We got to the airport, said goodbye to our guide and met up with our express customs agent. He started the immigration process while Katie and I checked in. “What, no there must be a mistake, we are booked Business Class this entire trip.” – I said…. His response “this is a small plane, no business class.” Ugh…. we had to pay extra for our luggage being overweight,,, but oh well,,, we’re off to Phuket,,,, but we weren’t off to Phuket,,,, why does my boarding pass say Bangkok? “You have to clear customs in Bangkok before you can fly to Phuket”,,, uh, ok (frown). We grab our boarding passes and head to immigration and,,,, what? A $25 per person surcharge to leave the country? I explained we paid $15 per person to arrive here,,,,, “yep, that’s what it costs.” Fine,,, whatever,,,, we paid and moved on. Next, security….
We arrived at security and, like the rest of this trip, there was no line, awesome! We threw our stuff on and moved through. Like America, in Cambodia you have to take your laptop out of your bag (but they don’t tell you that). Up to this point the previous airports didn’t care. Our bags came through, they grabbed them and asked us to remove our laptops. We did,,,, back through the belt our bags went. What, another problem? Katie had her nail polish in her bag,,, removed it, back through again. Katie’s laptop bag comes through again,,, another problem? They said we had a nail file in there. We looked for 3 minutes until finally we found it,,, Katie had been looking for that for a while, finally we found it! Butttt, now it’s theirs,,, they took it out and back through the belt…. What? Another problem? They found Katie’s nice Aveeno Suntan Lotion,,, opps,,, too big,,, trash (no other airport found that up to this point). Ugh,, finally it was over and we moved on.
We got to our gate and soon after they started to board, but not the plane,,, the bus. We hopped on the bus, rode out to the plane and jumped aboard. This was a small plane,,, about 64 passengers,,, 16 rows of 4 seats each (2 per side). The flight to Bangkok was quick, about 40 minutes. We deplaned, cleared customs (a 2 mile walk) and then,,, what?? Security again? This time it was no problem. We walked to our gate and waited about 30 minutes before boarding our flight to Phuket. We walked down the gangway and onto another bus,,,, ugh. They pack these busses full and without business class you just push and shove your way on like everyone else. A lot of the folks were wearing backpacks so every time you or anyone else turns around you take out 3 or 4 people. We finally got to the plane, a 737, jumped on and off we went. No worries though, nothing can upset us after what we’ve seen and heard over the past weeks. If a tedious travel experience is the worst we have to complain about,,,, I’ll take it.
The 1 hour flight to Phuket was uneventful. We got off the plane, made our way to baggage claim and out of the airport. We had no idea if someone was picking us up or not since we were so used to seeing our guide as soon as we got off the plane. Fortunately they were picking us up, they just happened to be outside vs inside waiting for us. We loaded up in to a tiny little BMW (my suitcase didn’t fit so it got to ride shotgun) and off we went. We learned the marina was 20 minutes away and then another 45 minutes to the resort by boat. Cool!!
We got to the marina where we met one of the hotel’s butlers. While they loaded our luggage on the boat he explained about the hour difference for the resort. Apparently the resort wants the guests to enjoy the sunlight longer so the resort has its own time,,,, interesting,,, I like it! We got on a small boat with twin outboards and off we went. The ride was wet at first,,, the sea was a bit rough and some water was coming over the bow. They had a nice dry spot for us and our luggage but the captain, mate and butler got soaked. We turned a corner after about 15 minutes and the seas were flat. We arrive at the resort in about 40 minutes. This place is gorgeous, built in to a hillside. We met with our butler Coco and off we went to our villa. Check out the video (it’s a bit long) but our private villa is amazing. Again, we have our own private pool, an amenity that we’ve grown to love. The master bedroom has AC but the rest of the villa is open air. It’s pretty hot here but the ocean / mountainside combination provides a nice cool breeze that keeps the villa feeling great.
Our butler showed us around the villa, got us checked in and made us feel right at home. After she left, Katie and I enjoyed some R&R before heading to the resort reception at 7 PM (resort time). The first surprise as we walked in was the large pile of shoes on the front steps. Around here you don’t go inside with your shoes on,,, I love it. We removed our flip flops and joined the party. We were quickly greeted by our butler who handed us 2 drinks and started showing us around the hilltop villa. This villa doubles as a reception / dinner area when it’s not rented out. Renting the hilltop must be quite an experience (look at the pictures and you’ll see why). And heck, it’s only 10k a night,,, not bad ;-)
We quickly met a lot of the other folks that are staying here. Everyone is basically in the same situation as us,,,, a couple here together looking to chat it up with strangers. One of the other couples was on their honeymoon as well. After about an hour and a half we all decided to eat dinner together. The restaurant was happy to accommodate us. They quickly rearranged a few tables and set them up for the 8 of us. After a great meal accompanied by a never ending supply of wine, the guys thought it would be best to take a trip down the slide. Off went the clothes, on came the water for the slide and down we all went. We hung out a bit longer before calling it a night.
Back at the room we received a Skype call from Ethan And Blair,,,, which turned in to a 30 minute plus conversation --- we loved it! We got to see Max (he is huge) and catch up on everything,,,, it had been too long since we all chatted…. That was it for Tuesday,,, enjoy the pics:
 |
| 2010-06-22_Honeymoon in Phuket |
No comments:
Post a Comment