“Confirmed!” It looks like my wife and I will be heading back to Thailand this year! It’s been since Christmas of 1999 that either of us were there, and we’re both looking forward to seeing friends and family, eating authentic Thai food and checking out all the sights. At first we weren’t sure we’d be able to make it this year, due to screwups at the INS and security concerns around the world. But with most of that straightened out, and a big tax refund delivered to us this year, we decided to go for it.

What’s great is that my wife already located a great price on round-trip airfare at Expedia, and deciding not to wait for that low fare to evaporate, we booked the trip just this week. We’re scheduled to spend two weeks in Thailand in mid-September and will be visiting such locales as Bangkok, Hat Yai (my wife’s hometown) and Phuket, the beautiful resort island that attracts tourists and natives alike. Prices in Thailand are so cheap when you convert them to American money, we’ve decided to stay at some pretty cool places along the way. We’re looking seriously at renting a bungalow right on the water where you have your own private cottage with its own swimming pool! For all of that, it’s only about $150 USD per night. Such amenities would be way over $350 here in the States, I’m sure.

When I was in Thailand before, I was “on business”, so to speak—I had a very limited time to be there (usually less than a week) and I was more interested in spending time with my wife (then fiancee) than anything else. Also, I was new to the culture, the language, the food, everything—so having just a few days to get adjusted, I never really got to absorb everything and get comfortable with it. I think it’s going to be different this time. Very different!

The trip itself seems like it’s going to be quite pleasant. Unlike all of my previous trips to the Asia/Pacific region, our port of entry/exit from the United States will be Atlanta. Atlanta’s got one of the country’s nicest airports. We fly on Delta from Atlanta to Tokyo’s Narita Airport, where we then jump on a JAL Boeing 747-400 to Bangkok. Expedia even let me choose all of our seats already, so we got good locations closer to the front of each plane than I’ve had the luxury of sitting before. As an added bonus, on the way home, we have a massive nine-hour layover in Tokyo, so we’re gonna get a little time to explore Japan! I don’t know whether we’ll be able to go back and forth through security or whether we’ll be confined to the airport, but either way I’m sure there will be a lot of cool shops and stuff to experience. Anybody want any Japanese pop culture tchochkes?

Since I failed to really take in all the beautiful landscapes and cultural things of Thailand during my last two trips—my family has always asked me many questions about life there that I could have better answered if there were pictures to go with them—I’ve decided to do better with photography this time. It would be easier, however, if I had a camera that wasn’t heavy and hamfisted, so I’m on a quest to get one of those pocket-sized digital cameras before we go. I’ve got my eye set on the new Canon Powershot S410. For about $325, it’s got great features and is incredibly small and lightweight. Now I just have to collect the money for it in time!