Finally Made it to Thailand

Hello loyal followers!  We have made it to Thailand after 2 months of preparations and it has been an exciting but very busy 2 weeks.

The last week in Guam was busy and very stressful, we spent the week trying to fit our life of needs and wants in 12 suitcases and a few personal/carry-on bags, which ended up being 13 suitcases and my diving travel cases.  A lot of things we wanted to bring just didn't make the cut but it will be cheaper to purchase new than pay extra baggage fees and buy more suitcases.

So what has happened so far and how did we do it.  Our last few days on Guam we stayed at the Pacific Island Club Hotel.  Mainly as a reward for the kiddos and to make the move exciting.  The hotel has a decent sized water park and the kids had a great time on the waterslides and play areas.  The hotel provided free shuttle service to the airport so we took advantage of this and let them handle all the luggage.  United Airlines was awesome helping us get everything check in and I am glad to report the flights were uneventful.

We arrived in Bangkok around 10:00 pm, quickly made it through immigration utilizing the express line for people with infants or the elderly.  Jeremiah is not an infant anymore but he was in a stroller, lucky we were not turned away.  If you haven't heard the immigration cue in Bangkok can be up to an hour wait at times.

By the time we made it to baggage claim all of our luggage was there waiting for us.  We asked for some assistance from some airport workers and loaded everything onto four luggage trolleys.  Off we went to meet our ride which I prearranged the week prior.  Our flight was a little early so we waited about 20 minutes for the driver, which was perfect because it gave us a chance to get some drinks and use the restrooms prior to our 2 hour drive to Pattaya.  The driver arrived and he was wonderful in loading all the luggage.  He must be a Tetris champ because he somehow fit all the luggage into his van utilizing about every available space possible.

2 hours later we arrived at the Atlantis Condominium, a two bedroom that we found on Agoda, we have it booked for 2 weeks.  This was the only hiccup as the property manager for the unit was not there to greet us.  Several phone calls by the driver and one of the condominium guards and finally we found out what unit we were in and where the keys were at.  6 trips with a luggage trolly from the van and up and down the elevator we made it into the condo around 3 am.  Time for some showers and much needed sleep. Lucky all the kids crashed, unluckily only for about 4 hours.

Mom Dad we're hungry!!  We were not really jet lagged as the time zone change was only three hours but we had been up for about 24 hours.  Christina and I really wanted to keep sleeping, but the little ones had a different idea.  So off we went exploring, a quick check on Google Maps and we located the nearest strip of restaurants.  Of course as soon as the kids saw a pizza sign we knew where we were eating brunch.  Nui Pizza is this great little pizza shop that also serves pancakes!! Banana pancakes to be exact, and when they came out what I thought was cream in the hazy low res menu picture, was actually a scoop of ice cream!!  Needless to say, all the kids have wanted to go back to Nui's to eat for the last week.  We have eaten there three times so far.

That pretty much sums up 24 hours.  Yes I left out parts about the kids whinnying from time to time, and the couple of minutes of stress involved trying to get on and off the airplanes, but overall it really wasn't that bad.  And banana pancakes and with an ice cream topper makes you forget about all those little negative things.

We will let you know in our next blog about the house hunting, scooter shopping and grandpa (gramps) arriving. If you are enjoying our story so far please like and share with your friends.