This trip was one for the books! Mallory and I have talked about going to Thailand together since college, and it was everything we could have wished for and more. This trip all came about because our friend Jackie, who is from Taiwan, had invited us and our friend Cassie to visit her in Taiwan in mid-January. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit Jackie’s home country with her, but there was a 10 day period between when we needed to be out of Europe and when we planned to meet up with Jackie and Cassie in Taiwan. Mal and I figured we could pick somewhere as a stopover on the way to Taiwan, and we settled on Phuket, Thailand. We were so excited to fully lean into the island life and relax!

January 2nd-3rd:

Mal and I had a looooong travel journey ahead of us. We had three flights to get us from Madrid to Phuket. The first two flights (Madrid to Cairo; Cairo to Muscat) were pretty easy and we easily entertained ourselves on the flights. We landed in Muscat at 3:00 in the morning. We had a nine hour layover here, so we collected all of our luggage and found a booth where we could settle in for a bit. We spent our time reading, listening to podcasts, calling friends, and snacking. Surprisingly, the nine hours went by pretty quickly, and before we knew it, we were on our final flight from Muscat to Phuket.

I hadn’t slept at all at this point and was really hoping to sleep at least a little bit on this six hour flight. Unfortunately for me, this did not happen. It seemed that every single person on our flight knew each other because they were all chatting the entire flight. And I mean chatting from rows apart. Like the person in the window seat on the left side of the plane two rows behind us was having a full on conversation with someone in the aisle seat on the right side of the plane two rows in front of us… for the whole flight. Everyone kept swapping seats with each other and a baby kept getting passed around to different passengers. In hindsight, I’m curious how they were all connected, but at the time I was simply too sleep-deprived and grumpy to care. When we landed in Phuket, I hadn’t slept in over 24 hours and was not feeling too pleasant. It took us a while to finally get a taxi, but we eventually hopped in a van with several other travelers and were the final drop off. Our last flight hadn’t served any food, so we were starving. We went across the street to pick up our first Thai meal to eat as we watched an episode of The Circle before finally getting some sleep.

January 4th:

We woke up well-rested and ready to explore Phuket! We first headed up to the rooftop of our condominium complex to check out the amenities up there. There was a gorgeous pool, a gym, and an area with chaise swings to lay on. We knew we would be spending a lot of time up there. There was a cafe nearby called Coffee D’Love that we went to and got breakfast. Mal got a caramel macchiato and I got a smoothie. We split an acai bowl and an avocado toast, both of which were so good.

During our research for this trip, we learned that the best way to get around the island is by motorbike/scooter, so we had planned on renting some. There was a place right next to our condo where we could rent scooters. Although we didn’t have international licenses, the woman working there said we would be fine as long as we didn’t get pulled over. She would just need to see us drive the bikes before renting them to us. She had us each ride the bike down the side street and back. I was fine going straight… but I may have gently nudged a concrete wall as I tried to turn around. The woman then tried to help me turn around so I could try again. In my attempt to turn the bike around, I accidentally pulled the accelerator and drove the bike right into this poor woman and knocked the bike over, scraping my legs up in the process. I was MORTIFIED. There were some minor scratches on the bike. As she inspected the bike, she looked up at us and said “….One bike”. I was not allowed to drive and was the designated passenger/navigator while Mallory drove. I was so embarrassed and felt SO BAD, but in hindsight, the whole situation makes for a funny story. It ended up working out though because we really only needed one bike. I don’t think we would have wanted two anyway. Once we got on the road, I was grateful not to be driving because it would have been a bit intimidating, I think! I was more than happy to sit back, enjoy the view, and give directions.

