My jet lag seems to be wearing off. We got back from Europe last Friday, though Monday was the original plan.

Last month I had a conference in Berlin. We combined the trip with a family visit in Belgium.

When planning the trip, I had a choice to fly from Phuket to Munich and then to Berlin, or from Phuket to Bangkok and then to Berlin. I figured changing planes in Bangkok was the best choice. My wife has relatives there, so we’re not stranded if anything goes wrong. Munich is miles from everywhere in my world.

Bad idea. You saw the news.

At least the airline (LTU) was cool about it and offered to reschedule, reroute, or refund our flight at no charge, even though I’d bought non-refundable tickets and the airline could easily have claimed force majeure. Not their fault if yellow fruitcakes clog the airport. I’m still waiting for the refund to show up on my credit card, though.

I chose the refund because otherwise I’d still be in Belgium now. Lots of news coverage about people stuck in Bangkok. But lots of people stuck in Europe too. Empty flights to U-Tapao don’t increase the number of seats available.

Fortunately, a Belgian tour operator still had seats available on a charter flight that flies direct from Brussels to Phuket. Though that meant wasting about 1,000 euro on a useless return flight, I just didn’t want to deal with the uncertainty. I’ll comfort myself with the thought that I can waste that kind of money without affecting what shows up on my dinner plate, and that I don’t have to hope for a populist government to stay in power to be able to dream of a better future.

I don’t like populist governments, but I’ll take an elected populist government any day over mob rule.

Now I’m going to sleep off the last of my jet lag.