And the adventure begins -
So as most of you already know, our grand excursion was a trip to Thailand, a place I've always wanted to see. We traveled with a tour group called OAT (overseas adventure travel) and it was a trip of a lifetime.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step and we traveled a bit more than 10,000 miles just to get there. The steps consisted of leaving home about noon on a Wednesday and driving four hours to Atlanta where we spent the night (sort of) because we had to be at the airport by 3:30AM. Our first flight (two hours to Chicago) left at 6AM. Once in the windy city our layover was four hours then we boarded my first ever 747 for the 14.5 hour flight to Tokyo. A flight with four movies, arggg, but that is what it takes and I got to see UP, which is a very cute movie. Have I mentioned before I hate hate hate flying? But I refuse to let my fears keep me from seeing the world. Didn't help that this was one of the bumpiest flights I've ever been on. Pilot had to climb a bit to get out of the bumps - United lets you listen in on air traffic control which the hub was doing. He kept chuckling so I asked what was so freaking funny - as I squeezed the blood flow from his thigh. The pilot was asking other planes ahead of us what conditions were, they were making cracks about the jolts - haha, very funny.
Anyway, our final flight to Bangkok was delayed more than an hour so we spent a good four hours in the terminal in Tokyo. Our family has a travel rule. You must leave an airport to count as having been TO a country. You can say you have been IN Japan if you were making connecting flights (which we all have now done at least once), but you cannot say you have been TO Japan until you have actually left the airport. None of us has yet been TO Japan.
Care to guess how long the flight from Tokyo to Bangkok is? You'd think after already flying a solid sixteen hours that the hop from Japan would be no biggy right? Seven, seven more hours. And because our flight was delayed we arrived in Bangkok at 12:15 AM. A further two and a half hours to do the passport control/immigration thing, collect baggage, meet with our tour group and tour guide, and load up on the bus for the ride to our first hotel.
We made it to bed at 3AM and our first wake up call was four hours later.
From the time we left our home (excluding the brief stay at the Hampton Inn Atlanta Airport) we traveled more than 40 hours (all airport layovers included). To say we arrived exhausted would be an understatement of biblical proportions. But excited and ready to explore and at 7Am we hit the streets ready to do just that.
Now, the great confession. We in this family love Christmas. I know many of you do not and that makes me a little sad, but we just love it. From the first pauper's year of our marriage to now we have tried to fill each Christmas with love,fun,and traditions of our own. And I am afraid I must admit that I decorate to the extreme. At least I do keep it to the indoors. No runway lights in the yard or anything, just a few simple, tasteful wreaths on the door and front windows. But open the door and Wow, people tend to wander through with their mouths open for a bit, then walk through again and giggle.
Why am I telling you this at the end of a long story about our trip? It's like this, since the girls left for college I have tried to have all the house decorated before they get home the day after Thanksgiving so that they come in and are greeted with the Christmas they love right off. They can then finish the last few weeks of classes and exams having already sampled the warmth of our home at Christmas. The trees are always already up (we have two, one in the family room and one in the living room) and lit so that on Friday night we can decorate one together and Saturday the other - without the hassle that is setting up and lighting the trees. However, this year we were leaving for the trip on Nov 4 and returning just 3 days before leaving again to celebrate Thanksgiving at D1's home. I knew that between exhaustion and time shortage, the only way the house would be Christmas ready when we came back for these couple days before D2&3 return to school was for the house to be fully decorated before we left - and it was. By Halloween almost every single Santa and globular ornament was in place.
We were laughing at ourselves. Well ok, they were all laughing at me - I kept some of the shades down so the neighbors wouldn't think we (I) were nuts. I'm a mom what can I say, I wanted everyone to have the holiday we have come to cherish - tacky colorful ornaments, music, cheesy Christmas movies, food and all. It had to be done.
So what greeted us when we finally arrived at the Hotel Tawana in Bangkok, Thailand?
On the balcony above the Christmas tree can be seen me, the boy, and the mother of Adam Savage(of Myth Busters fame)
I'll begin showing you pictures of the craziness that is our home at Christmas soon.
So as most of you already know, our grand excursion was a trip to Thailand, a place I've always wanted to see. We traveled with a tour group called OAT (overseas adventure travel) and it was a trip of a lifetime.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step and we traveled a bit more than 10,000 miles just to get there. The steps consisted of leaving home about noon on a Wednesday and driving four hours to Atlanta where we spent the night (sort of) because we had to be at the airport by 3:30AM. Our first flight (two hours to Chicago) left at 6AM. Once in the windy city our layover was four hours then we boarded my first ever 747 for the 14.5 hour flight to Tokyo. A flight with four movies, arggg, but that is what it takes and I got to see UP, which is a very cute movie. Have I mentioned before I hate hate hate flying? But I refuse to let my fears keep me from seeing the world. Didn't help that this was one of the bumpiest flights I've ever been on. Pilot had to climb a bit to get out of the bumps - United lets you listen in on air traffic control which the hub was doing. He kept chuckling so I asked what was so freaking funny - as I squeezed the blood flow from his thigh. The pilot was asking other planes ahead of us what conditions were, they were making cracks about the jolts - haha, very funny.
Anyway, our final flight to Bangkok was delayed more than an hour so we spent a good four hours in the terminal in Tokyo. Our family has a travel rule. You must leave an airport to count as having been TO a country. You can say you have been IN Japan if you were making connecting flights (which we all have now done at least once), but you cannot say you have been TO Japan until you have actually left the airport. None of us has yet been TO Japan.
