Filbert did very well on his first international adventure. I think there are probably advantages to being a 4 inch tall mouse when it comes to long flights. He spent much of his time in my backpack where he had almost all the comforts of home.Beginning a few days before we headed to the airport, Filbert begin guarding the growing pile of things to be packed. He took special care to be sure that certain items did not get left behind -- my passport, the camera, and a small stash of Fiber One bars (oatmeal chocolate chip).
We left via Orlando International Airport on April 1. For the trip to Thailand, we did not check any luggage so security checks took a wee bit more time (or potentially could take more time), but it ensured that we would arrive with all of our stuff.
At our first stop in Detroit, we only had time to walk as fast as possible -- making use of the people movers -- to our gate where boarding was "FINAL" for the flight to Tokyo.
After a 12 hour flights (including three movies and quite a few chapters in the Ted Dekker trilogy I read on this trip), we arrived in Japan. I was grateful that I've been through this airport before and knew the routine and also had a sense of the airport. I spent a good portion of the time there (only about 90 minutes) walking. Here Filbert is peeking out from his side pocket at the boarding gate just before we got in line to board our next flight.
That next flight was a 6 hour evening flight to Bangkok and I had a window seat with an open middle next to me. I slept for most of this leg of the journey, arriving at Bangkok at 12:30 AM on April 3 (just after noon on April 2 back in Orlando).
This huge airport gave me plenty of space to walk and walk I did. I also when through immigration there and officially entered Thailand with a quick stamp in my passport. My final flight did not leave this airport until about 6:00 AM, and I couldn't check in and go back through security until 2 hours before that flights, so I had plenty of time to walk as well as to sit and read -- which I did in two different locations. One of those should look pretty familiar to most of you.
Once through a few security checks in Bangkok, we found our way to the gate lounge and awaited boarding for a final flight to Chiang Mai (only an hour flight) where we were met by the director of Wycliffe Thailand and his wife who took me to breakfast and drove me out to Wang Tarn Resort about 40 minutes from the airport.
We got our key, moved into our home away from home for the week and I took a shower and a nap. A really long nap, it turned out. While I slept, Filbert explored the new digs a bit and found them to his liking.
