I'm here! I'm in Thailand! It's been such a long trip already, filled with
many unexpected delays. I woke up Tuesday morning and started the job of
physically packing my suitcase. Everything was laid out, but now it all had to
fit into one bag and a backpack. Being a master at packing my belongings, it
all fit (at only 47 lbs!). All Tuesday was spent getting ready to leave, buying
some hiking shoes, and seeing people for just one last time (shout out to Dave
and Ashley!) I was relatively prepared to leave, but still stayed up all
Tuesday night to finish up.
4:30 rolls around and it’s time to head out. My father, grandfather, and I
load up the car and I say goodbye to Mikki. I make it with about 45 minutes
until my flight leaves. “Going to San Francisco?” the frontier worker says.
“Yep” my simple reply. After all, I was taking Frontier to San Fran with a
connection in between, it seemed like a good answer. And that was the moment
that ruined the rest of the next two days.
So I board the plane and take a look out my window at the dense fog. “Once
this fog clears up we’ll be on our way, folks!” says the pilot. Sometime later
“the upper shelf is clearing off, so once this ground fog dissipates we can
leave. The sun is about to come out so that should speed things along.” And the
sun does come up, and the fog gets thicker. “Well it appears the fog got worse
instead of better, but we’re first on the runway so once this clears up we’ll
be out of here.” Great. We’ve been sitting on this plane for over an hour and a
half, and by now I’ll be missing my connecting flight.
These things happen, I thought.
They’ll
just send me on the next flight and I should still get there with enough time
to spare. No use in worrying just yet.
Well it turns out nearly half the plane missed connecting flights (Dana was
one of them!) so the line was enormous. I get up there and explain that I’m to
leave out of San Francisco at 1:50 and cannot miss this international flight.
“I think I get you on the next flight out, it leaves in 50 minutes” says the
Frontier lady. “I can run if I have to” I joke with her. “You will” she tells
me seriously.
Damn. So with my new
ticket in hand I take off down the hall, bright green HEAVY packpack bouncing
along behind me. Turns out I made it before they even started boarding.
Alright this is good. I should make it with
just over two hours to spare, that’s definitely enough time.
It would have been, had we not waited an additional 30 minutes for a spot to
pull our plane into. It would have been enough, had my bag made it on the plane
with me, but it didn’t. So remember that moment that ruined my travels? This is
where that comes into play. Apparently, you need to give your overall final
destination, not your final destination with one airline. I did not know this.
Get ready:
After standing at the UA carousal for some time, I find out that my bag did
not make it on my connecting flight (with only a 50 minute unexpected airline
changing layover, this isn’t a surprise). I go to the Frontier desk and speak
with this very kind woman named Glenda. We go to the lost baggage room to
double check, but it isn’t there. She copies all my flight information and
contact info for both the US and Thailand. She’s getting ready to have a new
tag made that she can put on my bag once it arrives and have it shipped to
Thailand. However, Glenda very sadly has to tell me that since I had to switch
to a United Airlines flight, they are in charge of handling my bag and taking
care of me. Alright, the fastest way to UA please, and I take off at a brisk
walk.
Back to United.
United’s baggage line is relatively long, with one disgruntled worker and
many frustrated customers. Nearly every person in front of me has raised their
voice at this worker, at the slow pace of the line, and their bad luck, what
have you. Finally a second worker comes up, equally as unhappy to be doing
customer service as the first. I give her my bag information and says it’s
nowhere in United’s system. She repeatedly explains that they don’t have record
of it. I understand, say I understand, nod along, ask some more questions, and
she continues to explain the same damn concept we covered five minutes ago.
Finally she takes down the gate-rope and says “here I just want you to come
look at the screen. We have no record of your bag on any United flight” “No,
it’s okay. I believe you. I just want to know if I should go back to Frontier
or talk with Korean Air” so they know I’m here and not missing my flight. I
leave in one hour. She keeps insisting I look at the screen so finally I do.
Yes, I see it’s blank, we covered this 10 minutes ago.
Finally I say “I do not have any more time to
spend here. Goodbye.”
Frontier tells me United is in charge of sending my bag and they can’t print
a new tag. United tells me they have no record of my bag. They say if it does
show up I have to claim it in person, They won’t send it on to Thailand, I HAVE
to get it, in person. If not, it ships to Houston where it will sit until I
come find it.
