Day 1 - Flight to Abu Dhabi

- I arrived promptly at Suvarnabhumi Airport 2.5 hours before my flight; when checking-in, the woman behind the counter changed me from a middle seat somewhere to the window seat in the emergency exit row. This was great as far as leg room and potential sleep, but there was no window next to my "window seat," and no entertainment screen on the seatback in front of me (as there was no seat in front of me). However, I did appreciate when the airline representative came over at check-in, weighed my "carry-on" bag (which, despite my insistence that it was light as a feather, was actually 12kg), and gave me a wink as he gave it an 'approved carry-on' tag and said, "I only see 7(kg)...you understand?" pointing to the scale readout. "Kao jai, ka," I replied with a smile, "Korp khun mak ka!" See that AirChina*? THAT'S good customer service. :)

My exit row windowless window seat

-Food on the airplane was terrible, as usual, save for the one little block of cheddar cheese. When the flight attendant said black coffee, apparently what he meant was "we ordered this crap from France, and despite the double creamer and 4 sugars you're adding, it will still taste like bitter sludge." And it did.

-Cherry on top? The screaming TWINS across the aisle from me.



*My beef with AirChina: When I flew home for Christmas I had two checked bags (and two small carry-ons), all full of shoes, souvenirs and keepsakes accumulated over the last two and a half years, and Christmas presents. The kg limit for check baggage was 23kg - one of mine was 3kg over at 26kg(just a really big bag), but the other was 8kg under at 15kg. LOGICALLY, being on the same ticket and going on the same plane regardless of which bag the weight is in, they should have let it go. But no. They wanted me to either "rearrange" my bags (which I spent a month packing efficiently), or pay $200 in overweight charges. Needless to say, I became "that person" who makes a scene at check-in about their bags. I took two items out of my large bag, put it back on the scale, and the woman says, "One more kilo." I lost it. Yanked my bag off the scale, removed ANOTHER item, stuffed it into the plastic bag with the other two removed items (so I now had THREE carry-ons), shouting and cursing as I went, and this woman had the balls to open her mouth and say to me, "We're only trying to help, ma'am." "NO," I snapped. "Trying to help would have been looking the other way and checking the f*cking bags. Just print the damn tickets, please. You're ruining my Christmas."  She didn't say another word. And I will never fly AirChina again. Ever.