Andrew and I arrived in Bangkok this morning at 05:30. There was some slight concern as to what our experience entering Bangkok would be like due to an interesting interaction I had with an airline employee. Don’t worry, it didn’t involve violence. Before our flight left San Francisco one of the girls at the Japan Airlines counter freaked out when she found out I had no Thai visa and a one-way ticket to Bangkok. She scurried around in her cute little semi-ethnic outfit until finally telling me that when I arrived in Thailand I might be denied entry. She followed that statement up with a question: Would you be okay with that?

A new paragraph. How the fuck do you answer that? Will I be okay with paying slightly under $900 and spending 30+ hours in air/airports to potentially be forced to buy another ticket, either back home or elsewhere, upon arrival at my intended destination?

You know me, I just smiled, then laughed in resignation and in a friendly voice said, “I guess so, since I don’t really have a choice.” She gave some kind of awkward laugh and handed me my passport and boarding ticket back, thanking me for my patience. I walked back to where I was waiting and contemplated mugging someone’s grandma for her blood-pressure medication.

We boarded the flight from San Francisco to Tokyo, arrived in Tokyo and were subsequently able to get on the flight to Bangkok without being reminded that after landing the inside of Bangkok’s airport could be our new home. If it was going to happen it was going to happen.

As you recall the first sentence of this entry says we arrived in Bangkok this morning. It doesn’t say we left the airport.

Bangkok customs line for the reticent.

But we did leave the airport.

After getting off the plane there was a sign for visa-on-arrival which we promptly walked past because I read you didn’t have to get a visa to enter Thailand. We picked up a checked bag (necessary due to carrying contact solution and utility tool) and headed straight for the immigration line as we passed the customs check. At the front of the line the woman at the counter briefly interrupted the conversation she was having with a coworker and motioned for me to look at a security camera. She then stapled something to my passport and stamped it as good for one month from my departure date of May 9th. I can legally and worry-free stay in Thailand until June 9th at which point I need to find another country that harbors this reverse refugee American.

For me this whole experience was an exercise in patience and acceptance. After the woman to said that we might be denied entry, I briefly stressed out but then realized it didn’t matter because I was going to fly to Bangkok anyway. Somehow I just accepted that whatever would happen would happen and that I would make the best of it. I wish I could apply that magic to so many other issues in my life. Ultimately the concern was unfounded though because the situation worked out in our favor.