Farewell Bangkok, Jet Lag, and Go Time
We got back from our trip to Bangkok yesterday (Easter Sunday) around 4:00 in the afternoon after about 30 hours of travel from the time we got picked up from our hotel. We managed to keep ourselves up until 8:00 to try to get adjusted as quickly as possible. Jet lag is no joke. I’ve been in a fog all day and absolutely exhausted. Kate and I managed to get a few things done, and I got through my work emails this morning. Our boys were mostly back to normal, which means they’re bouncing around the house while I’m in no state to actively parent, so that’s fun. 24 hour travel days are no joke, and our boys were absolute troopers and handled it beautifully. I’m really proud with how they managed. Miles slept for a large part of it. Henry also slept for a lot of it. I probably got a total of 5 hours of poor sleep. Kate got about the same.
As for the rest of our trip, on Thursday night, we went out to dinner in the city with several of Kate’s colleagues, which was great. It was a lot of fun chatting with them and gaining a lot of really valuable info. Kate will be working with a great group of people, and it looks like we will already have a good social life.
I didn’t get a chance to check out any of the music scene yet, but after doing some research, I’ve already discovered where some good music is happening. I can’t wait to jump in!
On Friday, I took the boys to a fun waterpark on the roof of another massive mall. Poor Miles was only tall enough to ride on only one of the large slides. He is only about an inch away from free reign. Once he’s tall enough, it’ll be a great place to take the boys for a cheap and fun day.
On Saturday, we got breakfast by the pool and then packed. A little later we went to the mall to let the boys play at the arcade and then did some shopping. We got back to the room, ordered dinner, and then went to the airport for our long journey home.
By the time we left, I was already feeling more comfortable being there and adjusting a bit. The language barrier is definitely going to be the biggest obstacle from what I can gather so far. I downloaded the Pimsleur Institute app for my phone, and will start spending time each day trying to at least gain a cursory knowledge of the language. For a bit of fortuitous timing, my cell phone just rolled out a major update that includes a lot of translation functions. The camera app has a built in translator for writing, which proved super helpful already. This will come in especially helpful at the day and night markets across the street from our apartment.
On the drive to the airport, as I was looking out the window of the car, I was astonished at just how big Bangkok is. It’s an absolutley enormous city. It took us almost an hour and a half to get from our hotel to the airport, and there were huge skyscrapers nearly the entire way there. NYC is big if you include all of the boroughs, but this seemed significantly larger. I was probably too tired when we arrived to notice on the car ride from the airport to the hotel, and similarly too occupied talking to other people or my kids when we went into the city during the week.
So now we’re back home, recovering from the long travel. We have about three months until we depart for our new lives on the other side of the world. I now have a clearer picture of what to expect. And with that, the pressure is on! We have probably two months to completely empty our house and get it rented. I wrap up my contract job at Malala Fund next Friday, and then it’s down to business. I’ll be selling as much of our stuff as I can, getting a storage unit for things we’re holding on to, and will donate or dispose of everything else. We’ve done a decent job over the last several months of beginning the purge, but looking around it feels like we’ve only scratched the surface. I have faith in us getting it done, though. Knowing I won’t be working and can completely dedicate my time to getting us packed is a comfort. I’ll be posting a lot of stuff up on Facebook Marketplace, so if anyone sees anything of interest, let me know!
Until next time, wish us luck!
