To Thailand

This read may be boring for you, but I like to document our travel days to look back on and see how the kids do. Plus, there are usually crazy stories thrown in there that are worthy of being recorded.

To Thailand:

Ok, this was over 2 weeks ago. My memory is fading already because so much has happened in between. We left the well below-freezing Changchun wearing no long underwear and only jackets. We didn't have room to pack all those bulky clothes!

The taxi we had arranged picked us up at our door right on time, 5.30am. He drove us through the still-asleep city to the airport in a short 45 minutes. The boys were wide awake, and for the most part, happy. I'm sure they could sense the excitement. Josiah had been talking about the airport for days and was happy to finally get to go. Little did he know, we'd go through 4 airports that day.

I didn't remember much about the Changchun airport because the last time we were there, we were ragged and tired from a long flight from America. It's small, so I'm glad we didn't get there much earlier. Or so I thought.

Our flight plan was to be Changchun - Beijing - Hong Kong - Bangkok - Chiang Mai. Yes, a little insane. Here was our thought behind such a gruelling trip: get there in one day. Chiang Mai is a pretty small city, so there are very few flight options to get there in one day. In the past, we have stayed overnight in Bangkok....and it wasn't pretty. The kids like their own sleeping space. It's tough to unpack for one night, get everyone settled after a long day, then re-pack to hop on another flight the next day. So we gave this a shot. And it shot us in the foot.

We got up to the counter to check in for our 8am flight. Everything was fine until they checked for Malachi's ticket. Or lack thereof. He didn't have a ticket. They told us we needed to buy one for him. Um, no. We already did that. Actually, his tiks (lap baby costs) cost more than all of ours because the rest of us used frequent-flier miles. We knew we had purchased them, but they had no record. So after a few calls, the guy behind the counter decided to give him a boarding pass. But only to Beijing. There, we'd have to collect our bags and completely re-check in. Oh boy. Thankfully, our longest layover for the day was in Beijing. 3.5 hours. But in my head, I knew that would go by quickly...planes are almost always late landing; we were going to have to go to baggage claim, practically exit the airport, find the ticket counter, and check our bags and ourselves in again; we were going to have to go through security again; we were going to have to find our gate...which is always a hike in the Beijing airport; and, ya know, Beijing has a ginormous airport with a billion people scurrying around.

The first leg was uneventful. Josiah spent the time looking out the window, oohing and aahing at the sky. Malachi took a short nap, giving in to the exhaustion. But only a little. He didn't want to miss anything.

We arrived in Beijing, a little late, as expected. We grabbed our bags, then headed to the ticket counter. The line was long. The boys were already getting impatient. Here came the snacks to quiet them down. When it was our turn, we didn't tell our story from Changchun, just treated it as if we were new passengers. It didn't work. They had the same error. No ticket for Malachi. For real, people?! Again, they wanted us to pay. No can do, folks. They directed us to another (shorter) line to talk to someone who deals with these sort of things. He made the call to give Malachi a ticket to Hong Kong and check our bags all the way to Chiang Mai. At least that part was taken care of! Our next few connections were much tighter, so we knew we wouldn't be able to do the bag re-check. I was getting more frustrated, not understanding why Malachi's information wasn't showing up. But, I was thankful that the next 2 flights would be with Thai Air. They're Thai...much more customer-friendly than most people in China. :)

We arrived in Hong Kong with about 45 minutes to catch our flight. This was gonna be close. After several minutes of searching, we finally found the right counter. We were sweating. We told them our situation, and finally...finally! they checked us through to Bangkok, then onto Chiang Mai. Yes! No more issues!

By the time we got to Bangkok, though, it was another close call. All of our flights landed a little late, so by the time we got to the last flight, it was tight again. As we were half-jogging 2 very tired little boys, we ran into 3 older people who were catching the same flight. The last flight to Chiang Mai for the day. If we didn't make this, we'd have to stay overnight. The 7 of us literally ran to the gate. It was a long run. Why are airports so spread out?! We made it to the gate, but didn't even have time to sit down. We got in line and boarded. Whew.

There were too many flights to remember how the boys did on each one. But, overall, they did so-so. Josiah is a much better traveller than in the past. A movie or game played on the screen mounted to the seat in front of him can keep him occupied the whole flight. He took about a 1 hour nap the entire day. Malachi was another story. He took 2 or 3 very short naps, totalling maybe 1.5 hours of sleep. Snacks were our best friend, bribing the boys to keep quiet and calm down the tantrums. On the last flight, I remember Malachi getting a burst of energy and just wanting to walk the aisles. I didn't blame him. We spent some time at the back of the plane with the flight attendants. They didn't seem to mind. The most exhausting part is that he is still attached to me. And only me. Michael tried to help hold and entertain him, but he wouldn't have it. I'm sure one day I'll look back on these days and miss all of his snuggles, but for now, it's exhausting.

We arrived in Chiang Mai at 10.30. Amazingly, all of our bags made it through all of that chaos. We got a taxi and made it to the hotel at about 11.30. It was so great to be in the warmth. 100 degrees warmer than where we had been that morning! We were all beat, but were grateful we made all our connections. We set up the boys' room quickly, and everyone was in bed by 12.30. Everyone slept til 10am the next day. That was beautiful. :)

Next...the trip home. Even more adventurous.