The preparations for the trip are coming along. While from one perspective I should be getting excited, the actual trip still seems too far away (two weeks and two days). Much is done or in progress:

1. I have a reservation on Korean Air, departing Los Angeles December 17, arriving in Incheon, South Korea for a short layover. The Incheon airport is the main airport for Seoul (30 miles east), only 10 years old, one of the largest and busiest airports in the world, and rated the best airport in the world for the last 8 years. And they provide free wireless internet access. After a 5-hour layover, I continue on to Bangkok, arriving late at night. Bangkok’s airport is also quite new, just 6 years old, and also quite busy and very efficiently organized.
2. I have a train ticket for the next morning, leaving Bangkok in the morning and arriving in Chiang Mai that evening. There are frequent flights between Bangkok and Chiang Mai, but to really see the country, I am making that trip by train; something new to experience.
3. I’ll be staying at the 3-Sis Guest House again, inside the old walled city of Chiang Mai and right across the street from Wat Chedi Luang, one of my favorite temples.
4. Because I’ll be in Thailand more than the standard allowed 30 days for tourists, I applied for and received a visa from the Kingdom of Thailand through the Thai consulate in Los Angeles.

Next: packing, more preparations, do I start a countdown?