We went on a bit of a joyride so Mal could get the hang of the bike. We ended up parking the bike and walking out on the pier to enjoy the view. One of Phuket’s attractions is the Big Buddha, which as you might guess, is a giant Buddha statue/temple sitting on one of Phuket’s tallest mountains. You can see it from nearly everywhere in Phuket. We scootered up through the mountains to the Big Buddha. On our way up the mountain, we passed several cafes and even saw some elephants, which was a fun surprise! The Big Buddha was beautiful and its vantage point gave a stunning view of the island. At the temple, we saw a handful of monkeys! One was really close to us, and he was so cute. Another one was mischievous and had an ice cream cone in his hand as he ran away. There were signs everywhere saying not to feed the monkeys because they’re not friendly, so we were curious if someone gave the ice cream cone to him or if he stole it.

After leaving the Big Buddha, we stopped at a cafe on the way down the mountain. We had our first fresh coconuts and some fried rice and veggie spring rolls. The view was incredible and we saw some more elephants. Back at the condo, we hung out on the roof for a while in the pool. It was starting to rain a bit, and there was a massive rainbow over the ocean.

For dinner, we decided to head to Patong Beach, which we had passed the night before during our taxi ride from the airport. It had seemed like such a fun area. We scootered over there and found a spot for dinner and drinks. We walked around the area a bit more and found this crazy party street. There were insane bars and clubs on the entire block with promoters everywhere trying to lure you into their club. It was overwhelming! We walked along the beach back to our scooter and headed back to the condo.

January 5th:

I woke up fairly early while Mal was still deep in her slumber so I decided to go up to the rooftop and walk on the treadmill and stretch. It was nice getting some exercise with such a beautiful view. By the time I was done, Mal was still sleeping so I brought my Kindle up to the rooftop with me and read my book at the pool.

When Mallory woke up, we headed out for a beach day at Kata Beach. We sat outside and got lunch before claiming a spot on the beach. Mal got noodles, I got pizza, and we shared a fruit plate. All the food we ate in Thailand was amazing, but we loved the fruit so much. It was all so fresh! After lunch, we claimed two chairs under an umbrella where we spent the whole day. We alternated between napping in the sun, reading our books, and wading in the warm water. There was a nearby fruit stand where we each got a fruit plate shortly before sunset. We had the best day relaxing by the ocean. We particularly enjoyed watching all the people parasailing. The more we watched them, we noticed that there were workers hopping on the cables and sailing up with the tourists. They weren’t harnessed in or anything! They were fearless and just casually hung out up there. We stayed and watched the sunset, which was so beautiful. Mallory and I couldn’t stop talking about how amazing it was here and how we couldn’t believe we were here.

Once it got dark, we went to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant for dinner. At first glance, this place could easily be misjudged. It definitely didn’t match the aesthetic of a tourist restaurant, but every single review on Google Maps was 5 stars, so we knew it must be good. We got veggie spring rolls, glass noodles with veggies and tofu, and a seaweed salad. I think it was the best meal we had the entire trip. And for three dishes, the total was only $9. We talked about this meal for the rest of the night. It was just that good. When we got back to the condo, we hung out on the roof and journaled.

January 6th:

Today was an exciting one. Back in December when we had booked this trip, Mallory had signed up for a scuba diving certification course. I had decided not to join her because I don’t love swimming with fish and I’m not super adventurous. I just didn’t think it was something I’d be interested in. However… the day before during our beach day, Mallory was very convincing. I had planned to just entertain myself for three days while she did her course, but now that I couldn’t go anywhere (thanks to my scooter ban) I wasn’t sure how I was going to occupy myself. Mallory was trying to convince me to join her, so I told her to ask if there was availability and if there was, then I’d do it. Turns out there was space, so I signed up to join Mal and get scuba certified. I was terrified.

The first day of our class was at a diving center pool. It ended up just being Mallory and I with our instructor Marie. Our first day of class started with a long lesson about the theory and physics behind scuba diving. We had six chapters to read that weekend to prepare us for the test we would be taking at the end of our course in order to earn our certification. After the lectures, we did a quick swimming test to prove we could float and swim laps before learning how to prepare our equipment. We learned how to set up our BCD (buoyancy control device – the inflating life vest), attach our oxygen tanks, and connect all of our respirators. We tested everything to make sure they work and ran through the process that we would do before each dive to ensure that our equipment was safe to dive with.

