Nikki Beach Koh Samui, luxury resort where your soul rests and feet dance! Part I

Dear Reader,

This is not just a hotel review.
It's a love story of a hotel expert who has visited over 220 hotels around the world i.e. me, and an amazing beach club resort hotel, namely Nikki Beach Koh Samui.
You know how it goes, sometimes you can't really explain it, the other part just feels right, not always perfect, because we all have our little flaws, and still, the other part just feels like a match.

Oh, too sweet?
Well, you just have to cope as that what it is. Something just clicked the moment I found out about this place and I just keep returning and based on what I've heard, I'm not the only one.

So I guess, it's a kind of magic...




How did I discovered Nikki Beach for the first time

This love affair started almost 4 years ago.
We had bough tickets to Koh Samui and booked 2 hotels. However, for some reason the other hotel just didn't feel right. So I kept searching same OTA (Online Travel Agency) pages again and again. Then I came up with an idea; why not open google map and check all the hotels in this specific area that I wanted to see, maybe I've missed something.


DOT ON THE MAP

So, I started browsing through the hotels I saw on the map.
Then I found this one dot on the map that seemed to have a perfect location. For what?
Well, I love to photograph sunsets (and sunrises) and that dot on the map was located in the middle of the west coast of the Koh Samui island, meaning sunsets probably would be great.
I wondered what's underneath that dot... So, I clicked the link open and there it was:
Nikki Beach Koh Samui Beach Club Resort (NBKS)

Ever since I was a little girl, I've been intrigued by the name Nikki, so I immediately got a little excited, and wanted to know more.
I checked out, naturally, the Tripadvisor reviews, which I only found a few since the hotel was relatively new, but they seemed very promising, and I got even more excited...
Then, I checked out the photos and got a LOT excited.

Finally I found it. Now my hotel choices felt right, no more searching, this is it.

So, despite the 2 other bookings we had already, I contacted Nikki Beach, told them all my special wishes and also asked for the price for the particular villa I had in mind.
Why particular?
Well, those garden villas are located so that on the map it may seem like they are very close to the pool area, where all the action happens. You see, I was a bit worried about the music; by the pool I liked the idea of it, DJ playing cool music, creating chill ambiance... sounds lovely, of course, but I was very specific; didn't want to hear the music inside my villa, tranquility inside the room is very important for me. (Fyi, and there was no problem with that, we heard nothing when closed the doors.). I also had some other questions regarding transportation etc.

I got such a warm and welcoming response every time I asked for further information. Even the price for the villa was exactly what we had in mind budget-wise.
So we found it. Yay!
Thus, we cancelled the other reservation and booked my first visit to Nikki Beach Koh Samui.

The dot on the map and the name Nikki, couple of photos and emails. That's all it took and the love story of Nikki Beach Koh Samui and myself was ready to begin. Had I known, by that time, the story behind the name, I would have been even more intrigued.

As one wise, elderly lady once told me, there are no coincidences, there are things that are meant to be. I believe this was one of those.
Really, sometimes it only takes a dot to change one's life. Sounds dramatic? Well, in a way it was, as it turned out the be a life changing experience for me and had huge impact for my future.


My first visit

..to Nikki Beach was 2013 when it was a small 4 star boutique hotel, with only, if I recall right, 13 villas (most of which were garden villas, couple of sea view villas), a breakfast cafe and a restaurant, pool and the beach.
Sounds nice, but not just quite 5 star fabulous luxury, right? Well, let me continue...!

The moment I arrived I felt as if I came to a place with positive, good, happy vibes.
..I will enjoy my time, for sure, I thought.
And I was right.


Villa

We saw our garden villa and I fell in love.
There it was, so peaceful, so inviting..

It really looked like everything we had been looking for; nice garden, lovely patio, wherein you can chill without burning sun shining directly to the patio. The villa was very clean, very spacious, with a daybed, desk, minibar, lots of storage space... It had a great bathroom/rain shower/toilet area - loved the tiles there, so beautiful - and I actually have now something similar in our house as well!

But the absolutely best part of the villa was the bed. I've stayed at hundreds of hotels around the world and that is probably one of the best beds I've ever slept in.
Good bed is so, so valuable when traveling. Due to poor sleep you may get your entire day ruined. But not in here!

We didn't have direct ocean view from inside the villa but once we stepped outside to our patio, we were able to see the ocean, and how beautiful it was.

A lovely young woman, Mariska took us our villa and told us about the surrounding area. She had just recently started working for Nikki Beach.

I love the fact that we met already on my first visit. I've met her many times after that and I feel grateful to be able to call her a friend. She has played an important role in my opinion of Nikki Beach since, as you know, the first impression is very important, and she was a big part of that being a person to welcome us to the hotel and on our first visit she took such a good care of everything. She also arranged us an amazing snorkeling trip to an island south from Koh Samui and a picnic after that to this incredibly beautiful uninhabited island that had the most amazing, pristine beaches...

The picnic island

We still remember that excursion and the lovely picnic basket they had prepared us including sushi and house wine - loved the little detail; Nikki Beach wine glasses...

During our visit we asked whether there were any shops nearby as we wanted to by some bikinis and t-shirts etc and Mariska even drove us to this store, waited for us while we purchased what we needed and drove us back to the hotel via scenic route so that we got to see a little more of what was in the area.
(Which actually turned out to be an excellent thing as once when driving around the island with a scooter we got little lost and at some point I recognized the road the be the the one we then drove and it helped us to find our way to NBKS.)


Villa's action night

I remember how I came back to our villa on one evening just to hear that there has been some action there. I was, naturally, eager to know what had happened. My partner, "Joe" told me that there was a gecko in our villa and he was not able to get rid of it by himself so he had called the guest service and one of the housekeepers came over and together they chased the poor gecko around the villa, gecko running around up in the roof and my partner "Joe" and the housekeeper with her broom around the villa on the floor.
I visioned this sight in my head and couldn't stop laughing. That's hilarious!!! ...but wait a minute, why an earth did you chase the poor thing? "I knew you couldn't be here if you knew it was here." said Joe. Oh my days! They had done all that for nothing! On the contrary! Geckos are just fine in my opinion as they eat the bugs, which, unlike geckos, I can't stand (despite the fact that I've lived, for example, in Australia, where there's more than plenty of them - never got used to them!). So all that fuss about nothing... well, that's traveling, things happen, right?
(Did they get the gecko out? Yes. Did it come back in? Don't know, I never saw it - but in most villas I've stayed at around the world, there has been a gecko but... no bugs, so gecko is a welcome roommate anytime, and no worries, no one is "brooming" them out!)


Location and surroundings

Nikki Beach Koh Samui (NBKS) is located in beautiful, peaceful Lipa Noi Beach, western part of Koh Samui. It's not close to Chaweng, the "action center" of the island, which I actually like. If you are looking for partying every night, then you may not be in the right place. However, if you are looking for a place where you can enjoy great ambiance by yourself, with your spouse, friends, family, group of people... then you are in the right place. Oh, but don't get me wrong, Nikki Beach does have some of the most amazing parties as well!
(I will tell you more about that party side of this serene place on the 3rd part of Nikki Beach Koh Samui review series, so stay tuned!)

It takes about 30-40 minutes to drive to hotel from the airport, especially daytime I actually like the drive, because it gives you an opportunity to see what else is on the island, you get to see the real local life, shops, mountain views, glimpses of the ocean... and it makes you get excited of what's a head.

This place is surrounded with beauty and its ambiance is unique. When you sit at the breakfast cafe you feel like you are in paradise, you can hear (and sometimes even see) birds singing and you sip your tea in harmony with the surrounding nature. There is a water feature, long garden pool wherein carps swim around, ready to get a bite if anyone happens to offer them some. They actually look, not just beautiful and graceful when swimming around, but also quite funny at times.
I had a good laugh when filming them while some other guest fed them as they really looked like talking fish on the film. I bet they said, c'mon man, just throw the bread!

Morning concert by the bird 

Breakfast view of present Nikki Beach

Peaceful, clean, good vibes

When you walk around at NBKS premises, you really get impressed over gardeners' work. There are never leaves or trash on the lawn and the lawn is always green, all the flora is well taken care of and flourishing, love the fact that there is so much greenery as well, instead of just adding concrete everywhere and buildings after buildings.

There are nowadays two pools. Peaceful, long pool, which, by the way, happens to be the longest on the island; 75 m, on the new side and the beach club pool on the original side. Lovely pools both, serving a bit different purpose in my opinion. The longer pool is for swimming and relaxing in peace, whereas the beach club pool seems to me more of a party pool, although, that is mainly so on Sundays when there is the famous Sunday's Brunch.

