I left Sligo on another foggy November day and made my way to Dublin by train. Since I’m heading to Thailand, I packed light, so the Baltic weather was a bit of a shock without a jacket. I wont miss that (30+ degrees in Bangkok by the looks of it).
Up the Dubs
I had a fun night with the Dublin Das and was dropped right at the airport entrance the next morning—cheers, boss! Check-in and security were sound, and I was seated on the plane in no time. So far, everything has gone smoothly… almost too smoothly!
Dav and the Dublin Das
The first flight went by grand. A short enough trip to Istanbul where I watched Brooklyn and immediately saw the parallels of me and Eilis (Saoirse Ronan’s character) making it in the world 🙏
Remember Istanbul
A lot of downtime in the airport which was grand. My original connection was cancelled so I had to choose between an hour and a half vs a seven hour layover. I went with the latter for peace of mind. Found a perch with a charger and the free WiFi—I was right as Larry.
Wifi and charger station is always welcome
Istanbul Airport is a big’un but pretty chilled, though very expensive oddly enough. I was stressing with the 1.5hr layover that I would never get to the next gate in time. Turns out it was literally right across from the first flight so would have made it just by the skin of my teeth! Glad I had the 7 hours to wander around and take in the full Istanbul Airport experience.
8 quid for a pain au chocolate? Pull the other one
Plenty of spots to relax
Mad respect for an airport with water refills
On the second leg, I watched The Iron Claw—what an incredible movie. I couldn’t wait to go down a Wiki rabbit hole about it after. To my absolute astonishment, Maverick was also on the film list! An underrated classic and a great watch so I stuck that on as well, even though I watched it earlier in the year.
Touched Down in Thailand
I arrived at Bangkok Airport after my longest flight to date (~9hours). Immigration was straightforward—no questions, just a stamp that says I can stay for 60 days, which is a beauty. My eSIM worked fine so I was able to Google Map my way in to the city. It was all fairly handy—the Airport Rail Link is the cheapest and quickest option and within about 30 mins I was in the main station. I had exchanged some money at Dublin Airport so only had large bills which wouldn’t work in the machine. Fortunately, there was a manned booth right beside it. Thailand is still very much a cash-based society so that is worth remembering.
A more happening spot than I realised—if only my own Nana could see me now!
At one of the main stations I transferred to a local line and after a few more stops I arrived in Nana. From there, a 15-minute walk to the hostel was briefly interrupted by a quick pint.
Sin é
DavAI SummAIriser
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