If you follow me on Instagram you'll know that a few weeks ago I went on a little girls’ trip to Thailand. Ok, so it may have been more like a month ago rather than a few weeks. But I've finally put together a little snippet of what my trip was like. Better late than never right?!

One of the things about living away from home is that it's challenging for our friends to visit. It's a long journey from Australia so we only get to catch up with friends when we go there. If anyone lives away from home, you'll know how hard it is to get quality time with everyone. Our visits are never long enough and catch-ups with friends are always so short. So when chatting with one of my oldest and dearest friends about this, we decided that we should meet halfway for some quality one on one time. Conveniently enough, halfway between Australia and Sweden, is Thailand. Which worked out really well in our favour. It's sunny, warm, and pretty affordable. Perfect for a little girls’ trip.

Let the Girls Trip Begin!

I got off my overnight flight from Stockholm early on Friday morning. After some confusion with my taxi, I was finally sitting in a poorly air-conditioned car in peak hour traffic. This was my first trip to Thailand so I wasn't entirely sure of what to expect. I've been to Vietnam before and I was expecting that Bangkok would be fairly similar to Ho Chi Minh City. As crazy as the traffic was in Bangkok though, it was a lot calmer and quieter than Ho Chi Minh.

About an hour later I was eating breakfast and chatting with my friend like we had seen each other only yesterday. When actually, we hadn't seen each other in nearly 18 months. And hadn't spent this much time together since high school. Before I left Stockholm someone suggested that it might be difficult spending so much time with someone after all these years. But of course, it wasn't. We had such a fun time together. Chatting about old times, new times, and plenty of gossip. I realised that I never thought it would be difficult because I already knew we'd be fine. We've known each other since we were ten. And our friendship is one that I know will last forever. It doesn't matter where we live in the world, how different our lives are, or how often we see each other. When we're together we just fit, it's always easy and we pick up right where we left off. I'll be forever grateful to have this friendship because I know that friendships like this don't come around every day.

Anyway, enough sappiness, more Thailand!

24 Hours in Bangkok

We had about 24 hours in Bangkok together before flying to Phuket. So after breakfast, we went out exploring. We spent the day wandering around Bangkok, doing some shopping and melting in the heat. After walking about 18 km we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel to lay by the pool. The hotel had an amazing rooftop pool and bar and we were happy to just hang out there until the sun went down. For dinner, we ventured out again. Not too far though as our feet were pretty sore from all the walking earlier. We found a cute local restaurant and I had my first amazing Pad Thai for the trip before calling it a night.

Getting to Phuket

My friend is probably the most relaxed person I know. Luckily. Because the next day we were flying to Phuket and my nerves about flying and travelling kicked in! Our flight was actually pretty easy, although we couldn't sit next to each other and for some reason, I wasn't allowed to use my phone or headphones for the whole flight. Which is one of my main tricks to getting through a flight calmly! But, it's a short flight and before long we were together again and trying to choose the best way to get to our hotel. We decided to share a minibus with a group of people straight from the airport to our hotel. Well, that's what we thought we were doing. Unfortunately, the one hour trip took two because the minibus took a detour. Pretending to stop to check all our tickets, it actually stopped at a tourist office and tried to sell us 'cheap' tours. By the time we got to the hotel, I had vowed to make sure I always pre-book transfers in the future.

6 Days in Phuket

The main reason for our trip was to spend time together, soak up the sun and relax. So we spent most of our days at the hotel, using the gym, laying by the pool, swimming, reading and chatting. At night we ventured out to eat, see the sights and enjoy a few cocktails. We were staying in Patong, which was quite an experience. The nightlife is colourful and hectic. It was fun to watch, but if I ever go back to Thailand, I think I'll skip that part and head straight out to an island.

Speaking of Islands. We didn't spend all our time laying by the pool at the hotel. We did book a few day trips, which were a load of fun. The first one was a full day kayak tour through some of the local caves. Which were really breathtaking. The tour boat was a lot of fun and served a delicious lunch as well. We weren't there in peak time, but it was already very busy. Which, to be honest, I wasn't really expecting. I realised that most of the photos I've seen of Thailand much be strategically taken. Especially on Phi Phi Island. We went there on our second day trip. Which was also a full day tour, but this time a speedboat took us to Phi Phi, James Bond Island and to Maya Beach, the beach from the Leonardo DiCaprio movie, The Beach. The highlight of that trip was definitely the snorkelling. I could have spent hours swimming around with all the colourful fish.

Thailand was a great place to visit and catch up with my friend, relax and enjoy some sun. I can't say it's one of my favourite places that I've been to, but it was still the perfect holiday. The main aim was to spend time together and have fun. And I know that I definitely had fun and am still smiling. So I'd say that the trip was a success :) Until next time!

Cheers, Jess