A Surprise Journey
First of all, I want to thank the main sponsor of this world-opening trip—Buzzwoo!—the company I work for. This wasn’t my first time in Germany; I had been there once before for work, attending the Ambiente fair at Messe Frankfurt. But this trip was completely different from the last.
The travel itinerary was CNX – BKK on the 10th, with an overnight stay in Bangkok because I had an early morning flight from BKK to DBX. I had to wake up at 5:30 AM to avoid the stress of potentially missing my flight. Yesterday, I asked my aunt to book a taxi for 6:00 AM so I could leave the hotel and head straight to the airport, which was about 500 meters away. The taxi driver charged 150 baht as usual—a bit steep for such a short distance—but I didn’t mind since it was early in the morning and he had to get up to pick me up (understanding his perspective).
I arrived at the airport super early, around 6:30 AM. Naturally, the check-in counter wasn’t open yet. So, what should I do? Walk around, of course! I roamed from the first floor to the fourth, buying a sandwich and some milk to tide me over until I could eat on the plane. Finally, the check-in counter opened, and I queued up, ready to check in for my flight. Afterward, I proceeded to the second floor for the body and carry-on baggage check. As usual, I had to remove my shoes, belt, etc. It went smoothly. The next step was heading back down to the first floor for passport control. There was a special lane for E-Passport holders. I filled out the departure form, scanned my passport and fingerprints, and that was that. Now, I just had to wait for my flight at GATE E8.
Flying with Emirates on the massive AirBus 380-800 was quite an experience—the plane was packed. I couldn’t help but wonder if it could handle all that weight. The flight attendant checked my boarding pass, and I was seated in 64F, in the middle row. To my left was an elderly couple who seemed very much in love, on their way to Heathrow. On my right was a well-mannered Iranian businessman. The flight was off to a smooth start.
I watched two movies—Minions and Iron Man. Then I started Iron Man 2 but couldn’t finish it because my eyes started to hurt. I began to get anxious about the time, so I checked my boarding pass. Oh no, the flight was delayed! This meant I would have to run to catch my connecting flight and hope the plane would wait, as many passengers were heading to different destinations. We landed in Dubai at 14:30. As soon as we disembarked, a ground stewardess was waiting for us. About 7-8 passengers, including me, followed her.
Damn… we missed the connecting flight. But they provided hotel accommodations for us to rest for half the night. The ground staff issued new boarding passes for a 3:00 AM flight. We went through immigration and out to Exit 1 to catch a shuttle to the hotel. I met two German friends along the way, though I hadn’t asked their names yet—haha.
The Millennium Airport Hotel shuttle picked us up from the airport. It took about 5 minutes to get to the hotel, not too far away. The hotel seemed to be about 3-4 stars. After checking in, we headed to eat because it was close to 4:00 PM. I chatted with my German friends before we parted ways to rest. I decided to explore the area a bit since I was there anyway. I walked quite a distance, enjoying the cool weather. There were so many luxury cars—it’s true what they say about this wealthy city.
After walking back to the hotel, I took a shower and prepared to rest for the early flight the next day. The journey had already been exciting, especially since it was my first time missing a connecting flight. I couldn’t help but wonder how exciting the next 10 days would be—this was going to be fun!