Take Off

The weekend before we flew, we made the difficult decision to self-quarantine.  Up until that point, we had made a few trips out and about to the grocery store and to the park.  On Saturday evening, the walls felt like they were closing in on us.  By Sunday evening, my anxiety was at a fever pitch and I was checking Air Asia's site every half hour or so to make sure you could still purchase seats on our departing flight.

On Monday morning, we left the house at 8 AM for our 1 PM flight.  We arrived about 9 AM at the airport prepared for increased security measures.  We were a bit early to check in, so I connected to the free airport Wi-Fi and was actually able to find a live stream of the Super Bowl between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs.  When we were finally able to enter into the secure area, the 49ers were leading 20-10 and the game looked out-of-reach.

After prolonged security inspection, we were able to get through to our gate and began the final hour or so of frantic app checking to make sure we were still about to be on our way.  My mind and heart prepared for the real possibility that our flight may be pulled at the last minute.  The stakes felt quite high.

At last!  We were called to board our flight.  Shortly after we were seated, we began to realize there would be fewer passengers on the plane than we had ever seen before.  In addition to our family, nineteen other brave souls were also bound for Thailand that day.  We all breathed an audible sigh of relief when we went wheels up around 12:55 PM and were on our way to Chiang Mai.

We were each very grateful when we successfully landed in Thailand and this first leg of our journey was now complete.  Little did we know this would be just a first step in an altogether unexpected international pivot that would unfold in the coming weeks.