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Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel
Let us pull back the curtain and show you how you can maximize money you're already spending to earn enough credit card points and miles to travel with your family for nearly free.
We've used credit card points and miles to take our family of 5 on trips to places like Costa Rica, San Diego, Disneyland, Oceanside, NYC, Washington DC, Hawaii, and next year we have already booked Paris, Spain and Japan!
Using credit card points and miles (often called travel hacking) doesn't have to be overwhelming or take a ton of time, and we can show you how.
Can you earn a lot of points and miles without opening up multiple credit cards? Only if you have a really high amount of spend each month. For people with larger families, opening new cards is the easiest and fastest way to earn enough points and miles to take a couple of really low cost (but not low budget) family vacations every year!
If you want to learn ways to help you and your family travel more affordably using credit card points, this show is for you.
Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel
Thailand Pt 3: Park Hyatt Bangkok, Stacking FHR Credits + Points, & an ER Visit
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Bangkok is our last stop in Thailand, and it turns into the most chaotic stretch of the whole trip. We break down how we booked a luxury Park Hyatt stay with points and Amex credits while juggling traffic, malls, heat, and two kids getting sick at the worst possible times.
• flying Bangkok Airways and dealing with delays plus airport traffic
• using the Bangkok taxi kiosk system and deciding when the train makes more sense
• booking Park Hyatt Bangkok with Hyatt points and Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts credits
• how the hotel created an “almost connecting” room setup with a private foyer
• sticker shock at the hotel steakhouse and what we’d skip next time
• standout Park Hyatt breakfast buffet and the infinity pool experience
• the market meal with Terrence that ends with elevator vomit and a fast staff response
• pushing the Grand Palace to the next day then bailing after round two of sickness
• building a smart indoor backup plan with Bangkok malls and air conditioning
• trying durian once and learning why hotels ban it
• a midnight bedding disaster, blood in vomit, and a rapid ER run at an international hospital
• what to ask for when you need receipts and paperwork for travel insurance
• why tipping housekeeping and staff matters when they rescue your trip
• outsourcing laundry in Thailand to save time and sanity
If you don't already follow us on Instagram, you're gonna be like, oh my God, what a trip.
Bangkok Finale Kickoff
SPEAKER_00Today's episode is the third of three episodes in our Thailand series where we visit Bangkok and stay at the luxurious incredible park high at Bangkok to listen in. Hi, I'm Rea.
SPEAKER_02And I'm Dwayne.
SPEAKER_00And we are your hosts of the Travel Party of Five podcast, where we share how we travel as a family of five around the world.
SPEAKER_02We will also share how we use points and miles to travel as affordably as possible and sometimes even completely free.
SPEAKER_00So if you're wanting to travel more with your family, but you're not sure how, we'd love for you to listen in.
SPEAKER_02So welcome to our podcast where we hope you learn a thing or two to get you closer to your next trip. Welcome back.
A Points And Miles Podcast Pick
Arrival Delays And Bangkok Taxis
SPEAKER_00Hello. Excited to share part three of three of our crazy Thailand trip. It was quite the whirlwind, and we've got quite quite a story in store for you, I think, regarding Bangkok. And if you don't already follow us on Instagram, you're gonna be like, oh my God, what a trip. If you do follow us on Instagram and you already know this, I think we've probably still got some behind-the-scenes stuff to share that is just, you know, too too long for Instagram. So um gosh, what a trip. Before we dive in though, I had a really good response from the last couple podcasts that I have shared about. Um and so I wanted to share one more that I really enjoy because I am always looking for new travel podcasts. And I feel like sometimes I feel like people know all the travel podcasts, but then every once in a while I find one and I'm like, oh my God, I had no idea this existed. And so maybe this podcast will be that for you. Um, and so the podcast I wanted to share with you today is called Wonderland on Points. And Wonderland on Points is actually a travel podcast that is now currently presented by Yahoo Travel, which is super exciting. Um, Mary Ellen and Joanna are the hosts, and they are two moms who basically show you how to use points and miles to take incredibly um amazing family vacations using points and miles. So, whereas I know the other ones I shared were not kind of point specific, but this one is. And I feel like they have, first of all, a lot of fantastic guests that come on and talk about a lot of different um destinations and kind of trip types that they've taken using points and miles. But it's also um like pretty budget focused, which I think is really refreshing because a lot of the podcasts that you listen to, it's like, oh, I took my business class flights and this and that. And sometimes that can feel like out of reach, even for points and miles people. And I feel like their it, their podcast is super like relatable and can really help you to travel more, spend less, make memories that feel like sometimes out of reach, but are actually attainable for the average everyday family, like on a budget, like full stop. So Wonderland on Points is the name of that podcast. And I am actually gonna go on there and talk about our Thailand trip in a month or two. So I'm looking forward to that too. So would recommend if you, if that's not already on your radar, would absolutely recommend Mary Ellen and Joe. Okay, so if you are catching up or haven't listened, part one of our trip we spent in Phuket, part two was in Koh Samui. Each of those has a dedicated episode before this one. So go back and listen to those. And then part three was Bangkok. This was our last stop before we flew home. We did four nights in each place. Um, and so we spent four nights in Bangkok and we flew from Kosamui. We flew on Bangkok Airways, paid cash for the flights, didn't book early enough, so cost a little bit more than I wanted it to. If you're going to do a similar trip, I would recommend booking maybe six months in advance to get the best rates.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00Our flight into Bangkok was fine. It was a little bit longer than the flight into Kosamui, and we were delayed both on the ground and then in the air a little bit. So we got in really like an hour late overall, which wasn't too bad. But it was kind of frustrating because there's a lot of flights from Kosamui to Bangkok on Bangkok Airways, and like our flight left at let's say 115, and there was also a flight that left at 125, and that that 125 flight left before our flight did. So that was annoying.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00And then when we were in the air, I was listening to a podcast, and so I wasn't hearing all the announcements. But at one point I just looked at Dwayne and it had been well over an hour. And the flight is like an hour flight. And I said, Why are we not landing? And he goes, Did you not hear the pilot? And I said, No. And he's like, Yeah, we're like, we're circling the airport because there's traffic. And I'm like, oh. So all in all, on the ground about an hour late, not too terrible. And this flight was much smoother than our flight into Kosamui.
SPEAKER_02Yes. I don't, we weren't an hour late. Anyway, we were late.
SPEAKER_00We were an hour late overall, including the delay from takeoff and the delay in the air. Yes, we were. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Yes. All right. So we land in Bangkok. We get our bags. Yep. Um, we then go downstairs to where you can grab a taxi. Yes. There are separate lines, one's, you know, I think one's for family van or bigger cars or whatever. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_02You go to a little kiosk where you choose what type of taxi you want, you pay, and then they print out this ticket with the number on it. So we have like, I don't know, 26. So then you go to spot 26 where a taxi is, and you give him the ticket and he takes you where you need to go.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, 26 is a parking spot, right? All the numbers are correspond to different parking spots, and we just walked up. We're and it was fairly easy.
