Khamma has obviously travelled extensively in the last five years since we met and is now a seasoned air traveller, but her children, Pell (24) and Yo (15) and mother have never been on an aeroplane. In fact they haven't travelled any great distances at all and none of them have been outside Thailand. So it was a special family treat to fly from Ubon Ratchathani to Chiang Mai for a short weekend break.
Air Asia have revolutionised air travel in Asia and Thailand in particular. Their low cost flying really does make it possible for everyone to fly and it is very affordable even compared to travelling VIP on the bus. The cost of a return flight from Ubon to Chaing Mai was about £46 and takes just over an hour, compared to the overnight bus which costs about £35 and takes at least 16 hours!
There are many reasonable hotels in Chiang Mai and we had no problem booking on line for three nights at the Anoma.
As the day drew closer, the family became quite excited about the flight and visiting Chiang Mai. Mama, has not been too well recently, but she looked forward to the flight, and it seemed that telling her friends in the village about her adventure really perked her up. Pell and Yo tried to keep cool about the whole thing, but their guard often slipped, especially as Pell was so excited she couldn't sleep the night before.
The flight was faultless and the excitement there for all to see. After countless flights in my previous career, I had forgotten about the pure joy of travelling, but watching the joy of three people from Thamuang remind me not to be complacent.
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| Mama, Pell and Yo on their first aeroplane flight |
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