Care to guess how long the flight from Tokyo to Bangkok is? You'd think after already flying a solid sixteen hours that the hop from Japan would be no biggy right? Seven, seven more hours. And because our flight was delayed we arrived in Bangkok at 12:15 AM. A further two and a half hours to do the passport control/immigration thing, collect baggage, meet with our tour group and tour guide, and load up on the bus for the ride to our first hotel.
We made it to bed at 3AM and our first wake up call was four hours later.
From the time we left our home (excluding the brief stay at the Hampton Inn Atlanta Airport) we traveled more than 40 hours (all airport layovers included). To say we arrived exhausted would be an understatement of biblical proportions. But excited and ready to explore and at 7Am we hit the streets ready to do just that.
Now, the great confession. We in this family love Christmas. I know many of you do not and that makes me a little sad, but we just love it. From the first pauper's year of our marriage to now we have tried to fill each Christmas with love,fun,and traditions of our own. And I am afraid I must admit that I decorate to the extreme. At least I do keep it to the indoors. No runway lights in the yard or anything, just a few simple, tasteful wreaths on the door and front windows. But open the door and Wow, people tend to wander through with their mouths open for a bit, then walk through again and giggle.
Why am I telling you this at the end of a long story about our trip? It's like this, since the girls left for college I have tried to have all the house decorated before they get home the day after Thanksgiving so that they come in and are greeted with the Christmas they love right off. They can then finish the last few weeks of classes and exams having already sampled the warmth of our home at Christmas. The trees are always already up (we have two, one in the family room and one in the living room) and lit so that on Friday night we can decorate one together and Saturday the other - without the hassle that is setting up and lighting the trees. However, this year we were leaving for the trip on Nov 4 and returning just 3 days before leaving again to celebrate Thanksgiving at D1's home. I knew that between exhaustion and time shortage, the only way the house would be Christmas ready when we came back for these couple days before D2&3 return to school was for the house to be fully decorated before we left - and it was. By Halloween almost every single Santa and globular ornament was in place.
We were laughing at ourselves. Well ok, they were all laughing at me - I kept some of the shades down so the neighbors wouldn't think we (I) were nuts. I'm a mom what can I say, I wanted everyone to have the holiday we have come to cherish - tacky colorful ornaments, music, cheesy Christmas movies, food and all. It had to be done.
So what greeted us when we finally arrived at the Hotel Tawana in Bangkok, Thailand?
On the balcony above the Christmas tree can be seen me, the boy, and the mother of Adam Savage(of Myth Busters fame)
I'll begin showing you pictures of the craziness that is our home at Christmas soon.
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"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
Sounds like you had fun. One of these days, I'll have to figure out a way to afford to sneak out of the country myself.
How close is Arkansas to Mexico? But seriously, Mexico close to the US border is not on my top ten safe places to travel...
I am blessed to be able to travel and I don't take it for granted. It is actually my husband with the wanderlust, I usually say something along the lines of "how about a road trip out west again? we can't really afford another trans oceanic vacation". But he is good at finding deals plus between his work travel and frequent flyer miles from credit card purchases, these trips are often less than you might think. When we cruised the inside passage in Alaska he found a deal where each of the three kids who were with us traveled for $50 each - for the whole 10 day cruise! Of course we were in the boom boom room but what the heck - it was a cruise and we ate the same as everyone else and saw the exact same amazing scenery.
It sounds like you must have had a great time, aside from the brutal jet lag that is. :-)
Christmas is my favorite holiday as well; I have a standing request every year to take off the week of Christmas so that I can be with family. While we usually wait a week after Thanksgiving before putting up the tree (so that we can recover from the inevitable craziness of Thanksgiving), it is always a big event in our house.
So you met Adam Savage's mom?? Mythbusters is one of my favorite shows; I'm convinced that those guys have one of the best jobs in the world.
As to visiting Asia, Japan and Australia are at the top of my list.
Looking forward to more pics and details!
And you must be very organized to have Christmas decorations up and get ready for an overseas trip all at the same time! Wowza!
Organization of Christmas is something that has happened over the years. Last year I did several things when I put everything away that helped a lot this year (and I didn't even know that we'd be making the Thailand trip until late summer this year!) so it wasn't that difficult to do. But almost 5 weeks after doing it all I'm still having upper back pain from decorating my garland. At least I think that is what caused the problem. Usually by this time I have all my shopping done, all the decorating done, cards ready to be dropped in the mail, and almost all the wrapping done so that we can enjoy other activities from this point forward.
I did all the Christmas shopping in Thailand - been making gifts all year (we do handmade gifts for the most part - and baked goodies) but nothing is wrapped and I haven't even thought about cards yet so I am way behind. Cards might not make it out this year - oh well. Whatever happens re gifts and cards, the fun is elsewhere and the fun will still be there :)
Adam Savage's mom was a member of our group so we got to enjoy her company for two full weeks. She was tons of fun and always laughing, thus always brightening everyone else's day. And that is one mama who sure is proud of her son.
My D2 has been to Australia, but she is the only one in the family to get there so far. I'd love to go too, but that is another freaking long flight!
That's amazing! Waiting patiently for the pics to come! :)
Farthest away I've ever been from home... the Caymans. LOL!
some pretty fishies swimming just under the surface in the caymans. good destination as far as i am concerned.
So far it sounds wonderful and I must look up this tour company because I really want to do some traveling!!! I can't wait for the rest of the story.
As for Christmas, I have never been big on decorating, but I don't begrudge others their fun. Sounds like you really love it and you are soooo together about getting it all done. LOL. I now feel like I should haul out the few Christmas things we have and put something up this coming weekend. ;-)
Awesome!