Day 1 - Departure from Germany and arrival in Bangkok

My plane left in the evening. I therefore travelled very relaxed on the train from Ulm to Frankfurt. I prefer travelling from Frankfurt. It's so easy to take the train straight to the airport. You get off the train and you're straight there, no changing trains or buses with all your luggage.

The Christmas holidays were just over, there was snow and it was cold. I had been wondering for a long time what I would do with my warm clothes and winter jacket in Thailand.

My rucksack was already full and, above all, heavy. But then my friend Nicole from Mainz had a great idea. She came to the airport, took my winter clothes off me and we were even able to spend some quality time together, drinking coffee and chatting until my plane left.

On the way to security, I realised how big Frankfurt Airport is. The gate I had to go to felt like it was at the end of the world. And what was so strange was that I walked along these corridors all by myself until I finally got to the security checkpoint. You wouldn't believe how many times I looked to see if I was really still in the right place! It occurred to me that I was still in Germany and was already getting lost? When I reached the security checkpoint, there were only the officials and me, no other tourists. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. However, after a few joking remarks, the officers agreed on who was doing the checking and one of them spotted my new gimbal. Like me, he had got one for Christmas and was very curious to see what I thought of it. I was as clueless as he was, which made me laugh out loud.

After the check, I had a few moments to go to the gate again, but as time went on, there were finally more and more people there. I seemed to have arrived back in civilisation.... and I must have been right after all.

The flight took around 12 hours. That's really long. I've been in South Korea for the last two years and the flights there take about the same amount of time. I've now found a sitting position that allows me to sleep reasonably well on the plane. Take a long scarf, tie it in a knot and hang it on the table. Now you can put your feet on the loop hanging down and slide a little more into the seat. I prefer to book a window seat to lean my head against. Pillows and a blanket are included on long-haul flights. I also always put on a hoodie on the long flights, you can pull it over your head so nicely and the light from the screens of your seat neighbours disturbs you much less. And with the huge selection of films, you don't really get bored on the flight either. It almost sounds a bit cosier than it is.

I like the Asian airlines, the staff are so much friendlier and the food is great! You don't have to go hungry or thirsty here. Something to drink is served regularly and there are also snacks in addition to the hot meals.

Arrival in Bangkok. What an airport! Suvarnabhumi Airport is really impressive.

We travelled to baggage reclaim and passport control by underground train, something I had never experienced before, not even in Korea.

Passport control was on a scale that I hadn't expected. An unbelievable number of people, long waiting times despite the many counters. They check your boarding pass with your ID and take fingerprints. It seemed to be travelling in the middle of an ant trail

And then to the toilet... what an impression!

Super clean, fragrant and so beautiful!

I was so pleased because I have seen many toilets in different countries over the years. The ‘great and clean’ Germany comes last by far in my rating list

Once I had my rucksack, I immediately bought a SIM card... yes in the airport and yes I know, much more expensive than in the supermarket outside the airport. If you want to save money, feel free to do so, I was a bit lazy.

Like all the other tourists, I made my way to the taxi rank. The queue was long. The only queue where no one was waiting was for taxi journeys of less than 10 km. What luck! As I was only spending one night in Bangkok and travelling straight on to Chiang Mai, I had booked a hotel near the airport. The journey only took a few minutes. The hotel was located directly on a major main road, but was still very quiet as it was like being in a backyard. I only paid €20 for the one night and was delighted. A very large, comfortable bed, very clean and a wonderful view of the pool. It was now late afternoon.

Yes, and off we went. I had to get something to eat and drink, including breakfast for tomorrow. I had coffee and a kettle in almost every hotel room in Thailand.

I don't know how you feel on your first day in a foreign country.

It took me a moment to pluck up the courage to just set off to the supermarket and possibly a restaurant... all by myself.

I first googled the nearest supermarket, which turned out to be a 7Eleven! Insiders know why, I'll come back to this later. At least I wanted to know which direction to walk in. I also looked to see if I could find a small restaurant. I have to say, Google didn't really help here. Just go out onto the street and start walking, there's food on every corner in Thailand, just everywhere.

On the way to the supermarket, I actually passed a few small eateries, but I didn't have the courage after the long flight and the tiredness. So I bought a sandwich, something to nibble on, water and a banana milk at the supermarket.

What reminded me a lot of South Korea here were the traffic lights on these big roads. They tell you how long you have to wait for green.

Tiredness was setting in, but it was still too early to sleep. And I needed a shower! So afterwards I made a video call with my daughter and a friend, I just had to share my first impressions. That might be the only negative point of travelling alone. You don't have someone to talk to directly about your experiences. But in this day and age with video calls, this can be easily solved.

I set my alarm clock as I wanted to leave for the airport at 7am. I had enquired at reception earlier, when I was on my way to the supermarket, about a taxi to the airport. The hotel had a 24-hour taxi rank. Great!

I checked everything again for tomorrow's flight, the reservation for the hostel and packed my things ready for departure.

Now I could really relax in my bed. I was so incredibly tired from the long journey and the new impressions!

Conclusion of the day: It was an incredible feeling, how the overcoming of simply going out alone into this foreign country turned into the ‘yes I can do this, I want more!’ It was a really inspiring feeling