Trip Dary Context: The purpose of my trip diaries is mostly a photo dump for me and a list of restaurants and activities we did so I can easily find it later should we return. I hope for you they inspire ideas or places to see and go should you travel to the destination described in the post.

Day 1 Leaving Boston

We departed Boston on Japan Airways via Tokyo. I was very excited about flying my first Asian airline as they are known to be way better than our USA-based carriers particularly in the food and service department. They more than lived up to it (see review).

Our journey began in the British Airways Lounge as they are partners with Japan Airways. For an outstation lounge, we were quite pleased with the food options. We arrived around noon and the lounge was also empty as most international flights do not leave until the later afternoon.

Once we boarded our flight, we had a delightful meal on Japan Airlines and fell asleep until we began landing in Tokyo.

Day 2 Transiting in Tokyo and Arriving in Bangkok

Transiting in Japan is lovely as you do not even have to go through passport control. We did not have a long layover so we went to the Japan Airlines lounge which was meh for some coffee before boarding our second flight to Bangkok.

After about 21 hours we arrived in Bangkok. Passport control and baggage claim were quick and we found our transfer to take us to the St. Regis (see review). It was almost midnight when we arrived and the St. Regis was prepared for our arrival and handled our check-in quickly.

We were brought to our beautiful room overlooking the golf course where they decorated it for our anniversary. Matt and I had some complimentary treats and passed out.

Day 3 Recovering in Bangkok

We woke up in Bangkok and had a day to get our lives together before moving on to Koh Samui.

At around 9am we  made our way down to breakfast which was a massive buffet with western ,Indian, Thai and Chinese options. It had to be one of the largest breakfast buffets I have ever seen.

After breakfast and digestion, we made our way to the lovely rooftop pool to relax. We kept it an easy day after 22 hours of air travel. The hotel offered coconut coffee which was outstanding. The pool was also quite refreshing.

A few weeks prior, I reached out to the St. Regis about their spa as I figured a massage would be lovely after 2 days of travel. The prices were high so I did some research and found a spa within a 10 minute walk inside a mall that was very cheap, like 40 dollars for a 90 minute massage and body scrub cheap. De Rest Spa was fantastic and a great way to recover.

Finally, we concluded our day with dinner next door to our hotel at the Spice Market and had an excellent (and spicy dinner). It had a traditional Bangkok menu and we would definitely go back.

At this point we hit our wall and were ready to pass out, but we got a knock on the door as our tailors arrived to measure us for our custom suits…We quickly met with them earlier in the day to pick out our styles and options and they came back at 9pm to our room to measure and have us try on prototypes of everything we ordered so they could modify them. They would be ready for us when we returned to Bangkok the following week.

Day 4 Hop Over to Koh Samui

The next day we woke up, had another large breakfast and made our way back to the airport for our short flight to Koh Samui. We flew Bangkok Airways (see review) for our 45 minute flight and it was a breeze. We were staying at the Vana Belle hotel (see review and they had their car pick us up.

Check in was lovely and our room/villa was massive with a beautiful private pool, jungle and ocean views.

The hotel recommended a wonderful dinner just a short walk away at Phensiri. I would say this was the best restaurant outside a hotel we visited on our entire vacation.

Day 5 Spa and Chaweng

Our first full day in Koh Samui was mostly lazy. We walked the beach, had lunch at the hotel before taking a taxi to the Emerald Gay Spa.

We had a lovely afternoon being pampered with facials and massages before walking into Chaweng for dinner and shopping. Chaweng is the largest town on the island and is less touristy than some of the other shopping districts. It was cool to see it come alive at night with markets and stores.

We decided to take a break with Thai food and try Italian at Prego, it was good! We walked the town, bought a few gifts and made our way back to the hotel.

Day 6 Samui Elephant Sanctuary

This was our adventure day to the Samui Elephant Sanctuary. This was such a fun way to spend our morning as we learned about the movement in Thailand to treat elephants humanely, prepared and fed the elephants and took a tour around the sanctuary. The elephants were so much fun and watching them socialize with one another and bathe was such a joy.

When we returned to the hotel, I had a 15 dollar sixty minute massage on the beach (Matt insisted) before we had dinner at Phensiri again. It is such a fabulous restaurant.

Day 7 Happy Anniversary

July 19! Happy 10^th Anniversary to us. Today we were picked up for our private boat tour around Koh Samui. This was such a treat.

The tour started off by taking us to some remote Island where there were literally no other people, boats or life. The captain had us swim in beautiful waters before throwing a basket of food together for us to eat. It was like we had the entire world to ourselves.

Then we moved to another area off a different island to do some snorkeling.

We finished our tour with a stop on the pig island to visit the piggies and have a picnic lunch. It was a wonderful day and our captain was fabulous.

Dinner was at the hotel on the beach. We arranged a private dinner and this Mainer had the best lobster he has ever had.

Finally, we returned to our room where our butler, Tic arranged a romantic bath for us to complete our romantic night. Matt and I write letters to each other every 5 years to be open 5 anniversaries later. What a perfect day!

Day 8 Cooking Class

Our last full day on Koh Samui started off with another 12 dollar massage on the beach.

Later we were picked up and taken to a small house in the jungle for a wonderful cooking class, although our chef was tough! We made spicy soup, pad thai and green chicken curry. MMM! That was also our dinner before returning to our hotel for one last romantic night in our villa before heading back to Bangkok…

Stay tuned for part 2 of the trip diary!