We started in the shallow end of the pool doing some basic skills like taking our respirator out and putting it back in, taking off our eye mask and putting it back on, and getting water out of our eye masks. Even these simple skills in the shallow end of the pool were making me really anxious and nervous. We took a break before moving into the deep end of the pool and practicing how to find our buoyancy and control our descent/ascent. Mallory always jokes that she’s a mermaid (thanks to her many years as a lifeguard), but seriously… she was a natural in the water. I needed a lot more help from Marie, and I think part of that was because of how anxious I was. We practiced emergency procedures that we will hopefully never need to use but are crucial to know regardless. That was the end of our lesson for day one! Marie told us to get some rest and start reading our chapters and studying for our exam.

Marie wrapped up our class around 2:00pm, and Mal and I went to a nearby area that Marie recommended for a late lunch. The restaurant we ended up going to was a Tex Mex/Thai restaurant. Mal and I played Connect 4 while we waited for our food. Mal got pad Thai and a coconut, and I got a Mexican combo that came with a burrito, a quesadilla, and a taco. We went on a scooter joyride after our meal and stopped at a lookout point that we stumbled upon. As we walked closer, we realized that we were at the southernmost point of Phuket. The view was stunning. We hiked down to the lookout point as the sun was starting to set. It was so beautiful! We were both so exhausted from our scuba course that morning, so we wanted to head back to the condo and relax. On our ride back, it started raining and we got caught in a downpour. It was fun to ride in, but I’m glad I wasn’t driving!

Mal and I started doing our reading and studying for our scuba course, but Mal fell asleep. I walked to a nearby restaurant to pick up some dinner for us and called my mom on the walk there. I got us each soup, and we shared cheesy naan bread and fried mushrooms.

The next day was going to be a long one. We were meeting Marie early in the morning and going out on the boat all day with 2-3 dives planned. I was so nervous. The deep end of the pool we had practiced in that day was only 4 meters deep, and we were going to be diving as deep as 18 meters. I was not feeling prepared and was terrified that I was going to have a panic attack meters deep in the water and die. I really wanted to push through and prove to myself that I could do this, but I was genuinely so scared. I cried and vented about it to Mal, and tried to put my nervous thoughts aside and get some sleep.

January 7th:

I woke up still feeling really anxious about our dives. We met up with Marie at the pier and joined a bunch of other divers and their instructors on our boat. It’s amazing how many boats set out each day filled with people scuba diving or snorkeling. There were probably 30 people on our boat, and so many boats left the pier that morning. On the boat, we got settled on the top deck. Marie gave us some medicine to help with seasickness and we went down to the lower deck to set up our BCDs like we had learned the day before. Afterwards, we helped ourselves to breakfast and enjoyed the ride out to our first dive spot. It took about an hour and a half to get there. We got to relax and enjoy the view, chat with Marie, and study.

Then it was time for our first dive! We stopped in a bay near a popular beach. There were tons of boats nearby. Marie was so great about preparing us for each dive. She explicitly and repeatedly told us what the plan was before each dive, since we obviously can’t talk once we’re underwater. We started our first dive with a skills test of the basic skills we learned yesterday (removing and replacing our respirators and eye masks, getting water out of our eye masks, etc.). My eye mask wasn’t on tight enough so when I exhaled, it was pulling a bit off of my face and letting in a little water around my nose. Since you only breathe through your mouth when scuba diving, I was fine. But it freaked me out, and I was panicking a bit. Marie helped me get the water out, tighten my mask, and help me calm down before we descended any farther.

