Bangkok, Thailand – 29 April - 1 May 2025

As I arrive at the airport express platform (on Tuesday 29 April) the train is there – talk about timing! I’m off to Bangkok for two nights / one day before heading down to Krabi to see friends.

Of course when you aren’t pressed for time everything always goes smoothly.  I have close to 2 hours in the lounge before going to the gate.

 

As I arrive at the gate boarding begins. Excellent timing!

2 minutes before our departure time the pilot announces air traffic control has delayed us and the earliest time we will be in the air will be in another half an hour. Fun times! We now sit at the gate. So annoying that they just didn’t delay boarding, but here we are.

10 minutes before we are due to land the pilot announces there had been heavy rain and strong winds at Bangkok airport for the last 20 minutes and no planes were allowed to land. So, we are now in a holding pattern to land. Ooh my!

 

As soon as we get to the gate everyone starts to get up. The pilot then announces due to an operational issue we need to remain seated with our seatbelts on as one engine is still running. We are told it will only be a minute.

Let me tell you it wasn’t just one minute. Ridiculous how a 2.5 hour flight has turned into a 3.5 flight.

A good 6 minutes later the seatbelt sign goes off. Honestly Cathay, you need to do better (yes, the weather is out of their control).

It was good to stretch the legs to immigration where I went straight through. Then it was a short wait for my bag.

Given I was arriving at rush hour I decided to take the train into the city (instead of a Grab). When I got to the counter I was told it’s THB 45….all I had was 42.05. Eeks! The man kindly gave me THB 3. I have a ticket to the city! How I’ll get to the hotel is beyond me….a problem for 30 minutes or so.

I manage to get a seat – amazing as the train was packed.

Ye ha there is currency exchange at Phaya Thai station and even better is the rate is "much more better good" than at the airport. Have money, can travel!!!

As I couldn’t connect to any wifi I decide to just walk to the hotel - Google maps had told me it was 9 minutes but I know from other stays it’s definitely not that long.

Check-in is relatively painless but I always question why a physical credit card is needed for a deposit when (1) if I don’t turn up I would be charged from the card on record and (2) if I had selected check-in via the app I could have gone straight to my room.

I drop my bags and head straight out to a Mexican restaurant. I had walked past it on the way to the hotel and saw that happy hour ends at 7pm (which is in 10 minutes). I had been here last March when I had two nights in Bangkok and really liked it.

 

Wednesday 30 April (how??!) I wake just after 6.30am. Too early to get out of bed. I take myself off for a walk, while it’s H O T the sun is behind clouds most of the time so it makes it bearable.

Breakfast is a slow affair. No need to rush!

As I’m enjoying breakfast I get a WhatsApp message about an interview next week. Great! Shortly after the recruitment agency contacts me about having a call to prepare. There goes my pool time.

I have a couple of hours in the room researching and relaxing before packing up and checking out.

Lunch is absolutely nothing to write home about it, it does its job of filling a hole.

As expected the Grab takes forever to arrive – always an interesting game of not booking too early but not too late either.

Only in Bangkok – we pull off the motorway to get petrol. Ooh my!

It takes well over an hour to get to my hotel for the night. I’m so pleased to be doing this now rather than tomorrow morning.

Check-in takes far too long and I have zero idea why. When I get to the room I can’t get in so head back down to reception, thankfully it’s an easy fix and a few minutes later I’m in the room. It appears I wasn’t given access to enter my room.

I decide to walk over to the terminal to see where I need to go tomorrow morning. It’s nice and easy walking over the sky bridge.

A few minutes later I arrive at the Thai Lion Air aisles where I’m told I am at the wrong place and that I need to head to the domestic terminal. I didn’t even know there was a different terminal at this airport. So glad I’m finding this out now and not tomorrow morning!

For dinner I head down to the restaurant in the hotel.

I wake before my alarm on Thursday 1 May. Before checking out I get a coffee and boiled eggs to take away.

Check-in is super easy – then I’m told I need to wait while my bag is screened before going to the gate. No problem, nice and easy.

I pick up a coffee then head to the gate.

As soon as boarding is announced people jump up – I decide no need to rush given we need to get on a bus to the plane.

Once on the plane there are at least 4 announcements that the plane is refuelling and that we need to not have our seatbelt on. I’m unsure why it takes soooo long to refuel but hey ho.

We finally drive off from packing spot 11 minutes late. Krabi here I come!