Foreign Airlines are Sweet

So our trip to Thailand was a success. All of our flights worked out and everything was booked like it should have been. Everything was smooth. Anyways, on to some pictures.

The plane rides were rough. I found that after all of our traveling, China Airlines is by far the best airline around. Besides the fact that their Engrish is a little hard to understand, they were incredibly nice and they fed us pretty good.

Now let's move on too what really matters. Entertainment! During the flight, these stripper-poles came out of the floor and the flight attendants got half-naked and started pole dancing! Ok ok ok, maybe that didn't happen. But we had screens on the backs of each seat, and they gave us free headphones to use with it (something we had to pay $2.00 for on other flights). Also, we were able to watch all of the content on the small screens for free such as movies, music, games, and travel info (also something you had to pay for on our Delta flight). I watched Jumper, The Spiderwyck Chronicles, Rambo, and some other one I can't remember, as well as listened to soundtracks and learned a little Thai with some language games.

The plane food was surprisingly good. Although I couldn't bring myself to eat the duck egg, I was able to eat pretty much anything else that was offered. I would have to say the best thing I had

was on Thai air, and it was a chicken sandwich. I opened the nice little box of food to see *cue Zelda discovery music* a sweet chicken sandwich! The first thing that came to mind was, "Uh oh. To eat this I am going to need some ketchup. And not just any old ketchup, but I am going to need some Heinz." I unwrap the sandwich (hey, I'm hungry dammit, I'm still going to eat it; just not going to be happy about it) when I discover... Yes, you guessed it. Beautiful ketchup. And not just some generic ketchup, but my long lost mistress, back to make me happy as it always does - Heinz! I am not able to read Thai, but I know my Heinz when I see it. So I applied my fruitful bounty onto my deceased feathered friend and the rest, as they say, is

history. Except the fact that after Keith and I finished our meal, the flight attendant asked if we would like another one, which we took. Thailand is called The Land of Smiles.

Well that is enough for now.

-Aaron Jones-

Diving in Thailand pt.2

Ah, so the bookings are complete! My counterpart, Keith, and I have our flights booked. (Not a fun or cheap process btw)

Our hotel and dive shop have also been booked. We will be staying at the Baan Suay hotel at Karon beach in Phuket. Looks like a nice enough place. It was recommended by a dive master that lives in Thailand; the same dive master that did the Thailand bookings for us.

The dive shop we will be at is called Dive Asia. I am pretty excited about this place, as it comes highly recommended by a few people and on a bunch of diving forums I read.

We will be leaving here May 23rd and will be getting back June 2nd (and have to work that day). Be prepared for a flood of pictures next month.

-Aaron Jones-

Image courtesy of Whale-Shark.org

Diving in Thailand pt.1

After much research on flight plans, I finally figured out the flight plan to get to Thailand and back. This would have been much easier if we didn't make like, five stops. Trying to coordinate the takeoff/landing times from one stop to another, without having to sit in the airport for ten hours was a quite the challenge.

The flights go something like this:

To Thailand
Fri RDU@6:40am -> LAX@10:53am
Fri LAX@3:15pm -> BKK@1:05am (+2 days)
Sun BKK@7:30am -> HKT@8:50am

To USA
Sun HKT@7:25am -> BKK@8:50am
Sun BKK@1:30pm -> LAX@8:05pm
Sun LAX@10:00pm -> RDU@9:05am (+1 day)

Our flight comes back Monday morning and we have to work that day. That should be fun. I think I save the most money this way. I also asked a couple travel agencies to price flights for us. Hopefully they come up with something cheaper.

-Aaron Jones-