How it all began...

It's travel time again and I'm incredibly excited to leave the increasingly colder Stuttgart, the ever more chaotic delivery room, and most of my everyday life behind. Yesterday it was time to pack for two weeks and I thought 'Easy Peasy'. I won't let myself be stressed at all and of course I packed a bit stressed out at the last moment. However, I maintained composure on the outside :-) (we midwives are artists at appearing relaxed when things get precarious). I have to admit that I won't be missing the pregnant women, the sweet newborns, and the delivery room stress at all. (For now!)

On Monday afternoon it really started. Around 3:45pm we were picked up by the couple. But now the question is: 'Who are we?' and above all 'Who are the couple?'

Here's a little introduction: The couple is Kathleen and Mario, who have been married for nearly 1 1/2 years. Kathleen did her midwifery training with me and married her 'Schatziiii' during that time. Mario is the only man among us midwives and is holding up very well so far. From now on, the two of them will mostly be referred to as 'the couple' ;-) 

We are: Jana, fellow high school graduate, also midwifery training comrade, and my colleague in the Swabian delivery room. Happily in love and now on a long-haul flight for the first time. Finally, a few words about me: I'm Dory, no, it's not from the fish, but from my Hungarian nickname. I enjoy life, traveling, adventures, and being in community with these amazing people. (Jana and I) are now affectionately called 'the midwives' by the couple :-)

Together, we embarked on the backpacking adventure Thailand!

The flight from Frankfurt to Bangkok was uneventful, takeoff and landing were smooth as silk (at this point, I'd like to refer to a very enlightening video by ThaiAirways: LINK), but it was accompanied by a big Mamma Mia session, delicious bathwater chicken curry (we suspect it was lemongrass), an incredibly cute baby, lots of 'Mundgulli', we forgot about the 'miles' and were surrounded by 'smiles' and the great costumes of the stewardesses ;-)

Final destination: Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport.

30°C, humid heat, incredibly crowded airport. We mingle among the other 3000 tourists at the immigration office, search for our luggage somewhat confused, and after several crowded elevators, we finally find two conveyor belt escalators to reach our check-in counter for our next flight. Unfortunately, after checking in, we had our first small incident, or rather accident. Jana tried to use the luggage trolley as a taxi and unfortunately tipped over due to my clumsiness. We all thought her hand was broken. She's handling it with composure and thanks to a decent dose of Arnica C30, Voltaren cream, and ice-cold water, she's only turned green and blue. Thank God!

What's next for us?!? We are currently waiting at the gate for our next flight to Krabi, where we will spend our first night. Tomorrow, we will probably take a boat to the island of Ko Lanta.

Continuation and more pictures will follow!