Fabulous, 75 m pool

Beach Club pool area

Growth and changes

Nikki Beach has changed over the years, it has grown, more buildings has been built, more services are available, more staff has been hired and so on.

That first experience was quite different than my latest one (in October 2016) as now Nikki Beach Koh Samui has two new big accommodation buildings, new villas, new reception building, new spa opening up soon etc.

The change has been for the better, absolutely. It's not always the case when a resort expands, but here, they really have succeeded in making it bigger AND better.


Rooms, Villas, Suites

NBKS has three different types of villas: Garden Villas, Sea View Villas, and absolutely amazing BeachFront Star Villas, 
which have their own private garden and a wonderful vista of Lipa Noi beach. These fabulous villas have about 300 m2 and even their own pool and sauna. Guests can even have, on request, get their own butler service.
Pure ultimate 5 star experience, without a doubt!

In the newer part of the premises there are Pool Suites on the ground floor which are really convenient if you love having a quick access to a pool.

There are also Ocean View Suites on the second floor, which overlook the fabulous pool and have their own large balconies. To be more exact, there are: Chick Junior Pool suite, 2 br Ocean View Suite, 3 br Chick Family Pool Suite, 4 br Rendezvouz Pool Suite, 5 br Generation Pool Suite and Ocean View Penthouses.

For me hotel room is really a big deal. I often work during my trips and, therefore, spend quite a lot of time also in the room, unlike many guests who go to adventures etc. and just basically sleep in their rooms.

NBKS rooms have amazing design, with dark wood, stone floor tiles, and like I mentioned, the best king sized beds with luxurious bedding (and great pillows, which I always check out first, can't stand bad pillows!).

All suites & villas have well equipped bathrooms with his and hers sinks, plenty of closet space (which is also very important for me!), nice slippers and robes, which I actually even wore, which, normally, I don't because in a tropical climate they are too hot to wear, but not these, and they were actually decent size even for me, so I loved wearing one).

I personally appreciate the complimentary Aromatherapy products, such as lotion. I never take my own body lotion when I go to Nikki Beach, because I know I'll be using theirs. I can still smell that lovely scent, it takes me back to my favorite beach resort



My experiences of the room types

I've stayed in a garden villa, ocean view suite and the ocean view penthouse.

Ok, you guessed right, that luxurious Ocean View Penthouse won, it was absolutely incredible!

The Penthouse is on the second floor, overlooking both the pool and the ocean. It's so spacious, 160 m2 and has all the amenities you could need. I love the king size circular bed overlooking the ocean, my absolute favorite, not to mention the circular, wooden large bath... The penthouse also has 2 private balconies, which was more than luxurious.

I will put together a video clip of the penthouse and add it to my Youtube channel. You will receive a link thereto on the Part II of this hotel review.


So, what makes me return time after time?

Despite the growth of the resort, there are things that still remain the same and make me return again and again. It's the people who work at Nikki Beach Koh Samui

Of course, I have to mention first, and send my special thanks to amazing
Director of Nikki Beach Thailand, Bruce Hanrahan - without him I wouldn't, probably, be even writing this blog today. He gave me so much positive feedback many years ago that I got the courage to start my business, TouchSE. For that I'm forever grateful!

Bruce is the soul of the place. He represents everything that Nikki Beach is: Genuine, warm, caring, wants to make guests enjoy; to be happy and get quality service by the professional staff.
Wanting to create a connection with guests is extremely important feature for a manager these days. Guests want to feel noted, they want to feel as they are all important and Bruce certainly does his share in this regard; instead of just sitting in a high tower and leading he is always on site to be seen, to have a chat with, guests get to say Hi and he is always ready and willing to make sure that guests have everything they need.
I've seen tens of hotel managers, if not hundred and what I appreciate so much about Bruce is the fact that he really leads by example and for that reason, the staff at Nikki Beach is unlike anywhere else.

I have to also mention my favorite South African women, living in Thailand, who I really miss and adore; Linda (Guest Service) and Mariska (Hotel Sales & Marketing Manager, I mentioned her already earlier as I met her already on my first visit to NBKS).
I've gotten to know them over the years and they are amazing, inspiring, warm, caring, fabulous women with huge hearts. So, so happy to know you both! (lots of hearts here!). They live and breath guest service, always trying to think one step a head of the guest so that everything would be as pleasant as possible for the guests.

On my last visit I also got to meet Nikki, the room division manager, what an amazing, wonderful and kind woman she also is. Thank you for the room upgrade, I loved the penthouse, I absolutely fell in love with the view (ever since I was a little girl, I've wanted a round bed, so it was quite convenient that I got to do that, finally.).

Key to the Ocean View Penthouse - as fabulous as the Penthouse itself!

The entire staff is always doing their best to assure guests' happiness and taking care of guests' needs. It's a group effort that has been noticed, and not only by me but also by many others that write amazing reviews of the place.


Family away from home

Nikki Beach staff becomes like your holiday family while you stay there. Everyone greets you, if you need anything, feel free to ask and they'll do their best to make it happen. If there is a language barrier, they find someone who can help as there are native English speakers among the staff.
Especially for me, who travels often alone, it is important to feel safe and that is one thing that has been well taken care of at Nikki Beach Koh Samui.

Photos of celebrities visited Nikki Beach clubs

By being safe I mean, for example if unfortunate happened, for example you would get sick, you wouldn't have to worry as they genuinely care and would, for sure, take care of your needs and would get you the medical assistance that you may need. Weather you have a question, a request, a simple need, such as more sugar etc, no problem, your needs will be taken care of here, just dial the guest service and assistance is on the way.

When people travel, obstacles may occur, we all know that. That may happen here as well. It may not be perfect in all areas at all times, but in my opinion, no place is. But it's perfect for my needs and what I really appreciate and respect is the fact that if there is a problem, just say the word and it will be sorted.

Perhaps, because Nikki Beach chain is family owned, its management also cherishes soft, family values. Part of that is appreciating and taking care of its staff and that, naturally, reflects to guest service - only happy staff can make happy guests.

I've been fortunate to be able to visit world famous 5 star hotels, those that everyone dreams they could go to. Yes, they are magnificent, no doubt. What separates Nikki Beach Koh Samui from those is that NBKS has soul. It's staff is mixture of international hotel professionals and local community members who want to do their best to make guests happy. You don't find this in very large, chain hotels. They have their own pros and cons, just like every place does, but this place's benefits can be found in the fact that it's staff is a team, like a family to each other.


5 stars and 3 Es - that's what you get here

Effortless, that is what today's traveler expects and that's what you get here.
Emotional bond, especially for millennials that is important aspect of hotel stays.
Excellence in so many ways!

The ambiance

At NBKS staff provides guests with service that is kind, warm, caring and genuine. They don't smile because they have to, they smile because they are happy. And you know what, happiness is contagious. Someone smiles at you, you smile back, then you smile to someone else, and they smile back, and they smile to someone else as well, and soon you realize, everyone looks happy and smile and greet everyone. That is the kind of intimacy I love about high quality boutique hotels.

People are treated with respect, but still every one is close enough to each other to get the sense of belonging to this place; you know, as if it's "us" not "me and other guests and the staff".

It's like an extended Nikki Beach family when you stay there. If you want, it's quite easy to get to know the staff, and also other guests. For some reason on my each visit I've gotten to know other guests as well. Perhaps many of the guests have similar personalities; open and outgoing, travel and hospitality loving people and, therefore, you get along so well also with other guests.

It's glamorous and yet dreamy, unique design and yet warm, hot and yet cool!

My favorite spot to relax.

I would visit Nikki Beach Koh Samui every day if I could. I feel so happy and in peace in this unique place. And since this place and people who work there have started to mean so much to me, I want to write about it, give it a proper shoutout, so that you, my dear readers, find out about it too.
I see no point in hiding this gem. I bet you would love the experience, just like I have, and will in the future as well, I'm sure.

However, remember, just like love, magic and that sense of happiness will only come if you keep an open mind. Let the place charm you, be kind, open your eyes, mind and soul and you will find what I've found already. The secret of Nikki Beach, the sense of happy place. It's glamorous and yet it has this warm charm that cannot be explained.

It has its own, unique style that celebrates life, it's vibrant and yet a perfect place to relax.

Do - or don't but don't miss the sunset

Try its amazing foods, go for excursions, swim in that 75 m long pool, go to the gym, let your body do the work while your mind rests. Take a paddling board or a kayak, and go for a little trip by the shoreline. You'll never know what you might end up seeing. Gather up a group and play some beach volley ball or just take a bike to check out the neighborhood.

