Unlike yesterday’s aborted journey, today my trip to Phuket
started without a hitch. I flew to Dallas, and as I ate lunch in an
airport restaurant, I caught up on the email and text messages I’d
missed during the previous hour’s flight.
As I read, a message from Julie caught my eye, “Hey I just heard
that a state of emergency was declared in Thailand!”
My reply was, “Shut up! ;0) Not Funny!”, because I figured that
Julie was being her typical mischevious self – messing with me
after the disappointment of yesterday’s cancelled flight that had
temporarily put my journey on hold. Little did I know…
As I waited for my flight to Frankfurt to be called, I nervously
watched as the reporters on CNN described the latest developments
of a coup against the Thai Prime Minister while he was out of the
country. Reading emails from other Mobius attendees and the text
messages from Julie and Steve, it was evident that the surprise
turn of events was a massive worry for those that were in transit
like me, as well as those who were about to be.
Some of the Mobians were saying that things should be fine in
Phuket, and that Bangkok – where martial law and a State of
Emergency had been declared – was far enough away that it should
not affect our gathering. Other attendees were saying that they had
already cancelled their flights, and that they wouldn’t take the
chance of making the trip for fear that the situation might
escalate. Still others that were actually at the resort said that
so far everything was “business as usual”.
I’ve never traveled to a country that was in the middle of a
coup (peaceful or otherwise), and I would be lying if I didn’t say
that for a little while I contemplated arranging a return flight
home, but I also didn’t want to take the chance of missing an
awesome trip if the day’s events quickly resolved.
After much consideration (and quite a few fast & furious
text messages with Steve), I decided that since I still had a 9.5
hour flight to Frankfurt, as well as a seven hour layover upon
arrival – and therefore plenty of time to decide whether or not to
continue – I would go ahead and make the next leg of my
journey.
As I type this entry, I have just arrived in Frankfurt. It looks
like things are peaceful, and I will be traveling on to Phuket as
planned. I wish all coups could be as calm!