SPEAKER_02No one in line. Yeah. We just walked up and you don't even speak to a person.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you use the little kiosk, get your ticket. It's almost like waiting in line at the deli to order like a pound of turkey, except you're getting in a taxi and then you go. So this our daughter did have to sit on our lap again because of our bags. There was enough seats, but not with our bags. So that was the only part that made me a little bit nervous because we drove on the highway. All the other times we've done this, it's been we've been going pretty slow on like regular roads, but this we were on the highway, and I didn't love that. So I actually told Dwayne, I was like, we're not gonna do that on the way back. But it worked out fine. They drove us to the park high. Talk about the traffic.
SPEAKER_02The highway traffic was fine. I mean, fine, totally fine. There was one spot where there was a little bit, but as soon as we got into the city, downtown, it was crazy. It was horrible, crazy.
SPEAKER_00Um like it's like I can see like that. We are almost right next to where we need to go, but we can't get there because of the traffic. So, I mean, we probably sat in that traffic for 20, 30 minutes.
SPEAKER_02If I had to describe Bangkok in three words, it would be traffic, shopping, food. Traffic like no other. Like never, never seen anything like it.
SPEAKER_00So let's we'll talk about the hotel first, which was incredible. Um, we'll talk about the things we did, which we had nothing booked for Bangkok, nothing at all. Um, other than this is where Dwayne's friend lived. So, in addition to seeing them in Phuket, we got to hang out with them in Bangkok, which was great.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. All right, so we get to the park hyatt, we check in. Um if you never stayed at a park hyat, I mean, they're fancy.
SPEAKER_00This is a category eight hotel, first of all.
SPEAKER_02So we get there from Koisamui, which is a beach town. We're in Crocs, t-shirts, shorts.
SPEAKER_00You know what? I'm sorry, it's a category six hotel. It's not a category eight. The level of service, it felt like an eight to me, but it was the category six. So sorry, carry on. We're in we're in beach clothes.
SPEAKER_02Yes, checking into this, you know, luxurious hotel. Um, I've never wanted to get out of a lobby so fast.
SPEAKER_00Duane felt very underdressed.
SPEAKER_02We all were underdressed, we were underdressed for sure, but I mean, you know, people in suits, nice dresses, just the place was fancy.
Booking Park Hyatt With Points
Connecting Rooms Surprise Setup
SPEAKER_00It was fancy. So let me tell you how I booked it. So I booked two rooms, as always. The first room I booked on points, 25,000 points a night for four nights, so 100,000 points for room one. And like I always do, I booked a king room and a twin bedroom. Uh the second room, we actually did not use points. We used four Amex hotel uh Amex Find Hotels and Resorts credits. So I booked four individual nights. I alternated one in my name, one in Dwayne's name, one in my name, one in Dwayne's name. And so when you book with Amex Find Hotels and Resorts, just so you know, it is a$300 credit on your Amex business platinum card or your personal platinum card, I think also. We don't have a personal platinum, but I'm pretty sure, but we we have several business platinums. And so I used three credits from 2025. So I booked this in 2025. And then I use one credit from 2026 because the credits you get on the business platinum, you get$300 for the first half of the year and$300 for the second half of the year per card. And we have three business platinums between the two of us. So that's how that worked out. So when you book with Fine Hotels and Resorts, you get breakfast for two included, and you get a$100 on property credit, typically. You have to book a prepaid rate in order to get this$300 credit. So the way you do it is you book it through MX Travel Find Hotels and Resorts program, and the$300 comes as a statement credit. And then when you get to the property, everything is paid. So, all in all, our total out-of-pocket cost for the park high at Bangkok for four nights was$605. And that doesn't include the$200 in property credits that we got. So, really, around$400 is what we paid out of pocket to stay four nights in this hotel after all those credits. So I felt pretty good about that, considering the first room was fully booked on points and the second room, we used all those credits. Now, I do want to like acknowledge that when you use these credits, you're basically just getting back some of the annual fee that you already paid. So I don't really like to think of it as like it's free, right? Because I I paid the annual fee to get these credits. But if you can get, if you can utilize more credits than the annual fee cost, then I think you're doing pretty good, in my opinion. So um, oh, and another thing to note is so technically we had four reservations, right? Um, two in my name, two in Dwayne's name. Technically, each night should come with a hundred dollar credit, but that's not how it works in reality. So I went in expecting one$100 credit for the two nights I booked in my name and one$100 credit for the two nights I booked in Dwayne's name. And that is what we ended up getting. I would not go in expecting$400 in credits. Um, the terms and conditions state that back-to-back bookings are not even allowed. So I think just go in if you're gonna do what I did and just expect$100 per person and be good with it. Um, I wouldn't push the envelope on it. I felt thrilled about that. And we did eat on property a couple of times, and so that credit was definitely used. Okay, that's how it's booked. Whoa, oh, sorry. One other thing to note is that I as always emailed the hotel prior asking for connecting rooms. And again, because I book a king bed and a twin bedroom, I am expecting that these will connect. But the hotel told me they do not connect. They said the only thing that they have connecting is a king bed and a king bed, and I was very confused by that. But the fine hotels and resorts bookings were non-refundable, so I couldn't change them. Like I couldn't cancel and rebook. Number one, I would have lost last year's credits if I did that. But also, um, I even tried chatting with EMX Travel to change the room type, and I couldn't do that either. Like they called the hotel. The hotel basically said, like, we don't have any of the other room type. So I when we arrived, I was pretty sure we were not gonna have connecting rooms, but we were pleasantly surprised. Okay, so go back to your check-in now.
SPEAKER_02No, I mean, I don't have anything else to say except for, you know, we checked in and I felt out of place.
SPEAKER_00We checked in and I felt out of place. Yes.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02So we check in. Um and I believe you brought up the connecting room again to the the guy helping us. He said they're not connecting, but it comes with a little foyer and a separate door to make those rooms connect.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So basically what they did was they gave us two rooms at the very end of the hallway.
SPEAKER_02Side by side.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02And like in the corner.
SPEAKER_00Yes. And it's basically set up so that you can like the hallway has two doors that close and lock and makes it its own room. So you open up the doors, and there's the little foyer that is actually the hallway, and then the two rooms. And it's hard to explain. It's kind of hard to explain.
SPEAKER_02So there's a door outside both of the rooms, which can lock and make a foyer for those two rooms. Yes. So that's what they gave us, and we were pleasantly surprised at that.
