#035 Thailand Update: We're Back!!!
December 23, 2004 was the last post of the Thailand Update. My family had moved back to Arizona where I continued to work for Microchip. It has been 10 years since I made that post, and I am happy to report that I now have a reason to write a new update: We are back in Thailand! A lot has changed in 10 years. Let's go for a brief update, okay? I'm actually not sure why I asked you that question. Quite honestly, if you tell me "no," I'm still going to give you an update. If you don't want to read my update, just stop now. Seriously. I won't be offended. Well, actually... I'll probably be a little offended. Maybe you should just keep reading because I'm going to ask you questions about what you read. Yes, this is a test, it is timed, and it starts.... Now.
First off, we added a family member. Yes, you heard me right. Many of you reading this will already know this, but I'll tell you anyway. That just the way I am. On October 27, 2005 Gabriel Lee Winkles came into the world and changed our lives forever. He is such a great bundle of energy and excitement. He always seems to be happy and is laugh is just as contagious as his mom's. I was a bit nervous to raise such a large family, but I am so happy to have Gabe. With him we completed our family with four boys.
Esaiah is next on the update list. He is now 23, working full-time at a company called Cyrus One, and putting himself through college. We continue to help him as well, but he is learning to be more independent. With Esaiah being 23, he did not join us on this Thai adventure, but will instead start a new adventure of his own. He stayed in the US and is maintaining our house. Now he gets the joy of figuring out how to manage monthly expenses, maintain the pool and the yard, collect all our mail and bills, coordinate with us 14 hours away... fun, fun, fun. Effectively, he never left the nest; the nest left him.
Christian is 16 and is starting his Junior year of high school. He was very involved in sports growing up, and focused a lot of his attention on American Football. Previous to high school, he played a number of summers in flag football and was coached by a good friend of mine, Greg Robinson. I also made attempts at assistant coaching, but all the credit of Christian's passion for football goes to Greg. He did such a great job making Christian love the sport. When Christian was old enough, he migrated to tackle and in the 8th grade he played on a team that went to the Nationals in Florida. What a great experience for him. In high school, he played Freshmen and JV Football for the Hamilton Huskies, a D1 school. Now, he is focusing his attention on Rugby.
Nathan is 14 and is starting his Freshman year. Nathan is more involved in the arts, and is focused on piano. He has been playing pretty much since we returned from Thailand in 2004 and is doing quite well now. He amazed his mom one year by learning the song "Mama" by Boyz II Men. He played it for her on Mother's Day and brought her to tears. He is still the strong silent type, but he is opening up more and more as he gets older.
Livonia continued growing her home practice of accounting and increased her offerings to payroll, bookkeeping, non-profit support, and of course, tax. She worked for a year at CVS as an auditor and then worked 1.5yrs at Henry and Horne as a public tax accountant. She also returned to school to continue her education in the accounting field. Now, she continues her home practice from afar and is focusing her attention on me and the boys.
As for me, I focused a lot on learning how to integrate the numerous companies Microchip has acquired over the years. I was directly involved in 11 of them, and led several integrations. As I closed up the integration on the 10th one, I accepted a position at Microchip as the Director of Singulated Test Operations. We acquired another company, so I helped with that one, and also trained up a replacement so I could transition into the new role. It will be a challenging role for me, to say the least, but I am looking forward to figuring out how to inspire a team of nearly 1,000 employees to achieve their greatest successes. I have high hopes and expectations and I cannot wait to learn the job and look for ways to improve everything.
Through it all, I try to maintain my wit. Without that, these posts would start to sound pretty terrible, right? For this first post, let's focus on the journey:
Our airport shuttle driver arrived at our house to find quite a load:
First off, we added a family member. Yes, you heard me right. Many of you reading this will already know this, but I'll tell you anyway. That just the way I am. On October 27, 2005 Gabriel Lee Winkles came into the world and changed our lives forever. He is such a great bundle of energy and excitement. He always seems to be happy and is laugh is just as contagious as his mom's. I was a bit nervous to raise such a large family, but I am so happy to have Gabe. With him we completed our family with four boys.
Esaiah is next on the update list. He is now 23, working full-time at a company called Cyrus One, and putting himself through college. We continue to help him as well, but he is learning to be more independent. With Esaiah being 23, he did not join us on this Thai adventure, but will instead start a new adventure of his own. He stayed in the US and is maintaining our house. Now he gets the joy of figuring out how to manage monthly expenses, maintain the pool and the yard, collect all our mail and bills, coordinate with us 14 hours away... fun, fun, fun. Effectively, he never left the nest; the nest left him.
