We made it!
Wow! What a trip. We can see God's hand in the whole thing.
We were afraid that we would have to re-check our luggage in Bangkok since we had to stay overnight (we arrived after the one flight to Kat. left). Prayers were answered and we were able to check our bags ALL THE WAY to Nepal! Also the ticketing agents were very gracious in Vancouver and Bangkok and at each point we were able to lessen our carry-on load by one piece. It made travelling the last leg much easier!
The airlines were very accomodating of our children. Cathay Pacific gave us little bags full of crayons and kids' crafts. Also the kids' meals were very nice. The food was actually VERY yummy! I felt a little sorry for the other patrons as Theo was on Alberta time and wanted to be awake in the middle of the night. SInce the airplane was mostly dark from Vancouver to HOng Kong (13 hour flight) we did a lot of sleeping. It was nice to finally rest.
We had to sleep overnight in Bangkok (the new airport is VERY nice - I had never seen flat escalators before ; for pushing the luggage carts up the levels). The airport hotel was sooo nice. We decided to have a "short" nap before going in the outdoor pool. Needless to say, the nap didn't end for many hours and by the time we awoke it was dark outside and the pool felt COLD (they don't need to heat the pool because it is so hot during the day). Faith and mommy didn't last in the pool, but Daddy and Theo toughed it out. After supper we all needed to go back to bed. Although we got Faith a seperate cot, by morning all of us were in the BIG bed.
It was nice to only have to travel 3 hrs. to Nepal the next morning. Even though it was a short flight we were pretty exhausted. Faith didn't understand that we had to stand in line to get our visas...Theo just wanted to go out the door and cried every time he saw someone go. While we were standing in line a man came up to us and asked for our children's passports. He said (in heavily accented english) that the children didn't need to pay for visas so he was going to go and take care of their visas for us. We DID NOT WANT to give him our passports, but he was very insistent. Eventually Rob noticed a hidden name tag around his neck, and asked him to show it to us; it turned out he was legitimate. So we have him our children's passports and watched him closely as he walked away with them to another visa processing counter. It all turned out alright, and probably saved us some time in line too!
Coming out of the airport we were bombarded with people who wanted to "help" us load our luggage. There were two great gentlemen who manged to load all of our luggage onto two carts and pushed it out of the airport for us...we wanted/needed to pay them, but there were lots of other "helpers" who arrived once we were out of the gates who thought we needed to pay them just because they were there. Our Nepal contact spoke to them (thankyou thankyou thankyou!) and paid the tip for us (we didn't have a chance to change money yet).
And so we made it! The trip was relatively uneventful and the people were all very gracious. OUr luggage all made it (all 7 suitcases and 6 carry-ons), and we were well taken care of. Can you see God's hand in it all? Thankyou sooooo much for praying! We know that we are covered in prayer. Thankyou. God bless you for partnering with us this way.
Love,
The Riegels
We were afraid that we would have to re-check our luggage in Bangkok since we had to stay overnight (we arrived after the one flight to Kat. left). Prayers were answered and we were able to check our bags ALL THE WAY to Nepal! Also the ticketing agents were very gracious in Vancouver and Bangkok and at each point we were able to lessen our carry-on load by one piece. It made travelling the last leg much easier!
The airlines were very accomodating of our children. Cathay Pacific gave us little bags full of crayons and kids' crafts. Also the kids' meals were very nice. The food was actually VERY yummy! I felt a little sorry for the other patrons as Theo was on Alberta time and wanted to be awake in the middle of the night. SInce the airplane was mostly dark from Vancouver to HOng Kong (13 hour flight) we did a lot of sleeping. It was nice to finally rest.
We had to sleep overnight in Bangkok (the new airport is VERY nice - I had never seen flat escalators before ; for pushing the luggage carts up the levels). The airport hotel was sooo nice. We decided to have a "short" nap before going in the outdoor pool. Needless to say, the nap didn't end for many hours and by the time we awoke it was dark outside and the pool felt COLD (they don't need to heat the pool because it is so hot during the day). Faith and mommy didn't last in the pool, but Daddy and Theo toughed it out. After supper we all needed to go back to bed. Although we got Faith a seperate cot, by morning all of us were in the BIG bed.
It was nice to only have to travel 3 hrs. to Nepal the next morning. Even though it was a short flight we were pretty exhausted. Faith didn't understand that we had to stand in line to get our visas...Theo just wanted to go out the door and cried every time he saw someone go. While we were standing in line a man came up to us and asked for our children's passports. He said (in heavily accented english) that the children didn't need to pay for visas so he was going to go and take care of their visas for us. We DID NOT WANT to give him our passports, but he was very insistent. Eventually Rob noticed a hidden name tag around his neck, and asked him to show it to us; it turned out he was legitimate. So we have him our children's passports and watched him closely as he walked away with them to another visa processing counter. It all turned out alright, and probably saved us some time in line too!
Coming out of the airport we were bombarded with people who wanted to "help" us load our luggage. There were two great gentlemen who manged to load all of our luggage onto two carts and pushed it out of the airport for us...we wanted/needed to pay them, but there were lots of other "helpers" who arrived once we were out of the gates who thought we needed to pay them just because they were there. Our Nepal contact spoke to them (thankyou thankyou thankyou!) and paid the tip for us (we didn't have a chance to change money yet).
And so we made it! The trip was relatively uneventful and the people were all very gracious. OUr luggage all made it (all 7 suitcases and 6 carry-ons), and we were well taken care of. Can you see God's hand in it all? Thankyou sooooo much for praying! We know that we are covered in prayer. Thankyou. God bless you for partnering with us this way.
Love,
The Riegels
posted by The Riegels at 3:32 AM
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