A Little Ghost Girl in Hong Kong: My First Reading Week [Bangkok, Thailand]

Today was the first day of my reading week! (basically, spring break.) My friend Courtney and I went to the HKG airport to fly to Thailand!

My trip did not start out so smoothly.
Let me start off by saying, DO NOT FLY SRI LANKAN AIRLINES.
So I get to the check-in counter and present my passport; the guy looks up my ticket just fine. He asks to see the credit card I used to purchase the ticket. I, being a dummy, didn't bring my credit card. (I am really afraid of being pick pocketed in Thailand, so I figured, why give myself the trouble.) Yeah, it would've been good to remember to bring it, but I didn't think I NEEDED it.
On domestic flights at home, I would've made it a priority to bring it since that's usually how you look up your ticket and check-in. (In these cases, you don't bring your passport.) However, for an international flight, a passport is all you need.
Or, so I thought.
Actually, my passport was enough to look up my ticket. They just wanted to see my credit card because it is some company policy.
But I did not have my credit card.
They did not let me on my flight.
The panic set in.

My heart just dropped into my stomach. What do you MEAN I can't get on the plane? I asked if I could refund the ticket and just purchase the same ticket again, but with the cash I had on me. They would not do this for me, but I could purchase another ticket on the plane for TWICE the price. No way!

One of the managers was pretty helpful and he took me to another counter to see if I could buy a ticket on another flight to Bangkok today. There was only one other flight, and it cost me approximately $50 more. No small potatoes. But at least I had a ticket!

But then there was the issue of the ticket I had already bought...The staff member I was talking to gave me a number to call to ask for a refund, because they cannot handle refunds at the check-in desk. He said I would be able to get a refund, but I might incur a fee. I couldn't call at that time because the call center was already closed. I figured I'd just have to handle it later, since there's nothing I could do about it.

Actually, when you think about their "policy," it makes little sense. If they need to see my credit card on the ground that they need to verify that I am indeed the one who bought the ticket... If I fail to provide it, then to them, it means that I am NOT the one who bought the ticket. (Doesn't make sense, because the ticket was filled out with MY name and passport number, and I provided all the identification needed...) If this is an issue of fraud, then shouldn't they NOT charge credit card?

[Edit: 3/12/12 Needless to say, I tried with all my might to get a refund. First I called the local Hong Kong call center for the airlines, but they REFUSED to talk about it with me at all since I booked the ticket online. Apparently they have nothing to do with the online booking part of the company and WOULD NOT talk to me. Even after I asked to speak to a manager, they referred me to the website, where I would have to fill out an electronic form. I filled out the form and received an automated email, but NO WHERE could I find a number to contact. (I really need to YELL at someone.) Instead I just sent more angry emails explaining my case. I received nothing. Absolutely awful customer service and incredibly inefficient!]

[Edit: 3/29/12 As of this day, they have not responded to my request for a refund. Despite numerous attempts to request a refund, no dice. Instead, I've bought it up with the credit card company and hopefully they will reverse the charges.]

In short, DO NOT fly Sri Lankan airlines. Terrible customer service and completely inefficient. Also, my friend who COULD get on the flight said it was pretty bad. (After hearing that, I did not feel as bad about not being able to get on the flight.) She said it was quite uncomfortable and the plane was extremely loud to the point of scaring her and making her cry a little.
But! Before I knew I dodged a little bullet.

Having spent an extra $50 and having no idea if I'd get my original ticket refunded, I was pretttttttyyy bummed. And by bummed I mean I sat in the airport bawling my eyes out. I was too distraught to really care how I looked so I was outright sobbing. Good thing for pocket tissues!

I was really really really sad, so I decided to treat myself. YES, there is a POPEYES in the Hong Kong Airport. A POPEYES!!! I was so excited the first time I saw it. I was in serious need of some comfort food.

The time came to board my flight. Instead of flying (awful) Sri Lankan airlines, now I got to fly Emirates!

I had never been on an Emirates flight before, so I didn't know what I was in for.

For fifty bucks more, it was a HUGE UPGRADE.

IT WAS AMAZING!
Second lesson from this trip: FLY EMIRATES. Do yourself a favor! I'm not kidding, it was an amazing experience.
I took it as a sign that things were looking up. I used up my bad luck quota for the trip already, so from now on, things are smooth sailing! This is going to be AWESOME~

It felt like I was in first class!
My seat was so ROOMY. I had so much space! For the first time on a plane, I had leg room! My knees were no where near touching the seat in front of me! (A really big deal.) Also, I did not feel claustrophobic with the person sitting next to me.
My entertainment console was TOUCH SCREEN and I had SO many choices. There were over 70+ recent American movies...plus new movie releases in pretty much every other language. (I'm talking Russian, Japanese, and the latest Hong Kong movie blockbusters!) There was also a place to charge my phone.
On my little three hour flight, I was served an amazing meal!

Also, little things about the decor were really nice and relaxing. The lighting was this soft pink, which felt really comfortable. The windows were lined with this faux wood accent that you often see in luxury cars. Also, the ceilings in the aisles had little pin-prick holes in them with lighting behind, so it seemed like they were little tiny stars in the ceiling panels!
Before we took off, they gave us warm wet towels to wipe our hands with! It was so nice!

Also, did I mention this was an A380? It was a HUGE plane. For those of you who don't know, the A380 is a TWO-STORY plane. How awesome is that? I think the top floor is all first class...so that remains a mystery to me. Though I hear the first class seats cost about $20,000, or in some ballpark of that. Man, I was happy with my coach seats, I can't imagine how nice first class must have been!

This was definitely the BEST FLIGHT I've ever had.
(And this is coming from a person who frequently flies Cathay Pacific. Cathay is really nice but OH MAN, Emirates! Seriously, you have to fly Emirates once in your life.

Then I arrived in Bangkok!

This is a really funny looking sloped people-mover; it amused me.

Somewhere around midnight I arrived at my hostel! Woke up the next morning and was so impressed by the decor! This hostel really has character! They are weird decorations everywhere and the walls are all signed by visitors.

Our hostel's name is Suk11 or Sukhumvit 11. If you're going to Bangkok, I definitely recommend it! It was quite nice, and the rooms were quite comfortable.

Every day we got complimentary breakfast! All you can eat fresh fruit! Delicious pineapple, papaya, and watermelon every day!

We started our first day of adventuring by taking a boat cruise to see all the temples!

Delicious fresh fruit for so cheap! Twenty baht is like 60 cents.

They put this weird chili-sugar on it...but it was too spicy!

Look at how beautiful and SHINY it is! I saw some people cleaning the individual tiles with a tiny little paint brush.

It's so golden! It's gold plated.

Delicious fried chicken on a stick for like fifty cents! Covered in a sweet chili sauce. So tasty.

It is an extremely hot day! I don't know if we look it, but we are MELTING. Also, at all the temples, you cannot wear shorts because it is disrespectful. You could rent a long skirt for an amount of money...or you could be cheap like me and bring pants. Oh gosh it was so hot.