There is always something to do - if you want to do something. Or, you can just chill. Order a cool drink, for me it would be a Mimosa, for sure, and take a book. Choose of those amazing sun loungers and just relax; read the book, zip your drink, let the sea breeze cool you down and sun make you warm... or if you are a beach lover, just go to the beach, relax there. It is nice, beautiful, clean and private (in a sense that there are no other people there, I've only seen 3 salesmen during the entire time I've been there).

Trees bending over the sundeck provide little cover so you can get little shade if you wish.

The absolute best part about the beach for me are the sunsets. Nikki Beach sunsets are becoming well known around the world and I often hear other guests saying the same thing I've said so many times, you don't find better sunsets anywhere, at least not on that island. I haven't! Here are some examples for your eyes only to prove my point. Don't you just want to book your stay already and get to the beach?



How did the Nikki Beach saga get started?

Nikki Beach was founded by Mr. Jack Pernod, a man who wanted to celebrate the life of his daughter, Nicole.

"In 1998, entrepreneur Jack Penrod introduced the world to Nikki Beach, the first and original luxury beach club concept that combines the elements of music, dining, entertainment, fashion, film and art into one. Today, the Nikki Beach concept has transcended its international venues and grown into a global, multifaceted luxury lifestyle and hospitality brand comprised of a Beach Club Division; a Hotels & Resorts Division; a Lifestyle Division; a Special Events Division and Nikki Cares, a 501c3 Non-Profit Charity Division....

...Everything was designed with my daughter Nicole in mind. The look is meant to be soft, friendly, carefree, beautiful and safe. Guests feel at home, whether they are sunbathing, sharing a meal or joining our events. We create the perfect stage to allow them to “Celebrate Life”. Nikki Beach is all about keeping the look natural and simple. There’s nothing synthetic or over the top. When we first started coming up with ideas, I spent a lot of time in Central America with my wife Lucia, and we went around farms acquiring some of the large wooden tables that are made out of one big piece of solid wood. It was this natural look combined with soft sophistication in all white fabrics and free-flowing white curtains that made the essence of our Nikki Beach design. Basic, simple and with a touch of heaven. Like you are in the clouds. The teepee is a symbol of living close to the ground and nature. It is a great reminder to stay grounded and respect nature. It conjures up memories of family around a campfire, sharing meals and stories. Celebrating life in a simple but very rewarding way. Another important factor in designing Nikki Beach was to make sure we kept the good energy flowing through the space. Nothing should block the flow. My biggest surprise is when I see our customers’ attitude of feeling like they just got home. It’s very rewarding. Our Nikki Beach design is never exactly the same, but all of the locations have the elements that we know make our customers feel good. When we enter new regions, sometimes we collaborate with other designers and architects but always following our vision of “Celebrating Life” surrounded by natural and earthy elements and this is found all over the world."

Would you like to read more?

Check out Nikki Beach website:
http://www.nikkibeach.com/


On Part II /of the review of Nikki Beach Koh Samui you get to know more about its services, such as transportation, excursions, restaurants, entertainment, events, butler service etc.
(Will be posted later this year.)

On the last part of this review, Part III you get to taste the amazing, world famous Nikki Beach Sunday Brunch, trust me, you don't want to miss that experience!
You get to check out photos, video clips, stories and interviews, all material that I get to gather when attending to my next Sunday Brunch - sounds delicious? Well, it is! Just wait and see!
(Will be posted next year.)

I know, it's not the same as experiencing it yourself, but why not consider it as an appetizer.

(I would have introduced you the fabulous Sunday Brunch already on the second part of the review but, unfortunately, the respected, beloved, King of Thailand passed away during my latest visit to Nikki Beach and I was supposed to document the Sunday Brunch during my visit via photos, filming etc. Due to that sad event 1-month's official mourning time was declared to the entire country, which of course meant no Sunday Brunch or any other parties either. It was not a time to party, it was time to pay our respects to the King and the royal family.)

So, this is it -  for now.

* * * * *

What? You can't wait for the parts II and III?
Well, as they say, if it's good enough, it's worth waiting for, right?

...or you can just book your own trip to Nikki Beach Koh Samui!
...and experience this gem yourself, you won't regret it! However, be aware that it's unprecedented allure will might make you to fall in love it. I dare you - take the risk and go for it!

It's easy, start here:

Nikki Beach Koh Samui

Nikki Beach Koh Samui - Booking

and I give you a tip:
Stay 3, pay 2 offer is valid until December 25, 2016.

...and not to worry, you get to fulfill your blog post hunger with my other blog posts in the meantime, I've got plenty of topics and stories to tell you from my #TouchseGoesAsia tour!

You may check out my photo gallery thereof from my Twitter and Instagram accounts.
TWITTER Touchse
IG Touchse_by_Mia

I hope I have been able to pass on my admiration to this amazing boutique resort that stole a piece of my heart. I am the kind of traveler who loves to explore new places so it is a huge compliment from my part when I tell you that I really want to return to this place again and again. Every time I go to Asia, I love to start my trip by staying at Nikki Beach for a few days, because I immediately feel relaxed and get to my happy traveler mood.

Who wouldn't smile and feel happy when staying at a resort where the weather is hot, people are warm, but the drinks, they are cool!

#TouchseGoesAsia - 1st leg: Finnair's business class HEL-BKK

Hello my Dear Readers,

It's finally here - time to take off!

Touchse is on the road; #TouchseGoesAsia tour lasts 4 weeks from
11th October until 8 November 2016.

My travel plan (Emphasizing word plan i.e. it may change along the way) is as follows:
4 weeks, 4 hotels

Leg 1 & 2
1st flight HEL-BKK
2nd flight BKK-USM (Koh Samui, Thailand)
6 days at the fabulous, world famous
Nikki Beach Koh Samui beach club resort (This is link to my blog thereof)

LEGS 3 & 4
3rd flight USM-SIN (Singapore)
4th flight SIN-KUL (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
2,5 days at Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur (This is link to my blog post thereof)

LEG 5
5th flight KUL-DPS (Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia)
Here I will stay at first in Sofitel Bali Nusa Dua hotel, at the Elysian Boutique Villas and Anantara Bali.

LEGS 6 & 7
then on 8th November
my 6th flight DPS-SIN
7th flight SIN-HEL

- - -
So this adventure of mine starts with a flight with Finnair's newest plane type, A350 and of course, I wanted to upgrade myself to test out the fabulous business class, only right, pleasant way to fly long-hauls if you ask me (and I'm telling even if you're not asking...)

You may read more of this fabulous plane here:
https://www.finnair.com/fi/fi/a350

I have to say though, booking tickets isn't always quite as straight forward as you'd think.
Especially when you

a) travel in business
b) have specific dates you need to travel
c) are missing some points in order to upgrade yourself to business class both ways, not just one way.
d) the trip is route trip, i.e. your departure flight's destination airport is not the same as return flight's airport
e) have plenty of food allergies and food restrictions, so you need special diets
f) your luggage will weigh more than they are allowed.

Ok, despite of all of the above, I managed to get tickets exactly the way I wanted.

I will tell you though, on another post, more about how to book those tickets in the best possible way, if you have similar special needs as I did. As you know, I travel a lot, so I've learnt to deal with those issues during the years, and would be happy to share my knowledge so that others can benefit from my experience as well.


OCTOBER 11, 2016 - THE DEPARTURE DAY!

I arrived at the airport early, for once, on time to actually enjoy the calmness and luxury of Finnair's business lounge. 

CHECK-IN

I went to priority check-in with my luggage which were in total; 1 large hard suitcase, 2 softer bags, 1 carry on bag and a hand bag. What do you mean that's a lot?
Isn't that a normal amount of luggage for a lady to go touring for four weeks?
Well, it was for me!

The lady on the check in counter was very kind, as they, in most cases with Finnair are. I did have a short chat with her and told her that I'm actually going to tour around Asia for one month and that's why I have so many bags - as if I had to explain myself.. but felt the need as I almost felt guilty for taking so many bags with me.
However, when I asked her if she knew what happens with my bags on my next leg, i.e. Bangkok-Koh Samui, she had no idea.
I don't have a photo of me when going, but I do have a photo when I'm at the other end so you see the amount of bags I was having... (Please, a woman needs her precious belongings, don't judge!)


Raoul from Finnair's phone sales

Well, it so happened that I had this amazing sales person on Finnair's phone sales (Raoul) who was actually able to tell that primary flight, in this case that being Finnair's business flight from Helsinki to Bangkok (BKK) defines the quantity of the bags allowed to the following leg. I told him that this didn't work on my previous trip so I strongly doubt that I would have better luck this time.

He knew the booking system inside and out and told me to tell the airport customer service personnel to check the "Ozzy" (...wonder if that was the correct way to write it) field, probably something to do with Amadeus, has it very clearly stated that the primary flight defines the allowed quantity of bags also on the continuing flight if both flights are written into one ticket.

