Traveling to Phuket, Thailand During Covid

Hi Everyone! On October 7, 2021, Wayne and I left our home in Prescott, Ontario to begin what will hopefully be a 6-month trip to Thailand! This is my first journal post (about our experience travelling to Phuket, Thailand) and I’m already late with it 🙂 But anyone who knows me knows that that’s par for the course.

Anyway, in future, I hope to post around weekly or so with updates on where we’ve been and what we’ve done! Please subscribe (box to the right) if you want to know when we’ve got a new post up, so you don’t miss it.

Also, I apologize in advance for the lack of photos in this post! When we started out on our trip, we really weren’t in the mindset of taking pictures of everything, only remembering afterwards that “we should have taken a picture”! (Except for the vegan airport restaurant – I was so excited to find that I took lots of pics.) So, sorry! It’s only been 13 days, and we’ve already taken literally hundreds of pictures, so that definitely won’t be an issue in future posts!

Our Bags

I used my own packing list, and we ended up with 5 (!) bags (as expected): 2x40L backpacks, 2 small daypacks for on-plane necessities, and a duffel bag for check-in. We flew Air Canada (Ottawa to Toronto to Doha) and Qatar Airlines (Doha to Phuket), and were each allowed a personal bag and a carry-on along with 2 checked bags. The weight restrictions were the only worry since our backpacks were stuffed! And the maximum weight was 10kg each for in-cabin, but there wasn’t a problem.

The duffel bag is basically full of vegan supplies – we weren’t sure how easy it will be to find anything vegan, and since we’re both total novices to travel, we wanted that one stress (of trying to find the stuff we needed) off our shoulders to start. So we packed an “extra” bag of sunscreen and insect repellent, our vegan joint supplements (just because we had the space) and extra Ethique bar shampoo and conditioners…again, not sure how much we’d need of those, but we suspect we’ll be going through more than expected with the not-used-to-the-heat extra showers lol.

Anyway, within just a couple of hours we realized the weight was too much! It’s doable, but not what we want to be carrying, especially if we’re backpacking much. We plan to be “slow travellers”, which means we’ll be settling into one area for a month or so and exploring from there before moving to another area; we probably won’t be lugging the backpacks much, but there’s still a lot to unpack and pack-up every time we move, and more to worry about leaving. And the weight sucks! So definitely we’ll be paring down. 

After much whining about the weight (by both of us) at the airports, we got a cart to carry our bags at the Hamad International Airport in Doha – check out Wayne’s happy face – there’s a smile under that mask! He’s already jealous of all the rolling suitcases we see!

How We Ate Vegan While Flying

Feel free to skip this bit if you don’t need the info, but I’m including it for any vegans in case it helps 🙂

We were able to register for vegetarian/non-dairy meals with Air Canada, and vegan meals with Qatar Airlines, so we were pretty happy with that. We weren’t looking forward to eating at the airport (and paying airport prices) but sort of figured that with the weird flight hours, we wouldn’t be fed much on the plane (figured wrong there! OMG they stuffed us) and we really didn’t have any spare room in our bags for snacks.

Now, we didn’t make notes on everything, which was stupid because we didn’t account for jet-lag fog and we’re really blurry on some stuff. But here’s what we remember:

Pearson Airport in Toronto and Air Canada

We flew Air Canada from Ottawa to Doha, leaving on Thursday, Oct. 8, with a short stop-over/plane switch at Pearson Airport in Toronto. They started us off with a pretzels snack. At the Toronto Airport, we shared a Beyond Burger at the Built Custom Burgers kiosk/restaurant, which tasted awesome and was horribly overpriced at around $16 CAD with taxes; our next flight to Doha didn’t leave till 8 pm and we didn’t expect to be fed much at the start.

Well, at 9:30 pm we were fed supper on the plane (veggie korma, and it was really good). Didn’t eat any of the dessert because thought it probably wasn’t vegan. Settled in to “sleep” (ha!), and at 2 am were woken by another meal service. 

Around here our memories are really scrambled – jet lag fog! –  but basically, Wayne got his vegetarian meals delivered and I had to ask for mine (although we were confirmed at check-in that we had the veg meals marked). Luckily, they *did* have my meals, they just weren’t bringing them out. 

Wayne had a tofu scramble and fruit which was quite nice; I had a chickpea sandwich which was still frozen in the center. We think this was a snack at 2 am, then we went back to sleep. Neither of us can remember what supper was, but I know the attendant was quite rude/abrupt with me when I requested my meal which hadn’t been brought out (another attendant got it for me, and he was a doll). 

Qatar Airlines and Hamad International Airport in Doha

The Doha airport is monstrously big and other than the main food court, the restaurants are sort of scattered through the gates. But everything is clearly marked and not too hard to find, and we easily found the 100% vegan restaurant Evergreen Organics.

It was nice! Expensive, but nice 🙂 There was a *lot* of variety: different sandwiches and wraps, soups, fresh fruit, and baked goods. Probably other stuff too, but that’s what I noticed 🙂 I had a falafel wrap, Wayne had a chickpea sandwich (total $17.37 CAD after-tax) They were both really tasty if a little soggy as all pre-made sammies are. The chocolate “muffin” though ($6.25 CAD after-tax)…it’s really a cupcake…no words. Except O.M.G. get it! So yummy and moist and chewy and chocolatey and melt-in-your-mouth-awesome. If you like chocolate, and who doesn’t?

