Vacay to Staycay!

No China for us this break, but that doesn’t mean no fun.  We tried, at the airport, to get a flight to HCMC or KL or even just staying in Thailand and seeing Phuket or getting to some of the northern areas, but we are going to do that in February, so it was a lower priority.  We couldn’t get that figured out in time to make a flight or the other option was to sit and wait on 19:00ish flights, but sitting in an airport for 8+ hours was not appealing and landing 21-22:00 and trying to figure out accommodations for a short trip was not something we wanted to tackle. 


We figured we could have some fun at home then.  Take the Staycation mindset and just have some fun.  Monday, I was pretty burnt out from the back and forth to the airport, plus the disappointment of the missed trip.  I figured we’d be spending the day walking around SZ and seeing it, so to not have that left me feeling stiff and tense.  So, J suggested that I get a massage and she and Kiddo could explore Lumphini Park.  As I trade, J gets to climb today and then get a massage herself.  Fair deal.


They went to the park, got bagels, did a paddleboat, went to a Natural History Museum, and had a blast together that morning and afternoon.  They were home by 15:00 and then we all just chilled and had a dinner at home.  As you can see, Kiddo hammed it up and had a blast.











































Yesterday, we had a lunch out, since it was cleaning lady day.  While we were out and wanting to kill some time, we popped over to IconSiam, since it was walking distance.  J and I had a coffee and recharge while Kiddo drew our portraits.  After that, it was off to the Toys R Us for some browsing.  We needed to give Lil Miss some time to explore so she could have a comprehensive list of ideas to start making an Xmas list for Santa and Elfie.  














We’re making the best of it and having some fun.  It’s different than exploring a new area, but we are making it fun, nonetheless.  Besides that, as much as I was looking forward to seeing SZ and trying the food, a small part of me is happy to be home and be able to cook.  That’s the cool part about the Chiang Mai trip we have planned for Feb.  We got a house rented for our time there, up in the hills on a coffee and tea plantation.  It has a larger kitchen and grill that we can use.  So, I’m packing my chef roll and bringing some gear and we can just chill in the mountains and cook and eat and just unplug.  By then, we will have (hopefully) pushed through the interview process and we will have a contract and job in hand.  If not, it’ll be nice to unplug for a few days and mull our options.  It would be nice to have two or more offers and we can spend the week doing some pro/con and we can figure out best fit.  Again, would be nice.  :)


Aside from that, Kiddo wanted to do some Vlogs from China, but since we are not there, she did some Vlogs from home.  She also built a sled for Poley after he had an injury that required surgery AND a chest cast.  Kiddo had a blast and not bad building and inventing by her, I must say.












Let’s go, Kiddo… We didn’t get to China, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to have fun.  On the plus side, we have a LOT more toys and friends to choose from at home instead of on the road.  Besides, it’s almost Halloween and that means dress up AND candy.  Two of your favorite things!   


ASIDE: I've gotten some offline and private messages on the previous post.

Just a few things to address to the "Other side of the coin" type people.
Yes, we filled out the wrong forms.  4.5 months ago.  And couldn't get it corrected.  That is an obscene amount of time to be stuck in limbo over filling out a wrong form.
My other point is that the only difference on the forms was the barcode on the top.  Both visa applications were 12 pages.  Both asked the same questions, in the same order.  LITERALLY!  I copied one to the next and side by side, the only difference is one had USA123456789123456789 atop and the other was BKK123456789123456789.  If the forms ask the same things, have the same information, need the same photos, formats, etc etc etc, then a correction form should remedy that.  That not being the case is a bureaucratic bottleneck and inefficient.
Lastly, appointment needed.  Yes, I did NOT make an appointment, but nowhere did it say Appointment only.  Had it said that, I would have made Appointment.  If it warned APPOINTMENT ONLY and stopped me from moving forward, I would have saved time and effort there as well.

Again, we made our mistakes, I am not denying that.  My qualm is the fact that the process is FAR from transparent while leaving zero room for error and if error is made, it does nothing more than slow YOU down, put YOU at the back of the line, and make it harder for YOU, even though it's THEIR process and lack of clarity that causes the errors. (EX: US Passport holders apply here - we did, but since we are Expats, we needed to follow the Thailand Application forms (English Translated) or the Special Circumstance (English Translated) forms.  Look at that.  Are you a US Passport holder.  Then why WOULDN'T you start there.  You aren't Thai, so you wouldn't think to use that and Special Circumstances.... Nope.  Just a quick 4 day trip as a tourist, nothing special there.  However, when that is wrong, even though the only difference in info requested is a barcode on the sheet, YOU need to restart and go to the back of the line.  See my qualm yet?)

So, to the devil's advocate folks and the other side of the coin folks... I never said we didn't do part of the process incorrectly, but more went into that than we just didn't care and filled out some forms.  We were lead to be wrong and then blamed for that, slowing us down and then denying us, even though we have emails from the embassy telling us Port Visa was ok and even including links and pictures to the office at SZ airport.  That's the other qualm, the Embassy sent links and pics of the office to get a Port Visa, but a random airline employee decided, nope!  It's not that we screwed up or they screwed up... It's that none of this is fair or flexible, no one has answers, and even when they do, someone else will override that or change that for reasons unknown.  But the embassy sent me this and told me.... NO!  No Visa, No ticket.  Can't get back to the embassy in time, can't talk to the employee because it's just No and they walk into a restricted area.  There's no relief, is my point.

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