My Parents Arrive

Trip Start Nov 08, 2006
1
132
214
Trip End Ongoing


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of Thailand  ,
Saturday, May 19, 2007

I am writing this too long after the fact to provide the dramatic force it all deserves.  I feel quite guilty about it too since my parents were kind enough to actually mention their excitement at finally appearing in my travelpod after reading it for so long.  They made it sound like they were getting to guest star on a TV show they watched regularly.  So these are cameos by my wonderful parents in our series on Southeast Asia.

I've been trying to get my parents out of the U.S. since I first traveled to England.  Everyone else had visited me at some point.  My two older brothers, Derek and Daron, came to Europe to travel, where Daron actually proposed to my now sister-in-law.  It was at the top of Edinburgh Castle in the chapel, which is the oldest building in the city I believe.  It was very romantic.  But I digress.

My dad and step-mother visited me in England, and we traveled to Ireland and France (where my Dad vowed to never again visit a non-English-speaking country, so I don't expect him to drop by anytime soon).  Derek and I have since traveled a lot together.  However, my mom and Chuck had yet to leave the confines of America, with the exception of Canada and Mexico, neither of which count in my arrogant estimation.  So when they agreed to start their planetary exploration with a 14,000-mile journey to Thailand, I was thrilled and impressed.

First of all, I was just excited to see them.  Since they moved to Virginia, we often go long periods between visits, but as my mother stated, it just feels like longer when I'm so far away.  So they arrived at the airport in Bangkok where Lindsey, Derek and I met them with large smiles and open arms.  It was a strange sensation as we piled into a cab to go to the hotel.  The four of us had been going on family vacations since I was a kid, but our little nuclear family normally went to exotic locations such as Ruidoso, Carlsbad Caverns, Disneyland, and Colorado.  I say that only half jokingly, because those places were exotic at the time, particularly in comparison to El Paso.  But I had never imagined at the time that we would be roaming the streets and rivers of Thailand, mostly because I had no idea it existed.  Our world had grown in the last 25 years (my mom married Chuck when I was four), and yet we were all together again.  It was comforting and surreal, and I couldn't stop smiling.
Print this entry