I am NEVER going back to the Bangkok Airport

Our week in Thailand was incredible. The trip home, in a word, was hell.

We arrived, on time, at the Phuket airport. After checking in, the woman at the counter informed us that we should go through immigration in Phuket to avoid the lines in the Bangkok airport. We all arrived at the gate, on time. Our flight, which allowed for a very tight connection in Bangkok, was delayed. I started to freak out and went to get a coffee the size of my head. My fellow travelers stayed calm, and half an hour after we were supposed to leave, we boarded. I alerted the group that we were going to have to book it in the Bangkok airport, which meant literally running the moment we got off the plane. The flight crew gave us special stickers, allowing us to de-plane before everyone else. As we landed, I started to pray.

12:30 am We deplaned and were immediately shoved in a van and taken to the international departures. The woman with us, an Bangkok flight rep, alerted us that we would need to run to our Air China gate and hopefully get on the plane. Both aircrews were informed of the situation, and we assumed at this point the AirChina flight would wait for us... but we ran anyways. As I ran, flip flops smacking, wheels on my luggage literally breaking, I really thought we were going to make it. As we ran to the international transfers counter, the stony faced woman looked as us, with zero pity, and said the flight would not wait. " What (heave) do YOU MEAN (heave) they won't WAIT!? WE'RE RIGHT HERE!!!!" I said to the woman, believing that this may be the last straw (thank god it wasn't the last straw, i needed the rest of my straws plus some.) We stood, looking at each other, trying to decide what we were going to do. Also, I realized my beloved camera bag was not with me (the plus side of this horrid experience: I didn't lose my camera!)

1:15am The little Bangkok Air flight rep who had bused us over, camera bag in hand, took us down to a service hallway below the airport, where a few confused women decided what to do with us. First, they cancelled our immigration and flight itineraries. Second, they gave us faulty information about the counter opening times. Third, they started to throw out a statement that would later bring me to tears: 1 hour and 10 minutes minimum connection time. In our tired and rather pathetic looking group, we decided to head out to the outside of the airport (because we had no tickets, we could not go in the departures area... we could only wait in the outside area.) We also learned that the next flight out on Air China was the next evening, but that all flights for the next three days were sold out and we would have to go standby. In essence, we could be stuck in Bangkok for three more days... with no real way of getting out.

2:00am Luckily, there was a Starbucks. A 24 hour Starbucks at that. We didn't want to risk not being around for a quick flight call, so we all decided we wouldn't' leave the airport until we got everything sorted out. We grabbed a few benches (or in my case, the floor) curled up on our beach towels, and tried to get some sleep. I managed to get a full 40 minutes, in between mentally trying to reason our way home.

6:00am First phone call to Expedia. Totally unhelpful, as they told us only the airlines could help us and that they could rebook us, for the price of another ticket. I went for my first round of coffee. After another hour on the phone with Air China reps, I gave up in hopes of the counter opening at 9am.

8:00am After another couple calls to both Air China and Expedia, I called my parents. My fantastic, wonderful, amazing parents. Sitting there at the Starbucks, coffee in hand, I started to tell my mom and dad about what had happened. I explained the connection time, the unhelpful people, and the possible three day delay on our departure out of Bangkok. As my mom so patiently told me to hang in there and be strong, I started to quietly cry. I cried because I knew that if my mom and dad were with me, they would at least be able to decode airport blabber and tell these airlines to knock it off. As I hung up, plan in mind and next set of problems to solve, a Russian couple next to me patted me on the shoulder and told me i'd be ok. I was touched.

9:00am The first of many frustrated calls to Air China. Not only will no one take responsibility for our lack of ticket, but no one can speak English. I ended up asking some silly girl at Air China for her supervisor, in hopes I could find someone to communicate with, and she promptly hung up the phone. Way to go, Air China! I was then redirected to Southern China Air, who apparently issued the original ticket. This, of course, was not true, but got me running from counter to counter for about an hour and a half.

11:00am The Bangkok Airways counter. The first of many lovely trips to this airline. I explained our situation to the representatives, and waited as they tried to decipher what had happened. They told us we would have to talk to Air China directly, and that because of the connection time (1 hour and 6 minutes) they could not help us (we needed an hour and ten.) We ping pong-ed between an empty Air China counter and Bangkok air for the next hour, before finally getting the only compensation of the experience: four lunch waivers from Bangkok Air.

1:00pm We were getting hungry, tired, and increasingly frustrated. I had not slept in 28 hours at this point, so I was also getting emotional. I didn't want to sleep, eat, or take a break until I had these problems solved. This is where I get really grateful for James. At about 1:30pm, after another call to my parents that put them on the problem-solving track, James convinced me that I did need to eat and take a break. He allowed me to have my computer open and skype running through the meal, but in return I had to eat a full plate of curry and take a 2o minute nap. At this point, we had informed all bases (Our program director and various parents) of the situation. My parents started offering to buy us out and put us all on a flight that evening, but those flights were also sold out for the next three days. I decided that everything that could be done had been done, and around 3 crashed for 30 minutes on a bench outside the taxi stand.

4:00pm Charge time. This is about the point where we started bringing in the big guns. Without going into excruciating detail, we bounced around a few more counters with Air China before ending back up at Bangkok air. The problem at this point was we were required to pay a re booking fee to get us tickets on the new AirChina flight. Bangkok air, because of the delay, was supposed to be responsible for this fee, but because of the 4 minute short needed connection time, they wouldn't pay it. I had no shame at this point. I stood, in front of the representative for Bangkok air, and pleaded, cried, and yelled. Nothing. Stony faced woman looked us in the face and said no. It was awful. We eventually paid the re booking fee and got on standby for the next flight, around 8:30, to Beijing and then to Shanghai(our original route.) We killed another hour standing at the AirChina counter, and three seats opened up standby for the first Air China flight. Monty and Amy took two seats, while James and I opted to stick together in hopes for seats on the second flight (1am.) We rushed Amy and Monty out and on the plane, hoping that we would all meet up in Beijing for the 8am connection flight back to Shanghai.

8:30pm James and I retire to the Japanese restaurant. We enjoy a dinner of sushi and sake, accompanied by extensive conversation and hypothetical contingency plans. We figured if we couldn't get out in the next three days, we would head back to Phuket and forget the whole "going back for school" thing... hypothetically of course. 10pm rolled around, and we started harassing our favorite Air China rep in hopes of standby seats. At 12:15, after the counter had closed, two miraculous seats had opened up. We grabbed our tickets, ran through security, and jumped on the plane.

1am Sitting on the plane, 25 hours after I had originally arrived in Bangkok, I was exhausted yet satisfied. Not only had we managed to get out of Bangkok, but we had solved this problem ourselves with minimal damage in tow. What felt like a minute later, I was being woken for landing in Beijing, having passed out like a rock and not moved for five hours.

8am-11am

After a quick flight over to Shanghai, We were back at the house. I alerted all parties that we had finally arrived, showered, and spent the day trying to upload and download until I couldn't keep my eyes open.

It was one hell of a trip back. We did it though... and we all made it in once piece. We managed to navigate our way through the airlines in Bangkok, in a country where we dont' speak the language, and bunker down in the Bangkok airport for a full 24 hours. The week was great... but goodness I won't be going back to the Bangkok airport anytime soon :)