Travels of a Wannabe Nomad
  • Home
  • About Me
  • City Guides
    • Arenal Region
    • Athens | Αθήνα
    • Ayutthaya | อาณาจักรอยุธยา
    • Bangkok | กรุงเทพมหานคร
    • Barcelona
    • Capri | Cápri
    • Chiang Mai | เชียงใหม่
    • Costa del Sol
    • Delphi | Δελφοί
    • Granada
    • Jaco | Jacó
    • Kanchanaburi | กาญจนบุรี
    • Madrid
    • Monteverde
    • Phitsanulok | พิษณุโลก
    • Pompeii
    • Rome | Roma
    • San Jose | San José
    • Tetouan | تطوان
  • My Travels
    • Italy & Greece >
      • Intro to Italy
      • Ancient Rome
      • Dessert and Discrimination in Trastevere!
      • Vatican Exploration
      • New Year’s Eve In Roma!
      • Paradise in Capri
      • Pompeii Ruins
      • Opa!
      • The Belly Button of the World
      • Everything in Moderation
      • It's All Greek to Me
      • The Jump that Almost Landed Us in Greek Prison
      • The Midnight Meal
    • Costa Rica >
      • Inside a Volcano
      • Toil and Trouble
      • La Fortuna
      • Volcanic Hot Springs
      • Coasting on Cables
      • Swimming with Piranhas
    • Thailand >
      • Jet Lag
      • Stairs of Death and the Emerald Buddha
      • The Broken-Finger Dance
      • The Squatter Toilet
      • Tuk Tuks and The Night Market
      • Topical Roofie!
      • Indiana Jones’ Bridge
      • Bridge Over the River Kwai
      • Tiger Temple
      • Dawn in the Jungle
      • Elephant Ride
      • Orchid Farm
      • Thai Hills
      • Seafood on the Beach
      • Ringside Thai Kickboxing
    • Spain & Morocco >
      • Sweet Sangria
      • Wedding Crashers
      • Karma on the Madrid Metro
      • Fried Fish Fiasco
      • Moroccan Medina
      • Fieldtrip!
  • Don't Drink the Water
  • Contact Logan

Jet Lag

12/29/2008

0 Comments

 
Picture
After a meal of “chicken or beef?” I popped an Ambien CR so as to pretend the rest of the 25-hour flight never happened. I awoke groggy and half dazed from the prescription (the ad promised I would awake refreshed after 8 hours), and my cheap digital watch from Target informed me that I had slept only 3 hours. I jabbed the miniature TV screen, conveniently located right behind the head of the person in front of me, and saw a mini airplane on the map cruising over the northernmost part of Alaska.

Picture
I was seized with fear that the plane had been hijacked. After all, our destination was Asia, not Alaska. But aware that paranoia was one of the many side effects of prescription sleep aids, I set aside the hijacker theory and looked again at the 4-inch screen (approximately 9 inches away from my face) and found that the temperature of the air outside was -79 degrees Fahrenheit. I snapped pictures of the blue-gray ice thousands of feet below and briefly considered finding out what that temperature would feel like in order to relieve my ears from the shrieking toddler one aisle over. Surely there is a market for infant tranquilizers.

Picture

After two layovers in D.C. and Tokyo and a few hours of sleep (or however close you can get to sleep sitting in coach), I arrived at Bangkok International Airport baggage claim and met the other 19 students from all over the United States who were also traveling with EF College Break on the tour entitled “Exotic Thailand.” We met our local tour guide, Del, who spoke English well and greeted us warmly while we loaded the charter bus in the middle of the night. By the time we got settled into our hotel at 2 a.m. local time, no one was tired, and I knew this would be the start of a very disturbed sleep cycle.



0 Comments

    Archives

    December 2008

    Categories

    All
    Airport
    Jet Lag
    Layover
    Thailand

Tell me what you think! Logan@wannabenomad.com