Background
To say the least, this trip wasn't planned far in advance. I had been thinking of traveling to East Asia, but I didn't pull the trigger until I confirmed my next work gig and ended up with some time off before my start date. I had a ski trip with some friends planned beginning of April, so my project start date was set to follow my return. I had a few weeks to kill before that though. I had to find something other than shoveling snow, so Thailand seemed like a good option. Last minute tickets to Thailand weren't much of a premium above tickets booked well I'm advance, plus February is an ideal time to visit the area. Chicago has been averaging miserable sub zero temperatures, so traveling to one of the hottest climates on the planet sounded like a good option.
Unfortunately for me (and my mom who is a compulsive worrier, especially about her primary caretaker), a single destination international trip just seems to vanilla. My last adventure, less than a year earlier, began with a 3+ month round trip ticket to Israel. The trip would go on to span over 20 countries and 4 continents (Africa, Asia, Middle East, and Europe. Plus Ireland and Cyprus, not sure if they're technically part of any of he primary continents). Using skyscanner and kayak I quickly began to understand what stopovers I could include at little cost. Most people dread layovers, but if I can book a flight with a 48 hour layover and it lands at the right time I can have 2 nights in an additional city. Plus it helps breakup the flight. I tried creating a multi-city itinerary but that quickly went nowhere, there were really only two carriers with competitive airfare to Bangkok. I juggled with connecting through Seoul, South Korea or Hong Kong - I had friends in both cities so I was excited. Ironically, my friend who is now in Seoul introduced me to my friend in Hong Kong. We all worked for the same company in the mid 2000s. I choose Hong Kong because that city had the best flight times - I'd get in at 8pm and depart 4pm two nights later. I'd have an entire day and half of two days to explore Hong Kong. I had a flight in mind on Friday night, but held off on booking until Saturday to ensure lodging wasn't impossible in any of the countries. I also tinkered with the idea of building Japan into the trip. On Saturday afternoon I pressed the button. Kayak was giving me problems though. I have a trusted traveler number, but there was no place to put it in the order area. I called the airline (Cathay Pacific) and they took care of everything over the phone. I was happy to learn that I'd simply be out a $100 cancelation fee if I cancelled the flight anytime before - very cool Cathay Pacific. Clocking 10 minutes shy of 16 hours, I'd also soon discover the Chicago-Hong Kong route is the longest nonstop flight out of Chicago. This will be one heck of a journey.
The flight left in less than 48 hours, so I had a lot of work to do.
The next day I had some running around to do. First issue involved contact lenses. My rx had expired by 5-6 months and I only had a few days of lenses left. I couldn't get an appointment with he doctor, but they were more than happy to give me a couple of weeks supply gratis. I love you, Costco optical. While there I picked up some safety food staples consisting mostly of beef jerky. It lasts forever, is an excellent source of protein, and breaking up the big costco bag with my foodsavor gadget works great.
The plan was to have dinner with my mom the night before, stay overnight, and have her drop me off at O'hare. So I was off to the suburbs and I'd leave the next afternoon for Hong Kong.
Goodbye, snow!
Unfortunately for me (and my mom who is a compulsive worrier, especially about her primary caretaker), a single destination international trip just seems to vanilla. My last adventure, less than a year earlier, began with a 3+ month round trip ticket to Israel. The trip would go on to span over 20 countries and 4 continents (Africa, Asia, Middle East, and Europe. Plus Ireland and Cyprus, not sure if they're technically part of any of he primary continents). Using skyscanner and kayak I quickly began to understand what stopovers I could include at little cost. Most people dread layovers, but if I can book a flight with a 48 hour layover and it lands at the right time I can have 2 nights in an additional city. Plus it helps breakup the flight. I tried creating a multi-city itinerary but that quickly went nowhere, there were really only two carriers with competitive airfare to Bangkok. I juggled with connecting through Seoul, South Korea or Hong Kong - I had friends in both cities so I was excited. Ironically, my friend who is now in Seoul introduced me to my friend in Hong Kong. We all worked for the same company in the mid 2000s. I choose Hong Kong because that city had the best flight times - I'd get in at 8pm and depart 4pm two nights later. I'd have an entire day and half of two days to explore Hong Kong. I had a flight in mind on Friday night, but held off on booking until Saturday to ensure lodging wasn't impossible in any of the countries. I also tinkered with the idea of building Japan into the trip. On Saturday afternoon I pressed the button. Kayak was giving me problems though. I have a trusted traveler number, but there was no place to put it in the order area. I called the airline (Cathay Pacific) and they took care of everything over the phone. I was happy to learn that I'd simply be out a $100 cancelation fee if I cancelled the flight anytime before - very cool Cathay Pacific. Clocking 10 minutes shy of 16 hours, I'd also soon discover the Chicago-Hong Kong route is the longest nonstop flight out of Chicago. This will be one heck of a journey.
Gear for 2-3 week trip
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