Paradise Found

Well this may be the most beautiful place I have ever sat down with my laptop at. Unlike my usual spots when I travel, like airline first class lounges while en route to places far and away, I’m camped beachside with my trusty Dell in front of me and an icy cold, creamy pina colada to keep me company (ok, several of them). I’m perched overlooking what could best be described as an idyllic bay. Enclosed on two sides by verdant tropical rainforest covered hills and fronted by gorgeous aqua blue and green water lapping at fine powdery white sand. The sea is bathwater warm and clean. Sometimes the waves gently roll in; sometimes they crash in with six foot high swells. If it were not for the other hotel guests around me, one could easily picture this as the perfect secluded tropical beach. Even with others around, I’ll still call this my personal paradise. This is the nicest beach I’ve been to.

Where is this slice of paradise you ask? I’m currently on Phuket Island in Thailand. This is the largest of the Thai islands that are sprinkled about the Andaman Sea. Beloved by many that have traveled to this part of the world and made famous by movies like The Beach. Each one is different and seems even nicer than the next, if that’s possible. Fortunately for me, I have booked myself 5 nights at the Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort. Its not the newest or the ritziest resort on Phuket, but it certainly has an incredible location. Since Le Meridien has recently joined the Starwood family of hotels, due to my Platinum status with Starwood, I was treated to a complimentary upgrade to a 2nd floor ocean view junior suite. Its not the best suite upgrade I’ve ever received, but it is very comfortable and after all I’m staying here using my Starwood points.

My suite is comprised of a large sleeping room with teak wood floors and an adjacent livening room with a coach / daybed, coffee table and a nice entertainment center with TV, DVD player and the ever present hotel minibar. There’s a great bathroom, lined in black granite and ceramic tiles, a shower area with room for 2 and a separate deep soaking tub with sliding wood panels that open to a view of the rest of the room. Additionally, I have a large patio with table, sun umbrella, chairs and a chaise lounge only to be topped with a view of the hotel’s extensive pool complex, swaying palm trees and the view of the Andaman Sea beyond.

I got to this personal paradise by way of Los Angeles, Tokyo, Singapore and Bangkok. To do this, I cashed in 120,000 US Airways frequent flier miles and $27 to cover taxes for a roundtrip first class ticket on Singapore Airlines and their partners. My journey started in Columbus on Saturday when I flew to Los Angeles in order to catch my onward Singapore Airlines flight to Tokyo.

Arriving in Los Angeles around 5pm I headed to the Westin Bonaventure in downtown. The Westin is a landmark building in LA. Some of you may be familiar with its four connected cylindrical towers sheathed in copper hued glass. Though a hotel I’ve wanted to check out for some time, I was a bit under whelmed. Perhaps its simply in need of an extensive update and renovation. The Westin upgraded me to a towers suite in the Starwood Preferred Guest tower. I was given a fairly standard two-room suite with one and a half bathrooms. However, the 23rd floor location afforded a nice view of downtown LA. Not having too much time in LA and wanting a full night’s sleep ahead of my long journey I opted for a quiet evening out and about. I headed for dinner and an evening stroll to a development in West Hollywood called The Grove. Its an outdoor mall / entertainment zone, much like Easton. Though smaller in size, I thought it had a better architectural design and theme. After a light dinner and a walk exploring the development I headed back to the hotel, climbed into the sublime Westin Heavenly Bed and called it a night.

Sunday morning came soon enough and I took my complimentary buffet breakfast at the Westin and drove out to Santa Monica to spend a couple hours enjoying the ocean side scenery and fabulous and unique shopping before my long flights to paradise. I returned my rental car, checked in for my flights and headed to the LAX Singapore Airlines lounge. Amazingly enough, for an airline as fabulous as Singapore is, their lounge at LAX was very disappointing. Truth be told, all the airlines’ lounges in the international terminal at LAX are rather tired and uninspiring. I was told a new lounge for Singapore and their partners is in the works and should be ready next summer. Nevertheless, a private lounge space with complimentary cocktails and snacks surely beats waiting with the masses at the crowded departure gate. After a brief stay in the lounge I headed out to the gate and with great expectation and anticipation I waited to enter the amazing Singapore Airlines’ first class cabin.

Some of you have read my previous commentary about my first class flights on Cathay Pacific when I went to Asia and South Africa a couple years ago and I must say that the Singapore cabin is even better. Its a much more opulent and elegant environment. There are 14 private suites in the cabin. Each suite is trimmed with burled wood, English Connelly leather and other soft-touch fabrics. Each suite has its own 14 inch LCD monitor to watch movies, noise cancelling headset and a control panel for the multi-direction power seat. The seat converts into a bed and when requested, a stewardess will make up the bed for you, complete with a pad, linens, down filled duvet and pillows. The audio / video on-demand entertainment system was great and kept me occupied. This is the way to fly.

I won’t bore you with all the details but the in-flight meal service was wonderful. I had my fill of Dom Peringnon champagne, caviar, smoked salmon, cocktails, and a variety of appetizers, soups, entrees, snacks and desserts. All of the food was excellent and the presentation on Singapore’s custom china, glassware and flatware was incredible. If I were to find a flaw in any of my Singapore Airlines experience, and I'm digging here, it would be with the cabin staff. They were not bad, per se, but they did not seem as warm and genuine as the crew on my Cathay Pacific flights were.

