Epic Travel Fails – How To Get Stuck on the Wrong Side of Paradise!
We have all experienced them - the epic travel fails! It is a fact of life - if you travel, you will experience some epic fails! It doesn't matter how experienced a traveller you are, fails can happen to anyone, anytime and anywhere! Sometimes those fails turn out to be the best part of your entire trip and make it great terrible travel memories! Sometimes they are just what they are - FAILS! Nevertheless, fails are always a good lesson and in hindsight, you can usually laugh about it. Needless to say, I had my fair share of travel fails - some self-inflicted, others were simply fate, but thank goodness, none ever too serious. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll share some of my personal favourite travel fail stories with you. Let's have some laughs and learn some valuable lessons. So, without further ado - let's start with part 1 of my epic travel fails!
A good epic travel fail usually needs a few crucial ingredients! First of all, you need a good friend to laugh with, an exotic setting to fail in and some friendly locals to help you out of the mess! This story definitely ticks all the boxes!
The Back Story...
Let me set the scene – The year was 2017 and the setting was Thailand. I was working in Bangkok at a Tourism Destination Management Company (DMC) at the time. One of the perks of the jobs was to travel every so often around Thailand to inspect hotels and locations, to be able to promote it to the overseas travel agents. With Phuket and Krabi being one of the most popular areas, it was about time to see the hotels myself.
The Planning...
It was a very busy time at the office and it was a lot of back and forth if there would be enough time to go. Louise, my manager and friend, had planned to tag along but wasn’t sure until the very last minute if we would be able to go, for how long and much we would be able to see. Therefore, we didn’t book anything or made appointments until about 24 hours before we were due to leave. Needless to say, complete chaos ensued and it was clear we would need help to get this trip organised. So, we enlisted the professional help of our colleague Ariya, the head of the reservations team. The gem of a person that Ariya is, she managed to get us inspections, overnights and transport for about 5 days sorted in no time. Our trip was extremely tightly planned since we had to try and see as many hotels as possible. The plan was to start in Krabi, then take a ferry to Koh Yao Noi and Koh Yao Yai – the two small islands in Pha Nga Bay – then Phuket and Khao Sok National Park. It was an ambitious plan, but after all, we didn’t travel for fun. Mostly, at least!
And so it began...
We flew into Krabi and spent a night there before starting with back to back hotel inspections. The next day we were set to hop on a ferry to Koh Yao Noi to visit more hotels. The excitement was peaking since it would be the first visit to these little dream islands for both of us. On the list of hotels to visit was the Six Senses as well as Paradise Koh Yao, an exclusive boutique hotel so hidden you only get there by boat. This one would be our first stop in Koh Yao Noi, which sounded exciting!
A Ferry Ride to Remember...
After our last appointment in Krabi, we had a transfer organised to drop us off at the ferry pier. With all the whirlwind arrangements, we kind of didn’t really look into our notes and trusted that the driver would know where to drop us off.
The pier turned out to be quite far from town and on arrival, it all looked pretty local and rustic. Not a tourist or cement structure in sight, but rather mangroves and a couple of wooden huts. Since we didn’t know what to expect, we didn’t think anything of it. This is Thailand, after all! You never know what you might get.
We managed to locate the ‘sales office’ for the ferry tickets, which was one of the few wooden sheds around. Since we seemed to still have a bit of time, we did as the locals did and got a little snack before our ferry journey. As we were sitting there, chatting and snacking on some Thai food, we realized that we would be taking the car ferry, which was busy being loaded with cars and some heavy construction machinery. It seemed slightly unusual, but hey – nothing wrong with it, as long as it would bring us to Koh Yao Noi.
The Quiet Before the Storm...
We boarded our car ferry, got a bench on deck, overlooking the construction vehicles on the ferry and the stunning islands around us. Given there was no internet connection to work on emails, we used the time to sit back, relax and take in the scenery! And what stunning scenery it was! The sea was turquoise blue, the imposing sandstone rocks came gliding past, lush green islands could be seen in the distance! Truly amazing – life was good!
Welcome to Koh Yao Noi!
As lovely as it was, the ferry ride took a good while longer than we expected. Looking at our appointment schedule, we would already be running late for our first meeting at the Paradise Koh Yao hotel.
Eventually, the ferry reached the ferry port in Koh Yao Noi. And please know that I am using the term ‘port’ very loosely! It really just was a space for the ferry to stop and a ramp for the vehicles to come off onto the dirt road. No ticket office, no people, no nothing! Just a dirt road and a couple of construction vehicles.