SPEAKER_00Yes. It was it was fantastic.
SPEAKER_02So, yes, so the whole time we were staying there, that little foyer door was our door.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02And the two doors to the hotel rooms remained open the whole time.
SPEAKER_00The only downside about this at all was that be because the foyer is technically the hallway, the lights don't turn off ever. You don't have any control over the lights.
SPEAKER_02That bothers me not.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but I mean you can see it when you're sleeping.
SPEAKER_02Like I couldn't because I was sleeping.
SPEAKER_00Listen, just you'll you're gonna need to sleep with an eye mask or something if that ever happens to you. I always travel with an eye mask, so that was fine. It didn't seem to bother the kids either, but like I need it to be dark when I go to sleep.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So see.
SPEAKER_02Again, if that's you, yes. So what you did was you just shut the door.
SPEAKER_00I shut the door, but not all the way. Yes. So that the kids could still get in. It wasn't locked. Um, I used the door stopper actually to make sure, um, but also so that we could hear them in case we needed to. Um, and so yeah, that ended up working out just fine. But it was plenty of space. We were on the 20th floor. We had an incredible view. Go on my Instagram, look at the Bangkok highlight, and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about with the foyer and the two rooms.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the rooms were great.
SPEAKER_00Fantastic. Like the bathrooms were so nice. Everything was fantastic. They had welcome gifts in both rooms for us. They were thoughtful. They had toothbrushes and stuff for the kids, like kids' toothbrushes. Yes, loofahs, bath salts, uh, a little drawer full of anything you could need, right? Like cotton pads or q-tips or toothbrushes.
SPEAKER_02Like both rooms had walk-in closets.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yes. Um, they brought uh the welcome gifts for the kids. They had longin, which are like a Thai fruit, and they also had these little like kind of Thai candies, which if I'm being honest, the kids didn't like and they weren't super good. But I really liked that they were thoughtful about what they put in the room, knowing that we were gonna have kids with us. So that was really great.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Again, can't praise this hotel enough.
SPEAKER_00It was fantastic.
The Not Casual Steakhouse Shock
SPEAKER_02Fantastic.
SPEAKER_00So the first night that we're there, we know we have these these$200 credits, and we're kind of tired. We, you know, it's a travel day. So and and also Bangkok is a very overwhelming city. It's loud, there's tons of traffic, like it's just a lot. So we were like, let's go have dinner um at the the restaurant at the hotel, which is a rooftop, like sorry, not roof, not rooftop, penthouse bar and grill kind of a thing. Dwayne asks the guy at the front desk as we're checking in, like, is there a dress code? He's like, Oh no, no, it's casual, it's like a bar, guys. It was not casual, it was a full-on steakhouse with the most expensive menu we saw in all of Thailand.
SPEAKER_02So expensive.
SPEAKER_00Like our oldest wanted to order a steak, and the steak was$65 US.
SPEAKER_02And that was the cheapest one.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I said absolutely not. No, you cannot. I ordered a soup and a salad, and it was still$40. And like, we're in Thailand where the food is fairly inexpensive. So that was uh it was sticker shock after having been there for over a week for sure.
SPEAKER_02Yes, I mean the place is pretty fancy. I mean, she ordered a Caesar salad and they made it table side, table side, a Caesar salad, and it wasn't even that good, quite honestly.
SPEAKER_00I mean, it was fancy, it was very fancy, yes.
SPEAKER_02I I was gonna order a glass of wine or like you know, a glass of whiskey. So I'm looking through the the drink menu, and I mean the cheapest glass of wine was like uh almost$40. It was like$35 for the cheapest one.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So we didn't get we didn't get any options.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, and you know, we're we're staying at this bougie hotel, but you know, we're sometimes we're bougie, most of the time we're not.
SPEAKER_00I will say that I did not feel as uncomfortable as Dwayne felt in the lobby. I felt like meh, I'm fine, it's fine.
SPEAKER_02I was uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00I know, I know, I know.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, so I ended up just getting a beer, which was like, I don't know, uh I forget, but it was the cheapest thing on the menu.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so the food was fine. It was definitely like American food, and again, like eating like American food in other countries, it's just not quite the same. It's not, you know, and so and plus uh Dwayne's friend not enough chemicals and stuff.
SPEAKER_02Oh god, please.
SPEAKER_00Dwayne's friend told us that regarding beef in Thailand, because pork is king, okay. Regarding beef, like Thai beef itself is like pretty chewy and like definitely nothing like what we're used to in the US. So most of their beef comes from Australia. And so I think that is fine. Like the beef that we did have that was from Australia was fine, but I think Thai beef, you should lower your expectations if you're American, based on what he said. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So anyway, the place was pretty fancy. We would never go back there again.
SPEAKER_00No. As we were eating, we're like, we are never coming back here. They did have some really nice touches, like they brought out these sourdough little bread, uh, mini like bread loaves, which was nice. And they also brought out um like a I'm gonna call it an amoose boosh, right? It was like just a tiny little one-bite thing. It was a potato with some stuff on it. That was pretty good, which was good. So the food was not bad by any means, it just was very expensive. So um, the rest of our time in Bangkok, we didn't have a ton, you know what? I'm sorry, let's back up. Let's finish talking about the park high. Talk about the breakfast.
Breakfast Wins And Infinity Pool
SPEAKER_02Oh, the breakfast was again another great buffet. We stayed at three places and they all had exceptional breakfast buffets.
SPEAKER_00Yes, this buffet is they both have a buffet and then a menu where it's like you can order whatever you want. They literally told us when we sat down it's all included. And first of all, they had true American bacon, which is the first time I've ever seen American bacon outside of America. Even in Europe, it's not the same. This was true American bacon. And the plates that you can order are like small plates off the menu. So you can order eggs or omelets or whatever.
SPEAKER_02You can order coffees, pancakes, waffles.
SPEAKER_00Yes, but just it's not gonna, it's not like a huge meal, right? It's not like a giant stack of pancakes. It's like a few mini pancakes. Or they had mango sticky rice French toast, which was delicious. I ordered it two days in a row.
unknownBut it's
SPEAKER_02They had a mango sticky rice station at this buffet.
SPEAKER_00They did, and I also frequented frequented that. Um, so yes, the mango sticky rice was one of my favorite things to eat. The other standout at this property, other than the service, was the pool. The pool is an infinity pool. I was having a lot of anxiety because if you look at the pool in the pictures, it literally looks like if you're swimming in it, you could just swim right over the edge of the building. Um, fortunately, in reality, that is not the case. There is a like a I don't know, a ledge or whatever so that your kids can't swim over. So if you're a crazy anxious parent like me, rest assured, your kids can swim here and it's fine.
