I’m struggling with how to write this posting. I have literally hundreds of pictures from the trip, and trying to document all the stories would create a small novella. I think I’m going to have to go with bullet points.

The women’s retreat was to arrive on Sunday the 12th of June, spend Mon-Fri with morning meditation the excursions or personal time, a spa day was included, and then head home on Saturday the 18th. I worked with the travel agent to get there a day early to try to get over jet lag before tours started, and to extend the trip to include a trip to Bangkok to see the Grand Palace and some of the temples. I was there for over a week: 7 days in Phuket, 2 days in Bangkok.

This trip was near perfect. 2 different travel agencies were organizing it and 7 total women signed up. 2 of the gals knew eachother and had signed up together, the rest of us didn’t know anyone in the group. My flights were on time or early, my luggage always arrived at my destination. Shuttle drivers were always there when they were supposed to be, no issues getting around or finding things. The weather was near perfect, with just a couple of rainy days. Not having to wear a mask would have made things way better, but still, it was a fantastic trip.

• The Phi Phi Islands tour was gorgeous, with emerald lagoons to swim in. One of the stops was the beach where the movie “The Beach” with Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed.

• The James Bond tour included an awesome kayak tour around the islands, and a walk through the “ice cream” cave. The iconic island from “The Man with the Golden Gun” was one of the main stops.

• Everyone was super nice and most spoke English.

• The food was phenomenal! Thai/Indian food the entire time I was there. Both hotels had a huge breakfast buffet that included fresh fruits, both savory and sweet dishes like pastries/waffles/pancakes and samosas/fried rice/curry.

• It’s hot! Hot and humid!

• Don’t watch the road while being driven around, their road “rules” are nuts! (Although, in talking with others I’ve been told this pertains to ANYWHERE you go!) They drive on the left hand side of the road and the scooters with up to 4 people just squeeze in wherever there’s space. The concept of “your lane” is really pretty loose!

• The Big Buddha statue could be seen from the boat as we toured the islands! It’s 150 feet tall and white marble.

• I suffered sticker shock for quite a while until I got used to dealing in Thai Baht instead of US Dollars. A thai ice tea (which was offered almost everywhere!) cost 100 TBH. Seeing 100 on the bill would freak me out until I remembered it was in Baht.

• Holy crap monkeys! There are lots of monkeys in Phuket!! They’re pretty brazen at times too!

• Singapore airlines is awesome! The flight was 16 hours from LAX to Singapore, then 15 hours back from Singapore to LAX. However, they’ve got it down to a science and it was not nearly as bad as I feared. I ended up sleeping most of the time.

• Thailand is 13 hours ahead of us here in Utah at the moment. (It’ll switch to 14 with the next time change.) Definite jet lag.

There’s more, but that’s all that’s coming to mind at the moment. I absolutely loved it and would recommend as a travel destination. Our tour guide was awesome and said the best time to go is between November and March, when their rainy season is over.

I also really liked the group dynamic, it was a great group of women and we all got along and had a lot of laughs. This was a test to see if I enjoyed traveling with a group and an established itinerary of activities and whatnot. Yes and yes. I’ve already started scouting the next trip, preferably with an all-women group again. Although it’ll be a year or so before I do another trip. 😁