My mom is the narrator..

Day 1 in Thailand, or is it Day 2! Confusing when you lose a day in travel. After leaving BWI at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 26, we arrived in Bangkok at 11 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 27- about 30 hours after leaving 506 S. Robinson. Travel was fine except for some really bad weather in Tokyo that caused our landing to take over an hour (bumpy and pretty scary!). Rachel was waiting on us as we left baggage claim with BIG hugs and beautiful Thai flowers. We made our way to the Bangkok Hospitality House (AKA Baptist missionary guest house- think mission apts. Miguel Claro style). After talking and unpacking, we got a few hours sleep before beginning our trip to Krabi, a beach area, about an hour flight from Bangkok.
Then the first "Eddie story" begins. After getting our gear ready, and a nice breakfast at the nearby Subway, we got a taxi to Rachel's apt. to get her passport that she would need for flying with us. When we got to her building, Rachel said she wasn't sure how to tell the driver to wait, so maybe we should just get out and then get another cab after she went upstairs to get her passport. Well, Eddie insisted that he would/ could tell the driver to "WAIT." So Rachel and I go up to her apt., grab her passport and laptop, return back downstairs in about 10 mins. No cab, no driver, no Eddie, no luggage to be seen. Rachel thinks maybe the driver thought that Eddie was going to the airport alone. I could only think 2 things: 1) Why would Eddie let the driver leave, and 2)If the driver was up to something shady, I felt like Eddie could take him since he was about twice his size. Ray and I decided to wait for 10 mins. to see if he returned. 10 mins. later, nada. So Rachel goes to tell a Thai friend that if they do return to tell them, that we have gone on to the airport. We are imagining Eddie riding around in this cab with no clue of where to go or how to communicate. As Ray went to talk to her friend, I am sitting by the road, as LOTS of taxis go by, slowing down to see if I want a ride, and another one slows down and I wave him on, but then, recognize the SMILEY faced driver, and look in the back seat and low and behold there is EDDIE. The driver was indeed confused and at some point when he entered the expressway, Eddie tried to tell him to return and the driver finally called on his radio to get someone to translate, so then he returned. What a way to start! We did get to the airport, made our flight to Krabi where we are now, installed in our beach cabin and are all planning a nice afternoon nap after our lunch of shrimp and papaya salad. More stories tomorrow!