Sooner or later, all good things must come to an end and it was time to begin to say, "goodbye". Again. I had a "final" fun evening out with a few of my friends - we have so much fun together and I am always so sad to say good-bye to them. I kept telling myself that, this time next year, we will all be sitting around the pool having happy hour(s)! My parents drove down from New York on Thursday and my sister flew in from St. Augustine, FL on Friday so we could all spend the weekend together before we left for Bangkok on Monday.
Kevin and my dad were able to golf three of the four mornings we were together. Fortunately, they go out very early in the morning and are back no later than 11 am so there is still plenty of time left in the day for other activities. Kevin has been practicing and playing quite a bit in Bangkok and his game has improved tremendously. Although he shot his best game ever one of the mornings he played with my dad, I still won't let him quit his day job. In fact, since he has started his new job in Virginia and will be working in the U.S. quite a bit, he made sure to outfit himself with a set of clubs to keep in Virginia so he won't need to haul his "Bangkok" set back and forth. Oh, the hardship! However, he is now concerned that the some of the clubs he uses in the U.S. are superior to those he uses here and might "throw" his swing off. Does it ever end?!?
My sister's birthday was Sunday so all of the "girls" went and got mani/pedis. I know I will certainly miss the very inexpensive "services" industry in Bangkok when we move back to Virginia. In Bangkok, a pedicure costs 150 Baht (about $5.00) compared to the $27.00 I paid in Virginia. Once or twice a week, Caitlynne will go to the salon in Nichada to get her hair washed and blown out (her hair is crazy thick & curly and it is very hard for her to manage) for about $9.00. While we were in Virginia, we went to a Hair Cuttery (not even a high end salon) and the stylist told me she could wash/blow out Caitlynne's fair for $36.00!!! I had to ask her to repeat the price because I thought, for sure, I heard her incorrectly. No, thank you!
Monday morning came way too quickly! We packed and loaded our suitcases into my brother's truck...
Took a last round of family photos and headed to the airport.
Just as a fun comparison, the photos below were taken 7 years ago on the day we moved to Australia. The more things change, the more they stay the same!
We started the trip back to Bangkok with smiles...
I will spare you all of the messy details but our trip back to Bangkok was horrific. Clearly, there is still a lot of work to be done before the United-Continental merger can be considered a success. We were so delayed flying out of D.C. that we missed our connection in Japan and had a forced over night in Tokyo.
After spending the night in a not-so-nice hotel (and, having none of our luggage, we sure looked lovely), we went to the airport very early the next morning - only to be told that Kevin had a seat on the direct flight from Tokyo to Bangkok. Yup, just Kevin. United had no record in their system of the kids and I traveling with him. This was Just.A.Little.Problem. Fortunately we were able to work out a few logistical details and Kevin went on to Bangkok while the kids and I flew to Seoul and spent a very exciting 6 hours in the airport before FINALLY getting on a flight to Bangkok.
After the chaos and confusion with our flights, I was most amazed when ALL of our luggage (that we had last seen when we checked it in D.C.) showed up in Bangkok at the same time we did! During our layover in Seoul, I did a little inventory as to what was in each bag because I thought for sure we were going to have to file a "lost luggage" claim. Thankfully that was not the case. We scooped up our bags and hired a car to take us to Nichada and HOME!
Have a great Sunday!
Kevin and my dad were able to golf three of the four mornings we were together. Fortunately, they go out very early in the morning and are back no later than 11 am so there is still plenty of time left in the day for other activities. Kevin has been practicing and playing quite a bit in Bangkok and his game has improved tremendously. Although he shot his best game ever one of the mornings he played with my dad, I still won't let him quit his day job. In fact, since he has started his new job in Virginia and will be working in the U.S. quite a bit, he made sure to outfit himself with a set of clubs to keep in Virginia so he won't need to haul his "Bangkok" set back and forth. Oh, the hardship! However, he is now concerned that the some of the clubs he uses in the U.S. are superior to those he uses here and might "throw" his swing off. Does it ever end?!?
My sister's birthday was Sunday so all of the "girls" went and got mani/pedis. I know I will certainly miss the very inexpensive "services" industry in Bangkok when we move back to Virginia. In Bangkok, a pedicure costs 150 Baht (about $5.00) compared to the $27.00 I paid in Virginia. Once or twice a week, Caitlynne will go to the salon in Nichada to get her hair washed and blown out (her hair is crazy thick & curly and it is very hard for her to manage) for about $9.00. While we were in Virginia, we went to a Hair Cuttery (not even a high end salon) and the stylist told me she could wash/blow out Caitlynne's fair for $36.00!!! I had to ask her to repeat the price because I thought, for sure, I heard her incorrectly. No, thank you!
Monday morning came way too quickly! We packed and loaded our suitcases into my brother's truck...
After spending the night in a not-so-nice hotel (and, having none of our luggage, we sure looked lovely), we went to the airport very early the next morning - only to be told that Kevin had a seat on the direct flight from Tokyo to Bangkok. Yup, just Kevin. United had no record in their system of the kids and I traveling with him. This was Just.A.Little.Problem. Fortunately we were able to work out a few logistical details and Kevin went on to Bangkok while the kids and I flew to Seoul and spent a very exciting 6 hours in the airport before FINALLY getting on a flight to Bangkok.
After the chaos and confusion with our flights, I was most amazed when ALL of our luggage (that we had last seen when we checked it in D.C.) showed up in Bangkok at the same time we did! During our layover in Seoul, I did a little inventory as to what was in each bag because I thought for sure we were going to have to file a "lost luggage" claim. Thankfully that was not the case. We scooped up our bags and hired a car to take us to Nichada and HOME!
Have a great Sunday!
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