Thailand or bust

Well, we made it safely to Chiang Mai, Thailand this morning. Our plane landed a little early, right at 7:30am (Monday). Our adventure started much, MUCH earlier though...

Our plane took off from Denver at 6:00am. This meant that my parents came to pick us up at 4:00am. When we were still packing for our trip at 2:30am, we knew we weren't going to sleep. In fact, I took a "power nap" for 25 minutes when John got in the shower, and it did more harm than good. Even our pets were fighting sleep and just wished that we would turn off the lights and go to bed. As I laid down for my nap at 2:30am, my kitty curled up next to me and even let me pull the blanket over him--that's a first. So I showered, packed the rest and my parents came right on time. Oy.

We made it to DIA in time to check our bag, grab McDonald's for breakfast and get to our gate. 2.5 hours to Chicago, no problem. For those of you playing along at home, YES, we went East just to turn around and go really far West. We had a couple of hours in the Chicago airport, which was just enough time to call the family, grab a Starbucks, and prepare ourselves for the long flight coming up. The plane was HUGE (thank goodness!) a 747 that would carry us over seas. I've never flown on a plane this big, and with all the traveling that John has done, he hadn't either. I promised my mom a call from the plane, and I told her that the first thing I saw when I stepped on board was a staircase--to the upper deck. She felt better about the flight, and honestly I did too.

13 hours ended up being just over 12, but still didn't go by as fast as we would have hoped. Oh. my. gosh. My back was wrecked (not great to begin with), my legs ached (yes, I got up to stretch and walk around,) and I used the bathroom twice (I don't use airplane toilets.) Ugh. We were fed twice, pumped with drinks, and slept oh-so-umcomfortably. The cool thing was that since we were headed to Tokyo, Japan first, all announcements were made in English and then Japanese. Neat! Oh, and we got an "apology card" from United because the movie wouldn't start. Yep, 12+ hours of looking at the map on big and little screens all over the plane. Whoopee. On one of my walks to stretch my legs, I saw that Business Class was watching The Office--no fair!! John and I started a movie on his laptop, but I had just taken an Advil PM, and the battery ran out just after I did anyway. (We finished it later, stay tuned).

A little over an hour in the Tokyo airport allowed us to use the bathroom, rearrange our carry-on bags and get back on the same plane, same seats. While I was sitting in the terminal though, a voice came up behind me and said, "Hey stranger!" I quickly thought to myself: I'm pretty sure I don't know anyone in Tokyo, who could this be?! But I turned around and was pleasantly surprised to see a mutual friend making the same trip, however she wisely went Denver to California. They were on the same plane to Bangkok, so that was cool, and we got to chat for a bit.

Get comfy kids, we've got another 7 hours to go before we hit Thailand, and then it still isn't over! After 12+ hours, I thought 7 would be a breeze--HA! I tossed and turned more than I ever have. It drives John crazy that I can't sit in the same position for more than five minutes, I wonder how it was sitting in the tiny seat next to me! I was so tired though, I actually fell asleep before we even took off and woke up somewhere over South Japan. Hmm...

We had six hours to kill in the Bangkok airport and walked around for a while at first. It was tiring, but felt good to get the blood flowing in our legs. We couldn't find a comfy spot to sit or lay down as I had hoped, but we cuddled up in a couple chairs and finished the movie we started when we left the States. It was cute (Couples Retreat) and gave me an opening to give John his Valentine's Day gift. We missed V-Day all together, but I still carried his present all the way here. :) Do I love him or what!? (Yes, yes I do.)

The transfer terminal opened at 5:00am this morning, so we stood in line to get the first stamps on our passports!! VERY EXCITING!!! We took a few cheesy pictures in the airport (to be posted on FB sometime soon,) and waited to board the plane for our last leg. There were several Buddhist monks that came and sat around us, and I quickly read up in one of our travel books (thank you A&G!) about them. They are quite intimidating, actually! Two of the monks sat across the aisle from us, and another was behind us. When the food cart came around, they received special trays. It was very interesting. The rest of us got an egg and chicken sandwich--not bad! The "dessert" that accompanied the food was actually very bad though. No thank you.

The flight was only an hour and got us into Chiang Mai right on time. We followed the signs (all have been in either Japanese/Thai AND English) and got to baggage claim and customs. By the grace of God, the one bag we checked made it to Chiang Mai with us. And then I turned around to see my friend waiting for us outside and I was one HAPPY GIRL!!! They waved us through customs (seriously) and we were on our way.

I have a cute cheesy picture of Becky driving us to the hotel. When you see it, you'll notice that she's on the other side of the car, and we're driving on the left side of the road. Call me ignorant, but I wasn't prepared for that. I kept wanting to correct her and get her on the right side of the street (like I sometimes have to do with John--kidding? no...) but she's very comfortable driving here. I asked her why there were even lines drawn on the road because the cars and motor bikes just meander all over. She delivered us safely at our hotel, and John promptly went to sleep. I called home and talked to Dad, then showered and am now blogging. I think that if I sleep now, I won't later, and I don't want to be on the wrong clock the whole time we're here.

So, that's where we are now. Long post? Yes. Long trip? YES. Oy...! Maybe I should just rest my eyesasdfajs;dkjfa;lskj.... whoops.