Leaving on a Jet Plane

We began our month-long exploratory trip to Thailand with a series of connecting flights from our home in Atlanta, Georgia to Detroit, Michigan to Seoul, Korea and finally to Bangkok, Thailand.

Needless to say the flight to Thailand was long, but passed without incident. We were thrilled when our checked luggage arrived with us!

Upon arrival in Thailand, we had excepted to simply have our passports stamped without any fee for a 30 day visit.  However, when we saw signage to apply for an arrival visa, we were a bit confused.  We were informed by friendly airport personnel that US citizens didn't have to pay and could move to the immigration line and obtain a free 30 day visa stamp.

Afterwards, we exited the terminal to catch a taxi to our Marriott Courtyard hotel.

We had printed a copy of the address of our hotel in English. However, the driver was confused and did not fully understand, we think because there is more than one Marriott in Bangkok. A call to the hotel on the driver's mobile phone cleared up the confusion and the driver got us on our way.  Total cost including tolls (included in the fare) was 450 baht ($13.50).

Travel Tips

• Make sure to have a printed copy of your full round trip flight itinerary.  Thai immigration requires this documentation.
• Have the local address and phone number for your hotel and a Google Map printout showing your hotel location.
• Use Google Translate to convert the English version of your hotel's address to Thai