Thai Birthday - Get it?? :)

This year was the perfect storm of British public Holidays thanks to the Will & Kate Wedding. Basically, if you took the 3 days off between Easter Monday and Royal Wedding Friday, you then had a consecutive 14 days off when you added in Good Friday and May Bank Holiday Monday. 14 glorious days!! 

Unfortunately, most companies caught on to this and banned their workforce from doing so – kind of the “if everyone can’t take off no one can take off” mentality. But luckily Andrew and I didn’t have that problem when we, of course, asked for those 3 days off.


Living in England, my skin is the whitest it’s ever been. So for our then newly acquired holiday, we decided to find a lovely sunny excursion to soak in the vitamin D! An excursion, of course, that might include kiteboarding for the big guy.


It’s harder than you think to find guaranteed, stupidly hot weather in a semi-desirable/affordable destination at the end of April. We entertained Egypt (despite the civil unrest we heard it was still a great destination)- however, the weather was on the border of warm/might need a sweater at night, the Maldives – which were insanely pricey, and then Thailand – where airfare was scarce and could require up to 3 stops. In the end, we found our best bet was to go with Thailand, so booked we were – barely 3 weeks from when we were actually due to depart!


Good Friday came, we boarded Finair and off we went to Helsinki to connect and fly to Bangkok. Our newest, long flight survival technique is to pop a sleeping pill or two at the beginning of the flight and then sleep like a baby until you get there! I’m pretty sure I was awake for exactly 10 minutes of the 10 hour flight from Finland to Bangkok and then onto Phuket and that's only because I was trying to watch Disney's Tangled.


Once in Phuket, we stayed on the JW Marriott Resort A)because it’s really nice and B) with our Marriott Points we got a serious amount of Marriott Bucks (pretty much Marriott Cash!) that paid for all our expenses/activities once we were on the resort!


It was SOOOOO hot there that the first day in the sun from 9 – 11 AM, with 50 sunscreen on, we completely fried. I’m talking Lobster red - and I NEVER burn!! So the next few days, we were slathered in 50 spf and in the shade. 

The resort itself was massive! There were 6 different restaurants (Italian, Steakhouse, Thai, Japanese, Deli, and Buffet). I think I had Thai green curry, 3 of the 7 nights we were there. It was all fantastic!

I have also never been to the gym that much in my life. I ran 30 minutes every morning before breakfast. Breakfast was my favourite part of the day though. It was massive – 2 eggs stations, a fruit station with fresh cut fruit, smoothies, and fruit juices; a pancake/crepe/French toast station, a cold cuts and cheese station and then an Asian style breakfast bar with rice and soups. Glorious. I loved it. The very very best part of the resort, and all of Phuket really, were the amazingly nice staff/Thai people. They were so so sweet. 

Besides reading by the pool, the only time we really left the resort was the day we did an all-day boat excursion to the Phi Phi islands! That was one of the nicest things I’ve ever done. We first pulled into Phi Phi Lei where The Beach was filmed (Andrew and I watched this movie later in the trip and were quite disturbed). It is honestly what I picture paradise to look like. The lagoon has turquoise clear water and it’s warm! There are beautiful Thai boats ready to take you around. It was amazing. So after some pictures and some swimming, we were off to Phi Phi Don. This is where we had lunch (and where I’m convinced a got a touch of food poisoning because I wasn't quite right the rest of the time) and then we went for a swim in this secluded cove. I hyperventilate everytime I snorkel, but for some reason was able to dive right in and swim around! I was fearless here. That never happens… 

My final taste of luxury was the couple's Thai massage Andrew and I had at the resort spa. I had never had a thai massage before and my masseuse was half my size. But man, that little Thai lady bent me in ways I didn’t think I could go and I felt like I was floating on a cloud afterwards.

Our final night of vacation we spent in Bangkok at the airport hotel before an early Sunday morning flight. I didn’t want to leave. It was such an amazing, simple place. I would go back in a heartbeat.


My 27th birthday was that Bank Holiday Monday – the day after we got home. While Thailand was the best way to spend a birthday, my bestest birthday present was waiting for me at home :)