Friends in the High Places

We made it to Tokyo without too much hassle.  Getting ready to board the plane to Bangkok.

Part of the purpose of this trip is to run through the whole process for Everest next year.  We have already learned a few valuable travel lessons, nothing we couldn’t fix thankfully.

It was recommended that we try to check our luggage all the way through to Kathmandu from our departure cities in the US (Fort Lauderdale for me, Portland for Mark).  I was able to check my bags all the way through, which I felt was important because Delta had a higher weight limit than Thai Airways (which we were taking from Bangkok to Kathmandu).  This was also good because we were planning to stay in the Louis Tavern Day Rooms in the Bangkok airport – these rooms are inside the airport so we wouldn’t need to go out through passport control, and wouldn’t need to go back in through passport control and security.  While Delta was able to check my bags through, Mark was on a Delta code share flight run by Alaska Airlines, and they weren’t able to check his bags through, which meant we would need to go to baggage claim to collect his bags, then check them in again the next morning.

I decided to go with Mark in case he needed some help, which turned out to be a good thing.  When we got to the baggage carousel, my bags came out (still tagged for KTM).  Apparently that’s how the system works here, all the bags come out, even if they are continuing on another airline, then in theory the baggage handlers would come and collect the bags that were tagged to go on, assuming nobody else collected them first…  I ended up collecting my bags since I didn’t know the process until later, but in retrospect I prefer that I did get them myself.

The other implication of this was that Mark was now OUTSIDE the airport, with his bags, and we were 9 hours from departure so he couldn’t check them back in, and couldn’t get in through security, so we would have been split up.  In the end, it all worked out well, we went to the Novatel hotel just outside the airport, and had a solid few hours of sleep and a nice breakfast.

Checking in on Thai airways was painless, security was quick, and I can see why people like to come to Thailand on vacation, everyone is super friendly and always smiling.  Next stop, Kathmandu.