Getting to Thailand or You Know It Ain't Easy (apologies to John Lennon)

2 hours to Boston
and a 2-hour layover

Easy flight but a very full commuter plane. For Beth, the reward of completing this first leg of our trip came in a slice of Sbarro pizza.

12 hours to Doha, Qatar 

and a 3-hour layover

How many movies can one person watch in one sitting? I got through three-and-a-half and managed to sleep about 2 hours. How thankful I am for the person who invented seat-back media screens! Those of you not old enough to remember the days when everyone had to watch the same movie on a single screen mounted in the front of the cabin cannot appreciate the bliss of having personal choices! But why are stewardi constantly coming around with food and "snacks", especially when there's no way to get up and move  around and exercise a little bit? Ah well, at least Qatar Airlines' food is real food - and very good as far as airline edibles go.

As our plane was landing in Doha, we were provided with some unique views on the seat monitors through live cameras - one mounted under the belly of the plane just behind the front wheels and one on the tail overlooking the entire fuselage. By the time I realized what was happening and got my cell phone camera ready to photograph the screen, we'd already landed and I missed a shot of the front wheels touching down in a cloud of dust. This is a shot as we taxied to our landing area.

Once inside the Hamad International terminal in Doha, Qatar, the traveler is truly impressed with its beauty, modern decor, total cleanliness, and the several fun climbing sculptures for children.

    

6 hours to Bangkok
and a 4 hour-layover

I finished the movie I'd begun on the flight to Doha, ate another "snack", watched one more flick, and finally sleep came, sort of.

The Bangkok airport is also an incredibly beautiful facility and we had no trouble wending our way through customs and baggage retrieval. But then we were told to make our way up to the 4th floor to check in for the Lampang flight. So I grabbed one of the hundreds of "free" baggage carts, loaded our bags, and headed for the elevator. (I find it most curious that the only country that requires payment for using a luggage cart is the U.S..  Everywhere else they're free and you just wheel one away, use it, and leave it. No fuss; no muss; no $3-$5 fee.)

After waiting through 3 packed elevator loads for room for our luggage cart, we made it to the 4th floor and found that seemingly everyone in Bangkok had decided to fly this morning! Fortunately, the line for checking in to our Lampang flight was one of the shortest; but it still took 30 minutes to get to the counter.

Once our bags were checked we wandered around a bit and I enjoyed my first Thai meal in a food court area. (Beth had a croissant and cup of tea).

 

Then we found our departure gate, logged onto the free WiFi,  and were amazed at the bautiful planters of beautiful orchids gracing the waiting room.

1 1/2 hours to Lampang 

When we exited the waiting area of the Bangkok terminal we were loaded into a double-bus for a ride out to our plane. There were several planes waiting on the tarmac and we rolled past every one of them. Finally, our bus stopped next to a twin propeller plane with brightly colored palm trees and fish on its side. Beth had never flown in a propeller-driven plane and to say she was a bit discomfitted is to be gracious.  However, we survived and the flight went successfully all the way to Lampang. 

 

Upon our arrival in Lampang, we found the temperature to be a sunny 99 degrees! But, as always, the thoughtful, gracious, smiling Thais had provided a means of easing our 200-yard walk to the terminal. At the base of the exit stairway was a rolling cart with dozens of bright blue umbrellas for passengers to use as they made they way to the terminal building.

 

All-in-all, a very long and quite fatiguing two days of travel but worth it to finally arrive in beautiful Lampang, Thailand!