Our fellow travellers dispersed quickly – I don’t know how, to be honest – but here we were with our little suitcases hoping for a vehicle to come pick us up. Once the last person had disappeared and there was definitely no one waiting for us to take us, we got a bit suspicious. Our best bet seemed to be contacting Ariya in Bangkok to help us once again. It turned out quickly that we obviously didn’t end up at the correct pier since we couldn’t even explain where we exactly were. We tried to send a picture to Ariya with some Thai writing we found on a board, but that didn’t clarify anything! Looking at the time, it was out of the question that we would make it for our appointment at the Paradise Koh Yao. What a bummer and not a good look!
We need a Hero!
The next appointment on our list was the luxury resort Six Senses Koh Yao Noi. Our best bet was to call them to help us out of our predicament. After explaining our situation to the resort manager, who couldn’t help but laugh, we still were no closer to knowing where on earth we had landed. The manager asked us to get a local on the phone to explain our whereabouts. That was easier said than done since there was absolutely not a single soul left around. I started to walk around like a headless chicken with the phone in my hand, looking out for any living creature with dwindling hope.
But then I spotted him – a local man with his fishing rod, merrily walking along, minding his own business! I practically jumped on him, quickly realising that my five words of Thai would not help. So, I just pressed my phone into his hand to speak to the resort manager. Bless him! The poor man just wanted to go fishing and instead got attacked by a possessed, sweaty ‘Farang’ (Thai expression for foreigners) throwing a phone at him.
After some back and forth between our local hero fisherman and the resort manager, I got the phone back to see what had transpired from the exchange. As the manager told me, the fisherman would be able to call a lady from the local village who owned a motorbike with a sidecar. If we didn’t have too much luggage and wouldn’t mind, the fisherman could call her to bring us to the resort. Woohoo! Finally, a solution was found! Our hero helper dialled the local number and after a little chit chat, handed me the phone to speak to a chirpy lady who spoke good English. We discussed her rate for our rescue and she promised to be with us in a few minutes.
Fatima to the Rescue!
We thanked our hero fisherman, who quickly scurried away before we had any more requests for him. Sitting at the dirt road/ferry pier we couldn’t help but laugh. Here we were, the travel experts, stranded at some godforsaken pier on a little Thai island waiting for a random local villager to rescue us.
And here she came – Fatima, our guardian angel! The motorbike with the sidecar came racing around the corner and on it, a big smiling Muslim lady, her black robe flying in the wind! It was the best sight ever!
She stopped to introduce herself and we had a good laugh about our situation! We loaded our luggage into the sidecar and off we went across the island to our destination. Fatimah would slow down at every house and every person we came past, laughingly yelling out the story about the silly Farang in her sidecar! It was by far the most fun and adventurous ride of my life! And so we arrived in our little sidecar, with our guardian angel Fatima at the doorstep of the luxurious Six Senses resort! It’s safe to say I will never forget Fatima or this whole experience!
Lessons Learned!
I think the first lesson learned here is to not leave travel preparations to the very last minute. It’s a recipe for disaster
The second lesson learned is to check everything if someone else is booking your travel. Make sure you understand where you are supposed to go, get the details and don’t sit back and expect everything to work out flawlessly. Even the best travel planner isn’t with you on the ground to hold your hand! As you see, everything had been arranged for us perfectly, but we didn’t pay attention to where we were going to check with our driver. So, always stay vigilant and take responsibility for your own movements.
And sometimes, things simply go wrong! It’s just in the nature of things!
The most important lesson from this story is that our epic fail turned out to be the best experience of the entire trip! We could not have had a better adventure making a lifelong memory and impression. It is also a reminder of the kindness of strangers, breaking language and cultural barriers!
Maybe one day you’ll be the kind stranger helping someone else have a great terrible travel memory?!
Interested in visiting Koh Yao Noi?
Apart from our personal struggle to reach the island, Koh Yao Noi and its big sister island Koh Yao Yai are the perfect island getaways! Both islands offer hotel and resort options for all tastes and budgets and are easy to reach from Phuket and Krabi. If you are interested in more information on both islands under My Ultimate Top 5 – Thailands Most Beautiful Islands!
Thanks for joining me today down memory lane and I hope you enjoyed one of my favourite epic travel fails. Next week we continue with the fails on a different continent because fails can happen anytime, anywhere!
What’s your epic travel fail? Let me know! Don’t be shy to share it!
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Have a great week and until next time!
