Day 1 - Saturday and Sunday
Our story begins at the San Francisco Airport. When we arrived at the airport our seats were not together, both Andrea and I were shocked. So our trip started by me yelling at China Airlines. China Airlines corrected the issue and put us in 14A and 14B. The last row on the upper deck of the Boeing 747-400. Because our seats were the last row, they did not fully recline.
Thirteen hours later we arrived in Taipei, Taiwan. This was our first lay over. The China Airlines lounge in Taipei is very nice. We sat for 4 hours and ate dumpings and soup.
Our next flight took off at 9:45AM, business class was empty for the 3 and a half hour flight from Taipei to Bangkok, Thailand. After arriving we sat in Thai Airlines' lounge waiting for our flight at which was to leave in 3 hours for Phuket.
We finally made it to Phuket at 5PM, and cleared Thai customs. Our car service never showed up at the airport. While standing in the rain, the Banyan Tree Hotel Representative was at the airport and arranged car service for us. 45 minutes later we arrived at the hotel. It was a 26 hour trip which crossed the International Date Line. We left California at 1:05AM Saturday October 21st and arrived at the hotel at 6:15PM Sunday October 22nd.
The Banyan Tree Hotel is the most glorious hotel, we have ever seen. The hotel lobby has small ponds between walk ways, and the flowers in the lobby are replaced daily.
Villa
Actually its not a hotel so much, but a collection of 121 private villas. Our villa was beautiful. It has hardwood flooring throughout and has an outdoor bath tub and private front yard with jacuzzi.
