With cold weather approaching and the end of our allotted time in the UK looming we shifted into high gear to arrange storage for the van and a destination for the crew. Somewhere warm, of course, and somewhere we can take care of various medical and dental maintenance. We’re fortunate to be in good general health but we do need to get checked over once in a while and the American medical system is beyond our financial reach, especially added to the cost of travel to the US.
It’ll be Asia again for us. Affordable, warm, great medical and dental care at a reasonable cost, and a healthy cuisine with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. It’s a clear violation of Rule #1 (Never go back) and there are plenty of places we haven’t been yet that might also fit the bill, but I for one crave a couple of months of free time to read, write, do family history, and perhaps explore some new places.
In a flurry of activity we booked a flight to Thailand and arranged for a room in our favorite guesthouse in Chiang Mai. Our friends in Northern Ireland graciously agreed to let us stash Escape Velocity in a secure back paddock where our sailor friend Alan can keep an eye on her. This is a much better solution than last year’s storage, which was lovely and secure but difficult to get to, complicating the logistics and adding to the overall cost.
When departure day came we said goodbye to our tiny home and Alan drove us to the bus station in Newry where an express bus takes you to the Dublin airport in just over an hour. We’re not used to such efficiency!
We weren’t confident that the bus and the flight would line up properly so we used some points to book an airport hotel for the night, then it was off to Thailand via Beijing. It was a long but mostly comfortable journey, except that my vegetarian food order didn’t make it to the plane so by the time we got to Bangkok I was starving.
We had a long layover in Bangkok and our Chiang Mai flight was further delayed — I think this has happened every time — but that gave us a chance to get local currency and Thai SIM cards for the phones.
We finally made it to our guesthouse where we are booked into the coveted Room 8 for the month. For the next couple of days we visited our favorite places to eat, checked into the ongoing work at our neighborhood temple and generally reacquainted ourselves with the lovely, quirky, funky, welcoming Old Town Chiang Mai. It feels like home and it’s good to be back.
