As the time for our departure neared, the reality of the trip started to settle in. Our backpacks were nearly finalized, filled with supplies to support us for five weeks in the tropical jungles, beautiful beaches, and bustling cities of Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Lightweight clothing, daily toiletries, various medications, cameras, film, and a Lonely Planet guidebook waited patiently in our packs for the adventue to begin.
From Chicago to Bangkok, Thailand, with a layover in Seoul, South Korea, the flight time is slightly over 20 hours. We estimate our total travel time from our departure in Sussex, WI to our hotel in Bangkok to be about 30-32 hours. Both of us have only one backpack, at around a capacity of 3000 cubic inches.
Thank you to all the people that have helped us prepare for this trip...especially Derek, Sherry, and Chris. Also, we want to thank our parents for their support, despite their fears and concerns for us in this exotic part of the world. We will do our best to travel safely and stick together.
-Jeffrey [Minneapolis, June 8]
Time to check the response processing at this site.
Have a great trip and as other parents say - Be safe and secure!
Have a wonderful trip! Stay safe and healthy and take lots of pictures. I am looking forward to reading about your experiences.
LT
On the eve of our departure, we double-checked our backpacks, counted our stack of one-dollar bills (very useful for inexpensive purchases), and enjoyed our last hours in the United States. Our plans continued to finalize as we browsed through the various web-sites and travel guides. We booked the first night in Bangkok at a reasonable price of 1500 baht (about $35 USD) for a nice room at the Majestic Suites. It should be interesting arriving in the city at midnight...
On a different note, we are attempting to acclimate to Thailand time (13 hours ahead of CST) by pulling an all-nighter. Hopefully our plan works and we can avoid any serious jet lag. Tomorrow, if for some reason we cannot stay awake all night, the alarm is set for 5:45am. My parents are dropping us off at a bus station in Brookfield (Milwaukee suburb) where we will hop on a bus to O'Hare International Airport [Chicago, IL].
We're flying out on a Boeing-777, which has the 2-5-2 seating arrangement. Hopefully, we can snag one of the ever-coveted "exit" aisles. To keep ourselves entertained on the long, long, long flight, we have a couple of novels ("The Darwin Awards" and "Bringing Down the House"), Connect-4, Video Poker, and plenty of candy (Twizzlers, Tootsie Pops, & Lifesavers).
Goodnight to those of you going to bed. Our next post will come from Bangkok, Thailand, on the other side of the world.
-Jeffrey [Sussex, June 12]
"Layover in Seoul"
About 9,000 miles and 15 hours later, we arrived in Seoul, South Korea. The flight went by relatively quickly...with great service and fairly good food on Korean Air. The flight path took us much further north than either of us had anticipated. The plane flew over the Canadian Rockies, then over the mountains of Alaska (just south of McKinley)...and the view was amazing! The snow-capped mountains were beautiful. It's crazy to think people live down there! Brrrrr....
From Alaska, we headed across the Bering Straight, then over Japan, and finally onto South Korea. The airport is a nice temporary "home" for the next four hours as we wait to board the final leg of our journey. We found a neat tour, ranging from 2 to 6 hours, that offers individuals the opportunity to gain a quick snapshot of Korean life in Seoul. It's about $30 for the 2-hour tour...which we may consider doing on the return flight.
We're off to rest on the couches provided in the Transfer Lounge at this modern-style airport. The architecture is sleek...accompanied by flat-screen TV's, internet cafe's, and juice bars.
-Jeffrey & Rachel
[Seoul, June 14 - 5:45pm ICN time]
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