Our Day 1 (1/6/2020)

Getting our flights straightened out was over, but now came the execution. We had to go through the check in process again with the new airline, along with going through TSA again and finding out new gate. Being that the old flight was at midnight, not many people were around so getting to our gate and going through TSA was a breeze. The new flight was at 9am, which EVERYONE goes for, so it was much more difficult. Of course, this flight also wound up being delayed because the plane had not yet made it back from its previous trip. It went by quicker than expected. I don’t really like planes, so this initial ride was the scariest. This flight also had 2 meals, snacks, and drinks which were all pretty good. Overall, I did well.

11 hours later…

We get to our layover destination, but because the first flight was delayed they had to delay our connecting flight (this was for about an hour). By the time we got our new boarding passes, went through another set of metal detectors, got to our gate, and checked in, we only had to wait about 20 minutes to board.

5 hours later…

We finally arrive at Bangkok, but not in time for our third flight to Chiang Rai. We booked a flight for the next morning and booked a hotel by the airport. We also had to go through immigration, exchange money, and get a Thai sim card. Our new third flight time was 6am, so we had to be up by 4am and out by 5am. As soon as we hit the hotel beds, we knocked out. At least we’ll still be on time for the elephants.

Our original Day 1 plans:

1. Meet in Chiang Rai by 4:30pm
2. Get dinner with the whole study abroad group (16 of us in total)
3. Check in at Chiang Rai hotel and get ready for the next day’s elephant festivities

P.S. sorry these posts are so late! I only had an hour of wifi on each flight and have had spotty wifi at hotels.