Cambodia & Thailand Day 19
Cambodia & Thailand
Day 19 - December 14, 2003 - Bangkok to Home
The alarm went off at 2:45 and the wake-up call came at 3 AM. We were packed and out of the room by 3:15 and to our great surprise the buffet restaurant was already for us. Most of us were still full from the dinner last night so coffee, juice and some fruit was all that I had.
We sat with our early bird friends and spoke of the trip, Anya’s wonderful job in providing us a snapshot of Thailand and the great days we experienced together. What has been so interesting has been the bond the Cambodia 8 developed in just 3 days at the beginning of the trip.
Even though we interacted well with the other 8 members we did not have the comradery that we had with the others. I am sure they felt some concerns with our attitude. It would be interesting to see their evaluations about the trip and of Anya. She certainly did her best to treat all equally but...
At 3:45 we were all on the bus to go to the airport. Even though there was little traffic on the road, the sidewalks were still teeming with people walking, selling and eating food. This town goes for 24 hours per day.
We got to the airport in about 30 minutes and Anya escorted us to our check in area, bought our airport tax - $13/person - and then waited to say goodbye as we went through. We thanked her for all she had done and walked through to the waiting area.
We said goodbye to our other friends, they were on Northwest, and then went to the United area to await the flight. We noticed that our tickets placed us in the center area so we attempted to change these for side seats. This was to no avail, the 747 was completely full and oversold.
We also saw a problem with our Narita to San Francisco seat and were told to wait until Japan. Prior to going through the separate united security we saw the headlines on CNN and the papers that Saddam Hussein had been captured - all of us had missed this major news item while we were in Bangkok.
The flight from Bangkok to Narita, Japan was uneventful and we both slept through the first meal. We did notice that even though we were in Economy Plus, the seats were quite tight. With the people in front of us leaning back the light illuminating my tray was half covered. It made reading very difficult.
When we arrived in Tokyo we had to deplane on the tarmac, take a bus, go through security once again and then we were in the terminal for continuing flights. We went to customer service to ask about our seat situation and they only could tell us that we were on a standby to have an isle seat.
We then walked to Gate 33 to find a place to relax and wait for the gate to open - we have a 5 hour layover here. We found out that all of Gennie’s hard work in getting our seating organized went for naught when United switched our flights. She was able to go to the check-in and get our seats changed.
While we waited at Gate 33 we saw that the United flight to Seoul, Korea was now departing. We were then told to go to Gate 28 where we found out that they were not ready for 400 passengers trying to get on the flight to San Francisco. Finally, everyone was shuttled by bus to the plane and we took off - 1.5 hours late.
Fortunately our seat on this leg were economy plus, giving us extra leg room. Our seat neighbor was a travel agent who was on his way home from an excursion in China so we exchanged travel information.
We got to San Francisco with about 1.5 hours till our next flight. We had no trouble going through immigration and then through customs. When we got into the hall to have our luggage rechecked, the United people told us that we had enough time.
We gave them the two bags and then went through security once more. We walked to Gate 77 and on the way Intel was doing a demo on their Centrino computers. I got on one, checked with www.nfl.com for the Broncos score and then wrote Eduardo a brief note letting him know that we were in SF.
Another full flight awaited us. When we got on the plane we saw that there were no empty seats. All the flight we have flown this vacation have been full - no empty seats. We had a good flight and arrived in Denver about 5 PM. When we got to the luggage area all of our baggage was waiting for us.
We then got transportation to the Mt. Elbert parking lot - our car was one of three left in this overflow from Thanksgiving. The temperature was below 20 degrees F and the winds were blowing at over 40 MPH, snow had fallen during the day and the roads were icy. What a shock treatment from the opposite in Thailand.
The car started right up but the GOOD FAIRY had not fixed the cracked windshield. We drove down using E-470 and in Castle Rock stopped to get a Wendy’s burger, our first true US fast food meal in over 20 days.
We dropped Jim and Mickey off at their house and then went to Safeway to get some groceries. When we got home we found Tim at our house - he expected us on Tuesday - and we had a chance to chat with him and learn that LP had had a snow day today.
Gennie started the clothes and I helped empty suitcases and get things organized. A little after 10 PM we finally decided to go to bed - we had been up for over 34 hours.
If you wish to travel with OAT Click Here.
To receive $50 per person off your first reservation with OAT, mention the following information when reserving your Overseas Adventure Travel Trip: Mr. Victor Garcia Customer #673062
A CD OF EACH TRIP IS AVAILABLE.
These CDs are compilations of slide presentations of each day (pictures of the events during the day) accompanied by music reflective of the nation and day.
On most CDs there are presentations on the people of the country, people traveling with the group, flowers, and panoramas.
On more recent trips, short videos have been included on the web pages and these videos are also available in the CD.
The CD is available for $20 US. Shipping and handling is included for US addresses. Slightly higher for overseas shipping.
To view an example of the presentations Click Here
As it is an 8:13 presentation, give yourself time to see it in its entirety.
Please contact garciatrips@gmail.com for more specific information and a screen capture of the CD menu.
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