My flight lasted about 12 hours from LA to Tokyo, where we had a 1 hour refueling stop before continuing on to Singapore which was an additional 6 hours. Arriving in Singapore at 1am, I was scheduled to have an 8 hour layover until my flight to Bangkok at 9am. Instead of laying about in the first class lounge, I opted for a hotel at the nearby Le Meridien Changi Village. After a quick taxi ride I was in the hotel and checking in. At check in I was notified that I had already been upgraded and pre-blocked to an executive suite. No complaints here. When I got to the suite, I was simply amazed. The suite was very cool, in a very modern design kind-of-way. The rooms had curved walls and windows and a fabulous bathroom enclosed on two sides by glass. Yes, there were curtains if bathroom privacy was needed. It was definitely a unique design and room style, a type which I had not previously experienced. All in all, this was a great start to my trip and good first experience with the new, to Starwood that is, Le Meridien hotel brand.

Unfortunately, my stay at the Le Meridien Changi Village was short, having only enough time for a bath, 3.5 hour nap and a shower. It was 6:30am and time to head back to Singapore international airport to resume my trip. At the airport, I was very pleasantly surprised to find that Singapore Airlines had a dedicated first class check in facility. This was comprised of a private lounge area where one could relax, have a beverage or small snack and check in. This was in addition to the regular first class lounge found inside the secure zone. The check in was handled at desks where you were seated in front of an agent while they took care of your ticket matters and porters took care of your luggage. Once all formalities were completed, you exited the check in lounge and proceeded to a dedicated entrance to the fast-track security and passport control area. Not wanting to overindulge myself, I skipped over the mall-like shopping that is available at Singapore International and headed to the Singapore Airlines' first class lounge instead. I couldn’t believe how busy it was, no wonder Singapore is one of the most fiscally succesful airlines out there. A nice feature of this lounge that I partook in was the breakfast buffet and custom omelet bar.

As always, after an all too short stay in a great lounge, I proceeded to the gate to board my flight for Bangkok. What stood out for me on this flight was the amazing level of service and quality of meals. Keep in mind that this was a 1 hour and 50 minute flight. This first class service would put all domestic carriers’ transcontinental and even possibly their international first class service to shame. Its just sad the state of our domestic carriers and their lapse from providing excellent service levels. But I digress.

Arriving to a very hot and humid Bangkok, which I believe to be its perpetual state of weather, I collected my luggage (always a very happy moment for the traveler to be reunited with his checked bags) and proceeded to make the long migration to the domestic terminal. At the domestic terminal I checked in for my flight on Thai Airlines to Phuket. This ticket I had purchased separately, it was a business class ticket for about $200. I had a few hours to kill before my flight and spent it at, you guessed it, inside the Thai Airways domestic business class lounge. I took advantage of the free wireless access to catch up on some emails and spent some time chatting with my friend.

he time had finally come for last flight, Bangkok to Phuket. Thankfully this was a rather short 45 minute flight. We had decent service and a small snack, but really that’s all one could expect. Landing in Phuket I thought surely we would be pulling up to some banana hut terminal, like I once experienced at Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Instead I was surprised to find a regular concrete structure that was well air-conditioned. Collected my bags once again and headed outside to pick from the throngs of drivers offering their taxi services. I picked one, agreed on the price of 600 Thai Baht (about $15) and off we went on the 40 minute hair raising drive to the Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort.

By the time I got all settled into my room, it was about 5pm and I decided to go walk about and explore the resort complex, finally settling in at the beachside bar. Happily, serendipitous luck was on my side, as it was buy one get one happy hour with complimentary appetizers. So several pina colladas and some other fruity drinks later I found myself rather relaxed and ready to really enjoy my vacation. On the way back to my suite, it occurred to me to really get into the relaxation mood, I should indulge myself with a professional treatment at the hotel’s spa. Luckily the spa was open until 10pm and I availed myself with a 3.5 hour men’s package. I had a body scrub and polish, Thai sports massage, flower bath and steam and capped it off with a 1 hour men’s facial. It was wonderfully relaxing and rejuvenating and all for about $125. My therapist was a real friendly and pleasant Thai girl named Tik. And no, she did not try to love me a long time – though I did not enquire.

I spent my first day lazing about by the pool and the beach enjoying incredibly fresh and yummy pineapple drinks and soaking up the tropical sun. For the afternoon I headed into Patong, the town nearest to the resort and also one of the places hardest hit by the Tsunami of 2004. From all appearances everything seemed to be back in business with no visual signs of the devastation that occurred. I treated myself to a not so professional massage with a very friendly masseur, but hey, what do you expect when the cost for one hour is 300 Thai Baht (about $7). In my post massage bliss, I took a stroll around town, checking out the various possibilities for restaurants, nightclubs, and souvenir shops. I came upon a DVD vendor and bought several. Some of the titles I picked up included Mission Impossible 3, some other movies just in theaters and not released yet and the 2nd season of Lost which hasn’t finished airing on ABC yet, all for about $3 per disk. Yeah, I know they’re probably pirated, but it's such an amazing bargain and the quality was good and real, I just couldn’t resist. I have no idea how these people manage to get copies of the movies, but its not for me to police them, I’m just the happy consumer. I still pay my fare share at home in the movie theaters and buy full priced DVDs.

So, here I am wrapping up this long travel journal entry at the end of my first day in paradise. The sun is now setting over this idyllic bay with blue green water and surrounding tropical hills. The sky is dotted with puffy white clouds and colored in amazing shades of pink and blue, even the white sand beach is beginning to take on a pink glow from this incredibly beautiful sunset. This is the kind of scenery a person could enjoy every day for the rest of their life and I plan to, at least for the next 4 days.

Till my next journal entry,

Your humble globe trotting friend ;)