Welcome to Colombo, Sri Lanka

Hello from the island country of Sri Lanka! We arrived in Sri Lanka’s capital city of Colombo late last night. Colombo has a population of about 750,000, with the greater metropolitan area having a population of roughly 5.6 million. Sri Lanka is an island country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The country is about 268 miles long and 139 miles wide, making it just slightly larger than the state of West Virginia. Sri Lanka is known as the “tear drop of India” because of its shape and position just below India.

Travel Days Are Not Adventure Days

We were all reminded yesterday that even though we enjoy traveling, the actual travel days are far from fun. We had a connecting flight in Bangkok, with a few hour layover before flying on to Sri Lanka. When it was time to check in for our flight in Chiang Mai it was really unclear where we were supposed to go. We were flying domestic to Bangkok, but then connecting to an international flight to Sri Lanka.

After asking, we were told to check in as a domestic flight. We should then go through passport control at international departures and our gate was on the international side. The line to get through security and to our gate was very long and painful. Once we got to our gate it was pretty confusing. Our flight number didn’t show up on the board of departures and once again we questioned if we were in the right place. When the time to board rolled around there was still no sign of our flight number anywhere, so I asked someone at the counter for clarification. She dismissed me without really even looking at my ticket, and told us just to sit in the gate area.

Eventually they called our flight (after the time it was supposed to take off) and we were ushered through a hallway towards the domestic side of the airport where we boarded our flight. The lack of communication was very strange. The flight was quick at just over an hour. This picture is from the first leg of our journey. We already looked tired!

The Next Portion

Once we got to Bangkok they ushered all of us with the “Fly Through” stickers to a separate location where we had to go through security all over again. We had to dump out all of our water, take out electronics, the whole nine yards. I was so confused by this because we never left a secured area once we went through security in Chiang Mai. 

We couldn’t leave Thailand without a picture of Ronald McDonald doing the traditional wai greeting/goodbye. I thought this was equally hilarious and ridiculous.

When we got ready to board our next flight we were surprised to find that we would be boarding the plane from outside. A bus shuttled us to the plane, where we walked outside and boarded. This was the kids first time boarding a plane from outside and they thought it was pretty fun!

Arriving in Sri Lanka

Our flight was just over three hours and went pretty quickly. Once we got off the plane we could immediately tell we were no longer in Southeast Asia. Sri Lanka’s strong ties to India were very evident. There was Indian music playing, smells of curry filled the air, and we were greeted by airport staff dressed in beautiful sarees. We made it through immigration in about 10 minutes and our bags arrived quickly.

Outside is when things started to feel chaotic. It was nearing midnight and we were exhausted. It was hot, crowded, our backpacks felt extra heavy, and there was traffic everywhere. The guard controlling traffic blew a loud whistle every couple seconds that seemed to add to the chaos more than help it. Dave ordered a Pickme (their ride hailing service here) and we struggled to find the car. He called Dave several times, but it was loud and with the language barrier it was hard to communicate. We eventually found him and the ride to our Airbnb took about 45 minutes. The kids each fell asleep on my shoulders almost immediately once we got in the car.

Our Current Home Away From Home

The caretaker for our Airbnb met us upon arrival. He spoke almost no English, but was very kind and showed us pretty much everything we needed to know. Our initial impressions of the Airbnb were just a step above terrible. If we walked into this place 6 months ago, we would have been extremely turned off. There are no blankets on the beds and it feels like there’s a thin layer of grime just about everywhere. We can only get one outlet to work for charging devices and there are A LOT of ants. After some sleep though, everything looked a little better!

The place is sparse, but we have everything we need. After Manila, I feel like we can handle just about anything. Coming from our place in Thailand doesn’t help, as it was definitely the nicest Airbnb we’ve had so far. It feels a bit like we went from staying at a spa, to staying at a Motel 6. Our condo is nestled back in a neighborhood and it feels like we are truly living among the locals. These pictures are from the balconies outside our third story condo.

We are really going to stick out here, but so far we have encountered nothing but an abundance of kindness. The guard outside the grocery store greeted us warmly and asked where we were from. When I was on the balcony this morning, I had a woman smile and wave at me enthusiastically as she hung out her laundry.

Making it Home: Groceries, Settling In, and Movie Night

Today we accomplished the things that help us settle in and make anywhere feel like home. We have food in the refrigerator and coffee in the cabinet! We unpacked everything, took a short walk in our surroundings and plan to enjoy family movie night tonight. Someone may or may not have already declared “I quit gap year”. But like Dave said back in the Philippines, we’re just lowering our bar for comfort and resetting our tolerance levels. It’s not sea turtles on the beach, but it’s going to be an adventure!