Flight From Hell! Bangkok To Dubai

Sawadee ka. Hello everyone, Tiger Kip and foreigner Joe. Kip, you excited? Yes. Well, we will be leaving shortly, heading over to Suvarnabhumi BKK Airport for our trip to Europe. Our first stop will be Dubai. Our plane leaves at 3 in the morning so it's actually a red-eye and we get to Italy. It's six hours to Dubai, a six hours to Venice from Dubai. So we'll be there about 1.35 tomorrow afternoon and yeah, we're looking forward to it. I've been waiting for this. I know Giftez as well. Five and a half years I haven't seen my sons or grandchildren. So I'm really looking forward to this trip, looking forward to showing Giftez around Europe and I know she's excited. So we're not taking much with us because we plan to bring a whole lot with us, huh? But anyway, we hired a driver and he'll be picking us up here shortly and then we will be off to Bangkok. We'll probably get there about 10 in the evening depending on traffic, four hours and yeah, then 3 in the morning is when our flight goes. So we'll have some time in the airport. All right, our driver just showed up half an hour early. So Giftez is going to the toilet real fast and we are out of here. I thought that we were getting a Toyota 4Runner SUV but it looks like we have a Fortuna, right? Looks like we have a big van, so. Okay, well, we're in this nice huge van and the driver said there's some traffic. I guess people going home after sunk runs. So he thinks it's gonna take us about five and a half, six hours to get there. So we, normally we would be there, it's not even 6 o'clock, we would be there by 10. And he's saying probably 11 shortly thereafter. As long as we get there by 1 in the morning, I mean, I'm good. You know, we have to, we already did our check-in online, so we just have to give our bags and everything. So I think being there two hours before our flight departs, we'll be good to go, hopefully. Okay, well, we made it to the airport about five and a half hours. Real good driver, we're going to tip him well, 3,200 baht, cup from cup, 3,200 baht and then get taken a tip. So, we made it here safely, that's the main thing. Extremely busy today. Sunkran, the end of Sunkran, so I guess everyone's flying back home and there must be a lot of folks flying to Thailand for the Thai New Year, Sunkran, so. It's 11 o'clock, we got plenty of time, our flight leaves at 3.30. Yeah, yeah. We checked in online, so I guess we just give our bags up and they check our documents and everything. And then we'll go through security and relax, right? Okay, so we checked in real quick, five minutes, went through security, immigration rather, well security and immigration. And of course, skip being Thai, I get to go through the Thai line as long as we're together. So, that was a quick process and we still have four hours to go. Four hours to go, it's okay. But busy, huh? Yeah, very busy. It's going to be a long, long night. We have a six-hour flight to Dubai, then we have a two-hour layover and then we have another six hours to Venice. We'll be in Venice European time at 1.30. GIFT was happy, they said, does she have a visa or residence permit? The lady couldn't find a visa at first and then she found it. Yeah, I told GIFT, I said, GIFT, you got the wrong passport. She started panicking, looking in a passport, made sure she had the visa there. Our gate is the other way. It's E4. But GIFT said we didn't walk this way the last time, so she wants to walk this way. Very cool. GIFT's hiding over there. Where are you running to? Don't look right. Don't look right. In fact, just look straight ahead. Yep, GIFT was just informed that there's no Starbucks inside. She would have had to get a Starbucks outside before security. Okay, let's get some McDonald's french fries. They're always good. We are extremely tired and they keep delaying our flight here in Bangkok. We were supposed to board at 2.40, then they said at 3.05, then they said at 3.15, now at 3.30. We have a very short window in Dubai to go to Venice. So we're going to have one hour from the time we land to get off the plane and to go get our connecting flight. Honestly, I'm not sure we're going to be able to make it, but we'll see. What you got there, GIFT? Pancake, American piece. Fruit salad. I have coffee, orange juice, and scrambled eggs. It's like hash browns. Okay, enjoy GIFT. Well, now they informed us that we have to hang around in the air for about 30 minutes due to heavy traffic here in Dubai. So yeah, but they're telling us that all flights are delayed, so we'll see, I guess. Right now, it's up in the air because by the time we land, it's going to be about 8.30 and our flight leaves from Dubai. It's supposed to leave at 9.05. This is crazy. Four times, another 30 minutes hovering over Dubai. I don't know, how long can you stay in the air? I don't know, it's crazy. Well, this is two hours now. Two and a half hours hovering over Dubai. Now