Onto Flight #1 Sydney to Bangkok with Thai Airways. The 747’s are getting old with a lot of them now 40ish, they are truly one of the most dependable work horses of the skies even if they are currently being replaced with newer 2 engine jets for less noise, less fuel and more safety. Still Thai airways do a good job with their inflight service and I expect to be able to while away the 9 hours putting together the outline for the world tour trip report, the maps and miscellaneous stuff. I also have been put a challenge by CGN Fabian where he will do 500 burpies if I succeed. Challenge accepted, a picture of me wearing some country specific clothing in each country I teach Hapkido. I am lucky the open seat next to me stays that way so that gives me more room to stretch out for the flight. Arrival into Bangkok is smooth and I get the shuttle for my hotel into the city. The next couple of days are open, so I work on the maps and other world tour prep I can do, enjoy a few nice meals and enjoy some downtime. I returned to one particular restaurant where I think they thought I was a Critic from last time, and the chef not only cooked me a special menu (talk about stuffed), I got a special desert. Apart from that meal, I also enjoyed visiting the new Robuchon location that opened recently in Bangkok, I normally enjoy the location in Vegas each trip. After chatting with staff, I get a card from one of the senior guys who is actually just visiting for quality control and get told to show it to the one in London for a treat…
Fine Dining at Robuchon Bangkok
Fine Dining at Robuchon Bangkok
That’s about 80 Aus Cents to cross the road
Nice of them to have a special seat for a Hapkidoist and his Cane
“The traveller sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see. ~ G.K. Chesterton”
When it comes to World Tours the year in between does seem to do some magic form of time reduction. I have only just finished the counselling from the last trip, and now I get to lap our wonderful globe yet again. Yes it is time for the 2015 World Tour; first stop the land of Smiles (Thailand), simply to break up the long haul into the Euro Zone. So its an early morning jaunt down the highway in the awesome Thrifty mobile, actually they normally sting me with an old clapper, this time I have a newish Nissan Pulsar so its a comfortable trip. I am not sure if I am getting better at this traveling but not only do my bags seem noticeably light, the packing came together rather too smoothly. Let me qualify that a little, its not the clothing or toiletries that is the challenge, its the DVDs, Dan Bongs, Black Belts, Certificates, Passports and ancillary items that the International family seek. It is easy enough to buy another Toothbrush, but to have an embroidered Black Belt for that student testing for X degree.. You get the idea. Hello airport, a quick drop of the car and up to check in, that goes smoothly, I manage to get a seat with no one next to me which always makes for a smoother flight, and I am off to customs to be scanned. If you have flown internationally in the last year or two you will know that they have smart gates that work off your chipped passport, they are currently trialling the same system for departures as well, just not in Sydney this time. Formalities done, I take the 2 km walk to the lounge, they really need to finish this entrance, its close for Qantas but a trek for Star Alliance flights. The Air NZ lounge is undergoing major renovations (since Nov 14) and is due to open in a couple of months so I get to enjoy the Singapore Airlines lounge. The lounge has space for probably 100 and there are 5 of us in there, lots of room.