An Epic Journey Begins!

I know our blog subtitle is, Our Adventures of Moving and Living in Thailand, but I think that also should include our visitor's journey's to Thailand....

Shortly before my (Steve Schuett, Mary's Dad) departure for Thailand…Greg’s mom, Cathy, sent a card within a package, which was unread until my arrival here in Bangkok…the quotation on the front of the card read “But this is what the past is for! Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see.”

Gadzooks! What did he see!?....this trip to see Mary and Greg started out like a lamb, boarding in Cedar Rapids, IA on-time; boarding in Chicago on-time; then the lion began to growl… First there was an hour wait for a tour group; Second, a two hour wait for a mechanical issue…then finally off the ground. Third, almost 10 hours of a 12 hour flight to the Narita Airport, in Japan…the voice of the pilot broke the slumber…” There has been an earthquake and tsunami in Japan”…”we are turning around and will land in Anchorage Alaska”. Silence…then a buzz…almost 3 hours later we were on terra firma…cold, confused,  and anxious, we disembarked. With three 747’s landing arriving at an understaffed sleepy airport, around 2:20 am, slight chaos, but we eventually galvanized into some working groups and got cabs to the downtown Hilton. All of us realized that if we had been on-time, our flight United 881would has been landing just about the time of the earthquake…our previous diversions…quite a blessing!

I ended up taking a 6 hour tour of Anchorage with the travel partners I met who were in the same situation as me. Here are some pictures from my time in Alaska:

Cooks Inlet

We took a tram up this mountain to enjoy it's amazing views

This landscape view is home to 7 glaciers

At an animal conservation site we saw grizzly bears, moose, and owls.

At the hotel lobby!