SPEAKER_02Very nice pool. Not as nice as the Koisamoe pool, but I mean it's not a family pool.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you're in the middle of the city.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's definitely like it's just a pool where you go to, you know, swim for a little bit and relax on some lounge chairs and order some drinks.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yes. While we were there, there was a like a single guy there who was definitely Instagramming himself and like I could tell he was trying to like not get our kids in the shot, right? Because that was not the vibe he was going for. But he was like making kissy faces to the camera and like gesturing and like it was pretty funny for me to watch.
SPEAKER_02But the view from the view of the city from the pool was great.
Market Lunch Turns Into Cleanup
SPEAKER_00Very nice, yeah. Really good. Um, they have a menu, you can order food from the pool. So we did that a couple of times. Um the only other thing that we really did in Bangkok was we went to Dwayne's friends um food uh food stall, what would you call it? Like restaurant, basically, food booth. At a market, and that was delicious. He cooked us up a feast.
SPEAKER_02Yes, he did. He did.
SPEAKER_00He made us um gosh, smoked uh, was it ribs?
SPEAKER_02Short ribs.
SPEAKER_00Smoked short ribs, delicious.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00He he made us a steak, like a true yes, ribeye ribeye steak. Really good, delicious. Um, he made us like some poke. He made us oh some uh some french fries and some beef fat. Yeah, beef fat french fries, which were delicious, some fried rice. Yeah, everything oh uh Hokkaido based scallops and like a pasta.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So that was all very good and delicious. Um unfortunately, while we were there, our daughter started feeling not good.
SPEAKER_02So, I mean, while we're there, I bought coconuts, fresh coconuts, um, I bought coconut smoothies, and we all had some.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02She had a lot.
SPEAKER_00She had a lot. She was eating a lot of the coconut meat and a lot of the um coconut water. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So yes, she didn't, she started to not feel well. So we tried to take her to the bathroom that was at this food market. It was not a very clean bathroom. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um and it's like all of these markets are open air. Yeah. And it's very hot.
SPEAKER_02Very, very hot. And we very humid.
SPEAKER_00We purposely went after their lunch rush. Um, and so it was probably like around two o'clock.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02So the market was basically closing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Except for his little booth and another booth, the coconut booth.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So yes, she didn't, she started to not feel well. We took her to the bathroom. She did not use it because, again, it was not the best bathroom.
SPEAKER_00So we're like, we gotta go. So we make our way back to the hotel. We are kind of far away because of traffic. We're not distance far, but the tack, we knew the taxi was gonna take probably 45 minutes to an hour with traffic. So we took the train and I said to Dwayne, um, his he's like, you know, do you want to take the train? It's like a 10-minute walk to get to the station, and it's really hot. And I'm like, I don't, but I also don't want her to get sick in someone's car. Like I said, I would rather she throw up on the train than in someone's car if that's what's gonna happen. So we took the train, we bought tickets, um, we just kind of bought one-way tickets. We did end up taking the train a few times during our time in Bangkok. That's how we did it every time was we just bought a one-way ticket there and a one-way ticket back. So we we get back to the park hyatt. Okay, we take the train, it's fine. We make it to the hotel, okay? Thank God. We get in the elevator, and then I'll pass it over to you.
SPEAKER_02So, yes, we are in the elevator at the park hyat. I am carrying my daughter, which I carried her damn near the whole way there. She whispers in my ear.
SPEAKER_00It is sorry, it is us on this elevator and one man.
SPEAKER_02I was getting to that.
SPEAKER_00Oh, okay. Sorry, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02So, yes, we are in the elevator, and my daughter whispers in my ear, Daddy, I think I'm gonna throw up. And I'm like, okay, we're almost to the room. And boom. Two seconds later, she's throwing up on me, throwing up all over the elevator. Throw up is going down my back, down my front, in my shirt, and in my Crocs. And at one point, she stops, and you can just hear throw up dripping on the floor. Mind you, there is a gentleman that is with us in this elevator who is frantic, frantically trying to get out on the next floor.
SPEAKER_00Before she even threw up, he his key card wasn't working and he wanted to go to like floor 14. And his key card wouldn't work. You have to scan your card and then push the button, and it wasn't working. So I was also trying to help him at this point. Just get off on any floor.
SPEAKER_02So, yes, we are in the elevator, he gets off, we get off on our floor. I tell Rhea to call down to the front desk because there is a phone at every floor by the elevator, and let them know that our daughter got sick in the elevator. So she calls down, talks to, I don't know, the front desk, and she's like, Hey, you know, I'm sorry, I just want to let you know my daughter got sick in the elevator. And the guy's like, Okay, you're on floor 20, you know, because there's cameras everywhere, so I'm assuming he he knew we were on floor 20.
SPEAKER_00Well, I think he knew what phone I was calling.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. Or yeah, yes, that too. And he's like, you know, we'll send someone right away to clean it up. We then head to the room. Ari, I mean, our daughter and I get in the shower. We just jump right in the shower, clothes and everything. We're in there for a good half an hour. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Just washing off.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I'm washing off the clothes, throw up just everywhere. Meanwhile, Rea gets a phone call from the front desk asking or saying, hey, yeah, to the room. Hey, you know, sorry to hear about your daughter. Would you like us to call a doctor? Or do you want us to provide you with transportation to a hospital? And at that point, she's like, No, you know, we're good. I'm in the shower, so I don't know this is going on. So, yes, she gets sick. We think it's from heat exhaustion because I mean it was hot.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02She threw up a bunch of coconut.
SPEAKER_00Yes. So at this point, they they get out of the shower, and I I know this one thing about my kids, which is if, and I think this is probably all kids, but or all people, if you're gonna get sick again, it's gonna happen in about 20 minutes, okay, from the first time. And that is exactly what happens. Okay, exactly, for the next three hours probably. So Dwayne gets cleaned up and she gets cleaned up and he rent he cleans out all the clothes, and he takes the boys to the pool. And I stay in the room with her, and literally like clockwork every 20 minutes. And she's in her room watching her show, and I'm in the other room, right? All the doors are open, and I can hear, and she just every time, mom, and I'm like, I'm coming. And then I run over there and help her. And you know, we we repeat this for a few hours. And then she goes to sleep at night and sleeps through the night, and she seems fine the next day. Like, not a hundred percent, but like she's not throwing up anymore.
SPEAKER_02Yes, so the next morning we go to breakfast, we're like, let's, you know, hopefully she can hold some food down. So we go to breakfast, the hostess seats us. The hostess then looks at our daughter and says, I hope you're feeling better.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02And she leaves. And Ray and I look at each other like, wow, that's you know, it's good service. Great service. Two minutes later, a lady a lady from the front desk comes down with a teddy bear with the park hyat logo on this teddy bear, hands it to my daughter and says, I hope this teddy bear makes you feel better. Yes, it can become your best friend or something. She said, and at that point, I'm like, holy shit, this is the service and reputation that a park hyatt has. Yes. And they came through huge, huge.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. We were so impressed. So impressed.
