The first thing I have to note is what a luxury it is to have a checked bag! The last time I left the North American continent I had a backpack and shoulder purse to carry everything for 5 weeks. I have that same backpack with me, but this time it's just my carry-on. Air China allows one free checked bag for economy passengers. Fingers crossed it doesn't get lost.
I'm feeling at ease now. The anxiety leading up to the trip was all worth this moment of peace with my Starbucks tea and sweet seat with an outlet. I was in charge of the reservations. Even though I checked and checked over my work, I was still worried I had made a typo somewhere. Getting through security was proof that I had put it all in correctly. Phew. Because I am a grad student and we are traveling over my spring break, I still had to do 2 weeks worth of assignments ahead of time on top of the work already scheduled. Sitting in this terminal is the first moment of down time I've had in a while.
As far as contacting us goes, I have an international plan for the month. I can receive unlimited texts but can only send out 250. I have 250 minutes of talk as well. I have a tiny bit of data that isn't even worth mentioning, but there will be WiFi at our hotels.
For those of you wanting a time line of our first travel day, we fly from LAX to PEK (Beijing) and after a layover we hop back on for 5 1/2 hours to get down to BKK (Bangkok). The total time including the layover is about 18 hours of travel. There might be WiFi on the plane, but we won't know until we're boarded. We come home March 26th.
We're traveling through a company called Affordable Asia based in the Los Angeles area. They arrange flights, hotels, ground transportation and activities. I've read good reviews about them so I hope our experience is positive! We found a Groupon deal that gave us a stellar deal. Let me put it this way: this whole trip (flights, hotels, tour guided trips, etc) is cheaper than my round trip flight from Los Angeles to London in 2010.
Yes, we did receive some health care for our travels. Along with the typical childhood vaccinations, I received a tetanus booster, typhoid shot (can be taken as pills), and was prescribed antimalarial pills. The CDC website has great information on how to stay healthy abroad.
A special thanks goes out to my boyfriend Adam who not only stayed up with me while I packed late, but also drove Val and I to the airport. I love you!
That's it for today! My next entry will be on the other side of the world!
-Michelle
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