First time travelling abroad, especially if you’re not an adult, can be scary. Trust me, I am too. On Day 1 (August 23, 2025), I travelled alone from Bangkok, Thailand (my home) to Vancouver, BC. I left home at around 8:00-8:30 (can’t seem to remember the time) and arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport for my flight at 12:40.
I said goodbye to my family and friends at 10:30 and entered the controlled area of the airport. After this, I am now alone. My flight to Taipei, Taiwan, departed at 12:10 and departed on time at 12:40. I had lunch on the plane and watched a movie or two because the flight was around 4 hours long.
Now I have arrived in Taipei. I have a long layover time of around 6 hours. I arrived in Taipei at 17:30, and my second leg of the flight boards at 23:10. I have nothing much to do other than explore the airport. My first and second flights were not operated by the same airline, so I had to ride the skytrain to go between the two terminals of the airport.
Now at 23:10, boarding was called. It was perfectly on time. When the clock ticked 23:10, they immediately announced boarding. When I got on the plane, they served the first meal. I slept and woke up, and slept and woke up. This cycle repeated many times. 2 hours before landing, they served breakfast even though the local time in Vancouver was already 6 in the evening. The flight also landed on time.
Since I was under 16, I was required to fill out the paper immigration declaration form at the airport. I went through the immigration process, which was pretty fast. The baggage claim was the longest. After I claimed by baggage, I went to the CBSA office (Canada’s immigration authority) to get my study permit. The process was quite fast. Faster than I expected.
After this, I can exit the airport. My host dad said that he parked in the airport’s parking building for less than an hour, but the parking fee is already 15 dollars (more than 300 Baht). It was pretty expensive. After that the drive home was around 45 minutes. My city is not that far from the Vancouver Airport.