Relaxin at The Surin

Bought to you by The Surin Phuket

Mr Woog is down at the pool with the kids, so I thought I would pour myself a gin & tonic and let you know what we have been up to this week.

WHICH HAS BEEN BUGGER ALL! Mind you, it did take a few days for my brain to catch up with by body and realise that a resort holiday is about doing just that. Relax to the max.

We arrived late at Phuket International Airport, where I might have been slightly off my face due to a sleeping tablet with a white wine chaser. A car drove us a short trip where I fell into a bed. I was exhausted. I could have been anywhere....

When I woke up the next day, I walked out of our room and stumbled across this...

Well Hello Sailor?

The Surin is a resort located north of the popular and pongy Patong. I have visited Patong half a dozen times over the years and was glad to see some more of the island. 

The Surin is located on Pansea Beach, a small stretch of turquoise brilliance that, although there is not official private beaches in Phuket, kind of becomes one by default due to the fact that you have to walk thought the resort to get to it.

There are just over 100 cottages scattered from the beach up the hill, and it is in one of these cottages that I write to you. 

The way it is designed is quite fantastic in the sense that you feel very private. Until one of your kids starts running and and down the paths wearing thongs and tripping over, causing your partner to have to carry a crying child up to get a bandaid and then you have to deal with the weeping and the..............

Calm and relaxed.

Truth is, there have been many times this week where my kids might have normally sent me through the stress stratosphere, but the hours of decadent spoilings offered by this resort have soaked them up like a super absorbent sea sponge.

(I see the gin is beginning to work...)

The Surin is a case study of relaxed elegance at it's finest. I met with the General Manager Marie-Helene who has been in the top job just a short time. She outlined her vision moving forward, and how she was going to raise the standards of everything at the resort.

Which confused me somewhat. Because I would struggle to find anything that required raising. But I nodded along before asking her where she got her pants from. They were fantastic.

The accommodation on offer ranges from two bedroom bungalows on the beach, one bedroom cottages and studios. The decor is fresh and modern, the air-con kicks ass and the housekeeping services the rooms twice a day.

I have not made a bed since I can remember!

daybed in lounge room

A typical Woogie day here looks like this.

• Breakfast. The buffet is large and offers you all the standards plus a fresh bakery section, egg station, pancake and waffle station and surprisingly excellent coffee!
• Back to the room for a while to rest and rub belly.
• Pool and beach time. 
• Lunch
• Nap
• Massage and cocktail by the sea
• Dinner
• SLEEP!

Times that by 9 days and you end up looking like this....

Ok, maybe more like this....

"Yo! Where is your perm-frown gone and what have you done with the fetching black shadows under your eyes?"

You will see that I resisted the cheap and plentiful offers available for botox sessions. Obvs.

So let's move onto the food, shall we? There is seaside casual, Thai favourites, Italian seafood and basically pretty much whatever you want. This little dish will live in my heart forever....

Rock lobster, fennel and tomato salad with other delicious things.

They have a kids menu that does not just feature xxx with chips, xxx with chips and xxx with chips. But enough about them. Here is some more gastro porn....

Old faithful

prawnies!

"Have you called Jenny yet?"
JENNY CAN GO BITE ME...

Can we talk about the fruit in Thailand?

No, seriously?

The food almost deserves a whole other post.

Staff were gorgeous. There was nothing they would not do to make your stay more comfortable. Nothing was too much trouble and they had answers to all inquiries. And they LOVE kids, either that or are extremely good actors.

But this would not be an honest review without a couple of things that are on Marie-Helene's hit list, and mine.

The beds are large and the linen is like silk. If you like a harder bed, then you will be delighted, but I prefer something a little softer.

The Spa is currently being refurbished so an alternative is in use at the moment. This did not detract from the fact that I had the most heavenly facial, fell asleep and snorted.

If you have dicky hips, beware. This resort is built on a hillside and there are stairs. Which is fine with me as it burnt off my daily French Martini. A bit. Maybe just the olive...

Apparently there is a very good gym here, so Mr Woog says.

But to be honest, and I have wracked my brain here folks, there is very little to complain about when it comes to The Surin. You would be clutching at straws...

STRAWS WITH UMBRELLAS AND PINEAPPLE CHUNKS ATTACHED.....

But this place is too classy for such tack. Just normal, elegant thin straws here.

So I leave you now, with quite the heavy heart, as it is back to the mundane for me tomorrow. And to the wonderful folks at The Surin, thank you for having us Woogs. 

Like the man says, we will be back!

Can I tempt you?

What is your favourite place to stay?

Have you ever stayed here? HOW GOOD?????

For more information on The Surin Phuket, you can visit their website here - http://www.thesurinphuket.com/

If you want to be a clever cookie and visit on the cheap, follow them on Facebook for their fantastic Flash Sales which they advertise for 72 hours. CLICK HERE.

Woogs stayed at The Surin Phuket as guests of the resort.

This is an unpaid post.

All opinions are my own.

The Festival of 40 is officially over.

This blog is going on a holiday!

Well, Jack's Passport finally arrived and so begins the the end of The Festival of Forty. A family holiday to Thailand where I will create a shortage of cocktail umbrellas. 

The kids are positively bouncing off the walls with excitement here, so the thought of sitting next to them for 9 hours is less than appealing.

Mr Woog is carrying on in his traditional pre-holiday behaviours which includes, but is not limited to, doing very unusual things such as Vanilla Wiping out the fridge and checking the Moto-Cross website.

My cousin Vinny is coming to cat and pig sit.

And I am going to totally treat myself by shaving my legs.

