have been second dinner, but we were served eggs so I called it breakfast.

     And then our plane landed. The man I was sitting next to offered up his phone for me to call my parents, but I told him I already had a system worked out and politely declined. He gave me advice for what we needed to do once we got off the plane—mostly don’t go through immigration—and then we wandered off the plane. We actually walked past where we were supposed to go and when we turned around we realized that out of all those funny looking names on the paper, the bottom one was mine all smooshed into one word, and we made our way to go find a spot to spend our 11 hour layover.

This is where we ended up.

Found a Hello Kitty Story for Sarah.

Pretty flowers.

We don't look like we've hardly slept, right?

     Our spot was legit. We spent about 2 hours total each sleeping though. We did some skype calls, updated our facebook statuses, all those “important” things that are way more necessary than sleeping.

Second breakfast

    Finally, we go wait for our flight more than an hour before hand and are the first people in the waiting area. Which means we got some really comfy seats that we relaxed in until the plane boarded.

     We board our plane, get some breakfast on the flight and each choose to watch Turbo for the duration of our (final) 3 hour flight. And for this flight we actually got to sit next to each other!!

     Once we get off the plane, we rush to get our money exchanged to baht. Rush through customs (it took almost 2 hours) and then work our way towards our cab driver to take us straight to Hua Hin. The cab man had been waiting for us for somewhere between 2 and 3 hours, and there was one other person who was joining our ride down to Hua Hin. Unfortunately for him, his car would not fit all of the luggage we had. So he actually had to call a friend to bring a bigger car and then lost us as customers.  Oops.

     We get in the van, our new friend Chase sat in the front and kind of talked to the driver, but there’s a definitive language barrier there. We took some pictures on the drive down of what we thought looked cool. I noticed a lot of cows/steers that were in the forest/swamp areas on the side of the road. There is a lot of green here. And it took us about 3 hours to get from Bangkok to Hua Hin. Pretty much as soon as we got here and got in our room we passed out to prepare for the next day.

Amy and Monica Take Thailand: Pre-Departure

My initial disclaimer is that this is late already.

     Way back in the month of July, Monica called me up and invited me on an adventure. She called to say that she decided she wanted to teach English in Thailand ... and I should go with her. Obviously, I said yes.

     This decision led to many back and forth conversations with various companies in Thailand. Trying to find the right fit, until Monica brought up taking a TESOL course and the benefits involved with the investment.

     Eventually we landed on XploreAsia and that led to everything we needed to do for travelling to Thailand getting clumped together about 3 weeks before departure. These things included:
  - Booking the flight to Thailand
  - Visa applications, specifically a Non-Immigrant B (if possible)
  - Police clearance form
  - Doctor visits (to hear of the horrible diseases that come from Thailand: Japan Encephalitis, Schistotomaisis, RABIES ... those are the scary ones)
  - Packing up our lives into suitcases

     Our departure date was set: Friday, November 1st. Somehow we managed to gather up everything we needed in the time allotted. Monica and I had been in contact on and off (and on as the date drew closer) determining what the other was bringing, what we should bring, what to leave behind, and how big of a suitcase the other was taking. By the time that last week in October rolled around, we were as ready to go as we could be.

