This post was written April 23 the day after arrival in Thailand. However, We've been busy and miscommunicated about having posted this. Good news? We've had much more stable internet and got phones etc setup right away when we landed. Bad news? It's Hotter here!
We had a good travel day yesterday. Paul and 2 of the kids flew from Davao to Manila early in the morning and then the other 2 kids and I followed 5 hours later. There wasn't room enough on either flight for all of us to fly together. The second flight out of Davao was 20 minutes late in leaving so we arrived in Manila with only 25 minutes until our connecting flight where Paul and the kids were waiting for us to travel on to Bangkok. I had to traverse Manila's airport (which is difficult even under calm circumstances), switch terminals (from domestic travel to international), get money (my ATM card would not work), pay the terminal fee (they finally let me us the 'priority' line and use a credit card), pass immigration, and continue down to the far end of the terminal to the gate…all with 4 bags, a 6 year old and a clingy baby that would NOT allow me to set him down without crying. My phone had run out of load so I couldn't text or call Paul to let him know what was happening.
While waiting for us Paul refused to board without the other half of our crew and they were saying they were needing to take our bags off the plane just when the boys and I arrived. In the end, they held the plane for us and we got on board 20 minutes after scheduled push back. It was super stressful but as Paul said, "It's ok, we're together now."
The flight to Bangkok was uneventful except that they served a meal we weren't expecting which was a huge blessing since the 2 boys and I hadn't gotten lunch in either airport due to extenuating circumstances. So to eat at 3:00pm was very welcome!
We were also tight for time in Bangkok as we needed to collect our bags and switch to domestic flights again. So once again, we were thankful for the snacks in the terminal and light meal in flight both provided by Bangkok Airlines. Our experience with Bangkok Airlines is a whole different post. Stay tuned for that soon!
Health Update: Zander is still a bit under the weather but slowly improving. My ear hurt worse with each flight so I was really glad we didn't have a 4th plane to board that evening! However, by the end of the day I noticed that some hearing had returned.
We got to our house here in Chiang Mai about 10:00pm. local time. Here we are 11 hrs ahead of Eastern time.
We have hired a driver & van to tour us around the city tomorrow and get the lay of the land. We are still figuring out how to get around and acquire basic necessities.