SPEAKER_02It's as if, I mean, they, you know, they send out a night report and everyone has to read it before their shift, or they have a pre-shift meeting and you know, they come together and say, Hey, the the little girl in 2004 is not feeling well, you know, make sure, you know, you say something or whatever it is. And I mean, that goes a long, long way.
SPEAKER_00Yes. It was, yes.
SPEAKER_02I mean, that that itself, you know, puts the this park hyat on top of my list.
Park Hyatt Care And A Recovery Day
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was a fantastic experience. Um she was able to keep some food down. And so we had breakfast and she was okay, but then she's like, Oh, my stomach still kind of hurts. I could tell she wasn't a hundred percent. And Dwayne and the boys had plans to well, we all had plans to go out and about. Um, but obviously I'm like, I don't like I don't think she I I gave her the choice. Do you want to go or do you want to stay here and just watch a show? And she chose, I want to stay here. So I said, okay, like I'll you know, I'll stay here. It's fine. So Dwayne and the boys went with Dwayne's friend Terrence and his wife, and they wrote they had a great time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, mine you write it in mind because she was burnt.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm I'm still so sunburned at this point that I'm like, I actually am not that upset to sit in air conditioning because of that. Um, and again, like I'm in the park Hyatt, Bangkok, like with this most incredible view. I was this is I I posted this on my Instagram and I was telling Dwayne too, I just had this realization that like this is why the hotel matters when you travel with kids, is because if I am on vacation and I am stuck in like a dumpy Motel 6 hotel room because my kid is sick, I'm pretty frustrated. But when I'm on vacation and I'm stuck in the park Hyatt, looking out from the 20th floor at this incredible view with a room service at my beck and call if I want it to be, like that's better, like a lot better, you know?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So me and the boys met up with my friend. Shout out to Terrence and not his wife. And we went and we went to a little game room, we rode um go-karts. Yeah, it was it was quite the day. Again, like I said, three words about Bangkok traffic, shopping, food. Oh we while we were there, we probably went to like seven different malls, all within like a two-mile radius of each other.
SPEAKER_00The park haya is literally above a mall.
SPEAKER_02It's like attached to a mall. Yes, a very bougie mall.
SPEAKER_00Yes, the bougiest mall in Bangkok.
SPEAKER_02According to my friend. And so But shout out to that mall that had the Stussy store, which I'm a huge fan of.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02Reach out to Stussy if you want to sponsor us.
SPEAKER_00We go to the Stussy store in every city that we go to, and most often more often than not, they are sold out of the shirts because they go quick.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But you were able to get a few this time. Yes. So that was exciting. Yes. So the day goes by. I hang out in the room. I'm, you know, looking up some flights for another trip we have planned. I'm I'm I'm I'm fine. I'm watching some TV. I'm having a relaxing day. Um, we order room service. I order her noodles with butter, which she does not eat any of. But I ordered myself some more cow soy and some green mango salad, and it was also delicious. Very good. That was pretty much the day. I stay in the room with her. Wayne goes to the mall, with they ride girl karts, they play games. At night. Sorry, what are we gonna say?
SPEAKER_02No, no, go ahead.
SPEAKER_00At night, she's feeling better. So we decided to venture just out for dinner in the mall, which is in the like basically you don't even need to leave the building. From the park hyyote, you take the elevator down to the sixth floor, and then you were on the mall. You're in the mall. And this mall is like six stories.
SPEAKER_02It's huge. Uh every mall we went to was huge.
SPEAKER_00So we had dinner. I don't even remember. Where did we eat?
SPEAKER_02I don't even remember either, but yes, we had dinner. Everything's going pretty good. Yeah. She's still not 100%, but no vomiting. So Raya plans the next day. But we had planned to go to the Grand Palace and you know, a few other things, like a indoor park for the kids so that they can, you know, enjoy themselves.
SPEAKER_00That had originally been our plan for this day, but because she wasn't feeling well, we thought, well, we'll push it to the next day.
Grand Palace Plan Falls Apart
SPEAKER_02So we get a taxi or a grab or two.
SPEAKER_00Now it's Friday. The next day. So our this is our last full day.
SPEAKER_02We are going to the Grand Palace, which was supposed to be spectacular.
SPEAKER_00It looked great.
SPEAKER_02We get the Uber, he goes to the wrong spot.
SPEAKER_00To pick us up.
SPEAKER_02To pick us up. So then we have to wait for him. He picks us up. We get in the car, Raya sits at the front because our our daughter is, you know, on our lap, or my lap. And the the guy is like translating on his phone things to Raya. And one of the things he asks is, Hey, can you are you or can you pay a hundred more bot because I went to the wrong location?
SPEAKER_00And I had to pay a parking fine or something.
SPEAKER_02Where he's like, no.
SPEAKER_00And I said, no. No. We put it in the right location.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like it's not, we're not gonna pay for your F up.
SPEAKER_00But we still have like 25 minutes in the car with this guy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And he's like, he asked you something else too. And he kept telling me.
SPEAKER_00So to go to the Grand Palace, you have to have your shoulders on the face covered.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00And I'm wearing a tank top and shorts because it's hot. But I know that I have to be covered, and I'm going to buy something cheap when we get there just to cover.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, he brings that up like twice.
SPEAKER_00He keeps telling me that. And I'm like, I know, like, I understand.
SPEAKER_02So we get to the Grand Palace, which you know, from the outside, it's you know grand and it looks amazing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02As soon as we get we pull up to be dropped off, our daughter looks at me and says, I'm not feeling well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. She says, My hurts.
SPEAKER_02Shit. Here we go again.
SPEAKER_00And I'm like, what?
SPEAKER_02So we get out of this cab. Mind you, we're already getting bombarded by people that are trying to sell Rhea clothes to cut to cover up.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, so yes, our daughter says she's not feeling well. Luckily, we have puke bags that we always take from there, airplanes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Not even two minutes after getting out of this cab. She's throwing up.
SPEAKER_00Throwing up again.
SPEAKER_02Again. And my friends are meeting us there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So I They're on the way. Yep. I call them and I'm like, hey, unfortunately, we're gonna have to go back to the hotel. Our daughter's getting sick again. Or she's sick. So he he drove his own car, which is a truck there. So he just comes where we are, swoops us up, we get in this car. Me and my oldest son have to sit in the back of his truck while everyone gets to sit in the AC.
SPEAKER_00First of all, our oldest wanted to sit in the back of the truck. He was very excited about that in the beginning. And then when he realized how hot it was and how long it was gonna be, he had regrets.