Well, at Helsinki airport the check-in counter officer couldn't find this info. Anyway, I had to take a risk as I couldn't just dump my bags so checked them in and went to security. For those who don't know, it's ok to take check-in 3 bags if you're traveling in business.


SECURITY CHECK

Priority security check is nowadays on the second floor at Helsinki airport. 

I have never had any problems with security since I consider myself as an experienced traveler after all these years. It was then my turn to get security checked so I put my laptop, tablet computer, GoPro camera, liquids' see-through bag etc. on the line to boxes and  then showed the staff that I have this plastic ice block (sealed, it has frozen water inside, KylmäKalle in Finnish) here in my carry on bag for my chocolates (as I'm allergic to so many things, I always have some Milky Ways with me to get some energy if needed if there's nothing eatable for me).
On my previous trips it was perfectly fine. However, on this time, the security officer said: No, not allowed, only for medical purposes. Wait, hold on, it is like medicine for me, but I guess that's not what they meant, but... Well, lucky for me, I had my eye drops in that same plastic backd and they need to be kept cold at all times, so I told them that and also showed my prescription for my eye drops. After that, all good. Very much appreciated, it was a long trip before I actually got to my hotel and those Milky Way bars turned out to be more than necessary.

Of course they checked everything, as they should. However, before I got to pack it all up they wanted to make a drug sweep with their gears of my handbag. Well, fine with me, and said ok, but somehow that did, indeed, make me feel uncomfortable. Was that just a coincidence or did they do that because of all the hassle? Anyhow, its funny how human mind works, now it made me feel like a criminal and I did nothing wrong. 


BUSINESS LOUNGE

Well, all good, and I continued towards the Finnair's business lounge. This is the part when I always start to feel happy and excited about my trips, yay, it's finally the departure day! I walk around the airport with the stupid grin on my face, as if I never traveled before and I travel all the time. But you know, that's my passion; traveling, and one of the best parts of it is Finnair's lounge & business class. No, I'm not kidding. They are relaxing for me as I've made a promise to myself that I don't have to work when flying, so it's actually like my mini vacation.
Got to the lounge and... wait!
Did I come to the right place?
I think I've been here often enough to recognize the place but.... what the heck?!

It was completely full, packed, jammed, whatever the word you want to use, it was so full of people that I couldn't even find a seat for myself. Never in my life had that happened before. Ok, I'm hungry, got to the food serving line and ask the staff if they had anything gluten free. Turned out that they had gluten free muffins and these buns with butter and sugar in the middle. I used to love those years ago before I found that I'm gluten intolerant.

So I decided to pamper myself and had one of those and it was DELICIOUS!!! 

Best one I've had in a long (and I mean LONG, like years!) time! It was so good, I immediately regretted for not having 3 of those and taking 2 of them to the plane with me. Due to all those crowds and everything, turned out that once again, I didn't even have enough time to sit at the lounge and enjoy all the servings as it was time to go to my gate.


Well, no time for that as I noticed that it was time for boarding. Once I got to the gate, it was obvious that it is going to be a fully booked flight, there were so many people there. I was truly happy and grateful for being able to fly in business class - which by the way is the best and the most enjoyable way to travel long-hauls!






BOARDING

It is always a pleasure to get on the place when flying in business, but this time I'd only give it maybe 7 out 10, namely the entire economy class walked by me, as my seat was in the "middle" business seat part (there are two separate business seat areas in this new plane type).

The place feels crowded and there is a hassle going on for as long as passengers keep walking into the plane. But that is just a small thing, not even a problem, except when they punch you in the head with their bags.I got to my seat and got all my main entertainment gears ready; i.e. my laptop, book, tablet computer and some snacks as well as my phone (camera).

And quite quickly the kindest, young (and handsome, may I add, Jussi Jouppi, don't blush- haha!) flight attendant came to me with a glass of Champagne. Would I like to have some? Oh, yes of course! Here starts yet another trip, yay!

Wasn't that long after "boarding completed" we heard the notification that there was some electrical malfunction in one of the plane's doors and we had to wait until they check that out. I was so happy to be in business class as at that point I heard some poor little babies and kids started to become restless in the economy class. (I remember the days travelling with my son when he was little, when he was a toddler and tired - boy was that miserable for everyone, poor child). Well, I got another glass of sparkling delicacy and had some good talks with Jussi and other crew on board, so no complaints on my part.
Turned out that we will be at least 2 late when arriving to BKK, which means I won't make it to my next flight. The head purser/cabin crew chief (not quite sure what the term is nowadays) lovely and the friendliest lady, Sirpa Brusila was kind enough to arrange everything on my behalf so I didn't have to worry at all.

Although we took off couple of hours late, I didn't mind. That business class is like a mini vacaytion so I don't mind spending there little extra time - not at all, good food, good company, fun things to do, relaxing - what's there to complain about? Nothing!

I do have to say that although I've traveled in Finnair's business class numerous times, this time it was the best service ever. Thank you Jussi & Sirpa!


DINNER TIME

Dining on board. It's a show case of its own.
From the moment the plane takes off, everyone waits for the food.
Then, when they get the food, they take their forks, poke the food around the plate, and then decide not to eat it, and naturally, the complain about it. Hands up, who hasn't seen this?




As I always contact Finnair's catering in advance due to my many food allergies, I pretty know what I'll have or at least what's not going to be in my food. In most cases, it's basically chicken and rice.

So, this time was no exception. I wasn't expecting any life changing dining experience, just happy if get something that doesn't make me sick.

However, this time I decided to try something new and I chose the duck and my goodness IT WAS DELICIOUS!! Devine. Lovely. According to Urban Dictionary:
Sick! Dope! But sick as in so good that I could eat it until I get sick!
Never have I ever asked if I could have the second set of starter course, but now I did. It was a divene mix of sweet, a bit greasy meat (duck is quite fatty), salty, and a bit sour. Absolutely exquisite. Thank you so much to your smart chef who made this experience possible.

Well, with the main course I had a problem, it was chicken and rice, just like I asked, and that was not a problem - the problem was; I had so much of that starter so my stomach just didn't have room for any more meat. Good thing though, the dessert was lovely Finnish ice cream, Jymy, that actually was suitable for me even with all my intolerances. 


Thank you Finnair and your food & catering department, you really absolutely exceeded my expectations - and I don't say that lightly.









LADIES ROOM

Before getting some sleep I decided to check out the ladies room - and yes, there is an actual LADIES room in that particular plane type and what a beautiful, peaceful space, with lovely aromas it was. Never have I ever enjoyed my little stop by at the ladies room, especially on the plane like this time. 

Ok, back to my seat after having, once again, one little fun small talk/chat with Jussi - there should be more people like him working for airlines. Or, if my company is ever big enough that I can hire people, I just might steal him to work for me! 💖 

Some gadget to adjust your seat
magically to turn into a bed

So, now with full stomach and after two glasses of lovely Champagne (I think it was, by the way, Nicolas Feuillett Brut Grande Réserve) it was time to get some sleep, after all, it was an overnight flight and I was supposed to be all fresh and ready to meet some people once I finally get to my destination.

Once again, no problem. These seats in the new A350 are so comfy. Not sure whether it's the same if you are a very tall man, but at least for me, it was like sleeping in a bed and once my head hit the pillow, I woke up 4 hours later as if I had slept the entire night.

Then I had another one of those delicous ice creams, some wonderful breakfast and it was soon time to prepare for landing. Before that Sirpa kindly informed me that they have arranged everything so I have no problem what so ever to get to Koh Samui, I have been transferred to the next flight and there should be someone waiting for me at the airport to escort me to the gate (well, things didn't go quite as smoothly, but it was by any means not Finnair's fault, it's just the way things go at Bangkok airport pretty much everytime - but more about that on one of my future blogs).

Time to get ready to start my amazing 4 weeks #TouchseGoesAsia tour. I'm  on my way to new adventures and also challenges I'm sure, but I can't wait - and neither should you! There is plenty more great stories to come, stay tuned!

Enjoy your lives people, it's for living, not just existing.
Just to remind you in case you've forgotten!

If your life is boring and you feel stuck - do something about it, don't expect others to do it for you. You're the captain on board in your life!

Love,
Mia
xoxo

Incidents just keep on happening - Part III

PART III


Bugs and other little friends...

Many of you may have read my blog post "World record..." wherein bugs play a big role.

Well, it's not the only time I've come across as a bug magnet, couple of cute (hah) stories left hereto:

There was this one night I came home from the night club in Australia. Took a shower, went to bed and for some reason I actually took the bed cover off lights still on. I went to bed, put my head on my pillow, just about to fall asleep when.. I feel as if something just isn't right. I was so tired but felt like I have to open my eyes before switching off the night light.. What's going on?
It must have been my sixth sense or something that gave me a warning sign as when I opened my eyes I saw this huge, big a** spider staring me in the eyes, right there, on the next pillow, I am quite sure, my heart skipped a few beats and I may have had a minor heart attack!