We reached a depth of 8 meters on this dive. The spot we were diving in had these man-made cubes that Marie said were there strictly for tourists, but they looked cool! Once we got down there, I felt fine and tried to just focus on my breathing to stay calm. You can’t hear anything other than the rhythm and bubble of your own breathing, which ended up being really meditative. You feel like you’re moving in slow motion underwater and just get to float and look around. It’s fun to just float along and point out the marine life. Our total dive time was 40 minutes, including our skills test at the beginning. The time flies when you’re down there! When we came up from our first dive, I felt a lot better than I had that morning. We had an hour of surface time before our next dive. You have to calculate the amount of time you need to be out of the water in between dives based on how many meters you dove and the residual nitrogen that’s in your bloodstream when you get out of the water. During this break, we ate lunch and debriefed with Marie about our first dive and she prepared us for the second dive. We would be jumping in at the same spot, but then diving around the bay and meeting the boat at a different spot for pick up.

I felt a lot better going into the second dive, and I had so much fun. I felt more comfortable in the water and was able to enjoy it more. Since we didn’t have to do our skills test at the beginning, we got to go straight down. I had so much fun on this dive and was grateful to finally be able to enjoy the dive. We reached a depth of 12 meters on this dive and dove for 46 minutes. It is seriously amazing how quickly the time flies by! On this dive, I wasn’t ready to end the dive when it was time for us to start heading towards the surface. I was having so much fun. At the end of this dive, we had to practice one of our emergency procedures. Once we were back on the boat, Marie showed us how to log our dives on our app. It’s fun to look back at them because you can see all the details of the dive: the location, depth, duration, water temperature, starting and ending oxygen levels, your dive buddies, and the marine life you saw. We had another long boat ride back to Phuket, and I took a nap on the way. Scuba diving is exhausting!

Once back at the condo, Mal and I changed and then set off to Kata beach again in search of a new swimsuit for Mal and our souvenir magnets. We then got dinner at an Indian restaurant. It was tasty, but I think there were traces of nuts in something because I got a slight allergic reaction. I took a Benadryl when we got back as Mal and I finished our reading and studying for our test the next morning. I went to bed early in hopes of waking up without a trace of an allergic reaction.

January 8th:

Mallory and I woke up and got ready while we did our final flashcards to prepare for our exam. We met Marie at the pier again and took our test once we got settled on the top deck of the boat. We both passed! All that we had left to do to earn our certification was complete our last few dives. We had another long ride out to our first dive stop, and it was amazing to think about how differently I felt today compared to the day before. I was calm and excited to dive. 

Unfortunately, our first dive was cut short. When you first get in the water, you have to equalize the pressure in your ears as you descend. It’s really dangerous to dive if your ears aren’t equalizing. My ears were having a lot of trouble on this first dive and we kept having to ascend a few meters while I plugged my nose and breathed out to try and equalize the pressure. We’d go a few meters deeper and the sharp pain would come back in my ears and we’d have to repeat the whole process. My ears would be fine for a bit and then Mal’s ears starting having trouble. Then once she was fine, my ears were acting up again. Marie decided to end our dive early because we had spent 26 minutes underwater with no luck at equalizing our ears. I was really bummed because I had finally overcome my fear of diving and WANTED to dive! She gave me some decongestant medicine in hopes that it would help my ears equalize more easily on our second dive. While we waited for the next dive, Mal and I hung out on the top deck and ate lunch.

Luckily, my ears were fine for the second and third dive, and thank GOD! I had so much fun on these dives. We went all the way to 18 meters deep (which is the maximum depth we can dive with our current certification) and saw so much amazing marine life and coral. I finally felt comfortable in the water and had the best time. We logged our final three dives and completed our paperwork with Marie to make our scuba diving certification official! I never thought I would get scuba diving certified, nor had I really had the desire to. I’m so glad Mallory convinced me to do this because it was so fun, and now I want to dive even more! It’s relaxing and meditative, and being that close to the marine life is unreal. You get to escape to another world for a little bit. I’m really proud of myself because I was close to backing out and giving in to my fears, but I didn’t. 🙂

Mallory and I went to a night market for dinner that night. We walked around and shopped for a bit and got some street food that we ate while listening to a teenage girl singing covers. We were both exhausted from our dives and went back pretty early to get some sleep.