SPEAKER_02Mind you, the the Grand Palace was five miles, I think, from the park hyatt.
SPEAKER_00Without traffic, I think it would have been about 10-15 minutes.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I mean, I I looked at it, I think it was five miles away from the but with traffic, it was it took us almost an hour to get there.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02That's how bad traffic is in Bangkok. Like if you don't have a moped, you're not going anywhere anytime like fast.
Mall Day Backup Plan And Durian
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So me and my our younger two are in the second row of their truck with them, and we're making our way back. And Dwayne and our oldest are in the back of the truck, just lounging in the heat with a bag of vomit next to him as a side note because we couldn't find a trash can. And um she doesn't get sick again. She's fine. She appears to be completely fine. And so, first of all, my dreams of seeing the Grand Palace gone, dashed, disappeared. Maybe next time. We didn't see it other than from the road. So I've heard it, I've heard it's great. So at this point, now we go back to our hotel. We're trying to come up with a plan B, and we still think this has to be something to do with the heat, right? Because she was fine all day in the air-conditioned hotel room, and she was fine until we got out of the air-conditioned car. So we think that this is some sort of heat exhaustion or like sun poisoning from the sunburn that we all got. And so we we devised a plan that involved staying inside for the rest of the day. Fortunately, like Dwayne said, Bangkok is full of malls. So we literally just went to like several different malls and kind of we went to a Don Quixote. Um, we had lunch at a katsu restaurant, which was one of our best meals of the trip as a side note. Very good. Yeah. And we just we got some souvenirs and we just kind of, I don't know, paled around the malls.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I mean, it was in the the AC, so yes. That's why we did it.
SPEAKER_00And it was our last full day. So we just were kind of hanging out with, you know, Dwayne's friend and his wife, and just kind of enjoying time with them and you know, whatever. We went back to that go-kart place. Our daughter decided she didn't want to do the go-karts, so it was a very chill day.
SPEAKER_02Um so then we went back to the hotel to go to the pool because the kids wanted to do the pool.
SPEAKER_00We went to the room, yep.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, we all hung out at the pool for our last night. It's like a tradition now. Um, we get we didn't get dinner there, did we?
SPEAKER_00No, that's the we had dinner at the Italian.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, yeah, in the mall.
SPEAKER_00We were gonna go to this um Michelin star uh ramen spa, but it was the way was too long. Yeah, so we ended up just getting some Italian food, which was mediocre, but you know, it's not Italy. So it was fine. And uh, oh, we bought some durian from the store.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Uh we were also gonna go to a rooftop bar or rooftop something that my buddy was like, Oh, you gotta see it's on like the 70th floor. But there was an event there and it was like a ridiculous cover to get in.
SPEAKER_00I think it would have been$45 a person.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, to get it.
SPEAKER_00To get in. Ridiculous. So we said no, thank you.
SPEAKER_02Nope.
SPEAKER_00So we skipped that. Um, but we the durian was on the list to try. So durian is like this really smelly fruit that supposedly smells terrible but tastes really good. And the taste is almost like a custard flavor and texture. And so we wanted to try it. Um, and we did try it and we didn't like it.
SPEAKER_02So the fruit smells so bad that hotels do not allow them in the hotels.
SPEAKER_00Yes, it's like a big fine if you bring it into the hotel.
SPEAKER_02That's how that's so we opened it up at the mall, the food court.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02And we tried it. And we'll never try it again. Was definitely not custard.
SPEAKER_00The texture was custard, but it like I mean, it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't good. Agree. Yeah, I agree.
SPEAKER_02It just because we and we didn't have to spit it out or anything. You know, I mean we ate it and it was like, uh no.
SPEAKER_00But like it smelled kind of like it tasted, or no, I'm sorry, it tasted kind of like it smelled, and it doesn't smell good. So not a fan, but you know, some people really enjoy it.
SPEAKER_02So again, this is our last day. We hung out with my buddy all day. So we're saying our bye goodbyes.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02Um so we do.
SPEAKER_00We say goodbye, we go to our room.
Midnight Vomit And ER Run
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we take a few pictures, we go to our room. Now it's around 9 30 ish.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and our flight leaves at one o'clock the next day, 1 p.m. So we have to For the airport because of traffic around 10.
SPEAKER_0210 a.m. So that night everyone's getting ready for bed, kids are getting showered and ready. Then our oldest says he's not feeling well. And we're like, oh shit, here we go.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he's like, I feel like maybe I'm gonna throw up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And I'm like, so he, you know, spends some time in the bathroom, doesn't throw up.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Then around probably, I don't know, 11, he finally throws up. Yeah. And we're like, here we go. So he throws up a couple times. The other two are sleeping.
SPEAKER_00He didn't eat much that day either. So he didn't have a lot to throw up. I'm sorry if this is TMI, but if your parents, like, whatever.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you're used to it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So, yes, like I said, the other two are sleeping. He tries to get in bed and go to sleep.
SPEAKER_00Right before this, I took we both Duane and I both took a melatonin as a side note.
SPEAKER_02Yes, so we can get to bed because we we thought he was good because he he stopped throwing up, he got in bed and he was asleep.
SPEAKER_00Then we all of a sudden Dwayne says, I can hear panic. Hey Raya, I need you to come help me.
unknownYes.
SPEAKER_00And I'm like, okay, what's going on? And he's like, he threw up all over the bed.
SPEAKER_02And like my other son was like almost in it.
SPEAKER_00They were sharing, they were sharing the bed and our daughter was in like the the the roll away. So I'm just like, oh my god. And now it's it's like it's midnight.
SPEAKER_02It's like midnight.
SPEAKER_00So we go in, we move, I we move the one kid, we get him up. Dwayne calls housekeeping. Like they have to come and change the sheets.
SPEAKER_02Again, I call housekeeping. Well, I call down to guest services. I'm like, I'm so sorry, ma'am. You know, my my kid just got sick in the bed. It's all over the sheets. She says, Do not worry, we'll send someone right away. Would you like me to call the doctor? And I'm like, No, I think we're good. So not even five minutes later, knock on the door, it's housekeeping. They come in, they change the sheets. Guy doesn't even have gloves on. You know, they'll just throw up on the sheets. Not a lot, but it's throw up. So he does that, he changes the sheets. My son's still in the bathroom getting sick. At this point, he throws up, and I notice there's like a little blood. And there's just a little bit. So I'm like, you know what? Maybe we're good. Let me just hold off. Again, it's midnight. So around 12:30-ish, he throws up again, and there's a little bit more blood. And I tell you, I'm like, go look.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So at this point, we're like, we need to go to the hospital.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So then I call back down to guest services. The lady, I go, I'm sorry, ma'am. You know what? We do need a doctor. She's like, give me a second, let me transfer you to the alcohol doctor. I tell the alcohol doctor what's going on.