I was about to scream, it took all my self control not to do that, but I didn't as I was afraid that huge thing might just jump on me if I screamed. There are, after all, spiders that can jump!

So, slowly - veeery slowly, I crawl out of the bed, keeping my eyes on the spider, back out of the room hoping it doesn't disappear and probably made a record in running to the pantry and getting a bucket. Got back to the room, YES! It's still there, good! Why is that good? Well, if it wasn't there, then I had to look for it as it would have been somewhere.

Why a bucket, why not a baseball bat? I actually thought about that at first, when the first panic attack took place... but; had I swung it with a bat and missed... I don't even want to think about its revenge!
Instead of being a violent baseball bat killer, I decided to put the bucket on top of the pillow and catch the damn spider.
It took all my courage to do that but I did it! I was way too scared just to shake it out of the door so I throw them all; the pillow, the bucket and the spider out of the balcony! (My apartment was on 3-storey building, covering the top floor.) After doing that I realized that someone may wonder the following morning why an earth there is a pillow and a bucket on our front yard - well, they'll never know it was me I hope, hey, there were 2 other floors too.
After that experience, trust me when I say, I checked my room each night at least 5 times before going to bed!
Lesson learnt: check out your room, also the bed before going to sleep in a tropical country where there are dangerous species!

Then it's easy to go to bed and be this happy:














Mr. Frog

Even in Finland I feel like creatures come to me. I guess I should be flattered, but no, I'm not.
There was this one night earlier this summer, I was in my bed room working on my blog when all of a sudden I hear this scream! Can I say scream if it came from my from my now already adult son's mouth? Well, it sounded like screaming. I see him running in to my room and he is like me, very talkative and outspoken but for once he couldn't get a word out of his mouth. His hands were waiving in the air, appointing to his room but he's stuttering: There is...there's ...in my room, there, OMG! I was on my computer and.. this... and.. this, this..frog! It just jumped on my laptop!

Me: "Say what now? Take a deep breath, say that again?"
There is a frog in your room and it did what? It actually jumped on his laptop! I didn't believe it, it sounded so strange. We walked into his room and there it was, looking at us as if it was all natural that it sits in my son's room, just chillin... I couldn't stop laughing, his reaction was hilarious, this small, cute little frog was probably as scared as my son was. Now it was looking at me; Can you please save me?

What happened? Of course I saved the Frog Prince. Used the bucket technique - again.
Did I kiss it? No, don't need another prince. :)

Camping with a friend

About a year ago I was hiking in Finland, in a national park called Nuuksio.
I love hiking and try to go to my hiking trips many times every summer. This time it was a quick, only 1 night trip and luckily I soon found a beautiful spot for my tent, not even that far from the fire spot and even the outhouse wasn't too far.

It was a beautiful summer/early fall evening, so I wanted to go outside and take some photos... so I stepped out of the tent for maybe 5 minutes.

Because there are lots of ticks (that spread borreliosis) in Finnish forests, I always knock my tent wall a few times with my walking stick (I always have one when hiking, helps with balancing myself when carrying a heavy backbag in the woods) before I get in, so that there won't be any tick by the doorway.

That's what I did also this time when I came back to my tent. Then I unzipped the "door" and was about to enter when I felt as if I saw something moving, which was a silly thought as I was on my trip by myself.

I looked again and then I saw it! There was a mouse inside my tent! It was jumping around the tent and suddenly it disappeared! No, not into my sleeping bag!! I can't believe it, a mouse, in my tent - no way, how an earth did it even get in? I'm always very careful not to leave the door open as I hate spiders and bugs etc.

Oh, there it is! I see it jumping around, again. At first it looked like it was just having fun and jumping around like a miniature kangaroo. But no, that poor little thing was probably more scared than I was and was running around like a headless chicken, trying to decide what to do next.

It was cute, I admit that now that I think about it, but wild mice spread diseases so I think they're ok as long as they don't come to my territory. So I had to get it out - luckily it wasn't in my sleeping bag - so I was trying to guide it towards the door way..
I think I even tried talking to it.. I just wanted it out and wanted to get back to my tent. Finally it realized that the door is actually open for it to run back to freedom. So it left, no stopping and saying good bye, but I actually saw a hole in the ground wherein it then disappeared, probably it was its home base.

Now I had to empty my tent in order to see if there were any mouse droppings there, but no, thank goodness, there wasn't any. I then realized that I left the zipper open, just enough for it to enter.
I still wondered why it wanted to come in, when it had the entire forest to enjoy. Oh, my donuts!! I very rarely eat anything baked, and this one time I brought these gluten-free donuts to enjoy with my evening tea and what happened? They smelled so good that even wild life comes into my tent rather than stays outside. Of course, I checked the donut bag and yes, there was a little hole in the corner, little bugger had eaten it. Damn it! As if I didn't want to eat my donuts. Well, I didn't, not this time. Guess what was it that I did next?
Yes, I throw the donuts to the woods, I'm sure the mouse invited its entire family for the feast...

Later that night when I was reading my book, I heard scratching noise outside. No way! It actually wanted to come back, and I found myself talking to a mouse - it was outside, I was inside.. so if there was another wanderer somewhere nearby, they probably thought I was either insane and talking to myself or talking on the phone but not making sense, either way, I realized later that it must have sounded idiotic. "C'mon little fellow, go away, I'm not letting you in again!"... right. Just a lonely crazy woman talking by herself. Great. I didn't loose only my donuts but my reputation as well!
At least the mouse had gluten-free donuts so no stomach pain, that makes me a true animal friend, right?!

Best candy ever!

By the way, do you know what is Finnish people's favorite candy? It's called Salmiakki. We make drink shots out of it, we eat them, we can't live without them if we live abroad... so when I lived in Australia, my parents used to send me some salmiakki from Finland. It' salted liquirce, which has a little bit of spicy flavor to it. It really is GOOD! I love it and always take some with me to my trips around the world.

So, as you can imagine, when I had the mail package full of salmiakki  all the way from Finland to Australia, it really was like a huge treasure, as if I had all the xmas presents of 5 years at once.
The generous person that I am, I wanted to share my precious with my friends. I had talked about salmiakki for the last month when waiting for that package to come.. so I gave some tasting to my friends, although I was a bit worried if they want to eat them all., so I told them that only couple of candies/person.
Well, that didn't go as planned!
Those ungrateful people spit them out! O-M-G! My precious! Then, they begun to yell at me, fuming: You're trying to poison us! You're trying to kill us!!

Excuse me?! What the h**l??
I just gave you some of the best candy in the world! Based on their facial expressions and salmiakki that was spit to the golden sands of Gold Coast, they disagreed with me. Could it be possible that there are people that don't love salmiakki at all? I guess so. Although it is still somewhat unclear to me how someone doesn't like it.
As if I tried to poison anyone, I was being NICE!

Lesson learnt, once again, don't be nice and give your salmiakki to others unless you're sure they actually appreciate it!

Oh, and did you notice, the name of the candy: salMIAkki!
It has my name on it, so it HAS TO BE GOOD!

Next time you visit Finland, make sure you try some. Or let me know your address and I just might send you some!

By the way, read what a word-famous blogger @landlopers aka Matt Long said about salmiakki when he visited Finland:

http://landlopers.com/2016/04/17/helsinki-food-tour

- - -

What's next?

..As I told you on my previous blog posts, I'll be going to my Asia tour in less than 4 weeks and will be writing shorter stories of daily events along the way and post them much more often than these posts.

So, please, hang in there, I will tell you about my first hotel in only about 4 weeks. That hotel is cool & hot, fab & hip and it has the best sunsets ever!

What is it?
Well, come back and you'll find out.

Thank you for reading my story. I hope you have enjoyed it. Please, feel free to share the link to your friends and connections. I've only written few stories and I will soon reach 1000 readers, that is a lot for a new blog, so I have to say THANK YOU dear readers!

By the way, I just finished Savannah Grace's book "I grew my boobs in China" - that book is just amazing! You have to read it!

And if you are into traveling and you are on Twitter, may I suggest that you join our fantastic #TRLT - The Road Less Travelled chat group on Tuesdays. It is so much fun - don't miss it! (the chat is run by Savannah, the author of above mentioned book)

Have a wonderful week everyone!
Smile and world smiles back!

xoxo!

Mia

Incidents just keep on happening - Part II

Are you ready for some more?
Never boring when I'm around, you should know that by now, right?
Here we go - again!

