We're Home

Saturday 9^th June

We’re home!!!

Thai Airlines excelled again, left Bangkok on time and arrived into Melbourne half an hour earlier with service plus, all the way together with an excellent menu.

I don’t know the reason but at Bangkok Airport, after passing through security and into the Duty Free area, people flying to Australia cannot buy any drink and at the entrance to the boarding lounge all hand luggage was searched, again and any liquids confiscated.  The sign said the Australian Government won’t allow more than 100 ml total of liquid on board, I wouldn’t think they could do that at a foreign airport and a foreign airline.

I haven’t experienced that before, I wonder if someone in Government has shares in the Australian Duty Free shops and are forcing people to buy when they arrive in Australia.  Oh well, I have 500 Baht to spend on our next trip to Bangkok.

We have never experienced such a quick exit from the airport as we did today.  Thirty minutes after landing we were on the Airport Bus, having bought some duty free, been through immigration and customs, a five minute wait for a train at Spencer St, (refuse to use that other name, it’s in Spencer St.) and we were home in two hours.

What an interesting trip, we have experienced hot and humid 34C in Bangkok, 30C in Berlin and down to zero within the Arctic Circle, sunny days, overcast and rain, snow and hail, gentle breezes and Force 9 gales.  We say we don’t travel for the weather but if we did we have experienced the full range on this trip.

I have made some comments earlier about the difference in service and facilities between SAS and Royal Thai Air and I would also like to comment on what I would call, “Let’s squeeze everything we can from our guests” attitude of the big hotel chains.  Without exception the Youth Hostels, Hostels and inexpensive hotels provide free wi-fi connections, as did Viking Cruises on their boat and Hurtigruten Ferries, many trains in Europe also provide connections.  Hilton, Novotel and others charge around $5 per hour on top of their accommodation charges, they need to learn something about providing customer service. 

Time to start planning our next trip; it’s probably Australia’s turn to receive our dollars.