Bangkok - Day 6 - Friday 8th January 2016 - Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok, Thailand
It's leaving day! !! Time to move to the next Country and city....... I had a restless night probably because I am excited to be moving onto the next part of my journey but also because my back has been killing me. I got up at 5am, I'm thankful for having my friends and family to message, weirdly it makes it easier because of the time difference. Getting up early gave me time to sort my suitcase, I showered and was ready for the day. Everything was done by 6am!! So I went up to the pool, it was still dark outside and I considered going for a swim but I thought people would think I was even weirder so just sat waiting for the sun to come up. With that a man came to the pool and went for an early morning dark swim (maybe I'm not as weird as I thought!!).
At 630am went in for breakfast, I wasn't the first this morning ha ha, then after I sat by the pool waiting for the sun. However that didn't happen, little drops of rain came! It was strange because you could see it in the pool but not really feel it. It was actually refreshing to just sit there so I caught up on my diary and relaxed. I went back to my room about 1pm in order to charge my phone, laptop and extra mobile battery ready for the flight.
I left the hotel at 145pm and got a taxi to the airport, the driver went via the toll road (costing me 75baht, how cheeky! £1.50p), it took 45 minutes to get to the airport and cost 300baht. It was 3pm so I went straight to the Qantas check-in, there were only 3 people in front of me and I was checked in with minutes. I was allocated seat 57K on the Airbus A330. My case weighed 29 kilos!! So I need to be careful or ditch some stuff as they charge a lot for excess baggage.
I went through passport control (with a very grumpy passport officer. I think it was because I had packed my departure visa card in my suitcase and he had to write a new one!! Oops!!) I decided to sit in a cafe / bar and have a beer and write my blog for the previous day, so paid 210baht for a large bottle of Singha beer (I was also secretly hoping the beer would make me sleepy). I wanted to use the last of my Thai money so brought a pain au chocolat for 90baht and a portion of chips fr 105baht. That was all my Thai baht gone; saves me having it at home floating around.
I made my way down to gate F5 about 445pm as boarding was at 530pm. There's an extra baggage check at the gate so I stood in line and as it came to my turn the flight crew for my flight appeared (they skipped the queue as they should do) and as I finished having my bag checked and I started to walk down the slope to the gate so did the Captain, walking beside me whistling 'Fly me to the moon'. I made a comment that he seemed very happy, to which he replied, "I am, it's a nice short flight and we're going home". I then dropped into conversation I was ex crew and we started talking and laughing about the terrible Ibiza flights, I also dropped in my current occupation! No harm in letting him know; would it make any difference?!! Probably not but it's always worth a shot I might get an upgrade!! (A girl has got to try!!)
530pm arrive and boarding started with rows 50-60. Good good, that was me and off I went. I got on the plane and walked to the back where I had been given a window seat in a row of two but no extra leg room. I was a little gutted as this was a 9 hour flight and I needed to get some sleep as I knew I was going to be busy from the moment I landed and reached the hotel. however I accepted the seat and started to settle myself down.
Then things got a lot worse!!! My fellow passenger arrived to sit in his seat next to me, a 6ft, 30 stone man! OMFG! seriously, this had to be a joke. It was my worst nightmare. I immediately started texting my family, this can't be happening. As he squeezed himself into the seat, his fat oozed out over our adjoining arm rest and was overhanging and encroaching on my side. All I could think was, seriously I have this for 9 hours, 9 whole hours. The messages from my family were hilarious, I was laughing so hard inside (but not on the outside).There was nothing I could do, the flight was full. The aircraft was no where near as nice as the Emirates one, the aircraft was old and I wasn't happy with my seating situation.
We took off at 615pm, I decided to watch Ted 2 to cheer myself up. Food was served at 730pm, it was nice but not a patch on Emirates. I had beef curry and rice, a mango jelly & coconut mousse for pudding and a large bottle of James Boags beer. (I wanted to drink myself into a coma!). I then started watching another film called One wild night, firstly it was in sub titles and it turns out it was about two dad's taking their teenage daughters on holiday, when one of the dad's cracks on with his best mates daughter and starts shagging. I was a little embarrassed that I had that on my screen and thought it wasn't really appropriate for a plane. (It wasn't that good as I fell asleep).
I managed to get 4 hours sleep on the plane (interrupted because it's never comfortable, but the seats did seem to recline quite a lot which was a plus). I had lost a night's sleep but the 4 hours were enough to see me through the day. Time was also jumping forward by 4 hours when I landed. I woke up for breakfast which was served an hour and half before landing (about 130am Bangkok time, 530am Sydney time).
Breakfast was okay, it was a mushroom, cheese and thyme pastry, with a natural yogurt with a few pieces of pineapple. I also had coffee and apple juice. To be honest the whole flight reminded me of my old charter airline. Nothing special, not like that extra bit of class Emirates provide.
We landed on time and it took a while for everyone to get off. I immediately got up and needed the toilet, I hadn't left my seat from the moment I sat down before we took off from Bangkok!!! I went to the back of the plane and started talking to the crew, who were actually really lovely. They were a lot friendlier than the Emirates crew, so another plus. To be honest they probably have to deal with a lot of **** on board like I used to so it's nice when a friendly passenger or ex-crew members chats. They were great, offering me advice of where to go in Sydney and when they realised it was my birthday on Sunday they were all kind wishing me a happy birthday.
By the time I finished chatting and used the toilet most of the other passengers had got off the plane. When walking down through the cabin it looked like a pig sty. It's terrible how people leave the plane in such a state. I wonder what their homes are like?
As I walked off the aircraft into the air-bridge I turned to see the Aircraft and airport in the reflection of the terminal window. It became real, I'm here, I'm in Australia