---

PART II

Not so relaxing trip to summer cabin

These following events took place in Lapland, i.e. northern part of Finland, quite a long time ago. One of our family's summer cabins is in this small island in the middle of the lake. I used to manage a night club at that time so I always worked until 5 am. And since the sun doesn't go down in Lapland on summer time, we often drove to our summer cabin (2,5 hrs drive) after work (this was in August so the sun set only for a short moment before I got home from work).

This beautiful little river you pass by on your way to the shore..

It was about 7-8 am when we started to approach the area where the cabin is located..

It's not an easy road. At first you need to take the highway, for about 150 km then small country side roads for about 20 km and then the last 10 km to the beach it's barely a road, almost more likely a beaten path. You can only drive like 10 km/h so that you don't break your car.
Finally we made it to shore, where we had our little boat waiting for us. By the time we had packed everything to our boat I asked "where is that black bag of mine, with all the clothes?" What bag? The black one!!
Oops! I guess that is still in my living room as I didn't take it to the car, neither did my other half
Right. This means I'd be spending the next 3 days in this small log cabin without any other clothes than those I had on me... (let it be known that there is no electricity there, it really is basic fisherman's cabin that was built about 60 years ago but that is what's so fabulous about it, true primitive nature and living!)
Ok, I guess I'll survive...

On our second day we were driving around the lake with the motorized boat, just a fun ride, not even fishing, and... wait a minute, what just happened? The engine died. Something got broken!! That lake is really, really old. Before it turned into a lake, there were big hills there, hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. Now that it's a lake, there are rocks underneath the surface (long line of hill tops) that cannot be seen, you just need to know where they are. Then there are these extremely shallow areas wherein you could see the bottom. We had hit one of those hill peaks and we broke the cotter pin of the engine. Perfect. We had to row to the shore and drive to the nearest city (about one hour one way) to get a replacement.... right. Wasn't a fun ride after all.
Lesson learnt, drive that only route you know, where there aren't any rocks etc.

(In order for you to understand this story completely, you need to understand that since no electricity, no charging mobile phones, not that there was any connections either...)

On the following day it was time to go home. We were really tired and slept late and all of a sudden I hear, "It's one o'clock." from the radio (In Finnish that is "Kello on yksi.")
We had radio on basically all the time when inside the cabin and fell asleep it still on..

What?! 1 pm?
We needed to get up, start quickly washing dishes, cleaning up the cabin etc. as I was supposed to be at work at 6 pm and we had to drive home etc..
We didn't have time to heat up any water so I tried to wash the dishes in a cold lake water with not much success, only result was irritation. My partner in crime, so to speak, went to start the chain saw to cut more fire wood as it was unwritten rule that there needs to be dry wood in the cabin when you leave it. Well, with our luck, of course there was no gasoline left in the chain saw!
Lesson learnt: make sure you have enough gasoline with you!

It was a very stormy, windy day and further we got with cleaning up everything and packing up the things we had with us, the worse the weather got. Finally, we had done everything and sat down for "take of coffee/tea" as we called it. It's actually quite calming to have a cup of tea and listen to the radio when there's a storm outside.
Then we hear: It's 11(am) o'clock (in Finnish: Kello on yksitoista.)
Pardon? It was 1 o'clock (i.e. 1 pm) already ages ago?

---In Finnish---
1 o'clock = kello on yksi
11 o'clock = kello on yksitoista
9 o'clock = kello on yhdeksän
So, they all sound quite similar when pronounced quickly and if you don't hear it properly.

I had heard it all wrong! All that hassle for nothing. We got up hours too early. Right.

Since the weather was so bad we decided to leave anyway.

Easier said than done.
Namely, the island is surrounded by rocks and one needs to row for the first say 10 meters off shore in order to be able to start the engine without actually breaking it to rocks. Unfortunately, the stormy wind was so hard that no matter how much we kept rowing, we basically went backwards!

At this point I was getting desperate, is this a nightmare? I must be dreaming, all this can't be happening... so we actually had to slowly move (drag) the boat to the other side of the island (with my dear late dog, Ricky, shaking in it, as even it, poor thing, was scared due to the weather). Finally, we got to take off.
But now it's not just heavy winds, it starts pouring, we were soaking wet within minutes and we had about 15-20 min boat ride ahead of us in a lake with some major waves...
I was shaking it was so cold, luckily at least I had my dear dog to lean on, he kept me warm a little.

I was actually so soaking wet that even my undies were red because I had a red jacket on! And as you remember, I had no clothes to get changed... and we had that 2,5 hrs drive back home.

View from the summer cabin's window, on a beautiful day, may I add!
My absolute favorite place for relaxing.

What a trip, right? At least it's over, right?
Not quite.

On our way back to Rovaniemi (home back then), we ended up having a collision, namely a reindeer hit us when trying to run across the road! Our speed was about 90 km/hr, I was so sure that it's dead. No, it wasn't. It dropped a pile of stool on the road (that's what they do when they get really scared) and ran off! Unfortunately though, car was quite damaged. And in Finland reindeers are their farmers' property so if you hit one, you need to go to the nearest police station to report the incident so that the owner gets informed and they go to check out the area whether there is an injured reindeer somewhere... so to the police station we went once we finally got to the city. I can't even imagine what we looked like, soaking wet and tired - but at least still alive - I even questioned that at some point when in the middle of the storm in a small boat, or when we hit that poor animal...

For you who don't know what reindeers are like: they go in packs and walk (or run) around where ever they want to. If they see a car, you can't predict what that animal does next, is it going to run around like a headless chicken or is it going to jump on top of the car.
Sometimes they just speed up in front of the car, stay on your lane, don't even understand to jump into the woods, they just block the road and poor driver is forced to drive slowly as long as this beautiful (but, sorry, little stupid) animal gets it, the car can actually hit it! Even hunk doesn't do the trick!

Hurdle of reindeers just walking around in Saariselkä, in a hotel's parking lot.
Tthey just don't give a damn about anything or anyone. You got to respect that.

I still love that little summer cabin so much and have had amazing time there even after that trip but that one I'll never forget, not because it was so great but because it was so eventful!
My dear, late grandfather really was smart to leave that for us to use, but boy did he know how eventful trips to that place can be!


More bad news, oh, no, sorry I meant... weather

Somehow, some years ago I was well known for my bad luck with weather.

My friends and family started to even joke around at some point not to go with me anywhere as it was pretty sure that some kind of natural disaster will happen.

Mallorca

Once in Mallorca, I and tens of others were relaxing and sunbathing by the pool when all of a sudden the staff came out yelling at us something in Spanish, we didn't quite get them but understood that we have to get inside immediately. Only 5 minutes later this typhoon hit the area. Sun lounges, tables, chairs... they all flew in the air as if they weigh nothing - and boom, over the fence they went, to the ocean... the entire pool area looked as if a missile had hit it, all gone. It took about 15-20 minutes to destroy pretty much everything! I don't even want to think what had happened if we were still there. Good thing we got warned!


Once in Dominican Republic..

It was my second visit there and I, specifically, wanted to go there since it was so beautiful and the weather was perfect.
The island is beautiful, no denying.
But the weather, well... not so much this time.

On our second day we went for a walk and it was drizzling, which I found a bit annoying as it was, after all, only our 2nd day and, obviously, I preferred sunny weather, coming from Finland (wherein it was winter and way below zero, like around -15 C).

Pool area, drops coming down already, that's why it's totally empty...

We walked around and my frustration started to increase as I really missed the sun so I exclaimed:
Ok, that's it, since it has to rain, why not just let it all out! B-R-I-N-G IT ON!

Big mistake! On that same second the heavy rain started - and I don't think I've never been that wet within seconds! It was literally as if someone just dropped 10 buckets of water on me within seconds. You couldn't even see a thing in front of you.
Out of 9 days of our vacay, 6 of them was raining cats and dogs. I should have kept my mouth shot. (Which is NOT an easy task for me, I'm way too talkative and opinionated for that!)

Well, once again, lesson learnt - do not wish for more rain!

What a beautiful day our last day there was...

Canary Islands

Some years later we were in Canary Islands and since it was a rainy day, which we, this time, knew was coming, we decided to rent a car and drive to a big mall that was about 30 km away from our hotel.
We didn't have a GPS, only a map but the route was quite forward, we had 2 choice; the scenic ocean road or the highway, of course we chose the road by the ocean.
Mistake No. 1. It was a grey, rainy day, no proper views.

We passed one crossroads where there was a tunnel, and we saw a car there, floating! The tunnel was half full of water. We kept driving as our route didn't go that way.
Mistake No. 2. When you see places flooding, turn around!