This blog is going to go on a little holiday as well, but I will be playing around on Facebook and Instagram, so hopefully we might meet there for a Margarita and a skewered prawn?

Instagram is here

Facebook is here

And I will be here!

Stay safe and see you soon. 

xxx

Win an iPad + honeymooning without the Internet.

This is the second post in a series bought to you by Aussie’s New Platinum Card. They have asked me to share a few travel stories. And with this post, I am giving away a new iPad!

The new Aussie Platinum Card offers a low rate, low fees, no international transaction fees on purchases, extended warranty insurance and complimentary international travel insurance. 

So buckle up people, for a travelling tale!

Eleven years ago, Mr. Woog and I wed in my parent’s garden. I wore a green dress with black riding boots underneath, because I hate heels and no one could see them, so it didn’t really matter anyway.

The next day, seedy as all get out, we boarded a plane. Our honeymoon destination?

Vietnam.

Vietnam was like Thailand might have been 30 years ago. It had just started to come up on the radar as a great tourist destination, but someone had forgot to tell the hospitality industry over there. It was hit or miss to say the very least.

Mr. Woog was in charge of booking the Ho Chi Minh part of our trip, while I had self assigned to co-ordinate the resort/relax/pampering part of the holiday.

This is where we approach things quite differently. Mr. Woog comes at it from a budgetary perspective, while I prefer to select my destination according to the 5 Star Rating scale.

We arrived in Vietnam and were greeted by the transfer operator who took us on a short but terrifying trip to La Hotel De Dump. Not it’s real name, but sure should have been.

I WAS A BRIDE FOR GOD’S SAKE!

Having been shown to our cell, I went back downstairs to request a room that didn’t smell like a latrine. We were moved to another room that smelt like 4 latrines, and finally to one that had a slight pongy waft, but no where as eye-watering.

Vietnam was incredible though. It was loud and fast and hot and very heavily populated. Now I am not a religious gal, but I took to crossing myself every time I had to Frogger-like hop across the streets. The food was incredible and the people were beyond friendly, although no one spoke a lick of English and my Vietnamese was limited to “rice paper roll.” Which is not even Vietnamese.

Our time in the city flew by and soon we boarded another plane. A small place that had 2 propellers and I swear I saw someone come across the tarmac and give them a big shove to get them going. CROSSED MYSELF AGAIN!

We flew into Nha Trang where things got a whole lot calmer.

We stayed at the Evasion Ana Mandara and it could not be faulted. All was perfect, until one day Mr. Woog ate some dodgy Spaghetti Marinara from a café and that was the end of him for the rest of our honeymoon.

I mean come on! Who eats that when you can pluck a lobster out of a tank, have a little cry because you know you don’t really want to see its demise, and then beam with glee when it is presented to you fifteen minutes later fresh from the BBQ, with a simple wedge of lemon and a dear little dish of spiced salt…..?

The interesting thing about that trip, looking back on it, is that it was all planned without the help of the Internet! Hard to believe I know, but we relied on brochures and speaking to travel agents, none of who had actually BEEN to Vietnam, but a lot of them had uncles who had been deployed there during the war.

Since then, I have been lucky to travel overseas WITH the assistance of the Internet, and I will now share with you some tips on how I organize a holiday.

·   Destination. Work out where you actually want to go. Got kids? Try to keep the plane ride as short as possible. Or use some horse tranquilizers to knock yourself out.

·   Package deals offered by airlines are very competitive. Sign up to as many newsletters as you can bear, and scour them for good deals. A few years ago we went to Fiji on a “Buy One Night Get One Free” deal, which turned out to be very cheap. Cheaper than going to the Gold Coast!

·   I would never* fib and say it is our honeymoon again to get an upgrade.

·   Get on Trip Advisor. I think this is the most comprehensive review site around and always consult it before selecting accommodation.

·   Do some research and email the resort/hotel directly to see whether you can get a better deal by booking straight through them. I have had a lot of success by doing this.

·   Sort out your cash. How are you going to handle the exchange rates and transaction fees so you get the best deal?

·   INSURE INSURE INSURE! Choose a card, such as the Aussie Platinum Card, to get complimentary travel insurance.

·   Consider staying in an apartment. Check out Air BnB, but make sure you read reviews from other travellers to ascertain that the proprietor is legit.

·   Hotel transfers can be a rip off, so ask is it can be complementary or suss out whether it is cheaper to get a cab. In places like New York it is a $45 flat fee from the airport to Manhattan in a taxi.

There are dozens of tips and tricks to get yourself holiday ready via the Internet. There is nothing more I adore than surfing the net and discovering things to do on holiday. Hours can be lost, but once I am on that plane, with a champers in my hand, all those hours are worth it.

But you need something to research with, don’t you!

With thanks to the brand new Aussie Platinum Card, we are giving away an iPad so you can get cracking on researching and planning your next adventure! Entry could not be simpler.**

Just tell me your funniest travel story here in the comments section! Keep it around 30 words, if you can.

PLEASE NOT THIS PROMOTION HAS NOW CLOSED.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER...
JOSY!

The competition is open to all Australian Residents and the winner will be announced here on 31 March 2013. If the winner does not reveal themselves after a week, another will be selected. REVEAL!

This post is brought to you by Aussie’s New Platinum Card, a resource designed with travellers in mind.   Features include:

A low purchase interest rate.

Card has no international transaction fees for OS/online purchases.

Extended warranty insurance

Complimentary international travel insurance.

Click here for more information.

*always try this.

**Terms and conditions apply, click here for details