Thailand: Getting There and a Day in Bangkok

  Back to Bangkok! We were all really excited to be on the road again, to be heading back to a place that we loved.  D and I had been planning the trip for almost a year and while we were nervous about leaving in the middle of our kitchen renovation, we were ready to be on the go.
  Thanks to Frontier Airlines, our on the go looked started out looking like this:

Our flight was cancelled and we spent hours in the airport waiting to see if we would be flying out at all.  We had planned to spend the first night of the trip in San Francisco at a nice hotel on the water, letting the kids play in the pool and maybe doing a bit of sight seeing and instead, we stayed in Phoenix, worrying if we were going to make our international flight.  For a brief time, we even considered cancelling the trip but in the end, D and I decided we couldn't miss seeing our friends, both in Thailand and Korea, since we didn't know when we'd see them again.

  We did finally make it to San Francisco, and from there to Seoul and then to Bangkok.  It was over 20 hours of flying but we made it, with no tears or screaming and even some smiles.

  We got checked in to our serviced apartment late at night and did our best to get the kids settled in for some sleep.  The (jet-lagged) day started with Thai coffee and a trip to one of our favorite places in Bangkok, Lumphini park.

 

  After so many months of planning, it was wonderful to finally be in one of my favorite places. I love the energy of Bangkok and that while it's a big, bustling city, its neighborhoods still retain a welcoming, small-town feel.  The kids had a great time playing in the park and wandering through the neighborhood.  We had lunch a a restaurant near the hotel and the rest of the day was spent napping, doing schoolwork, and repacking for our evening flight to Chiang Mai.