2001-08-20 - 14:20 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

TRAVEL FUN

Jim of Jim's Journal wrote of travel complications in his journal recently which sparked a memory of mine. He suggested I put it in my diary.

Thanks much Jim,

Reminds me of the time I had a scheduled flight from Denver to Bangkok, Thailand and by military air to my duty location in northern Thailand.

I arrived San Francisco to find that the flight attendants for that airline had gone on strike and my flight had been canceled. I flailed around the airport and Northwest Air said, "Well, we can get you on a flight to Hong Kong but no further."

So at Hong Kong I de-planed (geez what a term), holed up in the transient lounge and when the flight was called, I just walked out and got back on the plane.

For the whole flight the cabin crew were in a tizzy. Don't really know why, there were many empty seats. When they approached me I just said, "I am flying under military orders and am going to Bangkok." Then I gave them the WTF look.

The huge laugh is that I hit Bangkok on the anniversary of the Kings death - which is celebrated there for a week. The King of Anna and the King.

Every morning I would go to the building where I was supposed to check in with the military and bounce off closed doors. Then I would spend the rest of the day sightseeing, had a blast. The first day of the next week there were military personnel in the office. I then reported in and handed the man my orders. That dumbo looked at them, looked up at me and said, "You were supposed to report in about a week ago." I laughed and said, "I reported every morning, but no one was here."

There is more. They arranged for me to fly upcountry and got me on board at Bangkok. It was one of those birds that stop at every little place there is. Each time I would be told I had been bumped by the military and they didn't know for sure when I would get another flight. I used my ace in the hole. Before I left Denver I managed to get the man's name, military rank and his phone number at Nakom Phanom. I would just hand the man my orders and suggest they call the man who was waiting for my arrival. Begrudgingly I would be given a seat for the next leg of the flight to another attempted bump at the next stop.

Whenever my memory is jogged I get to chuckling about my adventure. I was 40 years old, a tyro at foreign travel working for a contractor to the military as a tech rep, knowing the strict schedule I was supposed to adhere to for reporting in to the man in Nakom Phanom -- in a very risky manner I did what I could to get there. So this dumb guy made it by playing dumb from Hong Kong to Bangkok with a magic name and phone number at destination I arrived about a week late.

Oh what fun it is to travel.

Denver doug

I shiver to think of what could have happened if I had been challenged and stuck in Hong Kong as a foreigner without a visa. Which reminds me of a flight once from Saigon to Taipei, Tiwan and a visa. About that, maybe later.

What a joy it is to have Travel Fun . . . . . .

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