over the hills and through the woods..

On the first day of Christmas, my journey gave to me:
A long wait in an airport.

The very weary partridge, wishing she were in a pear tree instead of an airport.
I firmly believe the MOST aggravating song that haunts the radio at Christmastime is undoubtedly “The 12 days of Christmas”; however, this year, my Christmas break is exactly 12 days, therefore, instead of pounding your forehead against the steering wheel the next time that terribly repetitive countdown of a song beckons from the dashboard- I will allow you to vicariously live through my 12 days of Southeast Asian adventure blogs. Whoop-whoop. Here we go!

Finally- the clock struck 3:30pm- AND……I WAS OUTTA THERE!
HARK! No more school for me for 2 weeks! Last night I was so relieved with the fact that I didn’t have to go to school today, that it hardly mattered that I was coming on this trip at all! (somewhat). I have been ridiculously excited for this little journey since the day I bought my ticket-November 6th, to be exact. Note: 1 day after Guy Fox day, therefore, somewhat of a post-holiday day. Second Note: If you know what Guy Fox day is, then we should be friends- GOOD friends. Around 3:34pm (not to be too exact,) I dropped my school bags amidst the disaster of my apartment floor, turned the fan on full blast and somehow managed to watch the majority of Season 2 of The Office. Hours past, I dosed in and out of awareness, and somehow between the Casino Night episode and a little bit of a workout session, the hours flew by and it was 1am.

1am, my apartment was still a mess. I realized not one single article of clothing was clean (and when I say “not clean,” I mean…not even close to clean- rather, something more like “I just found a receipt in the pocket of these pants from a movie I went to see LAST month..and, there’s no evidence the ticket has EVER been through the washing machine”
So, I decided to bid my farewells to the peculiar ways of mr. shrute and the charming grin jim halpert and pack.

What did I pack?
A bag full of dirty clothes, ½ a box of cereal, bug spray and my computer.

Five hours later, I was at the Bangkok airport.
It was there that my journey started to become interesting. As my world-traveling Dad has taught me, BE EARLY FOR FLIGHTS. How early? ANNOYING EARLY.
So, I was early- and, apparently TOO early.
Tell me, how is it at all possible that I could have been TOO early? After waiting for nearly an hour for my boarding pass, I approached the ticket counter at 6:30am and the woman said “oh, no. sorry. Come back at 7:25. Move over.”

Last post I admitted to my tendency to be a bit nosey. Okay, MORE than a bit nosey; however, more than nosey, I am not the most chipper of individuals before….umm..noon. So, I stepped aside and starred at the ticket counter for an hour so I could wait in line again and finally go to my gate.

I was in.
Gate G1. Good, good. I sat there making last minute phone calls to say my goodbyes, and then 10 minutes before my flight had to leave I got a phone call from one of the teachers I work with, Gina (super-cool, well-dressed, trendy, fun, from India,) who frantically told me that I needed to get a re-entry visa in order for my Thai work permit to stay valid upon my return to Thailand. I ran to the immigration desk and asked what I could do to make sure I would not have to get a new work permit when I return, and…well..it was too late (I think…we’ll see).
Needless to say…. I have a multiple entry visa (which SHOULD work,) but- who knows.

Now, I’m in Malaysia. My flight here from Bangkok was enjoyable. I’m flying Thai Air Asia the entire time, and I must say that I’m very impressed by the cleanliness of the planes. The not-so-cool part was the fact that you have to buy water and peanuts if you want anything during the flight. NOT COOL. So, I didn’t drink or eat a thing- instead, I read a bit and drooled all over the window, only to wake up 3 hours later here at the Malaysian airport.

Malaysia (from my 3 minute walk from the gate to the airport,) seems less polluted than Thailand, and actually smells a bit like Florida. Actually, to be precise- it smells exactly like being trapped inside that building for Space Mountain waiting line at Disney World in Orlando- but, then again, the only Malaysia I’ve experienced is this airport.

Moving on-I’m sitting in a cozy corner of a cheap airport coffee shop (once again, alone sipping coffee…) sigh- (might as well just strap on the red suspenders now, eh?) waiting for my next flight. I leave here around 4:30pm and I’ll arrive in Bali around 7:45pm. I’m extremely anxious to get there and meet Sandra and all the children. I’m already preparing myself to be overwhelmed at speechless, all while trying to maintain any kind of “cool,” I might possess. THAT reminds me:: I’ve come to realize that I am Brigit Jones. Yes, that’s me (minus the sleeping around with guys and the occupation part). Everything in those movies- her clumsiness, goofiness, attempts to be casually cool and graceful in public settings….note: “attempt,” yep. That really is me.

So..two hours until my flight leaves, which gives me 2 hours to enjoy my now room-temperature coffee and hopefully find something to settle this rumbling in the ol’ tummy. Actually, I’m quite certain I’m experiencing a bit of a negative reaction to my Malaria medication. After I took my first pill last night I read the list of side effects printed on the side of the bottle, which read: “nausea, vomiting and anorexia”.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA. ANOREXIA?
How on earth could anorexia be considered a “side effect”?

In conclusion, here are my life lessons learned on day one of my journey::
1. There IS such a thing as being “too” early
2. You will be thirsty when you fly “Thai”
AND, most importantly::
3.rather than falsely judging the famous Hollywood anorexics, we should first stop and realize it might just be the Malaria meds and not a binge and purge.


..just somethin’ to think about.