Sophon excited to be going to Bangkok
November 6th-8th, 2024
ANA Flight NH125 to Haneda connecting to ANA Flight NH849 to Bangkok.
We are headed to Thailand with a side trip to Vietnam. I am looking forward to it. It has been 15 years since i have been to Vietnam, I am looking forward to seeing how it has changed.
The day before we left, I was going through things and I found an envelope filled with hotel receipts, post cards, boarding passes and ticket stubs from when I went on my first international business trips. As I went through it, I was transported back in time and was amazed at how these worthless items brought back memories. I was looking at a time capsule, a time when we sent post cards to let people know we were having a good time and we were OK. I put a large empty manila envelope in my backpack while I thought about how that we send emails and text messages, not postcards. Tickets and boarding passes are digital.
The flight time from Los Angeles to Haneda is about 12 hours. From Haneda to Bangkok, it is another 7 hours. Adding in the time it takes to get to and from the airports along with the layover, it takes close to a full 24 hours to get to Bangkok. We cross the international date line, which means when we are going, we lose a day, on the way home, we gain a day and arrive around the same date and time we left.
Overall, the trip went smoothly, everything was on time, the food and service on ANA was great. We landed around 4:30 AM in Bangkok and got through immigration pretty quickly. I am always amazed when I land in Bangkok, on how hot it is and how busy the airport is. It doesn’t matter if it is in the middle of the day or the middle of the night, BKK is always a zoo! We found our shuttle and checked into Courtyard Marriott.
I frequently stay at Marriott because I have status with them. In recent years, I am finding that status means very little. In my profile, there is one request – to be as far as away from the elevator as possible. As I checked in, I was welcomed as an elite member and when I got to my room it was the first room next to the elevator. This is a common occurrence and am thinking I should change my profile to say “As close as the elevator as possible” to see if they put me at the end of the hall.
Neither of us could sleep right away so we decided to go to “The Pizza Company”. I had read that “The Pizza Company” in Thailand was born when Pizza Hut terminated the franchise agreement back in 1980 and that the Pizza they serve is like the thick crust pizza that Pizza Hut used to serve. I had to try it and I have to admit, it reminded me of the Pizza that Pizza Hut used to serve years ago.
We finally were able to sleep but we woke up around 3:45 AM the following morning. We decided to hit McDonald’s across the street which was open 24 hours. I always like seeing how chain restaurants adapt their menus to appeal to the locals. McDonald’s offered fried Chicken and they had a pork burger. I had the pork burger and loved it. I also loved that the price of two meals cost $7.90. Living in CA, the price would have been more than $20.
I felt a little guilty that on day 1, I was getting pizza and burgers when I could have been having delicious Thai food. There will be time for that!
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