It all started nearly 3 years ago, when I was inspired by the trip set forth by our fellow travelers and friends at TheSeatRip along with expertise from Kdash and many others along the way. So thank you for your inspiration! The crucial piece was assembling a crew that would want to embark on this adventure of a lifetime. How this all came together was nothing short of a fairty-tale. Joel, after about 30 seconds was in and we were already on are way to having a travel crew. Our next two members were fellow Terps, Jay & Wollins. Jay and I were neighbors freshman year of college and shared many classes together at RHSmith. In one of those classes I was introduced to Wollins. The two of which had been previously planning a Eurotrip of their own. That plan, however, ultimately fell through leaving one man's trash to be another man's treasure. It took a bit of convincing to get these boys to agree to take their talents to South East instead. Often times my pleas seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. Somehow, someway, flights were booked in August - some 7 months ago. How did we know this group could work? Fortunately, we got to have a test run weekend in Pittsburgh and if you can survive that place you can survive anything.
As our trip approached, it's hard to not over look the fact that we are extremely fortunate to live in a nation who's civil unrest is derived from the possibility of outlawed boozy brunches in NYC. As fast as weeks flew by leading up to our trip - was as quickly as the Thai protests over a government rice subsidy program escalated. Street bombings and random acts of violence were becoming common place in Bangkok, and as the number of casualties rose, concerns about our trip from family and friends did as well. However, only a few days before our departure, protests that once had a stranglehold on the city's central business district had disseminated into smaller and more peaceful protests in parks (so we were told). Crisis averterd for now. But just as the smoke from the Olympic torch was beginning to clear, Russia sparked another conflict in the Crimean peninsula adding intrigue into how our total 24 hours in Moscow as a transit hub would affect our trip.
As cliche as it might sound for a young 24 yr old going to Europe to watch the movie Eurotrip - one must watch The Hangover Part 2 before heading to Bangkok. Upon arrival at JFK ready to board our Sochi branded Aerflot airbus, we had the swagger of an Olympian. However, the Russian gut check was immediate. We were told that our 2 vegetarian meals were not accounted for and that Joel, having packed initially for carry-on only, lost a heated argument with the Russian airline and would have to check his bag. We were fairly sure that 1) he is now a marked man in Russia and 2) the bag will never be seen by Joel again. We quickly had a new plan on how to handle flying Aeroflot Russian Airlines - avoid laughter and smiling at all costs in their presence. As we made our last calls before boarding we entered the plane with as much adrenaline as Felix Bumgardner must have had prior to his iconic plummet to earth. We're looking to avoid the plummet, but felt the same excitement. The blinking plane icon showing the measly 4700 miles between NYC and Moscow was daunting, but lucky for us, the sons of two doctors had come up with a magic potion that if executed correctly was intended to deliver us in Bangkok well rested and ready to rock. We cheersed our pills and we were on our way. We're not sure if it was the pills talking, but by Wally's calculations our plane must have to be traveling close to or exactly at 90mph so we should expect to be in Moscow in 5 days. Luckily, the presumably first time flyer was a bit wrong as the jumbo jet topped 600 mph for the majority of the trip. Naturally I tried to fight my way through the Hangover Trilogy. Viewership for those who know me was intermittent at best. Joel passed out like a baby but was awoken to a surprise Kosher meal. Jay took the time to enjoy Good Will Hunting and Wollins watched between 6-7 hours of Taylor swift music videos. He claims he was sleeping, but we all know he wouldn't sleep through that. What can we say. The man knows music. Aeroflot planes are equipped with a camera to give you a cockpit view of landing and take-offs from your own private seat. It's the closest I've ever been to flying a plane that's for sure. Upon approach to Moscow our views from the window were reminiscent of the James Bond games we played growing up. A frozen tundra with identical trees as far as one could see.
Once we disembarked in Moscow we expected to be amongst thousands of travelers in the nations busiest airport, however this was far from the case - and a bit unnerving. It was empty. Perhaps the imminent prospect of war had scared people from traveling? Maybe we were in the wrong terminal? We had a 7 hour layover with plenty of time to kill so we grabbed a bite to eat and hopefully would figure out the answer. Our first waitress approached the table and as we uttered a word of English - she immediately left for the day. After a few more servers passed us by with a friendly smile, one younger university aged gal, Viktoria, came to our rescue with her talented English! She assured us that Russia is an amazingly beautiful country and not the "monsters" that they are portrayed to be in the media. She was also so kind to offer us the free wifi pass code which I reluctantly accepted knowing Russia's cyber security issues. But hey - shooting a text to Mom telling her you made it into a country on the brink of war was worth compromising my phones identity. Viktoria also let us in on the secret to why it was such a slow day at the airport - it's National Women's Day in Russia!!! We had to celebrate! Shout out to all the women in our life. We enjoyed lunch and our time with Victoria. We're expecting her to come visit us in America sometime in the future. We also spoke with a nice Ukrainian man, Timur, who had flown from Kiev to Moscow that day. We were a bit perplexed that that would happen given the current state of affairs. Regardless, we were mostly on high alert assuming he was going to steal our identity. Because in Soviet Russia you don't steal identity, identity steals youuuu!
Anyone who finds themselves in SVO airport in Moscow with upwards of 6 hours to pass will absolutely not have any issues shopping duty free. We were convinced the only reason our layover was so long was so that we would be forced to buy stuff from the boutiques. The four of us, battling to stay awake in order to best use our available sleeping hours on the plane, had to entertain ourselves. No better way to spend the time than some highly inappropriate hypothetical questions we hope the Russians didn't understand. I can only imagine what Snowden went through in his time at SVO. 7 hours was long enough for us and Tom Hanks should be proud of our ability to survive in this terminal.
As our plane orients toward Bangkok, we begin warming up our vocal chords to John Legend's "All Of Me" for what we imagine will be a week packed with lots of late night karaoke. Our friendly Russian passenger's eyes quickly darted at us giving us the confidence that we'll we will soon be stars of Asia! We look forward to many amazing adventures that are ahead in this action packed two weeks. You'll hear the narrative from the rest of the team on various days. We hope to spend more time living in front of the lens than behind it but we assure you words alone won't be able to capture this trip so stay tuned for photos.
We hope you follow along and take this two week journey through Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Koh Phagnan, Siem Reap, Hanoi, and Ha Long Bay. We're open to comments/suggestions so please share your thoughts!
-Corey
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