The seeds were first sown for our journey to the Kingdom of Siam¹ in October of 2023. We had the travel bug and we had it bad. We had just returned from our European adventure and Scott and I both realized how easy globetrotting was and we were hooked. We knew we wanted to travel internationally again but hadn’t narrowed down yet where exactly we wanted to go. We were at my parents’ house for dinner one evening, joined by their neighbors, and the topic of travel came up. We shared some of the highlights from our Europe trip and the husband told us about a trip he had taken to Thailand that involved bamboo rafting and elephants. Say no more! We decided that evening that our next trip would be to Thailand.

Thus began an intense year plus travel planning mission, aka, our very own Siamese Dream. We started by watching YouTube videos to get a lay of the land (Thailand is roughly the size of Texas) and to figure out the must-see spots for a roughly two week long trip. As soon as we started watching the videos we were mesmerized and it was hard to narrow it down to just a few locations- the whole country looked exotic and intriguing. The timing would work out perfectly for us to go in January which is the “dry” season in Thailand and historically, the month I teach the least because of cold and wet weather.

The big picture itinerary that we settled on was to fly into Bangkok, spend a few days there, then catch a flight to the northern part of Thailand and visit mountainous Chiang Mai, then fly south to the beaches of the Andaman Sea on the western side of the southern peninsula, and experience both Ao Nang as well as spend a few days on the island of Koh Lanta, then head back to Bangkok before travelling home. The flights within Thailand were surprisingly inexpensive which made it feasible for us to move around as much as we did. However, the advice that we had received time and time again was that you essentially lose a day every time you fly and that absolutely proved to be true.

I used roughly the same parameters for booking hotels that I had in Europe, except that it was ridiculously easy to stay under $100/night for lodging, in fact, I think we averaged about $35/night for non brand name 3 star hotels. The US dollar goes a long way in Thailand which is part of its appeal for international travellers and part of which made it the world’s most visited city in 2024. Where it was applicable I tried to make sure we were near public transportation. Karla Birkel, a friend and client of mine, has a friend that lives in Thailand half the year and he was a valuable resource to ask about all things Thailand. He gave us recommendations for neighborhoods and areas to stay in in Bangkok.

We all know that one of Scott’s favorite things to do is to research travel hacks and gadgets so that he has the right amount of stuff- no more, no less. Always the outfitter, he enjoyed kitting us both out for the trip and we both had all the power banks, cords, converters, etc that we might need. We made good use of the Japanese pencil cases (Amazon) that he had discovered a few years ago and I even bought another package of them. They are lightweight and come in various sizes and are nice to make little “kits” of things such as electronics, makeup, first-aid, medications, snacks, etc. The compression travel packing cubes we both have came in handy and helped save space.

Scott always travels minimally but this would be my first time truly “one bagging” it² and I had researched and bought a 44 liter Osprey clamshell backpack (Amazon) to use. It was quite spacious and comfortable but I was concerned about being able to stay under 7 kg (~15 lbs) which is the requirement for all the various budget airlines we would be flying on our inter-Thailand flights. Another one of Scott’s favorite things is packing, or practice packing, and I swear he must have begun this process in December for our January trip. He would do it, congratulate himself, wait a few days, dump the whole bag out, make a little tweak and do it again. He had me practice pack and I took notes of what I packed so I could replicate it when we actually were packing for real.

Finally it was January 13! My parents were sweet to drive us to the airport and they bid us adieu at GSP. The GSP to Chicago flight was smooth and we got settled into our seats for the next leg, the flight to Tokyo. It turns out that this flight was not full and a very nice flight attendant asked the man occupying the aisle seat next to me if he would like to move to another row, also an aisle seat, but with no one in the middle seat next to him, AND HE DECLINED. HE DECLINED. THE MAN DECLINED. Who does that? Scott leaned over and told him to expect that we would both be getting up several times because we go to the bathroom a lot³ and he shrugged and accepted his fate, quite nonplussed. So for the next 13.5 hours, anytime either one of us had the slightest inkling of a tinkle, you better bet we woke him up and told him to let us out. WHO DECLINES?

We had a long layover in Tokyo, but not long enough to leave the airport and go into the city. We had learned via a YouTube video that the Haneda airport had a “capsule hotel” where we could shower and attempt to catch a little sleep after the 13+ hour flight from Chicago. The capsule hotel idea was intriguing so I booked each of us a room (they are single occupancy and separated by gender) and it was nice to know that a spa and bed awaited us when we landed in Japan, only slightly delirious from the long day.

We were able to catch a glimpse of Mount Fuji at sunset as we were landing which kind of, sort of, qualifies as doing/seeing the thing you’re supposed to do in the place you’re supposed to do it so that acted as a little consolation prize for us not being able to venture out into Japan. Once we were on the ground we made our way through Customs and Immigration, got to experience Japanese toilets in Japan for the first time (truly a 5 star experience) caught the shuttle to the terminal that housed the hotel, checked in, and had to part ways for the night with plans to reconvene around 11 pm to get back over to the other terminal and do the whole security shebang for our flight to Bangkok.

This would be the first of two occasions in which we would wear goofy pajamas in the next 24 hours. The capsule hotel provided toiletries and pj’s so we took advantage. The shower and the spa were the best parts of the experience it turns out. Very little quality sleep occurred. The paper thin accordion doors did little to insulate against sound so you could hear travelers coming and going and the beds were extremely hard⁴. He and I reconvened at the agreed upon time, Scott quite bleary eyed and exhausted looking. Me, just as tired, but with fresh makeup.

All Nippon Airways was a dream to fly with. The flight was long but smooth, the Japanese airline had Japanese toilets onboard, and our fellow seatmate was fairly normal (although vegan and I wondered periodically during our trip how her veganism was holding up in Thailand because I am not convinced veganism is an easy row to hoe there from what I experienced) and we eventually found ourselves in Bangkok, Thailand at 5 am on January 15 after about 36 hours of travel.