Christian is 16 and is starting his Junior year of high school. He was very involved in sports growing up, and focused a lot of his attention on American Football. Previous to high school, he played a number of summers in flag football and was coached by a good friend of mine, Greg Robinson. I also made attempts at assistant coaching, but all the credit of Christian's passion for football goes to Greg. He did such a great job making Christian love the sport. When Christian was old enough, he migrated to tackle and in the 8th grade he played on a team that went to the Nationals in Florida. What a great experience for him. In high school, he played Freshmen and JV Football for the Hamilton Huskies, a D1 school. Now, he is focusing his attention on Rugby.
Nathan is 14 and is starting his Freshman year. Nathan is more involved in the arts, and is focused on piano. He has been playing pretty much since we returned from Thailand in 2004 and is doing quite well now. He amazed his mom one year by learning the song "Mama" by Boyz II Men. He played it for her on Mother's Day and brought her to tears. He is still the strong silent type, but he is opening up more and more as he gets older.
Livonia continued growing her home practice of accounting and increased her offerings to payroll, bookkeeping, non-profit support, and of course, tax. She worked for a year at CVS as an auditor and then worked 1.5yrs at Henry and Horne as a public tax accountant. She also returned to school to continue her education in the accounting field. Now, she continues her home practice from afar and is focusing her attention on me and the boys.
As for me, I focused a lot on learning how to integrate the numerous companies Microchip has acquired over the years. I was directly involved in 11 of them, and led several integrations. As I closed up the integration on the 10th one, I accepted a position at Microchip as the Director of Singulated Test Operations. We acquired another company, so I helped with that one, and also trained up a replacement so I could transition into the new role. It will be a challenging role for me, to say the least, but I am looking forward to figuring out how to inspire a team of nearly 1,000 employees to achieve their greatest successes. I have high hopes and expectations and I cannot wait to learn the job and look for ways to improve everything.
Through it all, I try to maintain my wit. Without that, these posts would start to sound pretty terrible, right? For this first post, let's focus on the journey:
Does Everybody Have Everything? I Don't.
Our fun filled trip to Thailand began with a tear jerking goodbye to our oldest son Esaiah, and also to Livonia's younger sister Fallon. This would be the first time our family had ever seen separation, so it was not an easy goodbye. Esaiah will maintain our home back in Arizona, which will give us a place to return to when we visit each summer. So, knowing we will return next Summer means it is not goodbye, but "See you next summer." Still, saying goodbyes suck.Our airport shuttle driver arrived at our house to find quite a load:
- Me, Livonia, Christian, Nathan, and Gabe
- 5 backpacks
- 4 roller bags
- 7 military sized canvas duffle bags about 70in long and between 60-70lbs each
All of this was expected to fit into a single large SUV. Let the game of reality Tetris begin! Believe it or not, it did all fit, but not without some "motivation" from Christian. Good to have a kid around that likes picking up heavy objects. I'll continue to use that to my advantage for as long as I can. We arrive at the airport and immediately call over a guy to manage all this luggage for us. With so many items, it is worth paying someone else to handle. We get all the bags over to US Airways, and we encounter our first issue.
Our tickets between our domestic flight an our international flight are not linked.
What does this mean? It means we have one flight from Phoenix to Los Angeles that is ticketed as "Domestic Only" and the remaining flights tickets for International Travel. On an international flight, all our bags are fine in regards to size and weight. On a domestic flight, they wrong in many ways. They are overized and overweight. Oh, and there's too many. The charge for an oversized bag is $25 per bag. Okay, that means we have to pay another $175 for luggage. Ouch! But... not gonna break the bank. We will live with that. Extra baggage charge is another $35 on top of that, so that's another $70. $245 sucks... but that's okay. Then, we get hit with the big whammy of a charge: $150 for each bag over 50 lbs. That is 7 x $150, or $1050. Total bag charges: $1,295.
Umm... what?
I'm floored. Beyond floored. I realize I am traveling for work, so I can expense this, but come on! This is ridiculous! As we work to resolve the issue, we learn there really is no resolution. I am going to get hit with a big bag charge. Plus, I learn that since our flights are not connected together, we have to collect our bags in Los Angeles and redo this whole process with Thai Airways.
Lovely.