We saw streams of water coming down from the mountains, and these streams turned into small rivers that went across the road we were on. We drove through the first one. Then the second one. It kept raining.
Once we saw a third one we realized that Mistake No. 3 was to go through even after we saw these streams turning into rivers. The third one was so wide that it has bits and pieces of buildings floating towards the ocean (and the actual road started to disappear), all that junk was probably from villages on the mountains.

At that point we realized that if the current was so strong that it moved pieces of small buildings, it would probably twitch our car along with it, straight to the ocean.
We started to freak out a little... (well, a lot) and quickly turned the car around.

By the time we got back to the second stream, it was almost as big as the other, we almost got trapped there - I don't even want to think about it as we had children on the back seat, so we pretend to keep calm but we were scared, I admit.

Sunset the day before the pouring rain,
you can see those dark clouds approaching...

Finally we managed to get to the highway, but that was really scary moment, close call I'd say.

On the following day, when the sun was out again, we had a chat with the diving instructor who told us there was no point in going snorkeling or diving because of the weather was so bad the day before.
Then I confessed that I was quite known for bringing bad weather with me. I told him about my trip to Mallorca and he says; No way! It was you? He was joking I guess, but then he told us that his friend lost his sail ship on that typhoon and that's why he remembers it so well.

For a moment I felt guilty, because I had bad luck with weather this poor guy had lost his boat.
What can I say? Oops, sorry, my bad!?

Besides, it's not my fault the weather gets bad sometimes and I just happen to be there at the same time, right?


Not working out!

As some of you probably know, English is not my first language and it causes sometimes strange, or maybe more correct word would be embarrassing situations.

There was this one (out of many) time I was in Australia and just chilling on the beach...

This day on the beach weather was quite windy and those of you who've been in Australia, know that when you're on the beach on a windy day, the sound of wind and waves crashing the shore can be loud.

On the background you can see Surfer's Paradise.
That's where all this happened.

So, I was waiting on my friends and this guy comes to me and I was having hard time hearing time because of the above mentioned reasons.
We did chat a little though and I heard him asking if I worked. I told him that, yeah, occasionally, so he asked "Where?" So I explained him that in this small, beautiful little Italian restaurant by the promenade.
I was a bit surprised as he quite soon just took off. Not that I minded as I wasn't interested in him but it was nice to have a chat with someone, I like meeting new people.

However, just later that day I realized the reason to his strange behavior. He had asked me whether I work OUT - not whether I work!

Oh, no! This crazy Finn had just made a complete fool out of herself!
I hoped I never see him again (I didn't) as that was so embarrassing! He must have thought; Wow, this chick is fit, but absolutely, insane. I did, after all, responded to his "work out" question that "I do, in a restaurant."
Not my brightest moment! ...and I consider(ed) myself relatively smart person.

Ok, maybe next time if I don't hear properly what someone's saying I keep repeating "Pardon me?" for as long as it takes so that I hear every single word.

Lesson learnt again: Listen, make sure you understood the question and just then respond!

(But no worries, I am totally able to laugh at myself and my mistakes, we all make them, why not just enjoy them then? We all need a good laugh at times and I get those more than enough with my eventful life, now that's for sure!)
***

Ok, let me tell you, this doesn't happen anymore, lately weather has been pretty good on my trips, so don't worry, you don't have to leave the destination just because I may be coming to same place!

To be honest though, I can't promise if you and I  travel together, that it's going to be happily boring trip where nothing happens, as things just seem to happen to me, but that's what makes life so wonderful, events, things, people, destinations, adventures that you can remember even years later!

- - -
Maybe not the most exotic adventures but not to worry, there's more to come!
Make sure you come back next week for Part III, more stories of my life that I live to the fullest...

I promise you my adventures are everything but boring - even the smallest of trips can turn into adventures when I'm around. Happy life! Let's live, not just dream of living!
- - -

...End of Part II - to be continued!

Incidents just keep on happening!

Dear Reader,

Do you know that feeling when you feel like the moment you're living is too weird to be true? As if it was a dream? Yes? Well, so do I and this is a story of such moments on my trips around the world.

As most of the events have been somewhat unfortunate, I don't have pictures of them, so I will post happy pictures of same trips instead, hope that doesn't disappoint you too much.

Although I'm a hospitality professional and many of you expect me to only write about hotels and hospitality, I feel that there is a wider audience out there if I write also about my experiences on my journeys, not just happy trips to wonderful hotels - not that I complain, there is nothing more relaxing than just kick your shoes off, find a proper sun lounge, get a good book and a cool drink and relax while an excellent guest service takes care of all your needs in a luxury hotel.
No worries my friends, I will introduce you wonderful hotels in October & November while on my Asia tour. Be patient, the luxury section is coming!

Yes, I understand that reading about luxury lifestyle may not be interesting to everyone, but that is part of my livelihood and I do like it, so bare with me - besides, of course I feel privileged and honored to stay at the amazing luxury hotel and write about it so no, I'm not complaining - far from it, please understand my point of you and don't complain either! Support me and I'll support you! Reciprocity, you know..?

Anyway... back to today's topic; sometimes things just happen - and some might say more to me than others.
Well, if I only stayed at home and do nothing, most likely nothing would happen. But due to eternal wanderlust I have the urge of leaving, going, seeing... need for living, not just for existing. And that's when things start to happen.

This post is not about just one trip. I will tell you about separate incidents I was involved with, one way or the other during my trips. Ok, I know some of my followers even feel sorry for me since for some those unexpected things ruin their trips, but hey, no need to be sorry, I happen to think that those are the moments you remember and laugh at afterwards... and, in my case, I get to share with others, too.
Besides, behind almost every unlucky event there is a lesson to be learnt - whether I learnt them or not, well, that's another question, remains to be seen!

Since there are so many stories to tell, I decided to spare you and not post them all at once but in 3 parts.

Part I is here below.
Part II will be published in one week,
Part III will be published in 2 weeks.

Get your soda and pop corn ready and feel free to entertain yourselves on my expense.
Feel free to have fun!
- - -

PART I

When Africa almost had it

I can't believe I'm saying this but it's true, this happened already over 20 yrs ago - yes, we are going that far, almost  ancient history.

I was at Helsinki airport, I had to wait for my flight for almost 6 hours. I was trying to figure out something to do as back in the days internet was no option. I had couple of books with me, however, unfortunately, I had taken part II instead of part II of this series I was reading to my carry on back and the part I was in my (checked-in) suitcase. So, I went back to the check-in desk and asked if it was still possible to get my luggage back since it was still quite many hours until my flight to Singapore (and then to Sydney and from Sydney to Coolangatta airport). Lady behind the counter told me she'd try. Quite soon I heard my name from the speakers and went back to the counter, to find that lady looking confused, I could tell that immediately. So I asked her if something was wrong.
So she carefully asks: Where exactly were you heading again? At this stages I must have looked confused, which I was. Of course she must know my destination, she has my ticket! I replied: To Australia, Coolangatta airport.
She says: Not according to you luggage tag.
It turned out that according to this tag, my bag was on its way to a small village in Africa!
Seriously?
So it turned out that it was actually an excellent thing that I ended up asking to get my luggage back for a moment, had I not done that, I might have ended up to Australia for 6 months without any of my belongings as I strongly doubt that my suitcase had ever found its way back to me.

After that I have very carefully checked out my luggage tags, or at least asked the airport/check-in officer to make sure that the code there is correct. In my case it was just one letter that made all the difference, letter G that was supposed to be C. That was a close call!

Scooter drive in Cyprus

Many years ago I was on holidays in Cyprus. We rented a scooter and were driving around, just having fun.

Well, it was fun until a bee decided that it wants to bump its head half way into my side! Yes, you read right! I guess we had so much speed that when the poor bee accidentally hit me, it literally lost its body and only the head got stuck to my side, right below my ribs. Did it hurt? Heck yeah!! And as if that wasn't enough, I burnt my foot with scooter's exhaust pipe, which made my skin literally smell like burning, fried stake. Oh man, that hurt!! The weather was really hot, almost +40 and I couldn't even go to the pool until 8 days later.. what a trip!

Just to clarify things, please know that I have, indeed, experienced many wonderful successful trips, these incidents are just small parts of my travels - not all of them are disasters!

Road trip in Florida

There was this one time I was on a road trip in Florida with my son, who was back then about 10 yrs. He has always been quite fluent in English so he was fun and easy travel companion.
I will always remember his reaction when I asked him one day at home if he wanted to go to Disney world sometimes. (As if any about 10 yr old would say No!!). He calmly said, yeah, why not. So I asked if next week would be ok? "Yeah, mom, right, good one." was pretty much his comment. I was silent for a moment and then said: No, I mean really, how about if we leave next Monday?

