Hey there,
A big part of the World Race is what we call ‘travel days’, which is when we either travel between countries from month to month, or travel to a new location within a country (the Fusion route moves around within countries a little more than a typical World Race squad). Some travel days are short and easy (10 hours or less, air conditioned bus, paved roads, no livestock for the driver to dodge in the road). Below is an example of a travel day that was, well… not so easy, but very entertaining in the least and a day(s) that I will never forget.
May 4, 2017.
Point A: Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia; Point B: Chiang Mai, Thailand
1. Uber ride to the ferry port (5 min)
2. Ferry ride to Butterworth, Penang (15 min)
3. Train from Butterworth to Padang Besar, Thailand (border station; 2hrs)
4. Shuttle train to Hat Yai, Thailand (30 min)
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And this is where it got interesting…
5. Third class, no a/c, train ride from Hat Yai, Thailand to Bangkok, Thailand (16hrs overnight)
Min. 1: kicked a family out of our seats. #awkward
Min. 3: flying cockroach with antlers causes mass chaos within the Golden Girls after crawling out from underneath Dakota’s seat. Cary saves the day.
Min. 4: the smell of urine from the nearby bathroom fills our noses.
Min. 5: we sanitize our space with wet wipes. Outcome on the wipes…horrifying.
Min. 9: two of the 7 Golden Girls lose their tickets and are unable to prove they’re allowed on the train.
Min. 12: both tickets are found.
Min. 13: starts to rain. Windows must be closed. No air flow on train.
Min. 16: the other foreigners on the train move away from us. Couldn’t handle our rambunctious personalities.
Min. 21: Liz buys a snack and finds a staple mixed within the food…after almost eating it.
Hour 1 Min. 3: train suddenly stops and we smell something burning (creepily resembling the scene from Harry Potter when the dementors come on the Hogwarts Express, which I had just read)
Hour 1 Min. 4: bug interrupts serious conversation
Hour 1 Min. 7: Golden Girls sings theme song for entire train to hear.
Hour 1 Min 23: Dakota receives first lesson in Thai Language. Becomes fluent…kinda.
Hour 3: Liz buys a “mango”
Hour 3 Min. 5: Liz exchanges “mango” for pineapple. Still gross.
Hour 3 Min. 9: Dakota tries cayenne pepper salt. Gags.
Hour 4: We attempt to sleep.
Hour 16 Min 36: little girl with fake eye pops eye in and out of socket. Golden Girls are transfixed and can’t look away. They are also scarred.
Hour 17: train finally arrives in Bangkok.
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6. This was then followed by another third class, no a/c train ride from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Thailand (14 hrs, overnight).
(another flying cockroach) (no popping out of eyeballs)
7. May 6th, 2017, the Golden Girls finally arrive in Chiang Mai, Thailand with smiles on our faces, bags under our eyes and hearts full of memories.
