Wednesday, October 1, 2008

I Love Thailand! (This Time)

Arrived in Bangkok around 11pm Oct. 1, after a long but blessedly uneventful flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong (and a shorter one from HK to Bangkok). Was fortunate enough to have a colleague (Aimee Thompson from Rider University) on my 2nd flight, and she had booked car service to the hotel and let me tag along.

Some of you may recall that I didn't have the greatest time in Bangkok last year. After three nights in Singapore, two nights in Kuala Lumpur and then one in Chiang Mai, Thailand, by the time we hit Bangkok we were pretty wiped out, so I definitely wasn't at my best here last year. Feeling OK so far this year (actually slept for a few hours last night). Had a fine breakfast here at the Four Seasons Bangkok, and ran into some colleagues already. It's funny how quickly you bond with people on an expedition like this. I don't make friends terribly easily, and we only traveled together for less than four weeks last year, but it's hugs all around when we see each other again. We're all in the same boat and we're all trying to do our jobs, and we support each other unreservedly during the time we're together.

Have a 2PM meeting this afternoon, basically an orientation for the tour by the Linden Tour folks, then we all go out to dinner together before the real work starts tomorrow. Perhaps its all the eating and drinking together and makes us such great friends in so short a time (you think?).
Here are some pics of the trip so far:

Not only do they have an aviation museum in the San Francisco airport, but they had an exhibition up on the art of airline route maps (cue insane jealousy from Brian).












Flight attendants from Singapore Airlines go through security (their line was MUCH shorter than the one I was in!).











Had the row to myself on the overseas flight, so Peteena could have her own seat. She is totally psyched about her new outfit for this trip.











At the breakfast buffet I ran into lots of old friends, including Patricia and Kristina.











This is just the fruit table at the Four Seasons breakfast buffet. This year I even found the omelette station, which I never managed to locate last year.









Coming soon: Poolside at the Four Seasons Bangkok!

3 comments:

BrianY said...

THERE WERE MAPS AT THE SF AIRPORT AND I MISSED THEM?!?!? That's what I get for not arriving at the gate 'til five minutes before departure--no time to look around.

Glad you got there safely and have even slept. Hope that continues.

Anonymous said...

I see Peteena also took possession of the travel pillow! Hope it was useful.

Hope everything continues to go well.

Stephanie said...

In all fairness, the aviation museum is in the international terminal, so it's no wonder you didn't see it when you flew out of SFO recently. And Peteena didn't get to use the fabulous purple travel pillow for the whole trip, just when I wasn't using it.