The wanderlust in my life is a gift. A gift of time, resources, health, and a sense of adventure. I’m on my way to meet Andy and travel together to Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. I’ll be gone for six and a half weeks, the longest I’ve been away from home. My journal reads, “Saying goodbye is the hardest. Even now, sitting here in Seoul I get teary-eyed and emotional. I hate to miss 6 ½ weeks with all of them. Saying goodbye at the airport, I was a mess. This is the longest time I’ve been separated from Frank and even though I know I’m going to be with Andy and have an amazing time, I’m sad for the time I won’t be at home.”
It’s at the airport in Seoul, I adjust my watch to the current time and start the adventure of looking forward. I do two things when I travel to get over jetlag quickly. One, I sleep as much as possible on the airplane. I mean I work at it. I tell myself to sleep, put on my eye mask, put in my earplugs then play classical music very softly, or listen to a familiar movie. All to rest and sleep as much as possible on the plane. The second thing I do is set my watch to the local time and never again think about what time it is back home. If I get six hours of sleep, I think to myself, “I’m good.”
After an eleven-hour flight from Seattle to Seoul and a five-hour flight from Seoul to Bangkok, I met Andy on the way to Bangkok airport immigration and baggage claim. I was overjoyed and so relieved to see him. Andy left home nine weeks earlier. He traveled three weeks with his younger sister to Indonesia and from there flew to Japan. In Japan he worked at two camps with Volunteers for Peace, an international voluntary service to help others and travel with a purpose. It’s good to be together now. Passport immigration went smoothly and no luggage to collect made for a quick entrance into Bangkok, Thailand but before we leave the airport we found an ATM machine to get cash and with the one-coin Andy had, I was able to use the computer to send a short, quick, “We arrived safely in Bangkok” message back home. Communication is always a hassle. It seems like; it’s too expensive, we’re in a hurry to get someplace else, slow computer connections or someone is waiting to use the computer next. Doesn’t matter which one it is, it’s stressful but necessary to get word back to our loved ones.
Before leaving Seattle, I made reservations for our first night in Bangkok. Thirteen Coins Hotel looked like the perfect fit for us because it had a 24-hour checkout policy. No matter what time you checked in you had 24 hours before you had to check out. Perfect for our middle of the night arrival.
