Chelsea in the Air

Hello again, devoted readers (all 3 of you) :) I’m on the road again, and excited to be blogging once more. It’s been a while since my last international trip, but work and life have kept me busy. I’ve met someone, fallen in love, and gotten engaged. I still can’t believe it sometimes! His name is Danny, and we will be getting married this December. Tthe trip I am about to blog will likely be my last international foray as a single woman. But, that just means another life-adventures awaits.

For now, though, I am off to THAILAND! For those loyal readers who remember my February vacation last year, to Korea and Japan, this is like Round 2, but in another country. I am going with my same girlfriend from college, Jessica. We are meeting in Bangkok this time, rather than Korea. I love having a friend that not only likes to travel, but also has the means to do so, and most importantly, prioritizes travel like I do. Not many people do that! Everyone says they want to travel more, but when it comes down to it, it’s not a high enough priority to dedicate the time and money it takes. I’m so thankful that Jessica can be my partner-in-travel, at least while she lives/works in Seoul.

So, this year we are headed to southeast Asia. I began planning (at least the idea of) this trip almost immediately following our last one. So, it’s been almost a year in the making. At first, we considered New Zealand, but I ultimately decided to go with a cheaper country. Plus, Danny (my fiancé) wants to go to New Zealand with me, so I wanted to save that destination for us. Once Jessica and I decided on SE Asia, we had to narrow down the country/itinerary. Honestly, had we more time (or more funds) I’d have loved to do both Thailand and Cambodia. I think Cambodia has a lot of very interesting places I’d like to see: Angkor Wat (of course), plus all of the historical stuff (Killings Fields, etc). However, as I started to plan the itinerary, it felt like we were trying to do too much in too little time. We decided to limit our destinations to spend more quality time in each place, plus reduce the stress of traveling between too many cities.

So, Thailand won out, primarily due to its Bucket List points. So, I researched and plotted out all of the things we wanted to do. Honestly, our 10 days in-country won’t be enough to do it all, but I am super happy about our chosen itinerary. We will be doing Bangkok and northern Thailand. A lot of people choose to go to the islands, and I’d love to go there one day as well, but, like I said, I wanted a more Bucket List heavy trip. I don’t want to spoil the coming blogs, so I’m zipping my lips about our plans, but I’ll say that adventure definitely awaits!

For now, I am 7.5 hours into a 15 hour flight to Seoul (ironic that my layover is in Korea), then onto another 6 hour flight to Bangkok. I’m really happy that my layover is at Incheon Airport, though, as it is extremely nice!! I departed from Houston directly to Seoul; I prefer not changing planes in somewhere like San Francisco as it can be so chaotic.

I’m flying Korean Air, and maybe I am spoiled by Asiana & Singapore Air, but I’m not super impressed thus far. The food was pretty good (I had bibimbap – Korean rice and veggies in a spicy sauce), but the snacks are minimal and infrequently offered. Plus, I am in a section of 3 seats, with the middle being unoccupied. The Korean guy in the seat on the other end has decided that the middle seat is his proxy seat, putting his backpack in front of it, his newspapers and doo-dads in the seat, and his drink on the middle tray table. -__- It’s definitely not a big deal, I just find it annoying. I’m one of about 4 white people on the flight; there are more toddlers/babies on the flight than white people. Alas, such is flying on an Asian airline.

Honestly, not much else to divulge at the moment. Maybe I’ll have some crazy story to tell after my layover (unlikely, but possible). Either way, I’ll be sure to document an update when I get to the hotel in Bangkok. Until then… adios!

XX,

Chelsea