In the absence of any family or friends visiting from Canada with whom we could celebrate the holidays (hint hint for next year), around December 15th we finalized plans to spend 10 days in Thailand for Christmas. Work is busy but my boss kindly let me go if I still had blackberry access so we thought it would be fun. We rented a VRBO (vacation rental by owner for those not in the know — excellent choice for families) on an island called Koh Chang which is off the east coast of Thailand between the mainland and Cambodia. The plan was to leave early Thursday morning the 22nd of December.

Three days later, on a Sunday part way through church, M said “I’m not feeling well, I think we’d better go home.” We left church early and he immediately went to bed once we got home. His body was achy and he had a fever over 40C that even a maximum does of ibuprofen wouldn’t touch. Some relief when combined with acetaminophen but still high.

By Monday night with his fever still high M texted our wonderful Doctor who came on Tuesday morning (yes, our Doctor makes house calls, texts, consulted with M using What’s App during this ordeal, and we pay him using phone to phone transfer through PayTM!).

The doctor got M to get some blood tests and by Tuesday evening Dengue Fever was confirmed. The good news was that Dengue isn’t contagious unless a mosquito bites someone with it and then bites us (is this the place to tell you that I subsequently have gotten at least 30 mosquito bites in the night while lying next to the sick guy? So far so good — fingers crossed that they either weren’t the Dengue carrying kind — which we really think they weren’t, or that they bit me first!). The bad news was he had a fever, body aches, and generally felt like crap. The real danger is if a person’s blood platelet or liver enzyme counts go wacky but regular blood tests keep on top of that.

With plans to leave within 36 hours of the diagnosis, we decided with our Doctor to postpone our trip until M had a few daily blood tests under his belt to see how low his platelet count would go. After throwing a bit of money at the problem we were able to change our tickets to early Saturday morning — Christmas Eve — and waited to see if that was possible.

Luckily, M had medicine and could keeping in touch with his medical team so his Doctor said resting on a beach was just as good as resting on a bed (after confirming the capabilities of the local medical clinic where we were staying) and the Doctor cleared M for travel.

The plan was to fly to Bangkok, arrive around noon, and then take a mini-van and ferry for the six hour trip to Koh Chang. But then lovely Jet Airways turned out to have overbooked the flight by about 20 people, and we were one of the lucky travelers to get bumped. To be fair only two of us got bumped to the next flight, but there wasn’t any point splitting up with some of us stuck in Bangkok earlier and waiting for the others.

After much protest, but still no seats for two of the kids, we were on the next flight. With the new flight not arriving in Bangkok until 6:30pm, which would mean missing the last ferry to Koh Chang, we had to find last minute accommodation in Bangkok — for Christmas Eve no less! Feeling defeated but trying to make the best of it, we booked two rooms at the Marriott in Bangkok and thought that at least we would enjoy a nice Christmas morning breakfast buffet.

Upon arrival in Bangkok that evening, the airline managed to make our life even worse by losing one of our bags. Which one? The “present and stocking” suitcase! Another hour spent at an airport counter and we were off to our hotel. Finally checking in around 9, and with Michael an exhausted mess, we had just enough time to sneak in the last order of the night at the restaurant, feasting on sushi and burgers for Christmas Eve dinner.

K2 wrote a note to Santa that all she wanted for Christmas was the luggage because she really, really wanted to put out her stocking (and maybe a hoverboard if he was still in a giving mood!). With no Christmas pajamas to wear (also in the missing “Suitcase full of Christmas”), we went to bed feeling a bit defeated and lonely for Canada, but happy to be together.

Luckily, Santa heard K2’s request and the stockings made it (different suitcase perhaps?) but Santa only filled them up a little bit with some candy and toothbrushes, promising in a note to fill them again “later in the season”. With that fun start to Christmas Day, we then finally got our van transfer to Koh Chang around 11am Christmas morning, conscious that if we were in Canada we would have been hosting our annual Christmas Eve celebration with our family and friends at that same time. With the wonders of cell phone technology, we got to speak to our families in Canada during the five hour drive to the ferry — it was nice to hear everyone’s voice and tell them of our Christmas adventures!

By the time we took the van, then the ferry, then the van again, and got to our beachside cottage, we were tired but so happy to be there. Koh Chang is beautiful and was a tranquil paradise for our family. We will tell you all about it soon.

Our luggage never ended up making it to Koh Chang, but we were able to pick it up at the airport on our way back. When we returned home last night on New Year’s Eve we did a little Christmas do-over. We put on our Christmas jammies and we wished everyone a Happy New Year and watched the fireworks explode around the city from our balcony (everyone but M who was fast asleep. He claims it is still the Dengue but I think it is his age!). After all that, before we went to sleep, K2 made sure everyone put out their stocking again.

We woke up this morning to find that Santa had filled our stockings! I said that perhaps the Christmas pajamas were the reason, but K2 said that it wasn’t the jammies. “It’s ‘cause we believed!”

Happiest New Year Everyone!