{"id":587,"date":"2016-07-08T10:18:18","date_gmt":"2016-07-08T10:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/?p=587"},"modified":"2022-04-13T15:42:54","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T15:42:54","slug":"587-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/587-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Travelling to the Kingdom of Thailand"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s so great about getting up at 3.30 am on a Wednesday in June? No, it was not the fabulous sunrise. Nor was it baked beans on toast with a mountain of cheese. I, Samantha Edgson, had decided to spend my summer holiday in Thailand. And naturally an early flight that meant getting up at ridiculous o\u2019clock to get to the airport was the best way to start my adventure. Not only that, but I was determined that I was only going to sleep at certain times. Did that work? Didn\u2019t even last one flight! But being awake during the flights did make them a lot more interesting.<\/p>\n

\"20160629_101623\"<\/figure>\n

Having been a fresher and a social secretary at university, I believe that I am quite good at small talk. But even then, sitting next to a stranger for seven hours with nothing more in common than your destination, if that, definitely tested my sanity and social skills. In both of my flights I ended up next to men who just wanted to talk, which was nice despite the challenge. I sat next to Jamil for the first flight, who first spoke to me when he asked for a tissue with tears and snot dripping down his face. I\u2019m glad I\u2019m not the only person who gets emotional when travelling! He was really friendly (apart from trapping me in my seat for two hours because he was asleep) and was heading to Tunisia to spend three months with his family. On the flight from Muscat to Bangkok I met an expatriate who was returning from visiting family in Cornwall to Bangkok. Apart from unintentionally making me feel quite unprepared for my trip he was great and asked the hostesses to get my dinner for me the one time I fell asleep on the journey.<\/p>\n

I feel like the worst parts of the trip had to be the waiting. The time between the two flights and the time spent in Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport waiting to go to the hotel, I\u00a0was\u00a0hungry or trying to fight off sleep. In Muscat Airport, in Oman, they did not seem to accept pounds. Note to self, if ever on a flight transfer again, make sure to bring a supplies or a small amount of money for the airport! Once I finally got to Bangkok, I really could not wait to get to bed in the hotel. I could not wait so much I managed to nod off just before another ETA (English teaching assistant) arrived. So unfortunately I was not the most awake when I had my first conversation with Henna. Fortunately I\u2019m not sure she minded at all.<\/p>\n

So my adventure has certainly started, but I still need my eight hours sleep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What\u2019s so great about getting up at 3.30 am on a Wednesday in June? No, it was not the fabulous sunrise. Nor was it baked beans on toast with a […]","protected":false},"author":1058,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[270],"tags":[93,43,56,97,58,91],"class_list":["post-587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-summer-programmes","tag-asia","tag-global-opportunity-centre","tag-summer-programme","tag-thailand","tag-travel","tag-volunteering"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4QQbz-9t","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":848,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/aum-less\/","url_meta":{"origin":587,"position":0},"title":"Aum-less","author":"Samantha Edgson","date":"July 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m not sure if the lack of sleep or if I was the Chang the night before was making me feel bad, but I decided to take my berry tea and pug-shaped tea dispenser into school today. According to the others, my pug tea dispenser apparently looks like a pig!\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "International Summer Programmes"","block_context":{"text":"International Summer Programmes","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/summer-programmes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"13883681_10207037353151669_545412871_n","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2016\/08\/13883681_10207037353151669_545412871_n-450x338.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":832,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/thecandlefestival\/","url_meta":{"origin":587,"position":1},"title":"The Candle Festival","author":"Samantha Edgson","date":"July 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I woke up around 3am and couldn\u2019t get back to sleep so I looked up various TEFL courses. Since being in Thailand the idea of teaching abroad after I graduate has become more of a possibility. 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It was great, even if they were a little skimpy with the nutella.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "International Summer Programmes"","block_context":{"text":"International Summer Programmes","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/summer-programmes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"13707809_10157057368745408_5209962607112275896_n","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2016\/08\/13707809_10157057368745408_5209962607112275896_n-450x338.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5969,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/teaching-in-thailand\/","url_meta":{"origin":587,"position":3},"title":"Teaching in Thailand","author":"Global Opportunities Globetrotters","date":"June 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Name: Emma Marshall School: English, Communication and Philosophy Global Opportunity: Volunteering with VSA Thailand\/WCIA, International Summer Programme What motivated you to take up a Global Opportunity? Participating in a global opportunity is an amazing way to gain confidence and to also develop crucial employability skills which you can apply to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GO Student Ambassadors"","block_context":{"text":"GO Student Ambassadors","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/go-student-ambassadors\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2025\/06\/IMG_0033_Emma-Marshall-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2025\/06\/IMG_0033_Emma-Marshall-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2025\/06\/IMG_0033_Emma-Marshall-scaled.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2025\/06\/IMG_0033_Emma-Marshall-scaled.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2025\/06\/IMG_0033_Emma-Marshall-scaled.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2025\/06\/IMG_0033_Emma-Marshall-scaled.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":979,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/science\/","url_meta":{"origin":587,"position":4},"title":"Science!","author":"Samantha Edgson","date":"August 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"So today marks about three weeks until we leave for Bangkok. Even though we\u2019re six weeks through the placement, it doesn\u2019t mean that I am any more ready for each day. Thailand still manages to surprise me practically daily. 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