Bhutan 2014: The Journey Begins

April 30th, 2014. Joan and I arrive at the Columbus, Ohio airport early in the morning, embarking on our third trip to Bhutan. (The second trip, in December 2009, was blogged starting here.) We have a tight connection in Philadelphia with our Qatar Airways flight to Doha, connecting to Bangkok, and our flight out of Columbus is delayed because of the weather. It's hard not to feel anxious. Fortunately 1) our US Airways flight lands at the international terminal because it's going on to Halifax, so we're much closer than expected to the Qatar gate, and 2) the Qatar staff is on top of things. Are we from Columbus, they ask. Yes? We've already printed your boarding passes. We'll be boarding soon.

Almost a full day later we arrive at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. Miracle of miracles, so do our bags! Joan and I sigh with relief.

We take the shuttle bus and a few minutes later are checking in at the Novotel Suvarnabhumi. It now has the novel feature of 24-hour checkout; it doesn't matter when you check in, you get your room for 24 hours. This makes sense for an airport hotel that sees guests arrive and depart at all hours. It's in the evening, local time, and after dinner we collapse into bed. 

The next day, to combat jet lag -- Bangkok is eleven hours ahead of Eastern Time, so day is night and vice-versa -- we return to the airport via the underground walkway to prowl around, to take a look-see, not dashing to departures or hurrying out of arrivals. First, we wanted to find which aisle the Drukair (Royal Bhutan Airlines) counter sat in. It's at the far end, aisle W. That's door #10, but the shuttle drivers already know that.

Suvarnabhumi opened for business in 2006, and has some civilizing touches within a very busy airport. The exterior doors are functional, and more.

In the center is a Buddhist reliquary with flowers.

Towards the back, after check-in and before passport control, there are more than four guardian warriors. Demons beware.

I'll just show you these two.

Most people never see the pavilions that fill out the airport, being anxious to get somewhere, but they look inviting, if you can enjoy the heat and humidity of Bangkok.

There is also an interior garden display.

Some of the escalators are smooth, rather than stepped, which is more friendly for rolling luggage.

There are premium passport and security lanes, available to higher-fare passengers, diplomats, air crew ... and monks.

A monk-only waiting room (before passport control) is also available in Suvarnabhumi, as well as a Muslim prayer room.

The next morning we arose early for our 6:50 Drukair flight. No longer did a local Geographic Expeditions (GeoEx) representative need to meet us at the airport with our Bhutan visas; these had been e-mailed to us and printed out before we left, one more small change.