Part I Going back to Thailand

Please add your name in the comment itself if you leave one, I see almost everything under 'unknown'. Thanks!

Yes, booked! A week before leaving, I finally booked my ticket. I was planning on going to India but decided I didn't want to rush a new country/culture and so I picked Thailand! Last October when I went to Florida, Thailand was the runner up but the only affordable flights back then were 20+ hrs and so I picked Florida. Thailand also holds a special place in my heart. It's an easy country to travel through, I love the people, the culture, the food and the prices :-)! Bangkok was also always where I usually started and or finished my trips in Asia. And so I've been wanting to go back for a while. My last time was October 2018 according to my passport stamps. And according to my blogs, I believed then that it was my 5th time since started traveling to Asia in 2010. And so this would make it no. 6 but who's counting.

The more I thought about it, the more excited I got to go back. But with the weather back home I waited a bit longer before booking. There was a lot of snow and a lot of flights were canceled the week before. Anyways, I finally booked the tickets and started looking into accomodation and where to go. I wanted to go back to Chiang Mai. I went once in 2010. I loved it, super chill vibes and I remember ziplining and seeing panda's. I checked out my blogs from back then and it was also where we were for the 2010 Worldcup soccer finale! For those interested, see below! Mind you, they're in Dutch.

https://talithaaa.blogspot.com/2010/07/wk-2010-in-azie.html

https://talithaaa.blogspot.com/2010/07/adventurous-thailand.html

Besides Chiang Mai (the only place backpackers went to back then), I also wanted to visit Pai and maybe Chiang Rai. But reading up about Chiang Rai, I couldn't really be bothered. And so it was decided: Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Pai! Something old and something new!

Packed my bags the day before, again only hand lugagge. Nowadays you have to pay for éverything and I don't need that much anyway. I weighed the bags in Bangkok and it turned out to be about 9kg together (including 3books I'd hope to finish and leave behind and my sweater and light jacket I had on during the trip to Schiphol). I also booked a ticket to Chiang Mai on the same day as I would arrive at 7am and couldn't check in to a hotel anyway. But wasn't sure about the time and so I picked 12. That would leave me with 5hrs of getting through customs, maybe have a bite, check in and wait.

My flight was at 2pm and so I didn't have to rush or anything that morning. I was also being picked up, which is rare for me but thank you! Trains have been a bit unreliable lately. Schiphol was quiet and so I was at the gate in no time, had an hour left before boarding and so I bought two croissants to finish the camembert I had left in my fridge and brought with me.

Back where I belong hihi

Bye bye rain

The 11hour flight to Bangkok was fine, I watched 4 movies: The roses (hilarious), Black bag, Little shop of horrors (nostalgia) 🤩, The legend of Ochi. I was seated at an aisle seat (luck of the draw!) on the window side so there were two guys next to me, not together. The guy at the window seat was Dutch and his wife kept coming by to talk to him at first. Apparently her wifi wasn't working and his was and she was a bit annoyed by it, well "good for you", love was in the air 😅. Anyways, this was going on during my take-off nap and so I was awaken by it. It eventually worked for her, because I saw him texting her during the flight. I remained offline during the flight, it's one of the things I enjoy when flying!

Cabins were full so people wanted to leave their bags back here haha

Scene from The Roses

Got to Bangkok, and I instantly recognize the airport and memories came rushing back. Customs were super busy, but I had plenty of time. It's funny how it seems organized at first but it absolutely isn't. They kept opening up the lines, letting large amounts of peopl in before the rest of us. Thai passport lines were a mixture of all nationalities and I just picked a line that looked ok (out of the 10 I could pick) and who ended up standing in line behind me, right the Dutch texting couple from the flight sigh. If I'd had to guess, I think they were in their late 40s and all they did was complain about the wait and how unorganized things were. I'm guessing they usually go to Spain or whatever 😅.

Anyways, we landed early and so I had another 5hrs or so before my flight haha. I weighed my bags, because I was allowed 7 or 10 on the domestic flight although I knew they probably wouldn't care and I called my aunt in Indonesia as we are finally in the same timezone! After that, I checked in online, another aisle seat, wootwoot and went over to the gate. There was nothing but a waiting area, toilet and a few vending machines and so I just slept for a bit and waited and waited and slept for a bit more. Flight was also delayed for another hour haha and so we landed at about 230pm.

Welcome to Chiang Mai airport!