Arrival - Happy New Year!

12/31/2023/01/01/2024

Nina: 4:30 am. The alarm rang. 'Today we're going to Thailand, the day is here!' ~ I had imagined the last car ride with my loved one through the Sauerland towards Frankfurt differently. My stomach struggled for 2 1/2 hours not to get rid of the little water, but then fortunately decided against it. Ronja and I met at the airport, packed with our large backpacks, our friends in tow. The moment of saying goodbye was heartbreaking for us, we could see our teary faces for another 10 hours. Maybe we were overtired at some point, it's still unclear.

The flights ran smoothly, the airline provided us with pasta, pillows and blankets in modernly equipped aircraft. The sunset was beautiful! After 6 hours we landed in Bahrain. Here we were approached for the first time - 2 men whose flag trumped the smell of my sweat-soaked T-shirt. They thought we were beautiful and really wanted to fly with us. We politely declined, even though we still find it difficult to set clear boundaries from the start.

I (Ronja) can only agree with all of this. In my opinion, the flights were more strenuous and much less comfortable. If you have low expectations, you won't be severely disappointed and you will be grateful for every cup of water that is given to you for free. -Stay hydrated-

A huge disadvantage so far is definitely the combination of my very sensitive, fine nose and the smells of some people. Well, it won't be the first and last time on this trip that I have to leave my comfort zone, but that's exactly what traveling is for, right?

The second flight was overnight. We had it 10 hours later after a 6 hour flight and basically lost a night. Despite the blankets and really comfortable neck pillows borrowed from Martina, sleep wasn't really possible. A slightly different New Year's Eve, without countdowns and fireworks. What might the new year bring for us?

We are always happy to travel together. We quickly became aware of this in Bangkok. Visa and luggage didn't cause any problems. Getting a train ticket presented us with the first challenge. The machine announced really loudly to us and everyone else in the airport that it didn't accept credit cards. So go to the exchange office... good. Equipped with baht and SIM card (for 30€/30 days) we took up the fight with the machine again and actually got to our destination with the tickets we had won.

There had to be reinforcement. Even though Ronja doesn't like rice, she tried a portion of it combined with vegetables. With that we ticked off an important item (eating rice) on our to-do list for Thailand. Our digestive tracts are actually doing well! The climate is just a problem for us, 25 degrees more than yesterday at home. We stood in our own juice and longed for the shower. We took a detour to get to our hotel and were happy to finally be able to chill. Quiet. No people. A (forced) cold shower. The only concern right now is whether we have already caught scabies, as our skin still itches even after a very long shower. We will see.

Lucky angels were with me (Nina) as we walked and drove through Bangkok and my fanny pack hung open unnoticed - ready to spit out my passport, money and credit card - luckily I was spared this drama.

We've been taking a break for an hour and want to go to the rooftop pool straight away. My stomach is growling again and my body is definitely still craving water, which we don't have anymore. So for us it's about to go out again. And then let's think about what could happen next in the next few days.

“What time is it anyway?”

Until tomorrow

Ronja & Nina