Made it to Thailand!!!

And we’re off!


Hey travel fans. I am sitting in the Portland airport at Laurelwood having a couple of tasty IPAs waiting for my flight out of here. I love the fact that 2 of the better microbreweries in Oregon (Rogue & Laurelwood) have bar/restaurants past security so I can enjoy a last minute microbrew. On the even more plus side, they charge the same amount in the airport as they do in their breweries…so no “you are trapped” gouging.

I am flying down to LA on Alaskan and then on to Bangkok on Thai Airlines…and then to Phuket. Anyway, the nice Alaskan lady checked my one giant bag through to Bangkok…so theoretically, it will meet me there? I have to admit I am a little worried, but I have a carry-on (on top of my backpack that has the laptop, and what not) that has some clothes, some toiletries, but more important: my mask and Sophia and my camera housings. So if I don’t meet my luggage in Bangkok, I will at least be able to go diving (with 2 t-shirts, one pair of shorts and swimtrunks…)

Some of you have asked if I will be able to watch the KU/tOSU game today and I might get to catch some of the end of the game if the flight into LAX is on time and the game runs a little late. Sophia, who I am meeting in Thailand, will happily remind me that I was the dumbass who said “its not like KU is going to make it to the final 4” back in January when we were planning the trip. I was wrong. After KU beats the crap out of tOSU, it gets even worse: for the championship game where KU slaughters a shell-shocked Kentucky, I will be on a boat heading out to the middle of the Andaman Sea, Granted, I will be in Thailand and you won’t, but missing the title game? CRAP!

I know some of you are going “who is this Sophia you speak of?” Well lemme detour and tell you about her before the adventures begin. Sophia is married to Tam (my friend out here…Bui…went to high school with his brother and sister and didn’t meet him till the first day I joined Intel in Folsom…he sat in the cube next to me. Small world, huh?). She is on sabbatical (Intel RULES! 8 weeks paid every 7 years. Suck it!) and is traveling through Australia and Asia. She is traveling in decadent luxury on this business class ticket for up to 30 thousand miles or something like that. She went to Sydney and is currently in Burma with her dad (they are Burmese). She and I are meeting in Thailand to go diving. She likes to dive, I likes to dive. Then she is going on to China solely to see Panda’s in the “wild”. On other thing to know about Sophia: she LOVES pandas. Panda crazy. Nothing wrong with that…just wanted to warn you in case you are ever standing in between her and a Panda…you WILL be trampled.

We are doing something like 17 dives over the 12 days we will be in Thailand with the first 9 being part of a liveaboard (you go on a boat and live aboard it for X [in our case X = 3 days, 2 nights] days diving from the boat as it goes from site to site). This is also a test run for me when I go on sabbatical as there are a couple of really cool sounding liveaboard trips that I am interested in but are also like 8 days long. If I am a puke factory on this 3 day trip, I am not going to do a longer one. I DO have Dramamine and I WILL be taking it…but still…3 days on a boat. On the other hand, the trip is “whale shark and manta ray expedition” so we should be getting some KILLER dives and photos.

Jump to being Asia somewhere. Right about hour 12 our of the 17 and a half hours this flight is going to take. Premium Economy on Thai airlines is pretty good. Considering it was less than half first class price and only $400 more than economy…these seats recline a lot, have a ton of legroom, and even an on demand movie/tv thingy in the back of the seat in front of you. I have already watched The Descendents and Moneyball. I may do Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy later…or one of the 30 or so other movies.

I slept for a while…they fed us a nice dinner (I did pad thai with salmon rather than the chicken cordon bleu) and then shut the lights off. I would guess they turned the lights off around 1am pacific…and then back on at 8 am for “breakfast” (scrambled eggs, sausage, and hash browns since I know you were sitting on the edge of your seat to know). Turned the lights back off and I am sort of awake right now so you are getting an update.

Slight hitch to the fun, I bought my tickets with Thai airlines online with 2 credit cards. The Bangkok leg was done with my mastercard but the hop to Phuket was on my Amex…which I didn’t bring because they charge a 3% foreign transaction fee and I didn’t want it stolen. Cut to the ticketing desk last night when they ask to see that card to give me the boarding pass for the Phuket leg. Since I don’t have it, they ask if I can remember it (no…although at this point I think I actually do have it remembered…maybe). Basically, they said “go on to Bangkok and get it there” and when I asked about the policy of needing the card they said “oh they won’t ask there”. I don’t have high confidence in this plan. But I get in with about 6 hours of layover so I will have time to convince them to refund to my amex and charge the card I do have or something. Of course, I will probably update this before I post so you, the readers, will not have to wait to find out. Wish me luck.

Oh yeah! Got into LA with like 7 minutes left in the KU/OSU game according to my phone that I turned on and got internet as soon as the tires squealed from landing. Took us 4-5 minutes of game time to finally get off the plane (thank you TV timeouts) and I found a bar with the game on with like 2 minutes left. I liked those last 2 minutes. Whew. Rock Chalk!!!

Made it to Thailand (obviously since you are reading this). The ticket thing: I had to get a refund on my one card and purchase the same stupid ticket with the credit card I had.  At least the ticketing office was right there in the airport.  Other than that, the one scary portion was when I was waiting in the departure area in the Bangkok airport for Sophia to meet up. She (unbeknownst to me) was relaxing in the 1st class lounge cause that’s how she rolls. I, on the other hand, was becoming increasingly more alarmed that perhaps she was kidnapped or delayed or something in Myanmar. When she casually strolled into the gate area 5 minutes before boarding, I was pretty freaking happy to see her. Flight to Phuket was easy, check-in to the hotel was a snap and the first day in paradise was done.

Coming up: Highlights of the 3 day live aboard trip….with pictures!!! I just wanted to get this out so you would know we are indeed alive and well in Thailand! We are headed down to Patong tomorrow and will have a couple of days of just seeing the sites there before a few more days of diving.

Hint on what we got to see when we were on the trip: rhymes with Santa and Play…..and was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love to all,
Our Time, the People’s time.
Jim