     Then the fateful day arrived. Monica was already in Huntington Beach staying with a family friend, I was driving up to LAX with my parents that morning. My parents and I stopped for breakfast along the way, and as we're preparing to pile back into the car, I get a call from Monica, "So I just heard this from Drew's sister, there's been a shooting at the airport."
     I tell my parents and as we try to figure out what to do, Monica says they've closed the roads and evacuated the airport. My parents don't want to turn back, we're already half way there. So we start heading up to Huntington Beach to meet up with Monica. On the drive we're listening to the news and trying to get any information about the airport. All we learn is that there's been a shooting, the shooter was believed dead, and the news people--in an attempt to tell news while waiting on a developing story--call other airports to see if this affects their flights. The main answer being "not really."
     We make it to Huntington Beach, find out where Monica's staying and move to the shopping center closest to her. We make a stop in a Starbucks to use their wifi and try to find out more information. I tweet at my airline because LAX officials mentioned how following their twitter account would give the most up-to-date information and I hoped the same would be for my airline. No luck. After looking online and seeing all signs pointing to "yes" that my flight is leaving ON TIME at 3:15 PM from LAX International, my mom makes the executive decision to drive closer and be by the airport. Maybe by the time we get there it will have opened up.
     We drive all the way up to the airport and at the exit for the 1 to drive into the airport, there is a police blockade. My mom maneuvers with hopes of finding a back entrance, since all we need to do is get to the International terminal and no news station has cared to mention it during their entire news broadcast. What appeared to be a hopeful back entrance on first glance, turned out to be a staff entrance and gets us nowhere. We resign and park at a nearby shopping center to wait it out.
     My hunger takes over and I request some real food rather than coffee shop food. This lovely little pizza place has 7 tvs on and all are turned to the news station and we sit there and eat our food and watch the news like hawks. Even after we've finished the restaurant lets us stay and keep our eye on the news while we wait.
     At 4 PM there is a press conference with the mayor. On the news scroll on the bottom, it said the road blocks have opened up. At this time, my flight still says that it is leaving ON TIME at 3:15 PM from LAX International. Which technically could mean it hasn't left yet, so we head back for LAX...
     ...And quickly learn that the removal of roadblocks is a lie. We drive around some more, and get ourselves caught in some awful traffic that barely moves. At 4:45 PM I get a notification from Google and (finally!) a tweet from my airline saying that my flight has been DELAYED 2 HOURS and will depart at 5:15 PM from LAX International. I call Singapore Airlines and bombard them with questions: how am I expected to get on this flight, I'm sitting in traffic outside the airport? Is it really leaving at 5:15? How can this plane leave without all these passengers? The woman on the other line says there is the possibility of a little longer delay, but if I think that I won't be able to catch the flight, I can always rebook for tomorrow or later. I tell her that I can't make the decision because I'm not with my partner who's going on this flight with me, so I'll call back.
     I call Monica and tell her the situation. We're sitting in a neighborhood outside the airport and there is a bunch of traffic. There's no way we'll get to the airport at 5:15 in time for this supposed flight departure. I didn't want to rebook our flight in case we wanted to wait it out, but I left it in her hands to rebook and change it as necessary. My parents and I drive back to a coffee shop and wait to hear from Monica.
 
     Monica calls me back about an hour later. She just got off the phone with Singapore Airlines. The soonest they can fly us out of LAX is Monday and we'd get to Thailand by Wednesday. So her and her mom are looking for other companies to book with but we have that flight booked as a back up. We come to the decision that we should still try to get in to the airport since we still have no idea as to what our initial flight is and what's going on there.
     My mom comes up with the idea to park at The Parking Spot and we can ride the shuttle into the airport. We ask for an estimated time to get into LAX, the woman says 45 minutes. It's 6:05 PM. We go for it.
     The shuttle we end up on has the best driver in the world. She's speeding through and blazing her way and driving like she owns this town. And then, like magic, a roadblock opens right in front of us. And that 45 minute shuttle ride turns into a 10 minute one. My parents and I unload my suitcases at the International Terminal and get in there. We find the desk for Singapore Airlines and not a single worker is behind it. The only people behind the counter are doing janitorial work. We start talking with people in line to find out what's going on. My mom talks to the man in front of her who mentions how when he called Singapore Airlines and they said everything was "going off without a hitch" he asked what country that person was located in. They responded, "India." And he said, "So you actually have no idea what's going on here, do you?" "No, sir." "Alright, thank you." *click*
     There is a larger group of people who have obviously bonded and are talking to each other. My mom goes over to eavesdrop and learns the sad, awful truth: the Singapore Airlines flight left around 5:40 PM without boarding a single person from the LAX airport. They even made announcements through the airport for the flight and took off while all these people were waiting because no one came to work the counter and check in their passengers. So the flight took off with a half-full plane and made it's way to Tokyo.
     I called Monica to share the news with her. She was almost (finally) to the airport, and I told her to turn around, it wasn't worth it.

     My parents decide that we're driving back to San Diego. And if we need to get up early in the morning to get back up to LAX for some miracle flight that comes through last minute, we'll just deal with it. My mom didn't want to be in LA one more second, and, they had to feed the dog!
     We drive back to San Diego under the premise that I'm not leaving until Monday. We arrive home around 10:50 PM and the night is perfectly summed up by this picture.

I give up!