Travel and Orientations....

On August 11th, I arrived safely in the LaGuardia airport in New York. I was met by a man in a bright red t-shirt who guided me outside to the taxi-pickup stop along a very busy road. A taxi came about 30 minutes later- the driver was a man with a very thick Indian accent who talked very very quickly. I was alone in the car with him and he tried to have a conversation  with me- I couldn't understand any of it other then "what, you don't like?"
Anyway, back to the story- He drove me to The Hampton, where I met the four other YES Abroad students as well as some AFSers headed to Switzerland and Sweden. I was the last one to arrive, so they had already begun the group activities. We had an orientation, ate a delicious supper, had more orientation, and then a Q&A session with a Thailand returnee (Ally). Then we finally got to sleep. The next day we left the hotel around 9:30 and headed for the airport.
We had a horribly long 14 hour flight to Tokyo, Japan. The airplane food wasn't half bad- I chose the Japanese option every time. I just didn't enjoy sitting for so long- why cant they have beds and gyms on planes? Luckily, I had an isle seat and could get up and walk around or go go jumping jacks or lunges in the cute tiny bathrooms.
After we landed and went through security again in Tokyo, I got something to eat and then bought mochi (happy Sarah). I got to sample green tea and strawberry kit kat (absolutely delicious!). The Narita Airport is colossal-most airports have a few shops that are repeated throughout the terminals- but Narita practically has a mall!
Around 7:30, (we were delayed for an hour) we boarded ANA Airlines once again for our plane to.....Bangkok! It was a very long seven hour flight that also seemed absolutely certain not to permit Sarah to sleep. I sat next to two Thai women- I tried to have a conversation with them- they taught me a few Thai words and then fell asleep. Again, the flight attendants fed us a lot and were very kind. Of course, I chose the Japanese meal over the continental one- it was delicious, but had something fishy about the fish stir fry sorta thing (get it?).
I arrived, a very jet- lagged girl, in Bangkok at 12:30 in the morning in Bangkok. After going through immigration customs, we met our Thai AFS guide- Pee Nudi.
Pee Nudi took us outside to a bus- it was raining! The ride to our hotel was a struggle- I really wanted to keep my eyes open and absorb all I could see of Bangkok, but my sleep- deprived body wanted to sleep and wouldn't take "no" for an answer.
Around 2:00AM, I finally laid in my bed to catch up on as much sleep as possible.
Tomorrow (oops- today!) is a big day- I will wake up at 7:30 and go to the embassy and the Royal palace.
   I'm soo excited to be in Thailand!!!
   Untill later.....Sa-wat-dee-ka!