Land of Smiles: The Journey

Orchids by the fist full

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away---let’s call it High School—my best friend traveled to an alien place---let’s call it Thailand---and sent home tales of a beautiful place and people. And at that time, we swore we would travel there, together, and have many adventures.

Fast forward a handful of decades and an email landed in my in-box that read: “Have work trip to Thailand in April. Vacay time after---you in?” Oh, I was SO “in” and that’s the story of how I came to spend a couple of weeks in The Land of Smiles.

Flights to Thailand are surprisingly cheap, and, unlike most US carriers, I got free checked bags—2—free carry on, free inflight movies, a pillow, a blanket, excellent service, regular meal service WITH REAL SILVERWARE, lots of leg room and---I hope you’re sitting down for this part---all in economy class. Which is a good thing as your time in the air can range in the 15+ hour category. And there’s the small matter of crossing the international dateline so it’s difficult to know how long you’ve been in the air.

 The level of service you receive becomes less a perk and more of a necessity. My flight left at 1:30 a.m. on a Wednesday morning---which is an ungodly hour to have a friend drop you at the airport, but a great hour to fly as I was tired enough that earplugs and a sleep mask were enough to keep me sleeping until they started serving breakfast over Tokyo.

Hello Kitty O'clock

We landed at Taipei at 6:00 a.m. local time on Thursday---but if I’ve done my math correctly it was only 2 p.m. Wednesday. But lucky for me Taipei airport seems to be the home of Hello Kitty so I was able to check the Hello Kitty clocks to confirm.

I also made two new Thai friends at the airport in a beautiful example of East Meets West Cooperation. We worked together to decipher our next departure gate---it was too early yet to have our gate posted. I, as a brash Westerner, wasn’t shy about asking the staff for help. They, speaking both Thai and English, could overhear other Thais who were familiar with the workings of that particular airport and updated me with the next newest location of our gate: downstairs in the secret waiting room.

We also found a lovely indoor orchid garden and spent our layover in the time honored tradition of taking way too many selfies.

Yes. After 13 hours in the air that is exactly what my hair looked like.