Let The Preparations Begin

To say that we are both planners would be an understatement.

We began planning vacations 18 months in advance mostly because when I owned my own wedding planning company if you don’t block time off that far in advance, you end up booking every weekend.

We’re ABSOLUTELY not that people who need to schedule every minute; we just like to learn a bit about the culture, the customs, the food, and some of those “Don’t Miss” things to do.

However, this trip will be a little different as we are traveling as part of a small travel tour group with Gate 1 Travel, and part of our time is scheduled. They selected the hotels in Bangkok, Kanchanaburi, and Ayutthaya.

Being a Trip Advisor junkie (Mark K), I checked out all of the hotels and top excursions and attractions. I was pretty amazed at the location and quality of all of the hotels. Everything from the quality and service reviews, to the images of the amenities and breakfast buffet (included in our package), one even has a rooftop, glass infinity pool overlooking the city.

So, I listened to language videos on YouTube, found a Bangkok foodie with his own YouTube channel (Mark Wiens) showing all kinds of great street food – if you can stand his ‘yummy food face’ his 2 Weeks in Bangkok series shows really great places and food.

Probably one of the most interesting things we encountered is the Thai customs. Of all the things the western world hears and knows about Bangkok specifically – Patpong Road, LadyBoys, Ping Pong Balls, and the Red Light District; they are really a very reserved country.

More on customs in another post.

Mark ~