Another airbnb success!

I think the house we stayed in on Koh Lanta in Thailand was one of the best finds we've experienced since we started using the website a few years ago.



Y'all. This house. was. AWESOME!

It was a pole house, which means most of the house was on stilts that went out into the water. When the tide was in, we could hear the little waves lapping up against the foundation. The living room and kitchen were open to the water, and we could open the windows on the side of the kitchen to get a great breeze. It was pretty darn steamy during the day, but we didn't mind! We just went out into the living room and enjoyed the sea breeze. Susanna, the owner, left us a set of speakers so we could listen to our music while we lounged.

Most of the time we were in the house, the tide was high, so we got a view like this one. This is the neighbor's longtail boat. I never saw it in use, so perhaps it was being used as a sort of floating storage unit?

This is what the pole houses look like at low tide. Not terribly beautiful, but low tide was mostly during the day while we were there, so we didn't get this view very often. When we tide was out, it did get hotter in the house, but in those cases, we simply retreated to the TV room, which had concrete walls, tile floors, and air conditioning. Perfect!

The only complaint I had about this house was the mosquitoes, but I am always bug bait, no matter where I go. Susanna provided us with some citronella coils that helped keep the biters away.

Thanks, airbnb!

Vicariously yours,

The Airline Spectrum of Service

You're going to make fun of me for writing about this as the first detailed post about spring break, but we spent a lot of time in transit on this trip, which means the airlines we experienced had a close correlation to how much we enjoyed those days.

So let me say this, fellow travellers: If you get the chance to fly Bangkok Airways, DO IT! We had great service from them on our domestic flights to and from Krabi and they have perfected the art of the layover.

We got to Bangkok and had a 4 hour wait before our next flight to Krabi International, so we checked in and found out that Bangkok Airways has a free lounge for ALL their passengers, not just the hoity-toity business class ones (there's a nicer, more exclusive one for the hoity-toities, don't worry)!! The lounge had comfortable chairs, including chaise lounges for those who wanted to nap.

and nap many of us did!

There was free food, and the best part: FREE UNLIMITED WIFI!  (which you can see the Mister and Matt enjoying in the second clip of the video on the previous post)

I thought this might only be a Bangkok airport-only thing, but NO! We got the same treatment at the Koh Samui airport (which is owned and operated by Bangkok Airways).

It's the kind of airport that doesn't have jetways to the terminal. Instead you have to ride this DisneyWorld-like tram thing to the terminal where you are greeted by THIS:

That's a gate waiting area

Y'all already know how much I loves me some DisneyWorld, so the tram ride alone would have been enough to win me over. But then I walked into this cabana haven and I was really sad that we only had a 30 minute stop-over to enjoy this beautiful airport!

On the other hand, we had the pleasure (used ironically) of flying to and from Kuwait on Sri Lankan airlines. Things started off humorous enough. Their flight safety video was one of the more entertaining ones I've seen. It was littered with computer animated characters that represented the many ethnic backgrounds of Sri Lankan's typical customers.

Yes, that was a grandmotherly lady stowing her Sri Lankan drums in the space under the seat in front of her. I was disappointed there wasn't actually someone like that on our flights.

But the flight attendants were not terribly attentive, one of them even decided for me that I would eat the chicken for dinner and that the Mister would have orange juice with his meal. The in-flight entertainment was lackluster, and on one flight the entire crew seemed to have been extremely upset to have to deal with any part of their jobs. All very small issues, I know. We arrived safely each time, with very little turbulence and the takes off and landings were smooth. But after having a taste of Bangkok Airways, I was really sad to have to fly back home on Sri Lankan and their grumpy attendants.

Vicariously yours,

Another country marked off the map!

Welp, we've made it back from a fantastic spring break trip to Thailand! Thailand is one of the go-to vacation spots for lots of ex-pats and I usually like to go to the lesser-traveled countries if I can. But I am so glad that we made this trip! The Mister and I traveled with our friend Matt who works in Kuwait with us. It was a great week of Three's Company-esque hijinks.

Before we went on the trip, I downloaded an app called One Second Everyday. I compiles one second of video from each day you make a recording and makes a fun little video of a period of time of your choosing. Thus, readers, I give you our spring break, in 15 seconds:



So fun, right?!

I'll elaborate more in future posts with photos and explanations of what all the fun that of those 1-seconds were a part. But for now I need to procrastinate all my responsibilities prepare for the last 7 weeks of school before summer break!

Vicariously yours,