Thailand is a firm favorite when it comes to destinations British mums love to visit! Located in southern Asia it is known for fabulous food, world-class pampering, diving and snorkelling, temples and ruins, endless beaches, and shopping and markets. Thailand also has many well known islands that have numerous resorts for tourists.

Visas

British passport holders arriving by air or land have a visa exemption and can enter Thailand for 30 days without a visa. If you need to stay longer, it’s possible to extend your stay once, from the expiry date of the original visa, for up to 30 days.

Time zone

The time zone in Thailand is GMT+7, 3 hours ahead of Dubai.

Currency

1 United Arab Emirates Dirham equals 8,40 Thai Baht. You should either change your Dirhams into the Thai Baht in Dubai, or take Pounds or Dollars to Thailand and change it there into the local currency.

Time of year

You can visit Thailand all year round but the best time to travel is during the cool and dry season between November and early April. In the south, the climate is different between the eastern and western coasts.

We went in May which isn’t the best time to go to South East Thailand but we were limited by when we could take holiday so we thought we’d take the risk. 

We were lucky, apart from the first day and the odd shower we had lots of sunshine throughout our time in Thailand but it is a gamble. You get quieter beaches and great deals on accommodation in this low season but are playing a bit of a wild card weather wise.  

Flights

Another advantage to going out of season was cheaper flights and quiet flights. We changed from our first flight to the connecting flight in Dubai and our second flight to Phuket had hardly anyone on it. A good thing as we had a whole row to ourselves each to sleep, a worrying thing because why was no one going there?!

Phuket

A destination that doesn’t always have the greatest reputation, we started our travels on the island of Phuket. It offered a good base to explore the islands of the South and offered relatively good value flights when compared to Bangkok for example. We also hoped to prove any doubters wrong in terms of what Phuket might have to offer besides the wild nights of Patong. On arrival at Phuket airport we headed out to the official taxi rank and had no trouble getting a taxi to our first stop Kata, an hour and a half south from the airport.

We’d pre-booked the first night’s stay in advance for the trip because we knew we’d be arriving late at night. I’d never done a trip that wasn’t organised to the last detail, so not knowing where our next night’s accommodation was going to be was both terrifying but in a way liberating.

The next morning we woke to glorious…rain. They said May was a wild card.

Undeterred we spent our first day strolling along the beach and roads of Kata in our waterproofs. It cheered up by the afternoon and we were able to head to the beach and start to see why people fall in love with Thailand and as far as Phuket goes there wasn’t a ping pong ball in sight.

By early evening, I was completely converted – our dinner the final cherry on the cake. The food was unbelievable, at a crazy price and in a beautful setting. Because of the time of year we’d picked and the location it was very quiet but that didn’t bother us but you could obviously opt for a MUCH wilder scene down the road if you fancied it.

Limited time meant that we’d only factored in a flying visit to Phuket so the next day we had a 7am pick up to take us across Phuket to the ferry for Phi Phi Island. I’m not great on boats so was nervous about the trip but I hadn’t factored in getting travel sick in the van on the way to the boat. Warning: It’s jerky and fast and we were in the back seats of the van, if you get travel sick definitely flag this and try and grab a front seat!

Written by British mum and travel blogger Kate Nobel. Read more about her travels by visiting The Guestbooks.

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