Day 1: A Long Day of Travel

Somehow I managed to get everything packed, my outer clothes sprayed with permethrin as an extra layer of protection against mosquitos carrying dengue fever or malaria, and luckily my 2 boxes of home Covid tests arrived a couple hours before I had to leave. My friend Dawne got me to SFO in record time, which turned out to be important as there were a few glitches so it took 40 minutes to get me checked in.

The flight to LAX was short and 4 hours later I boarded my 15 hour American Airlines flight to Sydney. That flight was wonderful! They reassigned seats so that everyone had a row of 3 seats to themselves and could sleep well on the trip. Such a better experience than my AA flight last March to Miami on the way to Belize. My 6 hours in Sydney passed pretty quickly as I had scheduled zoom meetings with friends and with family. The 9 hour Jetstar flight was by far the worst leg of the trip. They had me in a middle seat, plus apparently it is a budget airline so even on a 9-hour flight you pay for food, drinks, and even movies. Luckily, there were empty rows and we were able to move around once the plane was in the air. Even better, since I booked through American Airlines, they upgraded me to a comfort package that included a blanket and refresher kit, free movies, and a free meal with drink. I have officially revised my formerly tarnished opinion of American Airlines.

Finally, my 36 hour trip was completed and we landed at Phuket airport. It took over an hour to get outside with a long line to get paperwork checked before immigration control, then another long line to wait for a covid test station. I skipped a third line since I already had my Thailand QR code confirming I had submitted all my paperwork. Unfortunately, that was probably where they told people they needed Thai baht to take the required taxi (I had planned to use "Grab", Asia's answer to Uber) to their hotel where we were confined until our Covid test results came back. I now knew why everyone was lined up at the currency exchange in the airport. They were happy to take USD though they gave me a horrible exchange rate, which explains why they were so happy to take it.

The drive to the Doubletree in Patong took almost another hour and by the time I was in my room it was nearly midnight. As always after a long journey, the shower is the best part of arriving. That was followed quickly by sleep in a wonderful bed, so much more comfortable than airplane seats!