For those of you familiar with our honeymoon itinerary, you know that our original plan was to visit Hanoi. Here's what happened instead.
Bangkok, Thursday, July 22 3:00pm
Flight departure to Hanoi: 5:50pm
"You pay 600 baht to airport," says the taxi driver shortly after we leave our hotel and head for the airport. An argument begins.
"No, 360 baht is standard; it's what we paid to get here," Eileen and I say in our own ways. The back and forth continues as we demand he take us back for a different taxi and he begins to make a three-point turn and holds up the traffic behind us. Eventually we come to the agreement that we'll pay 450 baht and our day's adventure is just getting started.
3:20pm
The notorious Bangkok traffic lives up to its reputation. Lanes originally intended for the opposite direction are being used by cars and trucks -- including our own -- to inch closer to the highway. To pass the time Eileen pulls out the Southeast Asia guidebook we have been referencing throughout our trip and begins to read up on our next destination.
"Do we have a visa for Vietnam?" she asks after reading the section titled "Planning Your Trip to Vietnam: Entry Requirements." It becomes clear we should've read this section earlier.
Bangkok Airport, 4:15pm
In dramatic and ominous fashion, a torrential downpour begins as we reach the airport. The lady behind the Thai Airways counter is helpful and begins to process our check-in until I ask, "Is it possible to purchase a visa to Vietnam here or there?"
She suggests that we call the U.S. embassy and let's us know that they open at 8:30am the next morning. Eileen and I discuss our options as we scramble to find an Internet connection so that we can call the embassy using Skype on my iPhone and also see if we can get a visa online, as the ticketing agent said might be possible.
5:00pm
After walking from one end of the airport to the other and from the fourth floor to the first floor, we finally find a way to get online. But the connection sucks so without a reliable Internet connection, I call the embassy using my credit card and a pay phone on the first floor.
The duty officer let's us know we can't get one on the same day and that the U.S. embassy in Bangkok would be closed the rest of the week because of a holiday. He also gives us the URL where we might have better luck online. Eileen proceeds with the online application and -- lucky us -- we can request for it to be expedited within the next 12 hours for an additional fee. We pay the fee and as we wait for the email confirmation, we go to the customer service area for Thai Airways on the fourth floor to see about rescheduling our flight for the following night.
5:30pm
We explain the situation to the customer service lady but she has her hands tied; since this was booked with my Continental Airlines points I have to contact them instead. Unfortunately, the phone she has can't make calls to the U.S. so we have to go back down to the first floor and use the pay phone again.
6:00pm
We get our email confirmation for the visa:
...This email aims to confirm that we have received your visa application! We will send you the Visa Approval Letter after ... 1 working day (urgent service) ... Please be kindly informed that our Office will be temporally (sic) closed for the Company Vacation from July 22nd, 2010 to July 25th, 2010. We will get back to work on July 26th, 2010. All Vietnam visa requests ... during this time will be processed and completed later on July 26th, 2010.
Awesome. We were scheduled to leave Vietnam on the 27th.
6:15pm
"Thank you for calling Continental Airlines. Your approximate wait time is 10 minutes.
6:30pm
"Thank you for calling Continental, this is Rachel, how can I assist you today?"
I explain our situation.
"Oh, you're in Bangkok? Let me connect you to our international line."
6:32pm
"Thank you for calling Continental Airlines. Your approximate wait time is 20 minutes.
6:45pm
The wait music abruptly goes silent. I come close to beating the pay phone with one of my crutches after it apparently hangs up for me.
We eventually purchase a calling card to the U.S. and use it at a different phone. After talking with Sandy at Continental she is able to get us on a 9:40am flight the next morning, Friday July 23rd.
8:30pm
We spend the last of our baht and eat our last meal in Thailand at the airport. We also decide that we will spend our last night there and set up a "bed" on one of the benches.
Friday, July 23 6:00am
We call our families to let them know the deal. We also finally check in to our flight and head for the comfort of an airport lounge.
Singapore, 1:05pm
With aching backs and deprived of sleep, we finally arrive at our new destination. After Hanoi we were supposed to stopover in Singapore on our way to Bali so the easiest thing for us and Continental was to move the flight and extend the stopover. I booked a stay at the Marriott in Singapore using hotel points and here we are.
It may actually be a serendipitous change in itinerary. At this time there is the Singapore Food Festival which we have already attended and may go to again. The weather has been good and it seems our location is prime for shopping. We also happen to have friends who live or who have lived here who have provided great suggestions on what to do and where to eat. It may not have been an original destination but Singapore has been a good detour on our own little amazing race.
TL;DR - Without a visa, our travel to Vietnam was cancelled. Instead we spent the night in Bangkok airport and are now in Singapore.
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