SPEAKER_00Well, first of all, you're you're on the phone and it's just silent, right?
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, yeah. And then I'm like, hello. The doctor's like, oh, hello.
SPEAKER_00Within like 20 seconds, they were like, Oh, yeah, hold on, let us connect you to the doctor. And then the doctor was there, like on the line.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Which is wild to me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So then I explained to the doctor, and the doctor's like, unfortunately, you're gonna have to take him in to the hospital. Because I'm like, oh, there's like a little bit of blood. So the doctor on the phone's like, you know what? You get your son ready and do what it is you need to do. I'll call back to the front desk and have them bring up a wheelchair. I'm like, okay. Again, not even five minutes later, knock on the door. The night manager and a bellman are there with the wheel cart or wheelchair. They wheel my son downstairs to the lobby where there is already a cab waiting for us. Puts us in the cab. The cab driver already knows to go to the hospital. So we go to the international hospital. Now it's like 1 a.m. So we're at the hospital at 1 a.m. Me and my son. We check in.
SPEAKER_00Normally, normally this would be me doing this. But I said to Duane, I said, like, our son is so he's so big now that like I'm like, I can't like lift him, I can't do anything, right? Because like he's bigger than me at this point. So I was like, I feel like you need to be the one to take him. Plus, it's the middle of the night. And like Duane was like, Yeah, I'm gonna I'll take him, no problem.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so I took him. We took a cab to the hospital. We get to the international hospital, me and my son get out. My son instantly throws up in the bag. Mind you, the cab is still there waiting. I'm not even thinking anything of it. So me and my son start to walk to the ER, and the cab driver's like, hey, you pay me money, you pay me now. And I'm like, oh shit, I'm sorry. Like, oh, here, how much do I owe you? 100 baht. Really cheap. Like three dollars. Three dollars. I'm like, here. But the fact that he was like, hey, you pay me money, you pay me now. I was like, oh shit, sorry, dude. Anyway, we go in. As soon as we walk in, they check us in, get our passports, write down some information. They take my insurance card. Two minutes later, we get walked back, they're taking his vitals, they get all that. Not even two minutes later, we're already in a hospital bed, waiting for the doctor. Um, at this point, I think I waited maybe 10 minutes for the doctor to come in. He, you know, asked me what's going on. I tell him it was really hard to understand the doctor. I kept repeating what I thought he was saying to help me better understand him. Long story short, they injected him with some fluids, some anti an anti-emetic, which is to keep you from vomiting.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02And they were like, hey, in 30 minutes, if he has not thrown up, you're free to go. We'll discharge it, blah, blah, blah. Again, so we leave the hotel at like one.
SPEAKER_00It was it was 12 57 or something like that. Like 1 a.m. Because I have the text message um like timestamps because I'm now wide awake and definitely not sleeping. Um, and just like texting Dwayne for updates.
SPEAKER_02And yeah, I mean, we were back at the hotel by 3 a.m.
SPEAKER_00Yes. This was a maximum of two hours, including drive time, which in the United States, this is easily a six-hour or more affair at this point to go to the ER.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so they gave us some meds for the plane. Um, it was a total of like what, 500 bucks, I think we paid.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was like it was 400 and something, like 480, something like that. Um, so about half was for the visit and about half was for the meds. They gave us a significant amount of medication. Like they gave him an antibiotic, they gave him some omeprazole, which is for um acid reflux. I think that's because basically the doctor thought he had like some kind of an ulcer, and that's what was causing the blood. And that's why the omeprazole um was given. They gave him some uh zofran, which is you know, to prevent nausea and vomiting, and also electrolyte packets and an antidiar medication, like that was a powder for kids.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, so we head back to the hotel and get ready for our flight. Our flight.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so everyone got a couple of hours of sleep. The medication helped him tremendously. Um, he slept through breakfast, but the little two and I ended up going down for one more breakfast. Dwayne got everything packed up while we did that. Um, no one slept very well except for our little two, obviously, because it was a lot going on. But um I told Dwayne, just tell the hospital that you need receipts to submit for um.
SPEAKER_02They already knew.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they knew exactly what he needed.
SPEAKER_02So when I checked out, I was like, um in this bag is there. And the guy stopped me, he was like, Everything you need for insurance is in there.
SPEAKER_00And I was I believe that it is, yes. I'll I'll do an update. Um, so we have an annual uh travel insurance claim from Alliance, and um I will update back when we have a like a result back from that claim. Uh but from what I could tell from when I had to submit for our Costa Rica incident, it looks like we have everything that we need. So also it's worth noting this is the same kid who had to go to the hospital in Costa Rica, and so he was really scared.
SPEAKER_02He was super scared when we were talking about the blood in his his throw-up.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Felt so bad for the kid. I mean, yeah, he just instantly started crying.
SPEAKER_00And yeah, so it was it was a scary experience, and so like I think the best thing I have to to share about that is like I use this to talk up, like, look at the things that you have done and look at the things that you have overcome in your life. And like, I know that you were really scared, but it worked out to be fine. And um, that's kind of like the message that we we try to give them. Um it is a bummer that it has been him two times, though. Like that that kind of stinks. Um, like he you can't talk about Costa Rica with him because he's like, I hate Costa Rica, even though it's has nothing to do with Costa Rica and everything to do with the fact that he had to go to the hospital. So um, and when he came back, first of all, this is my like sour patch kid who's like, you know, kind of surly on the outside, but like sweet on the inside. And I said, Hey, bud, like I told you everything would be fine, right? And he's like, Yeah. And I was like, Are you like, are you glad to be back? Or are you how are you feeling? And he was like, I'm just glad to be back here and safe with you guys. And he's 12. So I feel like that is how you know he definitely didn't feel good and was definitely really scared, you know. I thought that was so sweet. So um cannot say enough good things about the Park Haya and the level of service that we received from them. Like, I just it was such a relief to know that in this big city where we really don't know anyone other than, you know, your friend, it still felt like we were taken care of. And as a mom, like I really value that a lot.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And after my daughter threw up an elevator, I went back downstairs to the front desk and I asked them to call the person who threw up the or cleaned up the throw-up so that I can tip them. And they were so appreciative of that. Um, also the housekeeper that cleaned up the throw-up I tipped in the room, I tipped, and they were so appreciative of that. Also, the bellman that wheeled my son up and down to and from the room also tipped well. And I mean, they're just so appreciative of all that and us of them, you know what I mean? Oh my god, yes.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Like, so I think like if if it happens and your kid gets sick in a in a hotel room, like yes, it's unfortunate, and yes, you know, you have to call the hotel and they have to help you clean it up, but just tip them, right?
