I am now in Bangkok and had a good night of sleep. I will post pictures probably in the next post, but want to get something posted before Saturday midnight back home.

My flight from Tokyo to Bangkok was on a 787, which is one of my favorite jets to fly on. The cabin environment is much nicer as they are able to have a better mix of air. The picture above is not from this trip, but from my first 787 flight back years ago.

It was a long flight of about seven hours, but the shorter of the two flights for the trip. It was also much less crowded and I had a seat free next to me. I was nice to not have someone jammed up against me like the flight to Tokyo. The aisles were also a bit larger so less instance of people bumping into me while I slept. I was so tired from the last flight that it was also easier to sleep.

I did have a nice meal on the flight as ANA does a good job of catering their flights. I am still confused as to why United served Indian food on the flight between San Francisco and Tokyo.

I had been waiting in the United Club in Tokyo and was falling asleep so decided to head to the ANA gate a bit early so I would be ready to board the flight. I was then able to witness an interesting pre-boarding process at the gate.. A team of wheelchair athletes were traveling on the flight and it took a very long time to process all their wheelchairs so they would be ready for them once they arrived in Bangkok. They finally boarded and then boarding for the rest of us began. I will watch for the results of their competition to see how they did.

It was very interesting to see how busy the airport in Bangkok was when we arrived after Midnight. Bangkok does not have as many restrictions on when flights can arrive and take off and unlike many airports it did not seem like the middle of night. The immigration lines were long, multiple baggage carousels were surrounded by people and the arrival hall was full of people waiting for arrivals.

I made my way to the taxi stand bypassing all the people offering rides to the city. I was able to get a cheaper ride with a taxi, but I understand that I still paid more than I should have, but at least not three of four times more that was offered to me earlier. The taxi to the airport in two weeks will be arranged in advance. Still less than the equivalent of 20 dollars so I shouldn’t complain too much. The same taxi trip in California would have probably been close to 100 dollars.

I was actually hoping to take the train from the airport to the city, but because of the late night hours it was not possible. The same applies to heading home as I have an early Saturday morning flight before the train starts to run. I am really not sure why the train does not run all hours that that the airport is open. Perhaps there are some politics involved 🙂

Enough babbling. The main reason for the post was to say that I made it to Bangkok.

Now to get some additional course prep done and get ready for tomorrow.

Steven