I did not plan to do another update until I had arrived in Bangkok; I decided, however to provide some flight information for those who may wonder what is involved in a long haul flight.
First, because I will be in Thailand more than 30 days, including arrival and departure days, I had to get a Tourist Visa...no working while there. That is a stamp that takes one page in a passport.
This evening at about ten P.M., I will depart by bus to the Ottawa airport. I must be there at 04;00, so I go out and relax there, rather than doing the taxi trip at thee in the morning. Many have offered to drive me, but I do not like taking that route, and having others get up to do so.
At the airport, it is now a lot of do-it-yourself. I will put my passport in a machine that has been loaded with all passenger information for the next 24 hours. That is for about five different carriers.
I will be asked several questions...how many pieces of luggage to be checked, (one), any liquids, etc.
The machine will then print out three Boarding Passes, and a tag to go on the checked luggage. At 04;00 when the airline counters open, I put my luggage on a belt, and, if all goes well, will see it in Bangkok about 30 hours later. This is how it is supposed to work.
I will then proceed thru Security, and then United States Customs and Immigration. The U.S. have these facilities at ten or twelve major Canadian Airports with heavy cross border traffic. At 06;00, I will depart on United flight UA4032, in seat 23D for Newark,(EWR) and arrive at 07;56, at Terminal A. With my carry on luggage, I get on a shuttle train and go to Terminal C, where I board United flight UA79, seat 38L for Tokyo (Narita..NRT) airport. We are scheduled to depart at 11;00 and to arrive at 15;00, after a 14 hour flight. There will be no Customs, as I am in Transit, but usually one must go thru Security again.
At Tokyo, I arrive and depart from the same terminal. I will depart NRT at 18;35, on United flight 7971, which is actually on an All Nippon Airways aircraft, flight NH 805, seat 42D and arrive Bangkok six hours later, at 23;55. This is how it is supposed to go. Those seat numbers are how many seat rows back on the aircraft I will be. Tokyo is 14 hours ahead of us, and Bangkok is 12 Hours ahead. The International Date Line, where we go into tomorrow is 8 hours behind us. Confused...so was I at one time....but after about 12 of these type trips, it in starting to sink in. Will let you know how it went when I get to BKK
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