In October we booked a vacation to Phuket, Thailand. It seemed like it would be a long time away when we booked it. We had the cards paid off for it in December and we were busy living. And then March came, and it was a reality that we would really be heading to Thailand for our first tropical vacation. It is also the first real non-travel vacation, or a vacation where we just go and stay in one place for a long time that we have ever taken.
Our flight from Astana left at 9:30 on Saturday evening. We ordered a minivan taxi to pick us up at 7:30. We left our dog, Yuki, with our friends, grabbed our three suitcases and two backpacks and headed for the airport. Our friend, Chris Keeley was traveling to Bangkok for a training session for the US embassy, so we waited at the airport with him. Our flight to Almaty was uneventful. In Almaty we had to walk to a different building outside. Almaty was above zero (Celsius), had no snow, and had green grass. Astana has been hovering around zero (Celsius) and some days had gotten plus enough that the snow and ice began to melt, but there is still plenty there.
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| Waiting in Almaty for our connection to Bangkok |
We waited for a few hours before boarding our flight to Bangkok. That flight was full, but nice. We really like the Kazakh airline, Astana Air, because they have a bit more leg room than most US carriers. That extra two inches really makes a difference in comfort for tall people like me. The kids slept a bit, watched the television, and ate their snacks/dinner on the flight. We landed in Bangkok at about 9:00 a.m. The airport was huge and we got a bit lost trying to make our connection - we had to go through passport and customs before making the connection. We had plenty of time, so we were okay.
After checking in to our next flight and going back through security, we went to eat with the girls. We went to McDonald's since our kids were quite broken down after a sleepless night and we knew that they would be happier with something familiar. We had a nice slow lunch and then went to our gate. We were still a few hours early, so Yulia and I stretched out and rested while the kids played.
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| Lunch at McDonald's at the airport in Bangkok |
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| View of a garden from our table at McDonald's |
Our flight to Phuket was only about an hour long and we were served a nice snack lunch on the way. When we landed we had to get our checked bag. It did not come out on the carousel, so we were a bit worried. Then an airport employee told us that we could pick it up with the international bags. We had checked it all the way through, so it went to a different carousel and we had to walk through customs with it. Success!
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| Our Thai Airways flight to Phuket. Happy travelers! |
We found the taxi company holding up our name on a sign and then took a minibus to the Marriott resort. It turns out that there are two Marriott resorts and we went to the wrong one. It was okay - we were treated nicely, given a cold towel and a cold drink, and then driven on a golf cart to the correct resort about a half mile down the road.
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| Riding the cart to the correct Marriott resort (Marriott's Mai Khao Beach). |
We were asked at check in if we wanted to upgrade to a room with a private pool for an extra $30 a night. We thought, why not? So we did that. We were in a two bedroom suite with a kitchen, two bathrooms, and a laundry. It's about the size of our apartment in Kazakhstan! We let the girls put on their suits and swim in our pool for about an hour.
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| Swimming in our private pool. |
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| Our living/dining room in our suite. |
After swimming we walked down to the beach and we all waded a bit and saw the sunset. Then we went and found a place to eat. We found a little Thai place that is like a chain restaurant for Thai food. We ordered and loved everything that we tried.
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| Walking to the beach (about 300 meters) from our room. |
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| Kids, meet the ocean! |
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| Wading. |
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| The water is so warm - even warmer than our pool at our apartment. It's fun to play in the surf. |
After that it was home to our suite for a well-deserved Rest.
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