Thursday, December 28, 2023

We had a reasonable sleep with the family in Lat Krabang but we wake up very early. Because we are flying back to the Netherlands today, we set the alarm for a quarter to six.

We drink coffee and take a shower.
Then the last items, mainly frozen food and toiletries, are packed. When we weigh the suitcases, we have around 22 kilos per suitcase and approximately 5 kilos per trolley.
With four suitcases we take almost 90 kilos of luggage with us. And then 10 kilos of hand luggage, which will increase somewhat due to tax-free shopping.
We look at the occupancy of the aircraft on the EVA Air site, the Comfort Class where we are sitting seems to be 50 to 60 percent occupied.

We fly at a quarter past twelve and therefore have to be at the airport at a quarter past nine to check in.
At half past eight we drive away after saying goodbye to Moue and Gunn, Focus is grumpy and has already gone to school, hormones. Kaeng takes us to the airport.
On the way, Pia checks to see if she can buy sweet mangoes, but it is not yet the season for that.

Around a quarter past nine we arrive at Suvarnabhumi Airport, and then it turns out that our flight is delayed by almost an hour.
Too bad we couldn't see that sooner.
Fortunately, we can already check in and that goes without any problems, the hold luggage is not too heavy and the hand luggage is not checked.

We wait for Kaeng who parks the car and for our niece Cartoon who has promised to come. She does indeed come and takes her older sister and nieces with her, nice that they do that.

We go through baggage control and passport control. There is no longer a priority line for people over 70, but everything goes smoothly and quickly. Tom is allowed to queue for people with a Thai passport.

In the departure hall we buy a few packs of Doi Thung coffee and mangoes with sticky rice. Pia eats something at an expensive restaurant, Tom looks for a sandwich but finds nothing.
We walk towards the gate and there Pia sees a shop with health products. Pia goes there to have a look, Tom sits down at a shop where he drinks a beer.
We walk to the gate on time, where we have to wait another fifteen minutes before we can board.

The Comfort Class appears to be only about 60% full, so it's nice and quiet. The Economy Class is considerably busier, but it seems that the seats there are now more spacious than on the outward journey, a 3-3-3 arrangement instead of a 3-4-3. In our opinion, Business Class is (almost) empty.
The food we get is good, better than we are used to on an airplane, and there is plenty to drink, even if you have to get it yourself from the pantry at some point.
The flight is uneventful, except for some turbulence above India. There is also a lot of turbulence during landing, but that is due to stormy weather above the Netherlands. Tom slept a little on the way, Pia not at all.

After a very long flight, more than 12 hours, we land at Schiphol 45 minutes late.
Our driver is already waiting and we are home in Apeldoorn at half past ten. We unpack the suitcases, because there is a lot of food there that needs to be refrigerated.
Then we sit down for a while, drink some wine and beer and go to bed at one o'clock. It is then 7 o'clock in the morning in Thailand, we have been traveling for more than 24 hours.

Written on: 2023-12-31

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