The Qatar Airlines service and meals were simply amazing. I’m not joking when I say that one was probably one of the tastiest vegan meals I’ve eaten, and I’ve been vegan for almost 15 years! We had, I think, two meals during the seven-hour flight. And the adorable attendant assured me that they were a 5* airline and the meals were 100% vegan, so no need to worry at all.

The first meal was really good, but neither of us can remember what it was! AAArgh, brain fog sucks! And we were totally forgetting photos, which would have helped us remember too. Anyway, I think the first meal was a tabouleh salad of some kind. The second meal was a rolled chickpea roti, stuffed with delicious chickpea stuffing and a side of roasted potatoes and spinach. There was also a fruit cup and a vegan pudding. 

People, if you ever have the option, choose Qatar Airlines!

Airports and Service

Pearson International in Toronto

We only had a short layover in Pearson (2 ½ hours) so there wasn’t a lot of time to explore. The obvious thing we noticed was the crowd! The Ottawa airport was not crowded…there were people, but you noticed there how it *wasn’t* very busy. Pearson was busy. And by crowded, I mean shoulder-to-shoulder, people-in-your-space busy. Lines at restaurants were long, and the gate to Doha was at full capacity – we sat on the floor away from the crowd. 

Lines were fairly fast, and customs/security not a problem, even with Covid.

Air Canada

Checking in at both Ottawa and Toronto airports went smoothly; lots of documents were needed because of Covid, but we had them all organized together so no problems. Toronto was also quick.

Service on the plane, though, was mediocre. One attendant in particular (on the Toronto to Doha flight) was abrupt with me and other passengers, and there was some tension among the flight attendants. But it wasn’t too bad, just a long flight. And face it, I may have been a bit edgy from the lack of sleep 🙂

Hamad International Airport/Qatar Airlines

We had a long layover in Doha (10 ½ hours) so lots of time to explore, but we didn’t see nearly any of it. That airport is massive! But, seriously, it’s the cleanest airport (or public area anywhere, really) I’ve ever been to. The floors, the glass, the bathrooms … everything was spotless. There are cleaners everywhere.

And did I mention massive? And *expensive*? Luxurious, really. All the shops were Gucci and Tiffany’s and Swarvoski, and the like. Wayne and I stood out like sore thumbs!

Quiet, too. This airport is a marvel. Maybe the sheer size lets you have enough space, but even though there was a constant flow of people it never felt busy or rushed, or noisy. Even the electric shuttle cars, and the electric floor-cleaner-Zamboni-thing … everything was quiet!

There were also some modern-art sculptures, like this super-large golden bear with its head in a lamp. WTF, you may be asking? At least, I did. And still do. But hey, it’s apparently famous and a great photo op, so here you go:

The service in the airport and on the plane were both very good. A staff member meets you when you get off the plane, and you’re led to your departure spot. The line-up there was quite long, though, because of all the hoops and paperwork to enter Thailand. The service on the plane itself was amazing.

Arrival Process at Phuket Airport

We landed in Phuket at 1:30 pm local time. Like at Hamad, there are attendants guiding you along the way to where you have to go. First is a room of chairs, where you get your paperwork checked (again!) to ensure everything you need at the next step is sorted and available You also download a tracking app on your phone (they assist you if you’re having problems). Then you go through security (guided all the way) through immigration, where they do your passport/visa and stuff. Down the stairs to pick up any checked baggage, past the kiosks offering SIM cards for your phone (do NOT get the first one, it’s the most expensive…move on for more options from different companies). 

And out to the lobby, where they check your passport and give you your swab pack which you bring outside. Again, you’re guided (this is so awesome! I never felt lost or confused!) outside, where you find… the Bubble Boy!

Remember Seinfeld? No?

Anyway, there are staff isolated in little cubicles and all dressed in their protective medical gear, who insert their arms and hands into these long gloves which are attached to the trailer. So hard to describe, and I didn’t take a photo!!! But they’re in their little cubicle reaching out through these gloves to do your nose swab. 

Which, incidentally, wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be; the preliminary swabs at home were worse. My eyes didn’t even water, and it was only one nostril, as opposed to the double-dip! 

Taxi to Hotel and Hotel Arrival

After the swab, you’re guided to your taxi which is sent by your hotel (again, Covid restrictions). We left the airport around 3 pm and were driven to our hotel, the Diamond Cliff Resort and Spa in Patong. By now I’m pretty much in visual overwhelm; what I remember noticing are:

• Lots of motorcycles/scooters, but rarely any helmets or shoes
• Lots of pickups and open trucks with people in the back
• Foliage! Everything is so green and lush and larger than life
• Buildings everywhere. From the derelict to the luxurious, all side-by-side.
• So many shops, but so many seem closed, and signs I can’t read (because hey, I can’t read Thai)
• A couple of elephants and their (handler?) grazing by the highway
• Beaches and palm trees

And then we were at our hotel! Went through reception (where we were greeted with a delicious, cool glass of fruit juice) and took a shuttle up to our room (because this place is seriously built on a cliff!) and we arrived in our room by 4 pm on Saturday, October 9 (which was about 5 am Ontario time).

Because of Covid, you can’t leave your room until you get your negative Covid test result, so we unpacked and looked online to order supper. I placed an order through Food Panda for delivery and hopped in the shower; while I was in there, Wayne got an email that our order was cancelled (I think the restaurant was closed). 

By the time I got out of the shower I was crashing; I actually fell asleep on the bed at 8 pm, I couldn’t stay awake! Wayne showered and we were in bed by 9 pm, tired and really ready for a good night’s sleep because the next day was our 20th anniversary!!

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Love to you all!