Sawasdee krub, which means hello in Thai, was the first Thai phrase I learned on the airplane from Hong Kong to Bangkok. It was also the first to get corrected!
Sunrise over Santa Monica.
The in-flight magazine had a list of useful phrases, which was a win because I hadn’t bothered to look for a language book for my travels. I set about practicing 4 or 5 of the phrases on my 2.75 hour flight from Hong Kong.
The flight at 8:45pm was a win as well. The travel agent couldn’t book the flight originally because it would have been less than a 60 minute layover. Never mind that this was the first time I’ve heard that information. After calling all the airlines I was flying with, it was decided I would try to run to the gate and request the change there. This meant changing my packing strategy from checking one bag to attempting to carry everything on.
Uh oh.
My first test pack resulted in a Osprey Atmos 65 weighing in at 42 lbs. My Camelback Snowboarding daypack weighed in at 15 lbs. I can chuck my shampoo, conditioner and pocketknife and carry it all on.
Oh wait…
I’m bringing 4 jars of crunchy peanut butter and a wrapped Christmas present for my traveling companions. Let’s check and see if that is permissible to carry on… maybe. The TSA website says you can carry it on, but you are encouraged to check it. Is there a recipe for a peanut butter bomb in the anarchist’s cookbook? I don’t know but it would probably just result in everyone giggling from being covered in peanut butter. I think the wrapped present might still be not allowed but I didn’t care at this point. I anticipated my precious cargo of peanut butter bringing smiles to the Peace Corps Volunteers who were finishing their service and joining me for a bit of traveling. I did not want to disappoint.
When I weighed the presents and peanut butter, it bumped my bag to just 2 lbs over the checked bag weight. Paying for overweight bags is not how I wanted to start my trip. I learned that lesson in 2005 in Australia when I insisted on checking my dive weights to Exmouth so I could dive with the whale sharks. I do not want to repeat that. Dive weights were available on every dive boat I was on. I didn’t snorkel enough to justify the expense.
Whaleshark in Australia (2005).
So, what to do? How do I guarantee that I get the peanut butter through TSA? I conferred with my airline employee friends and decided it wasn’t worth having anyone take it through security for me, or take the chance of having it confiscated from my bag. Or even have the possibility of making it through LAX security only to lose it if I had to go through security in San Francisco or Hong Kong. TOO PRECIOUS!!
I decided to check it and let the all-knowing infallible airline czars win. But not without asking the universe help me beat my friends to Bangkok!
What happened next blew me away. No, not the peanut butter bomb.
My friend dropped me at the airport and I went through the motions I had done hundreds of times before. This time though the electronic check-in at United didn’t work. This also happened in 2005 as well, I chalked it up to it being a ticket purchased with US Airways Dividend Miles. Maybe if I talk to the ticketing counter that will clear it up? The first question she asks: do you have a visa to Thailand? Noooooooooooo! I was told I would get one at the airport when I arrived in Bangkok. This can’t be happening again! Again? Yes, again. In 2005 on my way to Australia I arrived at the Air New Zealand ticketing counter only to discover they wouldn’t let me board because I didn’t have a visa. Why is US Airways not telling me about the visa requirements? Grrr! This is so frustrating! It turns out I didn’t need a visa and who knows why the electronic check-in couldn’t be completed. Where is Mercury right now? In retrograde. Great. Turns out it works both ways though. The counter I was sent to could print my boarding passes but the scale wasn’t working. Final official weight of my checked bag? Unknown, but that meant no over weight fees! Mercury in retrograde for the win!
My precious cargo of peanut butter checked in and a smooth hour flight to San Francisco later, we arrived 18 minutes early. Another plane was still using our gate, so we waited for it to push back and clear out before we could complete that leg. Was this a sign of what might happen on my Hong Kong leg?
I introduced myself to the people sitting around me in the Boeing 747 I boarded in San Francisco. I gave them fair warning that I snored loudly, kicked in my sleep, had terrible gas, and when I wake up I cry like a newborn baby. After everyone had a good chuckle I realized this was my first flight on a 747! Yeah! Time to have a complimentary glass of wine to celebrate! Monica, the cute graphic designer sitting in front of me didn’t believe there could be free alcoholic beverages on a flight. After we received our first drinks, she exclaimed, “Let’s play drinking games!” This is going to be a fun flight!
Is there a drinking game book for when you are on an airplane? I don’t know, but I suggested that we drink whenever there was a announcement made. Two glasses of wine, 4 jack and cokes, and a two hour power nap later I was happy as a lark. Monica, who wasn’t quite aware what effects the pressurized cabin had on a person, had fainted in the bathroom and was being attended to by a physician who happened to be on the plane!
Oh yes, time check: 8 hours remaining on the flight! How is there that much remaining and we’ve already been drunk and slept it off?
I spent the next couple of hours watching movies and admiring the never ending sunset above Alaska and then the eastern reaches of Siberia.
Endless sunset over Siberia.
Fast forward to Hong Kong, we arrived 35 minutes early! I hustle off the plane and down to the Thai Airways and see if I can catch the 8:45 flight that they wouldn’t book me on. “Will you fly if we cannot find your bag?” asked the ticketing agent. I quickly debated in my head if it was worth getting to Bangkok early if I didn’t have my checked bag. “Yes, let’s do this.” I replied. “Yes, we can get you on.” he replied. They hustle me through security and I made the flight! All that planning and scheming but all it took was my flight to arrive early!
I got into Bangkok around 11:30 and picked up my precious cargo of peanut butter and the rest of my stuff.
Now I can try out that Thai phrase I learned on the plane.
I met a Thai woman and her friend who ended up being very helpful in getting me to my hostel. She said her name was “Noodle”. I said, “sawasdee kaa” which she immediately corrected. “No,” she said pointing at me “sawasdee krub.” I pointed at her and repeated. I didn’t understand that she was correcting me at the time. Normally in language you have masculine and feminine forms of words but it’s usually based on who you are talking about. It was surprising to learn that in Thai it’s feminine and masculine forms of phrases are based on who is speaking!