Thailand, Travel Day
After months of hard work, and prayers it’s finally time! Our kids and dogs are dropped off with family, arrangements are in place for the house to be watched, Kendra’s and my excitement is through the roof to the point we decided to stay awake Tuesday night so we can get to the airport and start the transition to Thai time which is 12hr ahead of Omaha time. We loaded our Envoy and left early to grab some breakfast on the way. It still kinda feels unreal at this point. Storms are rolling through, the rain makes the drive a bit slower but we are on our way!
We get to the airport around 2:45am and sit in the lobby. One by one our group shows up. Now it’s really getting real! Remember how the rain made our drive a bit slower? Well it made the plane slower as well! Right out of the gate we had multiple delays getting out of Omaha. Thankfully God always has our back and we just exchanged a long layover in Dallas, for a long delay in Omaha. We boarded and headed to Dallas about 5ish hrs late but still time to make our connection with a little hustle to get to the next flight. Then a miracle happens. As we landed we get a message from Melissa. She was somehow able to get the gate in Dallas changed to being only 2 gates away! So we rushed off the plane and made our way to the longest leg of our journey. Dallas to Tokyo!
After boarding we got settled in for a 6500 mile flight that to my surprise took us north west over the southern part of Alaska! The flight was very long and very cramped. Thankfully most of the group was able to get some good sleep in to help pass the time. It was cloudy as we approached Tokyo but below the clouds we saw a vibrant green and hilly landscape. Land was a very welcome site!
The Tokyo airport was, like most things on this trip, very unique! It had robot self driving wheel chairs cruising around with no rider, awesome little shops, and a food court that had us all drooling from the smell!
We boarded our flight from Tokyo to Bangkok and were welcomed by some amazing hospitality by the flight staff! They seemed to come by and check on us more than waiters at some restaurants! The movie selection was excellent with tons of options! A quick nap and a couple movies later we saw the lights of Bangkok! We made it! Almost. The last leg of the trip still had to be made.
After clearing customs, getting our bags and exchanging our money we hopped in a couple vehicles and finished our journey with a short 1hr drive to our hotel. Our trip took 26 hr and 58 min from wheels up in Omaha to standing in the lobby of our hotel at 3 in the morning August 1st. Time to get about 3 hours of sleep and be ready for our first day at the orphanage!
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