It was quite embarrassing at every airport, hotel, and taxi to have so much luggage! The staff at each place prob thought we were just crazy Americans bringing all that stuff. Three of them were full of food & Christmas presents for Renee & Damien & the kids. :)
I found myself wishing this was a "real" UFO that would take us to Bangkok in 30 minutes instead of 22 hrs. :D
The Trip to Bangkok
Other than some long, anxious waiting for the shuttle to take us back to LAX on Thursday morning our trip to Bangkok went really smoothly. We went through the same International Terminal where we had flown out to Tahiti 6 years ago. The staff at Korean Airlines were really great. Thankfully all 4 pieces of the luggage were within the weight limit! Security only took about 15 minutes and we arrived at the gate with about 20 minutes to spare before boarding.
The plane was a huge Airbus with 2 aisles & 10 seats across. They have 2 levels, with 1st Class & Prestige Class being upstairs, Economy Class down. The very front section contained those really cool totally-reclining seats that basically turn into beds. We were surprised no one was in there. The plane was very clean & comfortable and seemed almost brand new. The ride was very smooth - the smoothest take off I've ever experienced. You could hardly tell we were moving. Every seat had it's own entertainment center. I watched Thor and some news on the way to Seoul but there were no English captions so I mostly listened to music, read or slept. I loved watching views from the mounted cameras for front, below, and tail views. Jim slept a lot more than I did & watched a lot of TV.
The flight attendants were just fabulous. So courteous, and always smiling. I was totally struck by the difference though, in Korean Air and the American airlines we often fly on. Their attendants are ALL very young, pretty, slim, females wearing smart uniforms consisting of slim teal skirts, white blouse with hair in a bun with a pretty Asian "bow." They worked really hard serving us all snacks & drinks and THREE full meals during the 13 hr flight.
It was kind of strange that we left around 1:00 in the afternoon but it never got dark until just after we reached Incheon Airport.There was a really nice view of the sunset and the small, dark mountainous islands near the airport as we landed. Incheon is a HUGE airport! We arrived about the time our next fight (Seoul to Bangkok) was starting to board. I was concerned pulling into the gate seeing how big the airport was, and we needed to get from gate 11 to 31 pronto. Fortunately, Korean Air was on the ball and had personnel there to meet us all (about 20 passengers) and escort us to the next gate. We had to go through another security check point, which I found odd but also comforting that they were being that careful.
This flight was another 5 hrs, and it seems like a blur now. LOL I did sleep a bit more, maybe 2 hrs of it total, and tried to watch the movie Super 8 but fell asleep about half way through it. They fed us yet another meal which Jim declined & I only ate part of. By now we were feeling rather zombie-ish. We arrived in Bangkok around 10 local time. Customs was a breeze - they did not do any inspection of the luggage at all, and immigration was basically just having them stamp our passports. We were pleasantly surprised our luggage was there seeing how little time we had between flight in Seoul! I'm so thankful Renee came back to the airport to meet us and escort us to our apartments! They had arrived from Chiang Mai about 2 in the afternoon. She knows some basic Thai & could work out the Taxi ride, which was about 40 minutes. It's quite odd driving on the left side of the road.
We are not at a hotel. It is a high rise condo bldg about a block from the Chao Phraya River. We have a small studio apartment which connects by very scary balcony to Renee & Damien's apartment, which is much more spacious with 2 bedrooms and a large open living area. We both have kitchens but won't really be using ours at all. It was about midnight before we got there, and the kids were all asleep. We did "have" to give them a big kiss anyway. Two very sleepy little boys woke up and came out and laid on the couch by us for a while. Our windows & common balcony face the river and the night view is just beautiful.
Photos from Day 1: http://nolamarimages.smugmug.com/Vacation/Thailand/Grand-Palace/19726959_CJsvXL
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