SPEAKER_02And I think like it goes a long way, it goes a long way, especially in like Thailand or a a place that's less fortunate than here in the US.
Laundry Services That Save Trips
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So yeah, and I actually didn't know that Duane went down and tipped them until later. And I was really glad to hear that. Also, it's like, would wouldn't you pay someone to clean up your kids throughout? Because I would. Even at my house, I would pay for that. So yeah, that was quite the experience. But honestly, having to having to go to the ER and get the medication is what made us be able to get the flight home. So I think like, as much as it was unfortunate that that happened, I don't know that he would have been able to make the flight without the medication that he got, you know? Yeah. It really helped a lot. The other thing we didn't talk about is the laundry. We forgot to talk about this in Kosamui.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um so we did this in Kosamui and we did this again in Bangkok. And what made me think of it was the reason we did it in Bangkok was because we had to clean up clothes that had throw up on it. So Duane found laundry service that you where you send it out and they do it and they bring it back.
SPEAKER_02Well, yeah. I mean, I was going to do laundry, but then someone reached out to you on Instagram and said, Yeah, hey, tell Duane he can sit this one out. Yeah. And I thought, F yeah. It's about time.
SPEAKER_00Thank you to that person.
SPEAKER_02So, yes, we used a laundry service in Koisamui. We sent, I think it was like 15 kilograms of clothes, which is how they determined the price. And it was like 40 bucks. They picked it up from the hotel. Same day. Same day service. Yeah. Picked it up and then dropped it off. Yeah. Folded and everything. Yep. So we also use a service in Bangkok. How did you find them? You just Googled? Just Googled. Um, so yes, but Bangkok was a little bit more expensive, and I didn't do the same day service. I did the next day service, which was about the same amount, same cost as Koi Samui.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And a little bit less clothes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So yes. Um, we did do laundry twice on this trip, but we didn't do it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So we'll definitely recommend that. Do you remember the name of the service?
SPEAKER_02It was Wash and Dry in Samui. And then I don't remember. And you just Googled like just go go laundry service and the one that had the most and best reviews. I picked and would totally use that service again.
SPEAKER_00And they like updated you on WhatsApp?
SPEAKER_02Yep. Oh, the um service in Bangkok was called Wash Drop.
SPEAKER_00Nice.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00They did a great job.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Did a great job. And you can just pay with a credit card where they drop it off the front desk. I met the girl in Koisamui at the front desk and I paid her cash. Um, but there are other different ways to do it. But super simple, super convenient, highly recommend.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So I mean, we calculated, so all in all, the cost for laundry was around$80. But we calculated that if we would have had to pay for transportation to and from the laundromat both times, plus the cost to do the laundry and the soap and whatever, I don't know what that would have been, but it would have been something. You know, I think probably that would have cost$40 alone.
SPEAKER_02And I mean, it would have been a at least four, five-hour.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it plus the time. Yeah. So would absolutely recommend doing that if you are in a situation like us where you need to have some laundry done. It was a really good experience for us both times. Um and then our flight back was we flew from Bangkok to Hong Kong. We had a three-hour layover. It's a three-hour flight, and we had a three-hour layover, and then we flew from Hong Kong back to San Francisco. Um that was it says it's a 14-hour flight, but it really was around 12. Technically, that's an overnight flight based on the Thailand and Hong Kong time zones. Um, we had to split up on this flight. So we had uh my daughter and I were in two seats, and then Dwayne and the boys were in three seats about five rows back. And our daughter slept pretty much the whole flight, which was mostly great, except she kept kicking the guy who was in the window seat, and that was not ideal. So I did not sleep at all because I kept trying to keep her from kicking him, and I wasn't very comfortable. So yes, we flew on Cathay Pacific. It was fine.
SPEAKER_02Back through San Francisco, so I was able to get my bag, my luggage that someone took.
SPEAKER_00Yes. So it all came full circle. We landed in San Francisco. We had a a little under two hours in total. Um, we were able to go through immigration, customs, get Dwayne's bag back, and make it to our last flight home to Phoenix. It was a very long day. Um, we absolutely used the medication that we got from the hospital. But fortunately, everybody made it. Nobody threw up, and it it was a long day, but we made it home. And what a trip.
What This Trip Taught Us
SPEAKER_02Yes, what a trip. Here we are, seven days later, still suffering from still suffering from jet lag, but all overall doing okay.
SPEAKER_00Um, I think like I I was trying to think about this, and I think this trip was so many things went wrong. So many things were not ideal. But when I look back at the photos, I'm like, oh wow, we really did have a good time. So I think number one, it's easy to let like the negative things kind of overshadow all the positive things. And I really think it takes a conscious effort to be like, no, like we actually did have a lot of fun and had these great experiences and tried these great foods and all of that. But I think it just kind of takes an effort sometimes to focus on the positive more than the negative. The other thing I was thinking is wow, this trip really built our travel skills a little bit more because there were so many things that we had to navigate. And I think every time you do it, you know, you have to go to the hospital in a foreign country or the sunburn or the bag or whatever, whatever it might have been. It's like you build your travel skills a little bit more so that makes you more confident to handle whatever's gonna come next on the next trip. You know, so that's kind of how I think about it. Is that too philosophical? I mean, no, but I I know that you haven't thought about that not one time.
SPEAKER_02Not one time.
SPEAKER_00No. When you think about the trip, what do you think?
SPEAKER_02No, I mean, I I agree with you. It just makes us a better traveling family. Yes. We learn to roll with the punches, and I think we do a great job.
SPEAKER_00We do, yes. And I think we make a good team, and it's important. Like, like I I didn't I really didn't mind staying back in the hotel that day, you know, like I truly didn't. And it's like I want you to have that time with your friend, you know. And I know that if the situation were reversed, though, I know that you would have been fine staying back in the hotel too.
SPEAKER_02I would have no problem.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So I think like we make a pretty good team, and that's part of what makes it work too.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00So, all in all, I hope that this trip recap has been interesting and fun. I kept joking to Dwayne every time something would go wrong on the trip. I was like, this is all the podcast content that nobody wants. I definitely don't want this content, but yeah, here we are. Hopefully, it's been entertaining at the very least. Yes. And at the most, hopefully you know what to do next time if you're in a similar situation.
SPEAKER_02Yes. So thank you for enjoying this ride. Three-day, well, three series.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, three episode series. And um, I don't exactly know what the next episode will be about yet, but we do have some more fun trips planned for this year. So we have Scotland, London, Switzerland, and Italy coming up. And I'm trying to squeeze in a trip to the seabird. So I love to go there every year before the Hyatt changes. So um, if you listen this far, we appreciate it. Yes, we'll catch you on the next episode.
SPEAKER_02Yes, have a good one.
SPEAKER_00Bye.