we're on the ground, 15 minutes, still haven't pulled up to our gate. We have now been on this plane for over 11 hours, six hour flight on the plane for 11 hours, and we're still waiting to get off the plane. There's all the information, 11 hours, 10 minutes, still got a plane in front of us. Who knows when we're going to get off this plane, and who knows if we're going to catch our next flight. Okay, this is really, really ridiculous. We are now 12 hours and five minutes in total on this plane, according to the monitor here. Twelve hours and six minutes now, and we are still on a tarmac. We still have planes in front of us. So we are almost 13 hours now, 12 hours and 42 minutes on a plane. You know what really stinks, is they don't even have Wi-Fi on a plane where they can provide you Wi-Fi, so you can contact your hotel at least and tell them, hey, I won't be showing up in time. Or if you booked a taxi, in our case, we have a friend coming to pick us up, but I can't even call the guy to let him know, hey, don't make that drive to Venice to pick me up, because you can't. And also, since we have Airbnb, we need to contact them. There's only a certain time you could check in. Right now, it's, what is it, it's, well, it's 11 o'clock. It would be Venice time, 11 o'clock. So even if we did get a flight, which we're probably not going to get, we won't even make it there till late tonight. So with this being an Airbnb, again, it's not like a hotel or anything like that. And if we did have a taxi booked and paid for, we'd lose that money, too. So they provided us some juice and a little pack of crackers. They can't tell you, they don't tell you anything. They're not telling you anything. They're not letting, you can't see on a monitor if your flight was delayed also, if it's canceled, whatever. No information whatsoever, other than we're waiting, we're waiting. They'll make an announcement in about 20 minutes, oh, we're still waiting. Like, we don't know that, right? I mean, I know ---- happens and some things can't be changed, but they could at least communicate with us a little better, you know, and not providing us with any, any options at all to, to be able to reach out. I can imagine people and family and stuff like that waiting on them. I was like 45 minutes on a plane for a 6-hour flight. Amazing. And we still have that plane in front of us waiting, too, so who knows when we're going to get off the plane. Okay, well, over 13 hours on the plane. Now we're finally getting off, hopefully, and we'll see what's going on. We are, so we are on a connected flight to Venice. We got off the plane in Dubai, right? No one's standing at the gate. We were on that plane for 13 hours. No one's standing on the gate giving any guidance. So we automatically started to go to the check-in, connection check-in desk, because we thought that's what we would have to do. So we go there and the stewardess, one of the ladies that was working on the other side, said, oh no, just go to the, just go to the gates, just go to the gates. Didn't say what gate or anything, just go through security. This way, you got to go this way, is what she said. So we go through all of the security and everything, and I'm like, okay, where do we go? Where do we go? So we asked another gentleman, he said, oh no, you go to the connection desk. So we walk back out, out of security, and we go to the connection desk. And me, let's just say there was like 100, 200 people there, minimal. So we're standing there. I said, yes, I have to go to the bathroom real fast. Can you just wait? It's going to be quite a while. So I went to the bathroom and I came out and just something told me, read the board. So I read the board and it said, our flight, the flight was supposed to leave at 9.05 in the morning. So it said, our flight, 9.05 AM, last call. I'm looking at that, huh, last call, 9.05. I ran to the desk where GIF was standing and waiting in line, and I said, GIF, let's go, just let's go. We started running, hauling ass basically. We had to catch a few trains, what they call it, trains or whatever. And we were running, literally running. GIF could barely keep up, but she did. She's a trooper. It must've been 15 minutes, 15, 20 minutes, just running. And we finally got here and we are on a plane now. So we should be in Venice. I don't know what time they're going to take off. I'm sure they're waiting on other people. Hopefully we don't have to sit here on the tarmac for another three hours. But anyway, we're hoping to be in Venice by 7 or 8 PM. I was able to get wifi and tell the guy that was picking us up to please call the Airbnb, let them know we'll be late. And he's already been tracking the time and everything. So we're good to go, but this is one flight from hell. I'll tell you, no communication with these people whatsoever, none whatsoever. You have to figure it out on your own, right? Figure it out on your own. You