CNS-SIN-BKK

We were flying with Singapore Airlines so we boarded with the usual efficiency and were quickly settled in with a glass of bubbly. We had a great meal on this segment, with some of the nicest lamb (for me) and steak (for Paul) that we had the whole trip. The flight was smooth and we landed in Singapore on time. We had booked into the Aerotel for 6 hours, with a lay over of just over 8 hours we wanted to get some rest. Up early the next morning, we had a good flight to BKK. This flight included a really nice breakfast so we were set for the day.

And so we meet again East Coast Australia! When we originally booked the trip, we were told to expect mostly good weather but lots of crowds because of Easter and school holidays. Everyone advised us to book in advance. We figured we managed some long weekends and school holidays in our 2024 trip to Perth, so thought it would be similar. We couldn’t have been more wrong and should have factored in that, approximately, 80% of Australia’s population lives on the East Coast.

We know, we know… we said we weren’t going back. Yet here we are, doing exactly that 😁! Long story short, or the TL;DR version: we got a really good deal on a van we couldn’t pass up, used Air Canada mileage rewards for some nice “bidness class” flights which included an A-350 and booked a 3 month roadtrip. Skip the next two paragraphs if you are good with that! The longer version is that I had started following Let’s Go Motorhomes on “the socials” after our 2023 trip.

Another trip to Lipe… same same but always a little different. 🤷 We did the usual flight to Hat Yai, taxi to Pak Bara combination with no issues. We were able to store the duffle (had to bring it for what’s next) at Tik’s place on the mainland again which was really nice. After a quiet night in Pak Bara we got the early ferry to Lipe. The speed boat was fine, not too wavy and we didn’t even have the extra stop along the way. We arrived with no issues, hopped a quick taxi to The Reef and we were back.

The flight from YXC - YVR was easy and arrived on time. We grabbed some lunch then went and checked into the Fairmount Vancouver Airport. We had an 11 hour lay over so Paul used his Amex travel credit to get us a really good deal. We relaxed and headed over to check in just in time to catch our flights to Chiang Mai. Everything went smoothly and we enjoyed the flights. Ian and Ness picked us up from the airport so it was a great start. It turned out Matt was there as well, he was returning from Vietnam.