TINAS TRANSGENDER WORLD

After many months of planning and evan putting the date back ,all the arrangements were finally in place and trip number three was about to start .

It was saturday the 21st of april and i was about to embark on what might be my last trip to bangkok for surgery with dr chettawut ,and i knew this was a very big outlay for myself ,and to fund it has taken alot of my saveings and cash ive had put by .

Unfortunatly this trip my freind DJ who took me to the coach station the last two trips couldant make it this time round ,so i had to book a cab to take me down there to pick up the national express airport service to london heathrow .

It was a very dificult time really with the worry of the illness that had dogged me for the last few months still there ,and i just wondered how i was going to cope with this radical surgery ,and what affect it would have on me .

It was a very emotional morning and i nipped up to my hairdresser and she did my hair and made it look really nice for my journey ,and as lunch time aproached i got really nervouse to say the least .

The cab arrived and i gave mum a massive hug ,and i think we both had tears in our eyes ,but i knew i had to get in that cab and just go ,and start the 6,500 mile journey for the third time .

The cab driver started chatting to me and that sorta broke the ice to a certain degree and he asked me wear my holiday was ,to witch i commented its not really a holiday its a trip to bangkok thailand for facial feminisation surgery .

Icould see he was kinda looking me up and down through his rear view mirror ,and he commented well i would love to see you after your big face job , your gonna look really great .

We arrived at broad marsh bus station and i took my two cases out the large trolly case and the small identical one thats classed as my hand luggage ,also with me was my laptop computer ,this old machine has seen three trips to bangkok and has been a really good second hand machine that was suplied my my great sister Michele in the usa .

Well the first problem soon became evident the coach was not gonna arrive on time ,and i stood there for what seemed ages after the departure time ,and after being 50 minets late the coach finally arrived and i got my cases on board and grabbed a seat .    The only thing with the coach being late it was gonna save me having to walk round heathrow for not so many hours ,and this im sure would work in my favour .

After a very pleasent journey down country and a very nice chat with a young guy from new zealand who was over hear studying at Loughborough University ,we quickly arrived at heathrow .

One thing that helped alot i think was having made this trip twice before you kinda know how things work and how to get your way through a major airport like Heathrow .

After an assortment of problems with passport controll and being told i had too many carry ons ,and having to check my hand luggage case in to the hold of the aircraft ,and squeeze my laptop in side that first witch wasant easy ,i finaaly ended up at the departure lounge for EVA Airways ,and what only seemed like minets later we were starting to board the aircraft .

As on the previous two trips i managed to get my self an isle seat , this works very well ,it allows you to at least get up at will and leave your seat and viset the toilet or just stretch your legs in general .   Iknew it wasant gonna be an easy journey ,and my feelings and thoughts kept straying towards wether i was doing the right thing and would all this extra stress agrivate my illness that was there.

After many boreing hours that seemed prity endless i could see on my tv infront of me we were about to arrive at bangkoks new airport , a masterpeice of workmanship they managed to construct in the middle of a swamp  in bangkok . 

We finally circled what seemed like for ever over bangkok and it went quite ,the aircraft had cut its jet engines and we were coasting down circling bangkok in wide loops ,and then the nose tippped back and i felt the landing gear hit the runway and i got my first glances of the new airport .

After disembarking as quickly as i could get off with my ears still feeling odd from the depresurisation from the aircrafts decent ,i headed for passport control and then to nothing to declear and then to collect my luggage from the conveyor .

Well i had got past the flight i was dreading to be honest ,and now it was off to meet whoever was sent to pick me up ,and as i aproached the funnel of what seemed like hundreds of people waiving cards and name boards ,i was continually asked if i wanted a cab /taxi .

As i aproached these people it was a matter of trying to scan all the name boards and signs ,but after a couple of trips back and forth through the crowd waiting i couldant see anybody with my name board ,or anybody i recognised .

I figured it was time to get my mobile out and the numbers i had been given just incase ,and first tried one number ,then the other ,and the second number got me through ,and i asked is that Tair and she replied yes ,i said its tina phillips Tair im waiting for my pickup at the airport . she said hi tina the drivers on his way to collect you ,infact he should be there ,well at least i felt happy knowing i had not been forgotten .

After walking up and down a couple more times a voice shouted Tina ,it wat Peta my freind from australia who had come for my suport and was sharing a room with me . We quickly exchanged greetings and had a big hug ,and then the driver passed me his mobile phone on the other end was Dr Chettawut ,who had rang me to say he was so pleased i had made it and arrived ok in bangkok ,and i thought what a very nice gesture on his part towards me .

After a short while the driver pulled the nice car up for us to get in and after loading my luggage we headed for the Baan Siri Hotel ,the place i knew so well from my previous two trips in 2005/2006 .

The new airport was closer to the hotel and it wasant long before we were heading down that road that took us to the big yellow sign that said Bann Siri Rama  on it ,and streight away the memories came flooding back of previous trips and the time spent in this hotel that was quickly becoming a second home to me .

This time instead of my old room i had a room that was at the front of the hotel faceing the other way ,it was room 805 directly above the main entrance porch to the hotel ,and once in there i was quickley unpacked and got every thing stowed away .

Ihad been given a small slip of paper from dr chettawut and this said my consultation would be on the monday ,and the driver would collect me at the set time and take me to his clinic .

I knew now i would have to fit the shopping in at seacon square around the consultation ,and Peta  and Sam another girl i had met from the uk all aranged to go shopping together at seacon square and shared a cab together down there .

After a very good shop at tesco i came back with a kettle and toaster ,and quite a bit to stock the fridge up ( the mini bar ), so now with my pc on -line useing the cs-lox card i was prity set up and started to meet other girls at the hotel ,one being Vicky also from the uk ,and one of the great sisters from the Girls Club ," V",

Vicky had her ffs surgery and "V" had done her srs and breast augmentation.

With my big consultation coming up on tuesday there was just time to get some great shots round the Bann Siri grounds before i had my ffs surgery.

Please see Tinas FFS Part 2 ( For the continuation of my story )

To read Tinas FFS part two ,please click on the link below .

tinasffsparttwo.htm