And then, it hits me. Earlier in the year, I hit Gold Preferred status with US Airways, but never really had a chance to use the privilege for anything. I slap my card on the counter and ask "Will this help?" The ticket agent looks at my card and says "absolutely sir." She bumps up my ticket to First Class and then checks 3 of the seven bags through with no charge. Now, we only have to worry about 4 oversized bags. In the end, we are charged $600. Yes, it still sucks, but it sucks way less than $1,295. We pay the bill and are now on our way.
I have to admit something. Even with all the stress of baggage, I can't help but be excited. It is the first time in 10 years that I am flying to Thailand with my family, and I'm so happy. I give my wife my First Class ticket and sit in Coach with my boys. It was such a nice flight to LA.
We landed in LA, collected all our bags and then headed for the Thai Airways ticket counter. Once there, I handed our flight information to the ticket agent and braced myself for another round of baggage charges. Not this time...
All seven bags checked through with no issue. "Enjoy your flight to Thailand, and thank you for choosing Thai Airways."
No, thank you. We leave the ticket agent, get through security, and then head to the Star Alliance Lounge at LAX. If you've never been there, I recommend taking a flight that will put you in that lounge. Wow! We were laid over in LAX until 1:30AM (redeye), so we had lots of time to kill. We got all our electronics charged up, ate and drank a few snacks, took a shower, and relaxed. At one point, I journeyed to the bar for a homemade Bloody Mary (no mix here). It tasted so good, I tipped the bartender and said I'll be back with the wife for a refill. I returned with Livonia, ordered a couple more, and then we headed to the outdoor terrace to enjoy some time alone.
I guess we relaxed a little too much because Nathan reminded us we had a plane to catch. We finished our drinks and then boarded the plane for our long journey to Asia. Our first stop would be Korea, and then our final destination in Bangkok. As long as this flight was, it paled in comparison to what we dealt with when we landed in Korea.
After landing in Korea, we start heading towards the security checkpoint. I open my roller bag to get my mobile phone out, and realize it's not there. Hmm... I must have put it in my backpack. Nope. It's not there either. Well, I certainly didn't leave it on the plane because I never took it out on the plane. Plus, my wallet is not in my pocket, and I never take my wallet out of my pants when I travel, unless I'm putting it in my roller bag.
I check again. Nope.
I pull my backpack apart. Nope.
Panic is starting. Beads of sweat begin to form. My wife asks me what's wrong. I tell her "uh... nothing. Let's just get through security." As we walk towards security, she presses me, so I tell her I can't find my wallet or my phone. The look on her face could sink a thousand ships. After such a nice trip so far, I am going to ruin with a major catastrophe. I try not worry, but I can't help myself. I tell her "when we get through security, I will tear my bag apart and find them." She asks me "Did you leave it on the plane?" What the heck? Is she crazy? I don't leave stuff on planes. I am a SEASONED traveler!
We clear security, get to a point where I can pull my bags apart, and I get to work. After thoroughly tearing my bag apart, I come up empty. I move to my backpack. Also empty. Okay, when did I last have my wallet? The last time I remember using it, I tipped the bartender at the airport lounge. Could I have left it out on terrace with my phone? Oh... My.... Gosh....
No!!!!!
My wife and I frantically look for phone numbers to get in contact with the LAX lounge. So many times, we are put on hold or come up empty. In the meantime, Christian is methodically tearing my bags apart to hopefully find what I couldn't. Long story short... he came up empty. We finally got in contact with the lounge... only to come up empty as well.
Wonderful. Both my wallet and my phone are gone. What in the heck do I do now? I am so deflated right now. I want to crawl under a rock and die. My wife is trying to be strong for me, but I know she's freaking out on the inside. At that point, the plane is boarding for Bangkok, so we head that direction. I'm sure the look on my face was making everyone around me wonder who died in our family, but I really didn't care. I knew I had quite a mess to fix once we landed.
As I approach the counter to pass over my ticket, I notice something very familiar on the counter: MY WALLET AND PHONE!!!
What?!?
Apparently, it fell out on the seat, they found them and brought them to our gate. We were boarding the same plane, so they knew who we were. I must repeat my earlier statement: Oh... My... Gosh...
I am so happy right now! My wife breathes a large sigh of relief as well, and we board our final flight... much happier than before.
When we land in Thailand, we are greeted not by one driver, but two. One driver loads all our luggage into a van, the other van is for us. Ah yes, that is MUCH smarter! The drive to our home was so nice. Once again, being able to experience Thailand, a country I truly love, with my family is the most I could ever ask. I get the family into the house and finally have an opportunity to come down after all this travel. More to come, but for now... We're Back!!!
posted by Roger Winkles | 2:36 AM
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