Koh Samui & Bali: "Live Aways"

Well ... during a fitful night while neither of us were sleeping too well ... I happened to look out the window and noticed it had snowed. The moon was still really brightening the skies to the south, but it looked really dark and ominous to the north. Yikes.

North is the direction we needed to be heading first thing in the morning. My anxious mind immediately started fretting about the roads. And, as much as I wanted to soothe my highly-kindled amygdala, the road report confirmed that a stretch of highway that we needed to traverse was ice and snow covered.

It was clearly not the best start to our 32+hour commute from Lethbridge to Bangkok! And, if we encountered any trouble on the road, we were certainly not dressed for the occasion. We had no coats and had fashionably(?) put socks on with our sandals to help us keep our tootsies warm whilst in Canada!!

I was sure glad we were in a huge bus. The roads were, indeed, really crappy for the first half of the trip. And, I really liked that our driver had gray hair. I was telling myself that meant he had years of experience on bad roads! It oddly felt like a good thing that the windshield became obscured with road splatter as the sun began melting all the snow and ice.

This trip holds all kinds of 'firsts' for us! Given that our direct flight from Vancouver to Bangkok is 16.5 hours long ... I thought this would be a good time to cash in one of my bucket list dreams! I've always wanted to fly first class. And, although the price sent me reeling ... I reasoned that I could sleep for 8 hours and then the old boy could catch 8 hours of lay down as well.

I wasn't sure how the flight crew would take to us changing seats, but I figured it was an economical way to optimize our comfort! But then ... the old boy indicated that he wanted me to enjoy the whole first class experience myself ... and ... invited me to consider it a birthday gift!

He has always enjoyed the enviable capability of sleeping sitting straight up, so he felt no need to trade places with me in order to get horizontal. So, I graciously accepted his kindness and will be treasuring each and every moment of the experience.

One of the other 'firsts' kind of surprised me. We got to go through the priority screening and then ... I was routed away from the big x-ray machine where you hold you hands up while it spins you! I briefly thought ... woohoo ... priority is just excellent. I will just get to walk through the normal archway instead. Nope. It was not that easy. 🙃

I was informed that I was selected for a 'pat down'. I graciously but politely declined her offer to take me to a second location (i.e. go into a private space). I opted for the public search instead. My goodness ... they are incredibly thorough!! Fortunately, I passed inspection and we were back on our way! The old boy was having way too much fun teasing me about it all. He moseyed through the screening process without raising any eyebrows at all. That might be a first as well!! 😉

We were hungry so we landed ourselves in one of the only restaurants in our boarding area. Fortunately, we ended up with a quiet(er) table near the windows and, even more to our liking, it had a plug in for me to use the laptop and start this blog!! We enjoyed a Korean Wrap and some unique poutine kettle chips that were really delicious too!

We opted not to order the wine because a nine ounce glass of Pinot Gris was $20.50. Another first! I've seen outrageous prices for wine before, but nothing quite as bad as this. I decided to have a caffeinated green tea instead. According to "Timeshifter" (an app that helps you minimize jet lag through scheduled doses of caffeine, managing your exposure to light and timing napping/sleeping). Apparently, we need to be having 1/2 cup of caffeine drinks/hour until about 10:00pm tonight. We are crossing our fingers that it will help us mitigate the 14 hour time difference between Lethbridge and Bangkok! I'll keep you posted on that!!!

Between arriving at Calgary and our flight to Vancouver ... we had about four hours to wait. So, we were delighted to have a nice table to play some 'Clever' while we sip our caffeinated drinks!!

Some alarm bells were triggered when I noticed that our flight was delayed. My fears were that the initially 'short' delay would morph into us missing our connection to Bangkok but, thankfully, that didn't happen. We were only about an hour late. It proved to be no issue, though, because we also had a lengthy wait in Vancouver before our flight to Bangkok.

And then, the most unexpected and best thing happened as we boarded for Vancouver! I was seated in 1A and the old boy was in 12 F. A fellow sat down beside me and I deduced that he was a pilot with Air Canada because he knew everyone and talked to others about coming back from London. He even ended up going into the cockpit.

We had not spoken one word to each other while everyone was boarding ... but then ... the old boy came up to take a picture of me to help chronicle my first class experience! My seatmate asked if he was my husband? When I said yes ... he told me that he would swap seats with the old boy!! And ... he did.

It was such an incredibly kind gesture. The old boy and I got to share happy hour together in the sky ... whilst enjoying the the setting sun ... which was not setting very fast because we were flying west. And so, as we witnessed the yellows and oranges deepen over the snow topped Rocky Mountains, we sipped on Portuguese white wine and nibbled on complimentary cheese platter. It was simply sublime!! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

When we arrived in Vancouver, I learned I had gained entry into the Air Canada Lounge so we thought we'd check it out because had another four hours to kill before our flight to Bangkok! The ambiance was lovely in the lounge ... and the menu looked delicious, but ... it would have cost the old boy $61.90 to join me. So, we opted for a Subway sandwich and a Starbucks coffee instead. I do love a nice Subway sandwich ...and ... we still needed to top up our caffeine levels!!

We were doing our level best to stay awake until we boarded. Timeshifter wanted us to have a short nap between 10:00pm and midnight and then stay awake until 7:00am. Eeek!!

Flying first class has been such a fabulous experience! I loved being in my own little pod. I enjoyed that my seat reclined and would lay completely flat and could even give my lower back a massage. I got a padded seat cover and a blanket and a perfect little pillow. I also got slippers and a dental kit and lip gloss and socks and hand cream too.

The pod was loaded with all kinds of electronic buttons and gadgets. Thank goodness for the tutorial from the fellow in 3K. I would never have figured out how to work all of it by myself.

My big screen TV did everything too! Oh ... and ... I was provided with big earmuff style headphones too! We were offered a huge white linen dinner even though it was already after 11:00pm.

I failed to stay awake as long as 'Timeshifter' recommended. I did make it to a very commendable 1:30AM though! Not bad for a gal who likes to be tucked away between 8:30pm and 9:00pm typically. And, what a joy to discover I slept for 8 hours!! It was such a treat to be horizontal!!

The old boy did not get as much sleep as I did ... but ... he never complained. I thoroughly enjoyed the airline breakfast and was feeling pretty darn good by the time we landed!

Oh ... I can't sign off without sharing one more thing that was absolutely wonderful! I watched "Little Bird". THAT is one of the most touching and thoughtful and inspiring movies that I have ever seen. And, it is especially poignant given the political climate of our globe right now. I sobbed in a couple of places ... and ... had such a lump in my throat that it was hard to eat my breakfast while I watched. I was so deeply moved by the message! If you haven't seen it ... do yourself a favor and watch it with someone so you can talk about it afterwards. I loved it so much that I want to watch it again with the old boy so we can tease apart all the moments of goodness within it.

Okay ... I need to say goodbye. This blog is way too long. Let me just finish by sharing that flying first class was truly was a remarkable experience! The only thing that would have made it better was having someone to share all my oohs and ahhs with!! Wait. Never mind. I am sharing the wonder and awe of it ... with all of you.

See you again ... once we are settled in Bangkok,
❤️ k&j ❤️Læs mere