Planes, Luggage and Thailand

NOTE: PICTURES POSTED! I wrote this during a 3 hour bus ride on my iPhone. Please excuse me if there's more grammatical errors than usual (well, usually there many without that excuse).


Well, shit. My start of another grand adventure began less than ideal. I ended up staying in Beijing for 24 hours after our plane was grounded for more than 5 hours on the Tarmac, while still in Canada. With a combination of poor whether, and rumour has it, a nasty exchange of words between Air Traffic Control and AirChina's pilot, it took a total of 15+ hours in a plane to get to Beijing.

Jetlegged and hungry, I'm informed my flight to Thailand was missed, as was my luggage: missing. No, not missing, delayed. They never say lost. malaria pills, extra underwear, shoes and all. shit.


So, I spend a night in a hotel room with an photographer, named, well Guy from Whistler. Don't worry, separate beds of course. I tried making best of a crazy situation, for instance the following morning I hung out with a girl from PEI as we wandered around Beijing, and when I got into Phuket, Thailand I tried not I cry when I was still wearing the same clothing for the last 72 hours.There were emails with my mum who was faithfully calling AirChina/AirCanada regarding my luggage status, and my niece asking me, via FaceTime, how my sister, Shawna is expected to help me when I'm so far away (to which I responded with a laugh and a cry). After that conversation I understood that there's a lesson I needed to learn in order to get my luggage because, goddamn it, everything happens for a reason.  I needed to make best of this situation. I needed to become okay with not having my lifeline: my backpack. And I needed to get the hell out of this expensive and depressive  accommodation before I became a part of the room or ended up poor, whatever came first.  So I did. Through searching lonely planet's Thailand guide, I took a cab to Old Town Phuket and so began my travel adventure in Thailand.

I started off small: checking out  the Bohemian coffee shop and used bookstore, roaming the streets of Phuket (getting lost regularly) and eating local, authentic street food. Suddenly I was enjoying my time. Torrential rain mearly meant seeking coverage under a random honing and listening to The Lumineers on my iPhone. Taking the long way home meant having my first taste of Thai Food at a lovely shop, to which The Lovely Amber was right, ruined my food pallet, as I've never had such flavourful, savoury vegetarian food. By the time I was organizing things to do for the following morning, day six of the same clothing, my mum iMessaed me to tell me my luggage arrived.

And suddenly I found myself headed to the Phang Nga province to begin  volunteering on the Healthcare Project.

When I met my bunk mates it all of  30 seconds to get invited to a weekend away at an ocean town called Crabi Thailand. Without hesitation I accept the invite. And suddenly I realize how amazing how beautiful it is to really Really live.

Kindly,

A World Traveler ;)

When was the last time you did something for the first time?