I am sorry for being late, for not updating the blog yesterday.
As you will guess from the title we changed our location from Thailand to Mexico. In another blog entry I will explain, what happened to us the last couple of days in Thailand and why I wasn’t able to prepare an entry for you guys.
We left Chiang Mai the same way that we came, by over night train. To avoid, that both of us would freeze another night in the stream of the AC we shared a bed. From the train station Hua Laphong in Bangkok we took a taxi to the airport. It was seven in the morning and our flight would left at 3 in the morning the following day. To be honest, since the train to Chiang Mai was delayed by several hours I was expecting another delay, but the train was on time. Therefore, we had to wait very long hours at the Airport. The first few hours I laid down on my yoga mat. It was the last time I would use it, even though I didn’t know it then. We read a lot, we talked for hours, we watched films and videos on our smartphones to kill the time. We found a food court downstairs, we found an office where we could print some stuff, that we would need for the check-in.
Some minutes before midnight we went upstairs to the check-in counters for our check-in. Our flight would leave at 3.10 in the morning and at the counter they had a sign, that the check-in would close at 2.10. Not a problem, we thought. Oh boy, were we wrong. We were among the first people in line. And among the last that would board the plane. What happened.
The woman at our counter was slow. So, so slow! At first it took her nearly twenty minutes to tell us, that we had to apply for an ESTA, because our flight route was Bangkok-Doha-Dallas-Mexico City. The time we would have in Dallas was 1:45 h. It was our fault for not checking it, but not our fault, that it took her so long. We left the counter, applied for the ESTA and received the approval within 45 minutes. At that point we were talking to a supervisor who checked our ESTAs in the slowest way possible. She took screenshots. We asked her if we would need anything more for the check-in. I asked three times. She denied. It was a lie.
Back at the counter the woman checked our documents again and then our ESTAs again. I told her, that her supervisor did it already and that we had an approval. By then another 30 minutes were waisted and it was almost two. The screenshots of our approval were at the phone of some other guy at the counters and they talked. After two we received our tickets, our baggage was checked in, but in the most complicated way possible, again. And the woman tried t send us to the Qatar-shop, because we would need the ESTA printed out. Halfway through her description where to find the store she realized, that there was no time for us to collect the ESTAs and go through security check. She said, somebody would bring it to the gate. By then I was in tears. The flight was 1600 Euros and this woman made it a hell for us to check in. If we would miss the flight, we had huge problems.
We didn’t miss the flight, but we arrived the planed stressed at hell. On top of that, Rob was sick and needed to take a bunch of medicines. At the check-in he told me, he felt, that his tonsillitis might have went on to the lung. I was devasted by everything and just cried. At the plane there were very few passengers and we had a row for ourselves. We slept the almost seven hours to Doha.
As we arrived in Doha and went on to our next flight we felt like there was no pandemic at all. Doha Airport was full of people from all around the world. There was an Indian guy who lost his wife while she was at the toilet, there were people from Africa in beautiful tribal clothing. And of course, a lot of people from Arabia. At our gate to Dallas we were told to wait, because they needed to check our ESTAs again. A guy left with our passports. A few minutes later he came back. We went through another security check at the gate and waited to board the plane. I hoped for a plane as huge as the one from Bangkok to Doha, because then everyone would fit in comfortably. No, we had a size smaller and a 16 hour-flight ahead of us. With a noise that gave us headaches, with people not wearing their masks, cramped, with movies we could hardly understand, because of the noise and hardly any subtitles. With slow service and stewardesses surprised by how slow they were. Shortly before the landing at Dallas we were told everyone had to go through baggage claim. Our sleep deprived brains understood, that we had to get our baggage to check it in again. Our next flight was due in an hour. And we had to go through the US-American boarder control. Again, we were stressed as hell. Luckily, the boarder control didn’t take to long and we found a lady who told us we only had to go through baggage claim without claiming our baggage. We went in to our flight and reached it in time. The flight was delayed by almost an hour, because of a missing screw.
As we finally arrived in Mexico City, our baggage wasn’t there. It took another 30 minutes to find someone to help us locate the baggage. Two out of three pieces would come with the next flight from Dallas. Rob and I got in a fight, because I couldn’t concentrate anymore and he couldn’t speak because of his tonsillitis. And yes, Rob’s small bag and my backpack arrived, but without my yoga mat. Since, I already travelled with it through several countries and in several flights, I knew, someone had removed it on purpose. It was attached to tight to the backpack for just “losing” it. Bigger problem was Rob’s missing backpack, because his laptop was in there. Again, we went to the baggage costumer service and were told, the backpack would come the following morning.
We arrived at our hotel at half past ten in the evening, ate a little bit and went straight to sleep. With cuddles. We needed it after this hell we went through.
Maybe, you ask yourself on what day we flew. It was Thursday the 27th of May that we started and Thursday the 27th of May that we arrived in Mexico City. We had travelled with the day. And it took me until now to recover enough to tell you this story. As I am writing this it is 6 in the morning. We are still struggling with the jetlag. Yesterday I filed a complaint at Qatar Airways. It was the worst flight Rob and I had ever experienced.
I hope your Thursday was a better one and you had a wonderful weekend.
-Toni
TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF 