January 13, 2022
Today we planned to fly to Phuket. This may be a record for us, no hotel and no flight booked on our day of departure. First things first, we ate a huge breakfast consisting of the usual fruit and coffee. We actually picked up a couple extra mangos yesterday walking back from supper. Linda noticed a fruit stand across the street as we were walking along. They had awesome mangos for ฿20 each.
Right after eating breakfast Gary went to the front desk to pick up our second NEGATIVE covid results. We needed to know the results but we also needed a printed copy. We are now clear to travel anywhere in Thailand.
We booked a flight from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport (pronounce soo · waan · aa ·poom) to Phuket on Air Asia a discount airline. There are actually 2 airports serving Bangkok. We picked Suvarnabhumi because the flights were slightly cheaper, the flight departure time was more convenient and we are familiar with this airport from our last trip home December 5, 2021. The total flight cost was ฿3,799.50 or about $71.50 CAD each. That includes (hot seats) front seating with legroom and 20 Kg of luggage each. We actually were slightly over at about 22 Kg each which was no problem. We look forward to lightening our load as we will leave 2 cans of maple syrup in Phuket. We will also use a bit of our 8 or 9 large bottles of sunscreen.
We also booked back at the Lady Naya Villas and also car rental for a week from the same place as last time. We paid 20% less for the car rental back in November 2021 ($7.50 CAD per day less). There goes another $50 CAD, part of the reason for only one week in Phuket.
After the week in Phuket we plan to leave for Koh Lanta. We are making arrangements to stay at Oasis Yoga Bungalows. We actually looked at the rooms when we were in Koh Lanta in February of 2020. They have a fridge, a swimming pool and are about a long city block from the beach. Perfect location because we can also walk into Saladan where the markets are to buy fruit for breakfast. Hopefully some of our favourite restaurants are open as covid has closed so many places, especially in Koh Lanta which was not included in the “Sandbox” scheme to allow foreigners back into Thailand.
We got to the airport in plenty of time. We had the option of a set fare cab or a metered cab. We ended up with the metered cab. The driver was curious. How long have we been in Thailand for? Gary said we have had 2 covid tests that were negative and the driver felt better immediately. He then wanted to know how much we wanted to pay to get to the airport. Gary agreed on the set fare price. In reality the metre was about half of that. Call it a tip, the poor guy is really looking for a break. Interesting fact, his cab was NGV, a natural gas vehicle. NG is about 60 cents CAD per litre, half the price of regular gasoline. Just to make it clear, the airport was a 35 minute ride for ฿500 or a whopping $19. It’s about 30 km away, but the traffic was very heavy and slow.
Check in with Air Asia was quick. We needed our vaccine certificates and passports. She never asked for our covid tests or anything else.
We ended up at gate A-7 about 2 hours before the scheduled departure time. We wore N95 masks and were pretty much the only ones with that grade of mask. Better safe than sorry!
The flight was quick, just a bit over an hour. The flight was 25%-30% full. The Airbus A320-200 has a capacity of 180. We were in the second row and had an empty seat between us.
A couple of domestic flights landed in Phuket at the same time. It was non covid busy at the luggage area for about 5 minutes. Our bags were the very first 2 bags on the carousel. This has only happened one other time in our travels when we landed in Kuala Lumpur. It is a great feeling!
We walked to the exit and saw a rate sign for taxis. It was ฿900 to Rawai. We’re not sure why airports do this, but, before you leave the airport the taxi booth personal ask where you are going. We said Rawai. They get you to prepay for the trip, and give you a receipt to hand to the taxi. Maybe to keep the taxi operator from ripping off tourists. The gal said it would cost ฿1000, the sign at the booth also said ฿1000. Gary said the rate board back there said ฿900. The gals said ok, ok, and said she would charge us ฿900. We actually paid ฿800 back in October for the exact same trip. Only difference now, there are more tourists.
Our taxi was a nice Toyota. The old guy driving needs a lesson on wearing a mask. It was below his lips the whole way. Wonder why we wore our N95 medical masks? We actually planned to change them out after the flight but this guy made us feel a bit uneasy.
We checked in to Lady Naya Villas again. A different room, but the inside is almost identical. However, when we walk out the front door it is confusing as we are in a different area of the villa complex.
We did get our rental car delivered, a brand new Toyota Yaris sedan. It has just over 1500 km on it. We are the second renters. The first guy got a few scrapes on it, now we are rubbing our lucky charms and praying for safe travels!
We drove to a restaurant for supper and pick up some soda water and 2 beer at a convenience store.
Tomorrow we are going to Karon Beach. The forecast is hot and sunny.