Sunday December 26, 2021
A Day of Traveling from California to Thailand

The trip my home in the northern part of San Diego to Thailand takes about 26 hours. I knew what to expect, since I have made this trip a number of times in years past. This year, with the new COVID protocols and document verifying, there was more anxiety, but those processes did not require additional time. For example, the document verification at Los Angeles International took about 15 minutes, but they opened check-in 30 minutes earlier than in the past, so I ended up at the gate with over two hours with little to do.

Home to Los Angeles International Airport

The trip started with me getting a rental car for the drive from my home to Los Angeles International Airport, also known as LAX. After pricing out other options, the best option was to get a car from the Avis outlet less than a mile from my home, and make a one-way drive to Los Angeles, and do the reverse on my return. If I were to fly from San Diego to LAX, there would be the cost of the additional leg to the trip, and the cost of a ride from my home to the San Diego airport. Renting a car and driving also avoids the cost of parking at LAX for a month.

Fortunately the heavy rain and wind that came overnight tapered off during Christmas Eve morning, so I walked to the Avis location and got a car. A nice little Kia Soul. Here I am in front of my house about to load up my luggage as I am in the final preparations for the month-long trip.

I completed my tasks, got a last-minute shower, changed clothes, and at 5:00 PM made the drive to Los Angeles International. The drive was uneventful, and I was at the Avis rental car return by about 7:15 PM. Then I was at the International Terminal by 7:30, and noticed a sign indicating that Cathay Pacific was opening check-in for the flight to Hong Kong almost an hour early at 7:45. In the past, check-in opened 3 hours before the flight departure time, and with a 11:25 PM departure, that would be 8:25 PM. I got all of my documents ready:

• my passport
• my COVID certificate card
• the Thailand Pass QR code
• my PCR test result document
• my complete itinerary
• proof of Thailand health insurance
• reservation confirmation in a Thai government-approved hotel for the one-day quarantine on arrival with an included PCR test.

The process for documentation verification was efficient and the ladies from Cathay Pacific doing the verification were clearly knowedgeable of what was required to transit through Hong Kong and also what was required to enter the Kingdom of Thailand. They photographed or scanned most of the documents. Since the Kingdom of Thailand requires a PCR test no more than 72 hours before departure, but the Hong Kong requires a PCR test no more than 48 hours before departure, the time of the test was scrutinized carefully. They were not allowing anyone to check-in or onto the plane who did not meet the requirements for entering either country. Clearly they are taking the requirements very seriously. Once the documentation verification was completed, there was a temperature check, and then to the actual check-in, and finally through the standard, but busier-then-usual security check.

Flight CX881 Los Angeles to Hong Kong

The first and by far the longest part of this journey is flight CX881 from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. The flight is scheduled for 15 hours and 55 minutes on a Boeing 777ER. Here is the announcement at the boarding gate:

The boarding process was fast as there are fewer travelers now. Tourism is down dramatically all over. The last two times I flew on these same flights pre-pandemic, they were full, every seat taken. On this flight, I was in a cabin of 5 rows and 36 total seats of which exactly 3 were occupied. The flight itself was relatively uneventful, but there was moderate turbulence much of the trip, so much so that the fasten seat-belt sign was lit for at least the first 10 or 11 hours. And that made it difficult to sleep, but I did manage to drift off for a few hours at least. Eventually we made it to Hong Kong, landing about 5-10 minutes early. Once inside the terminal, there was another round of documentation verification, then through international transfer security, and on to the gate.

Flight CX705 Hong Kong to Bangkok

Some years in the past I have flown Korean Air from Los Angeles to Incheon (Seoul) to Bangkok. The overall flying time is about the same. Los Angeles to Seoul is about 12 1/2 hours, and Incheon to Bangkok is about 5 1/2 hours for a total of 18 hours in the air. The difference with Cathay Pacific is that after that almost 16-hour flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, the flight to Bangkok is just under 2 1/2 hours for a total flight time of about 18 1/2 hours.

The flight left on time at 8:30 AM, and arrived at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport a few miniutes early. Again, the plane was not at all crowded, and the lines at the document verification short, and the lines at immigration also very short. In the past, it would take more than an hour from departing the plan to getting through immigration and to baggage claim. Today it took about 20 minutes.Picked up my bags from the carousel and then met the hotel shuttle driver for the short drive to the Novotel Suvarnabhumi hotel. There again, more documentation verification, check-in, and on to the arrival PCR test. The test results should be in my e-mail in the next two or three hours. After that long day of travel and not much sleep. I am done for the day. Assuming the PCR test is negative for COVID-19, I’ll be off to Chiang Mai tomorrow afternoon.

Update: The PCR test results just arrived, and it is negative for COVID-19.

Next: Return to Chiang Mai