New Update---October 22, 2017

The airline that I love to hate, (Air Canada), because they almost always give me reason to get excited...the wrong way, and I am not one to get excited...usually, have done it again. At least, they are consistent, and have not let me down this time either.
On Friday evening, I received an email from United Airlines, the carrier of record, (because I am using accumulated United miles for this trip.) United requested that I call them at a special 1-800 number due to a major change in my travel plans. I called at 2021, which is 8;21 in the evening, finally got a real person in Manila, Philippines, who informed me that Air Canada had cancelled their flights from London to Ottawa for the winter months. I was to return home to Ottawa from London on December 07. But, don't worry, Mr Don, we have you booked on another Air Canada flight to Toronto, then on to Ottawa. I asked for the flight details, and was informed that I would be required to stay in London for just over 12 hours !!!. I was not pleased. I strongly requested something better, or, if that was not possible, a free round trip to Warsaw so I could have lunch with a friend there while waiting...as a joke. My call was then transferred to an Air Canada agent in Montreal. I must say, this lady was extremely nice and helpful, and was in an awkward situation, because she had no control over what was happening. For the next two hours and fifteen minutes, (My longest phone call ever ...by far), it was me and the lady in Montreal, she with the agent in Manila. In the end, I was offered and accepted a flight from London to Montreal, then on to Ottawa. If all unfolds as now planned, I will be home just four hours later than the original plan, instead of about ten. The Air Canada agent must have been new...she could joke, and was happy not to get the brunt of someone with a foul mouth, blaming her. As we said our good byes, I remarked that we had been together on the phone longer than some couples have stayed married. She knew a case where that was a fact.

In my last post, I mentioned the large number of aircraft in which I have traveled. I decided to check my two logbooks, (one is full), and came up with these numbers; 69 fixed wing aircraft, 8 rotor wing, (helicopters, and 1 baloon...over the Arizona desert in Sedona.

My next update, I hope will be from Bangkok. I just had to get this on record.

Asian Update October 18, 2017

I will be on my way to London, and then to Bangkok two weeks from tonight. I will be out of here about Ten -Thirty in the evening, November 01, and in London about seven hours later.
 After a stopover of two and a half hours, I will be onward to Bangkok, in one of the biggest, latest, and newest aircraft flying today. This flight of eleven and a half hours will be in a Thai Airways Jumbo A-380, double-decker, four engine aircraft. If one is interested, just have a google to "Thai Airways A-380 seating plan." While I have flown in about 64...at last count, different aircraft, this will be my first time in the A-380. I get to do the same trip on my return to Ottawa on December 07, although the flight being westward, will be an hour and a half longer from Bangkok to London. The reason for this, for those who have not flown, is the fact that at jet altitude, the winds are always west to east.

With the help of Thai friends on site, I have rented a furnished one bedroom apartment in the Silom district of Bangkok for six weeks. This is at a cost of about seven hundred dollars. I will be in Thailand for about 34 days, and they rent for a month, or two week intervals. It is much cheaper to go the extra week. The cost is about twelve hundred cheaper than hotels for that time in Bangkok, where costs are higher than elsewhere. The unit is completely furnished to Canadian standards...for tourists. If interested, have a google to ,"Golden Living, Silom, Bangkok". I will be going into northern Thailand near the Laotian city of Vientiane, with my Thai friends, and we may spend a few days in that city.
The majority of my time will be in Bangkok and area. 

My Thai friends are making plans for me, and want to show me their rice farms, and related points of interest. I suspect that I will get a lesson or two on how to harvest rice. A trip to a waterpark with the kids will also be on the agenda.

That is about it for now. will plan to do an arrival post from the Golden Living address about 03 November.