Travel day, so we are up and out early. We have a 10:05 am flight, which means being at the airport by 8:05. It is only about 1/2 hour to the airport, but we don’t want to risk long taxi lines, or lines waiting to get off the ship, so we are coffeed up and ready to go around 6:35. We are scheduled to walk off at 7:00, but since the ship has been in port all night, we don’t think we have to wait. We wheel our bags down to the Rendesvous lounge, which is where we are supposed to meet to walk off, but there is no one there – and heck the gangway is right there and open – so…..
…we head out, bing bong out and say goodbye to the security guys – and we are off! We walk our pre-scouted out route, grab the lift down (we’re the only ones around), scan through customs and are out in the parking lot in no time. The limo taxi drivers are all there milling about and when we politely say no, we’re going for a taxi, they tell us there are no taxis here now. Well, nice try, but I can see them out there! It’s a longer walk to get to them, but I think we can manage – and do quite easily, thank youy!
There is no one else waiting, 4 taxis all lined up to go, so we are on our way well before our 7:00am disembarkation time. Nice! Oh – and we also only pay 20 Singapore dollars ($14 US) as opposed to the 55 Singapore dollars ($40 US) that the smallest limo taxi charges. So there!
Airport check in is a breeze. Security at this time of the morning is a breeze. Although its a really strange security, only our bags are scanned and we don’t have to take anything out. Hmmmm….that must have been agricultural, not “real” security. But – whatever.
We’ve got lounge passes from our stay at the Village Katong, they are dated for 1/17, so we’re worried they might not work 2 weeks later – but they do and we are lounging by 7:10am. Nice quiet space, watching planes take off and land, free wifi, good coffee, lots of water and eggs and bacon if we want it. Great perk – that hotel was the best! So, we spend the next 2 hours in relative peace catching up with the world, reading and enjoying the view.
We head out into the melee an hour before our flight, simply because we don’t know where the gate is located and we want to be sure we are in line on time (boarding can be an all out scrum sometimes, and we’re flying Air Asia – the discount airline – so we don’t know exactly what to expect). The walk to the gate does take about 15 minutes, so we are glad we left early. Plus, we end up very close to the front of the line – and here is the real security – at the gate. Wow! Every gate has security? How much does that cost? All those machines? Revolving personnel, but still, they’ve got to have way more personnel for individual gate checks than they would if it was centrally located. Guess we know where all those Singaporean fine fees go!
Fortunately, I’d not filled up my water bottle, but had taken a little bottle from the lounge. The little bottle got jettisoned, but there was a water fountain inside the gate area where I could fill up my empty bottle, so I was all set. Even though the plane didn’t arrive until very late, we boarded and pushed back right on time. Guess it is easier to turn around discount airlines where you don’t have to restock the plane every time.
The flight went off without a hitch and we landed at Don Mueang International Airport (the old Bangkok airport) a little early. Which was probably good, because the ticket agent and the gate agent both made a point of telling us to go straight to our gate in Bangkok. Ok, yeah, why wouldn’t we? Our bags are checked straight through, so of course we’d go to our gate. Well….we’d not been to this airport so we didn’t know the score. When you get off the plane there are airport people standing there with signs for transfers to Chiang Mai – pointing down a terminal walkway. We figure that’s us – and stop to show our boarding passes. No, that’s not us. They tell us to go through immigration. Huh?
Ok, so, we stand in line at immigration – and of course pick the wrong line where the doofus 3 in front of us hasn’t filled out his entry or exit card – sigh – what the heck was he doing on the plane? Or in this line for that matter! Finally we get through and I ask the immigration officer how to get to the gates – well – we end up going through immigration, passing through baggage claim, walking to the next terminal over, going up to level 3 and through security again and into the domestic terminal. Very strange – but now we know why the agents were so adament about telling us to go directly to our gate. Got it!
Plenty of time to spare still, we stop off for beverages at a cafe, then head to our gate to board the plane for Chiang Mai. Yay!
We’re ontime, smooth as silk, except as we deplane, an Air Asia agent has a sign with a bunch of names on it – ours included. Turns out we have to go to the International terminal to pick up our bags. What? Well, I guess it sort of makes sense because our checked bags haven’t cleared through customs yet. Bizarre. After an interminable wait for everyone on the list to show up, we are guided through the back halls and walkways, around immigration and into the international area where – voila – our bags are all lined up and waiting for us. Cool. That went well.
Then out into the terminal we go, looking for Richard. We end up meeting him halfway down the terminal – he was expecting us in Domestic (as were we) and finally figured out we must be in International. It’s great to see him again and get caught up on all his doings – selling units, buying units, trying to slow down (yeah right, not a chance!), etc. We spend an enjoyable trip to Twin Peaks just getting caught up on everything.
Once here, he shows us to our lovely home for the next month – new unit we’ve not stayed in with 2 baths and overlooking the pool where we will be spared most of the hot sunlight during the day. Nice!
We bid Richard farewell, and work on getting settled in – easy to do – dump everything in the closet. We’re set! The condo is really well equipped, with lots of storage space, extra sheets and towels and loads more cooking utensils than normal. Perfect for us.
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