Final Call

As the taxi pulled into the Bangkok hotel, Kiki hoped the message had been relayed to Mac that her flight from Singapore was late. It was past 1:00 am and Mac was no doubt tucked away in bed with visions of Vietnam playing across her eyelids. Instead, the car had not yet come to a complete stop when the door was flung open and there stood Mac- with three Thai boys and a big smile on her face. "These are our new friends," she began, "and we are drinking whiskey at their restaurant. Welcome back!" When it came about that Mac had been introduced through a friend of a friend and patronized the restaurant for dinner, then tried to pay her bill which they wouldn't allow so she bought them a bottle of whiskey instead... it all made sense. "Just one drink..." were Kiki's famous last words, and by nearly 4:00 am we were able to tear ourselves away from the welcoming committee in order to catch a few hours of sleep before the trip.


We arrived at Suvarnabhumi (Sue-wanna-boom) Airport to catch our flight to Hanoi, ready for ten days worth of adventure. Our companion Laura, an Aussie addition to the ACS staff, was there waiting and told us our original 11:45 am flight had been "re-timed" to depart at 12:10 pm. Perfect, we thought, and used the extra time to grab a coffee and chat. A quick glance at the clock revealed 11:30 am- Head to the gate? Nah, there was still time to grab some snacks and use the loo before making our way to Immigration. We got through with ten minutes until take-off, before realizing Laura was being detained. "They just announced Final Call!" Mac warned. Kiki ran ahead only to reach the gate just as the aircraft was pulling away. Why would you have a "final call" when the boarding gate is already closing? It should really be an "SOL call" and sound something like, "We aren't going to let you on the plane anymore so stop running, idiots!"


Laura and Mac anticipated fighting through long lines at security only to be greeted by chuckling guards who informed them that our plane "bai laeo!" Obviously, we had missed our flight. With six hours until our second chance departure we did what anyone who had learned their lesson would- drank more coffee and waited. When we boarded the later flight with just two minutes to spare, we were greeted with rolling eyes and smiles from the Thai crew, as we shouted "Vietnam, here we come!"