Brea and I wanted to spend New Year’s Eve abroad since we have never done that before and decided that Thailand would be the perfect destination! We took advantage of this opportunity to turn our trip into a two week adventure. We spent 4 days in Bangkok, 3 days in Phuket, 3 days in Bali, and 1 day in Gili Meno (the rest of the time was spent traveling).
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The Flight There
We always try to have a budget when it comes to flying so we can spend more on other parts of our trip. We ended up booking our plane tickets with Air China. They were very reasonably priced. I use Hopper (app) to stay on the look out for deals.
The seats are as cramped as your usual economy seats in a small plane. The plane for Air China is not small at all though. Has at least 60 rows! For us, cramped is normal. We make it even more cramped on our parts by packing like we only want to carry carry-ons so we have backpacks underneath the seats in front of us making our leg space limited.
Unlike small domestic airplanes, they actually care about how much your carry on over your head weighs! Make sure to weigh it before you go and it has to be about 10kg. It can be 10.8, 10.4 but just 10._. If it isn’t, you’ll have to switch out some stuff like us. She offered for us to put the extra items in our backpacks but we did not have anymore room. We planned ahead and thought this might happen so we brought a small foldable duffel bag and put our extra items there. Sadly this meant that we could have taken a pair of heels each but we tried avoiding overpacking for the one night occasion called New Years Eve.
We are really afraid of losing our luggages since we are taking a lot of airplane trips. So we put some of our clothes inside the check in. It must have been the lightest checked in bag I’ve ever seen.
TIP: if you check in a bag, make sure to put stuff that you are willing to replace! Especially if you are barely getting to your vacation.
I am willing to buy clothes at my vacation destination, but I am not willing to buy a new camera or any other gear. Keep some essential clothes in your carry ons so you can make it a couple days without having to buy new clothes in case your itinerary doesn’t permit you to buy any.
Click here to get more details on how we packed for our trip.
Since we were trying to book cheap, we didn’t book a direct flight to Bangkok. Our first flight had a layover in Beijing. The Beijing airport was probably one of the most strictest airports that we have gone to. They made us remove everything from our luggage just to put it back in. The airport was also really dark and cold (this might have been because we arrived at night though).
Getting Around
There are many ways to get around Bangkok and Phuket. You can walk from place to place if you want (but it can get really hot and humid). You can also take a taxi or a tut-tut. If you are adventurous, try the BTS Skytrain (we did this but got kind of lost haha)
Bangkok
Our first stop in our trip was to the city of Bangkok. We landed pretty late (after 12AM) but it seems to be normal there. The weather is very hot and humid even at night. There is a lot to do and see in Bangkok. Click here to read more about all the places that we visited!
Some other things to do in Bangkok that we didn’t have time to do included:
Sathorn Unique Tower
Asiatique
Erawan Falls
Phuket
After Bangkok, we flew to Phuket to visit the Phi Phi Islands, Phang Nga Bay, and more.
Where to Stay
For both Bangkok and Phuket, we stayed at Airbnbs because it was relatively cheap for a really nice place. You can also stay at hotels if you don’t want to stay at an Airbnb.
Although we only spent a total of 7 days in Thailand, we thought it was the perfect amount to see and experience the culture. Both Bangkok and Phuket offered something different but both equally enjoyable. If you are more into the city life and trying street food, then you should probably spend more time in Bangkok. However, if you are more inclined to go into the water, a longer trip to Phuket and the Phi Phi Islands might be more right for you. Either way though you will definitely enjoy your trip to Thailand!
