The flights and day 1 in Bangkok

Well our flights were quite the adventure.

Over the past few weeks Andrew and I have been working very hard to make sure that we didn't forget anything and that everything we packed would fit into our two carry ons so that we could only carry on our luggage instead of the dreaded checking. I've had so many problems with checking luggage internationally (like when I checked my luggage to England and made some new friends because they loaned me everything from a towel to clothes, because my luggage was lost for over 3 days). So we get to the airport proud of ourselves that we didn't overpack and that we'll be able to just carry on - and China Air has a 15lb carry on limit. Great. So we quickly moved most of our clothing from my bag to Andrew's bag and crossed our fingers that we would see if on the other side. Start panic mode for Becky. (haha)

We realize a few minutes later that we've now left Andrew's new iPod in the front pocket of his bag and we may never see anything of his again. Great. So as we're standing in line at security I have the brilliant idea to go back and ask the ticketing counter to bring his bag back so we can get it. Well - we could have waited outside until an hour before our flight leaves (I made Andrew get to the airport about 3.5 hours early), but we decided against that because it was just too complicated.

After a few tears due to exhaustion (you try taking a 5 hour red eye and then getting on another 14 hour plane ride a few hours later and not shed a few tears over a bag you think you'll never see again) we made it through security and had a bite to eat. Andrew had his last 2 American beers and we said farewell to the USA.

The 14 hour plane ride wasn't too bad. Except for being woken up every few hours and forced to eat airplane food (seriously they would wake us up to give us our meals) and the cramped seating arrangements. But we survived the long flight and was able to explore the Taipei airport for a few minutes before getting on the 3.5 hour plane ride into Bangkok. It was a pretty uneventful flight as well - though I think it dragged on and on because Andrew and I were ready to get off the plane.

As soon as we hopped off the plane in Bangkok we raced for the immigration lines. Let me tell you it's a good thing that all the signs were in Thai and in English otherwise we would have been walking around in circles for hours. We got our visas after standing in line for an hour and made it through to baggage claim 16. And guess what. OUR BAG MADE IT THROUGH. We did the world's happiest happy dance and said a thank you prayer to all the deities out there.

Brian was waiting for us at the airport and helped us get a metered taxi to the Buddy Lodge. We had to go a round about way because of the protests. They didn't actually start until the next day, but people were starting to gather around. 300 Baht later we arrived a the Buddy Lodge where we took the best showers of our lives (I can already tell that showering will become my favorite pastime for the next few weeks) and sampled some yummy thai cuisine at a Garden Restaurant off of Kohsahn Road. We then enjoyed some wonderful pool time and another meal before the VIP overnight bus. We'll be blogging about the VIP overnight bus to Mae Sot and our experience in Mae Sot so far later on tonight.

Love you all.

Becky