Transportation:
Dates: August 30, 2016 – September 11, 2016
The first trip we took together was…our honeymoon! We decided on South East Asia since it seemed to be the perfect balance of relaxation and adventure. Samiya wanted downtime near the beach while Faizan wanted to increase his stepcount on his fitbit! Low and behold, we decided on Thailand and Malaysia. We spent 6 days in Thailand and 3 days in Malaysia, with 2 additional days set aside for travel.
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Air Canada
Since we booked our flight months in advance of our trip, we naturally got busy with the wedding, and forgot to specify our meal requirements with Air Canada. Whenever we travel, we request either vegetarian, seafood or halal meals. Since we didn’t specify this ahead of time, we ended up having to eat just bread and butter on a 13-hour flight (okay, we had some pretzels too). Not a good way to start our honeymoon…
However, we learned from this mistake and on our way home, we requested 1 vegetarian meal (for Samiya) and 1 seafood meal (SF for Faizan). The vegetarian meal surprised the both of us since we chose asian vegetarian expecting noodles or fried rice – BUT, to our surprise, we got some homemade parathas, paneer, daal, rice, and achaar! That’s more like it Air Canada!
Another thing to mention was that on our way back, the Air Canada pilot actually got sick and our flight was cancelled. Not delayed – it was actually cancelled. Way to go Air Canada. But there was a bright side to all this. We got an extra day added to our honeymoon – and an extra country as well! Air Canada hooked us up with a room at the Plaza Hotel in Seoul and also provided some lunch and dinner vouchers to make up for this inconvenience. Lastly, once we boarded our final flight, they also handed out 25% off coupons for 2 future flights. We were so ecstatic with this discount, that we started planning our next honeymoon. But to our disappointment, we later found out, that this offer was quite misleading – as it only applies the 25% off to the base fare of the flight (not including taxes – which often makes up most of the cost of the flight). We have yet to use the coupon – which expires in September 2017.
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Korean Airlines
Our stopover on the way to Thailand was at Incheon Airport in Seoul. From there, we took Korean Airlines to Phuket. This was a 7 hour flight – and a comfortable one at that. We have nothing but positive things to say about this airline. From the time we boarded, we found pillows, blankets, and even cozy slippers at our seat in economy class. The seats had USB chargers and a wide variety of shows and movies to choose from. Now let’s talk about the snacks on this flight. We were blown away by the pizza pockets (which tasted like fresh gourmet pizzas) and the scrumptious ice cream cups. We asked for seconds, and they gladly provided with no fuss. Now that’s what I’m talking about!
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Air Asia
Our flight from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur was a 1.5 hour flight and we flew with Air Asia. This was supposed to be a short and sweet experience – except that it wasn’t. Our flight was delayed due to bad weather (rainfall), and on top of that, our luggage was left behind at Phuket Airport. They managed to locate our bags and deliver it to our hotel in Kuala Lumpur the next day.
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Speedboat & Land Transfer
On a side note, if you’re vacationing on one of the islands, taking a speed boat will be the only source of transportation to the island. It is best to book a van and/or speedboat in advance of your arrival. The van can pick you up from Phuket Airport and transport you to the Marina, where you will take a speedboat to your resort. Try to get a “joint van” which is like carpooling with others who are going to the same destination (the Marina/pier) – this will be cheaper than a private van. Please contact your resort for more information. Click here for Santhiya’s speedboat information.
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