ask somebody something, they look at you like, huh? You know? So anyway, anyway, I am frustrated. I'm tired. I'm hungry. I think GIF is as well. Poor GIF. She usually eats a lot more than me and she hasn't eaten in God knows how many hours. We finally got our meal. Let's see what GIF has. Noodle salad and beef ragu, I believe. Yeah. I got the chicken, potatoes, also a noodle salad, red wine. Enjoy. GIF is so tired. Look at her. I hope she sleeps tonight. I got her some food, but I didn't want to wake her up. One hour and 20 minutes to Venice. It'll be 7 PM area, 7 PM. So I'm assuming we'll get to our accommodations probably about 9 PM. We still have to go through immigration and customs. Anyway, I am very, very tired and I know GIF is very tired, obviously. But we'll probably just check in, get a good night's sleep and I'll show you guys around tomorrow. This is going to be a great trip. It's really going to be a good trip. This little glitch in our trip means nothing at all. Shit happens, you know, it was unpredictable like everything is. But yeah, we're just happy to be here. Somewhere along the way on one leg of our trip, I am going to make an announcement that is basically going to change GIF and my life forever the way it is right now. So stay tuned for that. GIF doesn't know anything about it. You'll be one of the first ones to see that announcement. So I found out why we spent eight hours in the air for a six hour flight, five hours on the tarmac. Apparently yesterday there was some bad storms in Dubai and the airport got flooded. So this is what I hear anyway. So they had to cancel all of the flights, if not most of the flights. So that created ground traffic and it was just no space and no room for other planes to land. But anyway, it's all good now. We're going to be in Venice in one hour. Even though the plane was fully booked, it's like 40% occupied. People know what we were doing, like I said, but luckily I read that board. But yeah, 60% of the people still flight, unfortunately. Welcome to Venice. I told you I'd bring you here one day. Okay. We just got out of the, uh, you and that camera. We just got, this is, this is our friend, Chris. Kind enough to pick us up from the airport. I've known Chris for many years now, but anyway, another bad situation leaving here, but we'll talk more about that in a little while. I'm trying to sabai sabai, calm down. GIF is also, just let's say we don't have any clothes for tonight. Nothing to wear. So we have to go buy clothes, toothpaste, toothbrush, et cetera. And who knows when our clothes will be coming, right? Tomorrow. But they, they said possibly tomorrow. What a nightmare. What a, what a nightmare. But you don't, you like me without underwear GIF. All right. Well, we made it to our accommodation safely. We're staying in an Airbnb for 13 days. So this is a little less than a hundred dollars a day, a hundred dollars a night. I'm sorry. We're so tired. We're so wore out. We, everything, everything that could have went wrong, went wrong. But the main thing is through all of this, we are very happy. We made it here safely. And really that's the most important thing, even with all of the challenges that we went through, we're going to get some sleep. We got to figure things out tomorrow. We have to go shopping for some clothes and everything. I don't even know. Did I mention the clothes? I don't even know if I mentioned that our suitcases didn't come from Dubai and we have to. I'm sorry everyone. Because we're very tired. Very tired. We talk, we talk again. Oh, we talk again. And we talk over again, over again. Anyway, when we got to, when we got to Venice airport, they notified us and even in the email, they notified us that we have no luggage came with us from Dubai. So I'm like, wow. So we had to fill out paperwork at the airport and we're extremely tired as it is. And they say that they will mail it to us or deliver it to us tomorrow or the following day. We said, we have no clothes or anything. Oh, you can buy clothes and, and go online with the airline and, and fill out the form and they'll reimburse you. Yeah. I don't buy into that. Anyway, luckily here we have a washing machine. We can wash what we have. And, um, we have some shower gel and shampoo and everything for right now because it's late. It's like 10 o'clock in the evening and tomorrow we'll, um, we'll figure everything out right now. We're just too tired. No dance. Say goodnight gift. We'll see you guys on the next one. This is going to be an amazing journey and amazing trip. We are going to have a great time, um, here in Italy and all the countries we're going to see my kids and everything. So this is this little glitch in a day or two means nothing at all. We are very happy. Even though we seem stressful and it is stressful, but we're just tired. We're hungry. We're tired. We're everything. But anyway, we'll see you guys on the next one. Bye-bye.