It's official. Kailah and I just booked our flights to Thailand in mid-March. It doesn't seem real that we're going to travel to the other side of the world. I can remember growing up, my parents would tell me that if I dug a hole deep enough, I'd end up in Asia. Now I'm going to have the opportunity to experience the world from their perspective...no digging required.
We booked round trip tickets out of Boston, connecting in Dubai, UAE and landing in Bangkok. The first leg is 12 hours on a Boeing 777 to Dubai where we have 3 hour layover before getting on a double decker jumbo jet A380-800 to cruise another 6 hours down to Thailand. We ended up paying an extra $40 a seat right after booking through Emirates website to secure exit row seats between Boston and Dubai (as well as the return journey). This is money well spent for me, as my 6' 5" frame doesn't enjoy any flight crammed into a standard economy seat - I can't fathom 12-14 hours. We basically have the same flights coming back, but the reverse order and a shorter layover. We actually considered choosing a longer layover in Dubai on the return, so that we could step out and see the city. While this sounds appealing now, I'm guessing the combination of long flights and time zone changes would cause me to be swearing at myself in March (Lets just get home!).
As for our plan when we get there...well we don't really have one yet. This trip idea came pretty suddenly. We've done some primitive research on where we want to go, but the flights were the first step (always are). At a high level, we want to spend a few days in Bangkok and the rest in a tropical location on a beach. We want to interact with monkeys, visit an elephant sanctuary, take a Thai cooking class and go zip lining. Most of all, we want to experience Thailand and learn about its culture. Nevertheless, we are super excited to put this trip together - after all, it is right around the corner.
Kyle