Journal entry by Al Negstad — 31 minutes ago
Adventures are often made of the unexpected and that's very true in travels. When I first was travelling to SE Asia, Delta Airlines, Northwest then, had a gate at Tokyo's Narita Airport with a connection to Bangkok. That was my preferred route. A few years ago Delta lost that gate but now offers a direct flight from Minneapolis to Tokyo, Haneda Airport, with the connection to Bangkok out of Narita. Naively assuming that, if Delta booked me from Minneapolis to Bangkok they'd get from Haneda to Narita. Wrong! That became my problem.
In the past Delta has been reluctant to board me to Thailand, if my stay is more than the 30 day visa on arrival that's granted at Thai Customs. This year I was prepared with a copy of my ticket to Australia which breaks up my stay in Thailand. But, when my bag was checked only to Haneda, I learned that switching airports was my problem.
Arriving in Tokyo I had to process through immigration into Japan, claim my bag, and catch a bus to Narita. Even with a 3.5, hour layover it was close. Wait for the bus, 80 minute ride, drop off at the wrong door, check in with same delay because of the Thai 30 day visa on arrival, go through customs again and of course a security check. The time was ticking down, and when the desk attendant finished checking me in, she literally ran me across the airport to check my bag through the "oversize" station to be certain my it got on the plane. When I arrived at the gate the plane was loading. All's well that ends well😀 and I won't do that again.
The upside of this little episode was much room on the flight to Tokyo. That flight, a bit over 12, hours, wasn't nearly full. With three seats to myself I could lie and sleep. Flying to Bangkok I won the seat mate lottery being seated next to a tiny woman. No need to wrestle for the arm rest or space.
Now I'm back in my familiar Bangkok Christian Guesthouse to soak up some heat, 85 at midnight when I landed, and adjust my internal clock. I'll be here until I go to Ayutthaya on Sunday to begin teaching on Monday.
Blessings,
Al
PS Dependencies are interesting. When I opened my computer this morning I could move the cursor but couldn't type on it. With panic rising I checked the security settings, etc. Being late smart, I restarted it and bingo. Interestingly little detour through my computer dependency.
In the past Delta has been reluctant to board me to Thailand, if my stay is more than the 30 day visa on arrival that's granted at Thai Customs. This year I was prepared with a copy of my ticket to Australia which breaks up my stay in Thailand. But, when my bag was checked only to Haneda, I learned that switching airports was my problem.
Arriving in Tokyo I had to process through immigration into Japan, claim my bag, and catch a bus to Narita. Even with a 3.5, hour layover it was close. Wait for the bus, 80 minute ride, drop off at the wrong door, check in with same delay because of the Thai 30 day visa on arrival, go through customs again and of course a security check. The time was ticking down, and when the desk attendant finished checking me in, she literally ran me across the airport to check my bag through the "oversize" station to be certain my it got on the plane. When I arrived at the gate the plane was loading. All's well that ends well😀 and I won't do that again.
The upside of this little episode was much room on the flight to Tokyo. That flight, a bit over 12, hours, wasn't nearly full. With three seats to myself I could lie and sleep. Flying to Bangkok I won the seat mate lottery being seated next to a tiny woman. No need to wrestle for the arm rest or space.
Now I'm back in my familiar Bangkok Christian Guesthouse to soak up some heat, 85 at midnight when I landed, and adjust my internal clock. I'll be here until I go to Ayutthaya on Sunday to begin teaching on Monday.
Blessings,
Al
PS Dependencies are interesting. When I opened my computer this morning I could move the cursor but couldn't type on it. With panic rising I checked the security settings, etc. Being late smart, I restarted it and bingo. Interestingly little detour through my computer dependency.
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