Ok, here's a run down on the last day of our trip! Breakfast, then quick beach time. Shower, pack up. Haggle with the taxi driver on the price to the pier. Settle on 200 Baht, still too much. So we take the taxi truck to the pier, take the ferry from the pier to Ban Phe. Then we take the bus from Ban Phe for 4 hours to Bangkok. Once in Bangkok at around 7:40pm, we catch a taxi to the airport. We are too early to check in for our 11:55pm flight so we wait. Finally check in, make it through passport control, and then wander the airport for a while. Then we eat sushi at an overpriced airport restaurant. It was odd to be eating Japanese food while hearing the Thai language.
Finally went through security and boarded the plane for Tokyo, about a 6-hour flight. Once on the plane I realize that for the next leg of our journey we were booked in Business Class. We find it too good to be true and try not to get our hopes up. Once in Tokyo we remember how much we love Japan and Japanese culture. We buy a few things from the shops that we had missed since the very beginning of our trip when we started in Japan. Kyle bought his mochi and I bought some pickled vegetables, yum! We board the plane and cannot believe our luck! After 9 weeks of travel, many horrible 9-hour bus rides, and so much dirt and chaos, we were mysteriously bumped to business class. It could not have come at a better time. Down comforters and pillow, slippers, a menu for our meals, all the expensive booze we can drink, movies, and terrific service by cute Japanese flight attendants! It was more than wonderful! The 12-hour flight went by super fast. Both Kyle and I thought we could have stayed on the plane for another 6 hours!! Finally, we were back in the U.S. We both had a little reverse culture shock. It was strange to understand what everyone around us was saying.
After arriving in Chicago, we got our bags through customs, and then rechecked. Then we boarded one final plane before we made it home. We arrived in MN around 11am on August 7th. My mom picked us up from the airport and took us home. Fortunately, she had bought us some groceries; we were both very hungry from traveling so long. When we finally walked into our house, we realized we had been traveling for over 36 hours. The clothes I was wearing I had put on in Thailand, and (ick) the last time I had showered I was in Ko Samet washing the beach sand off me! It was so good to be home and to hug the cats! We stayed awake as long as we could to help adjust to the time zone. The jet lag turned out not to be too bad! I can't believe we are home. Back to reality, time to get a job and settle in. It will be interesting to see how the trip has changed us!
