December 5, 2021. Going Home!
December 5, 2021. Our day started at 5:30 am. We showered and dressed in our travel clothing, including knee high compression stockings and running shoes. The shoes were an odd feeling. First time wearing shoes in 5 weeks.
Linda had fruit prepared the night before and in the fridge, no risking our clean clothes with food prep. We had the last of our yogurt, cereal and fruit. We over ate because of how much food we had left on hand.
We walked out of our villa door and the “guys” were waiting, all 4 of them ready to haul our luggage to the lobby. We got our deposit back from Lady Naya Villas. We actually had a few charges for huge bottles of water that were deducted from our deposit. Remember we made herbal tea? Yup, we used bottled water. Having our laundry looked after during our stay was NOT one of the things we had to pay for. Also, we did not pay extra for printing multiple itineraries, changed itineraries, immigration documents, PCR test results, and ArriveCAN printouts. The list goes on and on. Andrew and Marisa really look after their guests in a friendly and economical manner. We are so appreciative of Andrew driving us to have PCR tests on 2 occasions, also to Immigration for a visa extension and multiple drop offs and pickups around the Rawai and Nai Harn area. Oh, ya, he even took us for groceries once before we had a car, and even once after we had the car as we were to chicken to go on our own to the large grocery store where the main kiosk was located where we needed to get our cell phone internet SIM cards topped up.
Anyhow we checked out feeling an emotional twinge. Lady Naya Villas and staff was our home and family for 5 weeks. As we write this it’s making us lonesome for Thailand already. We even said goodbye to the cats!
The taxi was ordered for 7:15 am and he was early. Goes to show, it never hurts to be ready early. The trip to the airport took 1 hour. We got checked in, it seems like a distant memory now. The departure lounge was freezing cold!! We had to dig out our puffer jackets aka winter coats! This first flight with Bangkok Airways, from Phuket to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport was uneventful. Can you believe Suvarnabhumi is pronounced “soo·waan·aa·poom”? Our first flight carrier, Bangkok Airways uses the tagline “Asia’s Boutique Airline”. Bangkok Airways actually have 3 of their own airports, the most famous on Koh Samui which is a small airport and an amazing place!
FYI, Bangkok has 2 airports, Don Mueang International Airport (DMK) and Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK). After arriving at the Suvarnabhumi Airport we had to retrieve our luggage and check in for our next flight. Since our first flight was domestic our luggage was unable to be tagged through from Phuket to Saskatoon. Our second flight was with Thai Airways International. Wow, the paperwork, it took us 20 minutes to get checked in with Thai Airways.. Check in was intense. The Thai Airways agent had 2 other staff taking photos with their phones of both the computer screen shots and our documents. We had to present printed copies of our most recent RT-PCR test, proof of vaccination and our completed arriveCAN printout. Once all of this was checked over and input into the computer, 3 sets of boarding passes printed. Our baggage was then tagged through to Saskatoon but we would have to retrieve it in Toronto to clear customs. Everything checked off and complete we headed to the gate. The gate was in a very deserted part of Suvarnabhumi airport. We were the first passengers to arrive.
The Airbus A359 (350-900) was already sitting at the gate. This plane has 10 lavatories, 32 business class lie flat bed seats, 289 economy seats and 16 crew seats. 321 total paying passenger seats. We all could have sat in first class, all 10 passengers. That’s correct, we had 8 other passengers on board with us and 5 total crew, 15 humans on a plane that could carry 321 passengers plus crew. We made a video which you will hopefully watch. The video includes a quick tour of the rear section of the Airbus A359 cabin, video of take off, landing in Hong Hong plus footage inside the empty Hong Kong airport on our way to the transfer desk where we had more paperwork. This was the best 3 1/2 hour flight we have ever taken. The plane was loaded with cargo, but you have to question the financial liability of operating a passenger jet with a list price of $350,000,000 USD carrying only 10 paying customers with 311 seats unoccupied.
The Cathay Pacific flight CX826 from Hong Kong to Toronto was not so nice. It was packed full. No social distancing at all. The scheduled flight length of 14 hours and 47 minutes is the longest we have ever endured. Some observations. The food served on Cathay flights departing Hong Kong is shit. The food served on Cathay flights departing Canada is excellent. The travel part of travelling is not fun. The fun part is the destination.
We had to circle Toronto one loop for 20 minutes due to weather. Once at the gate they could only let out 50 passengers at each go. We finally got into the terminal and it was obvious that several flights had arrived at once. Canada’s busiest and largest airport, Toronto’s Pearson International Airport can’t handle the surge very well. We did our entry declaration at a kiosk that gave us much grief. We spent at least 10 minutes getting it to work. It reads your passport, takes your picture and eventually spits out a printout that you then take to a customs officer. There was a very long line for the custom officers. We finally got our turn and Gary mentioned that Linda’s ArrivCAN app appeared to have lost its information! The Agent said “It’s all good, the system saved the information”. YAY. Actually, we never noticed our ArriveCAN status was on the paper that the kiosk gave us.
We collected our bags, sat down, found a hotel online and then figured out where to catch the hotel shuttle. A short shuttle ride, a quick check in, an even quicker shower and we finally crawled into bed around 11 pm. We got up at 4:30 am because Gary couldn’t sleep. That was likely a blessing as it turned out the security lineup was about 1 1/2 hours long. We had time to spare to buy 2 yogurt and one cup of cubed watermelon at the astronomical price of $17 CAD. Two Starbucks coffee for chasers and we had breakfast for under $30 CAD. It wasn’t much, but during the covid pandemic food services are extremely limited. People still travel, they just can’t eat.
Our flight to Saskatoon was almost full with only a few empty seats. The 3 1/2 hour flight was good. We were able to see several places from Thunder Bay to Saskatoon with the clear weather.
Our next trip to Bangkok is booked. We will see what happens January 7, 2022. One month to go.
