So, today was the day to fly to Vientiane, Laos to apply for an education visa. I got up at 6am and got breakfast from my sweet breakfast lady at 6:30.
I did my last minute checks and went down to the lobby about 7:45am. The taxi driver was a bit late, but no big deal. My flight was not until 3pm but I had heard horror stories about it taking up to four hours to get to the airport during Songkran so I figured I’d be better off waiting at the airport than sitting in my room worrying. We got there in 15 minutes! Everyone that processed my ticket looked at me and said “wow!” I know, I’m early. I said "Songkran" and they understood, although I think they all thought I was a crazy farang (foreigner). I guess I am. I don’t like missing flights, even if it means I have to wait in airports longer.
I did my last minute checks and went down to the lobby about 7:45am. The taxi driver was a bit late, but no big deal. My flight was not until 3pm but I had heard horror stories about it taking up to four hours to get to the airport during Songkran so I figured I’d be better off waiting at the airport than sitting in my room worrying. We got there in 15 minutes! Everyone that processed my ticket looked at me and said “wow!” I know, I’m early. I said "Songkran" and they understood, although I think they all thought I was a crazy farang (foreigner). I guess I am. I don’t like missing flights, even if it means I have to wait in airports longer.
Saw this in the Chiang Mai airport. I wonder what's going on? Obviously people think it's a donation box, but for what?
We got to Bangkok and I had to walk all the way to the other end of the airport to the “transfer counter?” This was new. They didn’t give me both boarding passes at the beginning like they usually do. I had to get my second boarding pass in Bangkok. I was tired and sore but I made the trek. I had a four hour layover which was fine by me since I had some errands to run.
When I got there I was told that they would not be open for another 1 1/2 hours. Great. So I decided to go to a money changer. I looked on the map and it said there was one - on the other side of the airport that I had just come from. Really? One money changer for the whole airport? “Well, I’m getting some exercise” I muttered and walked back to the other side of the airport.
The lady at the bank was not helpful at all! It’s like she just said no to everything. Can I get change in US? No. Can I convert baht to kip? No. Okay… I had withdrawn $200 US from the ATM and it gave me two $100 bills. Not helpful in this part of the world. I needed $20s and smaller. I finally convinced her to change $50 US into baht. She handed me a $50 and it took a lot of convincing to get her to give me the change in smaller bills even thought I could see stacks of money right there in front of me. I didn’t want to push my luck so I figured I’ll see what I can do on the way back. (Oh, and by the way? As I was walking to my terminal later I saw another money changing kiosk on that side which apparently they didn’t bother putting on the map. Grrr.)
After that I sat down at a restaurant and ordered a ham and cheese sandwich which was delicious, gave my feet a rest, stocked up on sandwiches and muffins to go, and trudged back to the other side of the airport to pick up my new boarding pass. By the time I got that finished I had about an hour to spare. So I found my gate. My feet were screaming at me by this time and the lounge was another leg further. I debated whether I wanted to walk it but I figured I could charge my phone so I decided to do it. I re-bagged all my food in ziplock bags and charged my phone. Finally about 15 minutes before boarding I went to the gate. Sat down and waited. Boarding time came and went. And we waited. Finally a good 20 minutes past, we saw the flight attendants get on and shortly after that we boarded. The flight was uneventful and an hour later I was finally in Vientiane, Laos!
