Our holiday had a bit of an unexpected start. We flew with Qatar as we got a great deal with them- about half the price of BA and others. I think Qatar tend to do this- have short term great prices. All was well till we got on the flight at Qatar. We sat for a while and then I must have nodded off. I woke up and realised that we were still on the ground. Two hours after the expected time we started to taxi. The journey then took longer than scheduled even when we had taken off. We were ages on the ground at Bangkok before we got off the plane, the immigration was the longest queue I‘d ever seen before and our luggage was last off the belt. All this meant that we missed our Koh Samui flight( arrived at the desk minutes after it had closed). It was the last flight of the day- disaster!
However, at Bangkok Airways desk they just moved us to the first flight next day(6am)- no fuss. We decided to just pay the expected fortune and stay at Novotel at the airport. I had looked at staying overnight originally but I kept getting prices of about £150 so we had made the decision to just take a risk with the internal flight. Off we trailed to the Novotel desk at the airport and were really surprised to be quoted £80. Lovely hotel - I have done a short review on it. So what could have been a nightmare turned out ok.
For those who haven't been to Koh Samui, google the airport. Its worth it. It has to be one of the worlds prettiest airports. They must spend a fortune in planting alone. It is more or less an open air airport. It now has an avenue of shops, bars and restaurants which was not there on our last visit- which was about 6 years ago.
We stayed at the Bandara hotel in Bophut. When I started to look at hotels I was taken aback by the prices. They seem to be far more expensive in this part of Thailand. However, I found this hotel on Bookings.com at £70 net( including all taxes). Actually the exchange rate when I booked it worked out just over £60. I began to wonder if we had done the right thing but when I arrived I found a fabulous resort hotel. Our room overlooked the main pool, which was 40m long. Lots of greenery surrounding the pool. Back to the hotel room- I have done a review of it. Loved the little touches such as supplying flip flops for outdoors and a beach bag and towels. It also had robes and slippers and 2 big brollies. Every day there was fresh fruit. The turndown service left coconut caramels which were lovely. The room had a dvd player and reception had a selection of cds and dvd movies( free). We never used them. And joy of joys- the balcony , as well as table and chairs and a day bed, had a ceiling fan!! We like sitting out on the balcony last thing of night and have found that KS is a bit humid so the fan was a god send. Never had that before.
The hotel had 2 other smaller pools and a children's one. It was also on the beach. Another joy for us was that at any time of day you could wander down and get a sun lounger. There were loads.
We had the most lazy time ever. We went on no trips at all in KS. Kept meaning to get around to doing things but everyday we got up and couldn't be bothered. We just relaxed round the pool.
Second part will follow- thought if I got a bit done and posted then I would then have to finish it