January 9th:

Our weekend full of scuba diving had really taken a toll on our bodies, and we were both exhausted. We slept in late and enjoyed a relaxing morning at the rooftop pool reading our books. We later made our way down the street to a nearby cafe where we continued reading our books and eating acai bowls.

We scootered along the western coast of the island to Kamala Beach for sunset. The sunsets in Phuket are just unreal. We loved sitting and admiring them every night. We got dinner at a restaurant on the beach that had a dessert served in a chicken-shaped pineapple that was accompanied by chicken techno music. We did not order it, but enough people around us did that we got to hear the chicken techno song several times. Afterwards, we tried on some dresses at a nearby boutique, and then went back to the condo.

January 10th:

The cafe we went to on our first morning in Phuket was so good that we just had to go back. We both got our acai bowls again, and I got an iced Thai tea as well. We hung out and read our books before scootering into Old Town Phuket. We walked around a bit, stopped in some shops, and admired all the fun, colorful architecture.

We scootered around some more and settled down at a small, secluded beach that Marie had recommended to us. We hung out here, read, and napped on and off in the sun for the rest of the afternoon. Once the sun had set, we scootered down a small road to a restaurant that is truly hidden from the rest of Phuket. It was right on the beach, and it was delicious. Mal and I each got different kinds of noodles and we split a plate of French fries.

January 11th:

For our last full day in Phuket, we had booked a group island tour. We would be joining a group of 20-ish people on a speedboat and seeing a handful of islands throughout the day. We met the group at the pier and had some free breakfast before getting settled on our boat. Our first stop of the day was at the “ice cream cave”, named after the part of the cave that looks like an ice cream cone from all the minerals that have dripped from the ceiling and built up in the shape of an ice cream cone. At our next stop, we got to hop in an inflatable canoe and be chauffeured around the island and through the coves. Our canoe guy was so nice! Our third stop was at the famous “James Bond Island”, which features a rock that is highlighted in the James Bond movie “The Man with the Golden Gun”. We swam in the water and took some photos here before our boat departed for our lunch stop.

For lunch, we stopped at a floating village. It’s a Muslim village built on stilts in the middle of the water. We had a delicious buffet lunch followed by free time to explore the village. We could walk around the whole village, and it was interesting to see how the whole village was like a tourist location – even the school. You could walk past the classrooms and see the younger kids having nap/quiet time, while the older kids were roaming around outside playing or socializing during (what we assumed was) their lunch break. It was interesting to see, but we felt a little uncomfortable like we were overstepping our welcome by seeing so much of their personal lives. The locals didn’t seem to mind, but it led to an interesting conversation between Mallory and I.

Our last stop of the day was at a beach where we stayed for an hour and a half. There was an area to swim with an inflatable obstacle course. You could also rent jet skis. I ended up sitting in the shade because I could preemptively feel my sunburn developing and alternated between reading my book and nodding off. Mal laid out in the sun and fell asleep for a while too. We both think all the time in the sun had caught up with us because we were exhausted. Around 5:00pm, we all got back on the speedboat to head back to Phuket. On our way back, our boat came to a stop along a beach that was crowded with monkeys! We watched them as we floated by, and some people threw them slices of watermelon for a snack.

Back in Phuket, we went out for one final dinner. Mal got oysters and lobster, and I got a veggie burger. We were reminiscing on what an amazing time we had in Phuket and just reflecting on this time in our lives and how amazing it had been.

January 12th:

We were flying to Taiwan this night, but we had to be out of our condo by 11:00am. We spent the morning getting ourselves organized and packed and then stored our luggage at the front desk. We went back to our favorite coffee shop and hung out there for a few hours until we left for the airport. We had an overnight journey coming up as we were getting ready to meet Jackie and Cassie in Taiwan. From one adventure to the next!

I’m so glad Mallory and I went on this trip together. As I said, the two of us have been talking about going to Thailand together for years, and this trip ended up being everything we could have wanted and more. I’m so grateful we got to experience this together. This was a special one. 🙂