Shit. This is not good.
I don’t bother going back to United. I head off to Korean Air and talk about a
flight change, which I find out is not available for the next few days except
on stand-by.
Looks like I’m getting on
this plane in 30 minutes whether I have a bag or not.
Alright, the next flight from Frontier
comes in right now; I’ll run to the carousal and see if it’s here. Nope.
I’ll call Glenda, she can help. No
answer. So now I’m sprinting back to Korean Air with 10 minutes until my
delayed flight is supposed to take off. “I was waiting for you! Come with me!”
The lady says. Two people are working to check me in and then we take off
running down the hall. Just my luck, security isn’t happy with my bag, and take
EVERYTHING out of it and run it all through multiple times. Finally it’s okayed
with only a few minutes until take off.
Without putting on my belt, I’m off down the hall. Further, and further, and
further until I reach some stairs only to see a giant line of people. My flight
just started boarding. Hallelujah! Onto my flight I sit down and get a second
to breathe. By this point, I’m in near tears. My eyes are bloodshot from crying
or sleep deprivation; I haven’t eaten since Dave and Ashleys on Tuesday night. I’m
worried United will never release my bag and I’ll have to fly back to the US to
claim it, or else purchase an entirely new set of gear and clothing. I’m a
mess.
Still trying to finish up my last homework assignment, I see Korean Air is
serving dinner. My first meal in a long time! As I’m eating, a cart comes
around. “Wine?” she asks. “Uhh… no thanks” I bewilderingly respond. I was so
surprised she offered me wine without carding me that I didn’t even realize:
I’m legal! Well don’t worry, I did get a small cup of white wine when the
second dinner was served. But I wasn’t even able to eat the bread roll of my
second dinner (Mikki, that should tell you something right there). I was too
stressed that it was a challenge to even eat. I made myself take a few bites,
but there was no appetite and the food turned to tasteless mush in my mouth.
My mood picked up when I started talking to the girl next to me. I find out
her name is Liu Hejia, from China. She’s been studying at UC Berkley over the
summer and is headed back home. She was putting this clear goo on her face because
the AC dries out her skin and she offered me some.
This is the trip to be adventurous and try everything. Why not? The
writing is in Chinese and her accent is difficult to comprehend, but it sounded
like she said “mice”. I don’t know if that is true, but it definitely makes for
a better story so I’m leaving this as a mystery mice goo… that I smeared across
my face. Talking with her and watching a happy-ending romantic comedy made me
much more optimistic when I landed.
I’m
on my way to Thailand! I’m out of the United States and in Korea. I’m about to
spend a semester abroad, this is going to be amazing. My luggage doesn’t even
matter now. I’ll buy new if I have to. This is why I work and save money, to
spend it.
So we land in Seoul and as I’m walking out I spy a lady with a sign that
said “Chiang Mai. Sara Green.” I HAVE MY OWN ESCOURT! It’s like being rich,
only without the money. Six other people are listed and we’re run through the
airport at amazing speed only to get caught, yet again, by security. They don’t
have a problem with my bag this time, I just happen to have the luck of
choosing the slow moving line. Finally I’m ushered outside and onto a bus. This
takes us through the tarmac, where the planes are all parked and being loaded.
(There was a short moment of concern when we started driving around the whole
system instead of taking the path through it. I felt like we were the unlucky
seven travelers who were getting abducted and ransomed by illegitimate or
corrupt airline workers. But then I felt rich again, like a billionaire
stepping out of his limo and boarding his private jet by the small staircase
set up along the runway. I did just about that, except without the billions of
dollars, limo, or private jet.
After holding up the plane for a half hour so we could be bussed out to
load, we’re ready for take-off. A movie, some spilled orange juice on the
Japanese lady next to me, and five hours later we arrive in Chiang Mai! By this
point I’ve put aside all my frustrations and was just happy to be there. I make
it to baggage and as I’m walking out of the building Ajaan Mark comes up to me.
“Sara Green?” “That’s me!” “You look like you’re missing some luggage. We’ll
get it sorted out. Welcome to Thailand” and a lovely young Thai lady places a
necklace of fresh jasmine flowers around my head. I walk out into the night and
meet the rest of my class, and the country I’ll call home for the next five
months. Life is good.
