Europe trip 2023

Flying from KL to Krabi was an easy exercise. As soon as we arrived we dumped our gear at our villa and went into town on a tuktuk, with the craziest driver ever. We found the town full of busy streets, where it appears, Brits in particular, have come to have a break from being a responsible adult. 🙄 Not the greatest first impression! We had pizza for dinner, went to the supermarket for some breakfast supplies then rung up the crazy tuktuk driver to come back and get us.

 

The following day BK went to a co-working space and I decided the kids needed some structure so we made up an hour by hour plan. School. Pool. Lunch. Catch the shuttle into town for a look at the beach (but not get off!). Rest in bed. More pool time. Screen time. Showers and tidy up. Dinner. We did this routine for several days.

 

I was happy to stay in the neighborhood where I felt safe. We found plenty of food options around so didn’t need to go back into town.

 

The shuttle driver at first thought I was a bit crazy taking these two kids to the beach but not letting them get off! But eventually he understood that I wanted to stay with him because I felt safe. He took us for a tiki tour on the way home, it was great to see some ‘localness’ and by day 2 he said “Same same??” when he saw me. Ha! “Yup!” I replied.

 

On Saturday the weather forecast said the skies were NOT going to do their tropical thing (where it buckets down for an hour so in the afternoon), so we thought we’d go see the islands. Mr Shuttle driver told me ‘4 Island’ was the one to do, so we did. Amazing tour!

We were picked up from our villa, transferred to a long tail boat (I worried it would be too noisy but it wasn’t) on which we had a driver and a guide. First we went to Tub Island and saw fish swimming round our legs! Amazing! So glad I took my go pro and goggles for kids! Next they took us to a cove on Chicken Island, just out from the shore. We all got off in our life jackets and looked at the fish and coral. Master 8 had a wonderful time and now has a new hobby, snorkeling! Next they took us to Poda Island and we had a buffet lunch on the beach. Yum! It reminded me a lot of the Mount, lots of similarities but obviously so different! Finally our last stop was Prang Cave Beach, it was a beautiful beach and the temperature was perfect for swimming in, just like bath water. I didn’t go into the cave but BK did. Then it was back to base and transferred to our villa. It was an amazing day, and all for the bargain price of NZ$64 for all of us (plus an island ranger fee of NZ$35).

 

So we didn’t do much but this week but it was mostly about rest and people. Our villa had a pool on its doorstep and our kids are already confident in the pool but are even more so now. Miss 6 made a lovely little friend, her family is from Sweden and we plan to go visit them when we are in Northern Europe.

 

The shuttle driver, (I so wish I’d caught his name), was lovely, very relatable and had great English. I had many great conversations both on and off the shuttle with him. BK met some lovely people at the co-working space too. I’ve read on other blogs that people change the experience and that is so true.

 

The last day in Krabi we all came down sick, a mixture of fevers, head colds and sore tummies so it was an early night and then a calm morning transferring to the airport. We remain in Thailand this week but at another location.

 

Budget update :

Krabi $102 under
Total budget – $178 under

 

Till next time 🙂

After a walk around the beautiful Mount Maunganui and a few last minute errands it was time to go to the airport, We had decided for our first flight we’d fly a full service airline. Emirates had a great flight from Auckland to Singapore with a 21 hour layover in Melbourne, perfect for us to see BK’s sister and her fam, then fly on to Singapore.

 

On the way to Auckland Airport Emirates began emailing and texting me, first it was, we’d be leaving 30 minutes late, then it was an hour and 15 minutes late, we ended up leaving two hours late! it was something to do with weather in Dubai affecting the entire Emirates fleet.

 

However the kids were excited and settled into watching movies and playing games on their tablets. Dinner was served at 10pm, so it was a good thing we’d fed our crew at the airport!

 

Seeing the fam in Melbourne was great, we all had such a fantastic time and the kids played together so well. Soon it was time to head back to the airport.

 

Melbourne’s airport is fantastic! I was so stoked to see a kids climbing thing right by our gate. Oh yes! Run that energy off kiddos cause you’re going to be stuck in a chair for the next 8+ hours! I also received a text from Emirates ‘good news – your flight is running on time!!’

 

A great first long-haul experience for the kiddos, R ate her dinner then slept the rest of the way including sitting upright for the landing 😄 The boys and I slept about 3-4 hours.

 

Arriving in Changi (otherwise known as the best airport in the world) was great we were instantly hit with everyone’s friendliness and honesty. When we were trying to get a shuttle to our accommodation they suggested a taxi would be cheaper and better for our family! This saved us about $20!

Checking into the accommodation was no problem and we were all tucked up and asleep very quickly.

When we woke up, we grabbed a free brekkie from where we are staying and headed for the luge on Sentosa Island.

I’m disappointed to report we were highly let down by the luge track, there ‘once is never enough’ slogan is totally correct, because if you blink you’ll miss it! It was a nicely planted track but sloooooow people and just too short!! Oh Rotorua luge, we take back all the bad things we’ve ever said about you! That evening we visited our first hawker centre for dinner. Fed the whole family for $10 and it was yum!!!!

 

The following day we were up early and caught a taxi out to the zoo. I’m happy to report that it lived up to expectations and is the best zoo ever!!!! We purchased tram/train tickets to help the little legs of the family but it was really a waste of money. The lines were too long and it didn’t stop enough and it went in a silly route and and and….my list goes on but I’ll spare yah!! Big thanks to the grandparents who paid for us to go. We LOVED it! That evening it was back to the hawker centre and yes, I had exactly the same thing for dinner. Adventurous….not!!!

 

After two big days we were lagging a bit so wanted a bit of a quieter day. We attended a service at a mega church, with 8,000 other people then we went to Chinatown for lunch. I ordered pineapple rice but got shrimp so not a great experience for me as I had waited so long and was so hungry then couldn’t eat it! A quick trip to the mall next door saved my family from Mummy getting ‘hangry’ 😄

 

It was a quiet afternoon back at the accommodation then we headed to Orchard Road to see ‘the road’ of Singapore, even better that it was decked out in Christmas lights. I came up with my best idea yet….we took the train to the top of the road then started walking down back towards where we were staying, the kids soon got tired so we caught a bus that finished the journey and we looked at the pretty light displays as we drove past and then it dropped us around the corner from where we were staying. All for the grand total of $4.50 for all of us. Bargain.

Of course being in Singapore for new years means new year fire works. They were amazing! A great party literally on our doorstep but luckily thick enough walls and back off the street further enough that when we went to bed, we didn’t hear a thing!

This morning it was raining, but we hadn’t seen the gardens by the bay! So a quick taxi ride fixed that. They were well worth the trip and wandering round in the drizzle

So Singapore, you’ve been amazing!

Such a great start to the Asia leg of our trip. We will be back, we know we didn’t even scratch your surface!

 

Budget update – $14 over!

Not bad, not bad.

Of course it would have been entirely blown if we paid for the zoo!