Then it started to get through to him that we might be going for real. It was as if the sun had shone all over his face (mid January, darkest time of the year in Finland, not a chance!) Of course he wanted to go, so we did, we went for a spontaneous road trip to Florida within 4 days warning. Fun!

On that trip I learnt that sometimes best things really happen when you get lost.

We rented this fun little yellow sports car and went to Fort Lauderdale for 2 days and then headed to Orlando. Naturally, as it was winter in Finland, one of the main reasons we chose Florida was its amazing weather, which it was in Fort Lauderdale, about +25 C and sunny.


On our 3rd day we made it to Orlando, Boardwalk hotel to be more exact.

I was kind of wandering why the valet guys had so much clothes on when they came to greet as in order to unpack and park our car. As soon as I stepped out of the car it hit me; It's cold! And I don't mean cold as if cool breeze and +20 C, I mean cold as if closer to zero degrees! What the heck? We are in Florida!
It turned out that it was the coldest weather in like a hundred years, it was basically nearly below zero, even the roads were frosty and all the flora were freezing hotel's gardeners were covering them up, there were warning signs on TV, basically on every channel, indicating that there may be ice on the roads and that people should stay home. For someone like me who has lived in Lapland and experiences over -40 C this shouldn't be a bid deal. However, it was as we only had summer clothing with us. But the lesson learnt of that part of the trip was: Always bring your jacket.

So, the first thing next morning we drove to the nearest mall to buy jackets and other warm clothes - c'mon, we're in Florida for Pete's sake!!
Thank God it only lasted for another day and then it was back to +25 C. All good, happy days!

Get lost...

...and we did (multiple times)!
At one time ended up seeing this weird looking house. It was all crooked and, at first we were wondering if it's us, but no, it was the house. It happened to be Ripley's
Believe it or Not museum. Amaziiing!! We didn't even know that there was one but we had seen the show on TV and loved it, so, since we were lost and couldn't find the water park we wanted, we ended up to the museum and we had so much fun!

After the museum we ended up to this grill restaurant, wherein we played cards while waiting for our food and we wanted to take funny photos so I was making these weird, funny facial expressions and my son was laughing literally tears in his eyes and eventually I started to question my comedian skills as I didn't think my face was that funny...
Well, guess what, it wasn't. The funny thing was, there was a waiter right next to me looking at me as if I was a total idiot... making such faces - grown a** woman!! And no, my son did not tell me he was there! How embarrassing.. Good heavens, he must have thought that I'm some loony toony woman... thanks son, no need to tell me that someone's watching! Haha, ok, I admit, now it is funny, but boy was it embarrassing back then! Me and my foolery... there is time and the place for it, but obviously, not whilst waiting for the food.
Lesson learnt: don't make funny faces or if you do, make sure that no one's watching!

Even more important lesson learnt was: Get lost and you shall find!

My first trip to Thailand

My first trip to Thailand was supposed to take place when the tsunami hit it. Because of the tsunami I had to cancel the trip as the entire village were our hotel located, was swept away by the tsunami wave.

Couple of years later we decided that it's now time to go to Thailand. However, we did book the trip from the eastern part of the country, just to be on the safe side.


Safely sunbathing

One day we were sunbathing by the pool in a very nice, 4 star hotel, palm trees hanging above us, providing us with a little bit of shade under the hot sun. We were reading books when all of a sudden my partner exclaimed: "Whoa!!! Did you see that???" I'm keeping my cool: No I didn't, what do you mean?
I can see that he is somewhat astonished but didn't know what was going on. He starts to explain: You see all those palm leaves on the ground? I was just reading my book and I thought just another palm leaf fell on my chest and when I looked at it, it was actually a snake!! Real, alive snake! We kept staring at each other, probably both being scared to death and wondering which one of us reacts first... I quickly swiped it away, into those bushes!"

Yea, right, I said. He keeps claiming that it was a snake and gets up to see if it's still there, and OMG, it was!! It was a green snake with alarmingly bright yellow pattern on its back. We actually even got a photo of it, unfortunately I can't find it now. But imagine that, what are the odds that a snake is trying to basically "jump" from one palm tree to another (I actually have no idea what it tried to do, and why it fell, but it really was crazy!) and fails and falls on you - ok, not on me, but nearly! Only on Mia's trips, some might say...
Guess if I have ever sunbathe under a palm tree after that?

There is the lovely "flying snake pool" :)

Trip to Koh Tao

On that same trip we ended up into a huge storm in the middle of the ocean on our way from Koh Tao back to Koh Samui. I have lived in Australia and been to Hawaii, Los Angeles, various islands in Asia and Europe, Caribbean etc. but I've never, ever in my life seen waves like that. The ferry/boat was basically on the bottom of the wave in one minute and meters and meters higher, on top of the wave the next. People were screaming and vomiting, holding on to their dear lives as they kept falling down, their belongings kept rolling away from them as the deck of the ferry (it was the type of ferry that can have passengers inside lower and upper floor and there was also lower and upper deck outside, and we were on the upper deck) was in 45 degree angle at times. Every single person was more or less scared and also sea sick. My partner was quite calm, lucky me!

View from our villa at Koh Tao

I held on to him the entire trip as I know that he is probably one of the best swimmers on that ship (and there were only life jackets to maybe 1/10 of us). For some reason I float really well so I even started to make plans on how to rescue ourselves if we don't make it. He can swim and I float until the rescue comes, if sharks don't eat us before it - then I realized that those waves were so high that no boat could pick us up!
I counted minutes in hopes of seeing some land somewhere and finally we did.
Because of that experience I still haven't gone back to Koh Tao, and I loved it there, it was so incredibly beautiful!




My trip to Athens to attend to ILHA summit

Last May I was in Athens, wherein I attended ILHA Summit in Ledra hotel. In most cases in try to fly with Finnair in order to collect frequent flyer points but unfortunately Finnair didn't have any direct flights to Athens by that time so I booked flights via KLM.

On my last day I get a text message from KLM indicating that my flight Athens-Amsterdam will be delayed at least by two hours. At first I was all cool, no worries, more time for me to sunbathe.

Wait, hold on!

What about my connecting flight? So I had to call to KLM's customer service and the guy tells me that there is no way I will make it to my connecting flight, i.e. Amsterdam-Helsinki as it was only 2 hr stopover. He starts to browse other flights and comes up with Air France flight from Athens to Paris and then with Finnair from Paris to Helsinki. Ok, that sounds good, let's do that.

Then he tells me that the flight departures 15.15. (that's 3.15 pm), and I confirm, that's fine. Then I ask the receptionist to call me a cab as I only have 1 h and 50 minutes to make the flight and the driving time to airport is about 45 min. So the hotel staff kindly explained the driver already on the phone that I'm in a hurry, which was very kind of them. I make it into the cab and it turns out that the driver can actually speak pretty good English. While we're chatting she asks me what time does my flight departure. I tell her that 3.15 (pm) and just then I realized, my watch is not moving, its battery is dead - whoa, wait a minute - WHAT TIME IS IT?

Turns out that I only have 50 minutes to make it to my flight!! That lady, she drove like there's no tomorrow!! Our own Finnish Formula 1 chamption Kimi Räikkönen would have admired that driving!
Pedestrians didn't dare to cross the streets when they saw her coming, she just kept honking and sh took all the small road routes to avoid traffic and, finally, drove to the airport only in about 25-30 min which should be basically impossible!

I got to the airport and was last one to check in and this lady, some airport officer kindly escorted me quickly to security check point, and at that point I hear an announcement, they are already calling me on the gate, which - of course - happened to be the last gate of that wing, boy did I run with my carry on bag! OMG! I made it! I was last one to enter the plane, had I arrived 1 minute later, they would have left without me.

Yet another lesson learnt: Make sure you check the time when making changes, always double check!


When Krabi put me on my knees

There was this time we were wandering around Krabi. It was our second day and like I said earlier, I'm known as a person who is quite active and when you do things, as a consequence, not so pleasant things may happen as well.

My partner wanted to go cycling in the morning. I told him that for me it may not be a good idea, too much traffic, with my luck some car knocks me over to the nearest ditch. He was a bit hesitant to leave me there (in the hotel area!) and I said, c'mon, I travel around the world by myself, I think I can manage to sunbathe an hour - two alone. So, off he went. I walked to the bar to get a diet coke, took some towels for sun lounge and then decided that I want to go to the further pool, to get some privacy. So no danger there.

I was, once again, wrong.

There was this concrete paved area there, just one step to get there.
(In the photo below, right behind the upper deck.)

I decided to be sporty girl and jump that step. Unfortunately sand underneath me gave in and I tricked over, all my stuff flew around, along with my hat, coke, bag, towels etc. and - of course - there were about ten people still enjoying their breakfast and I ended up being the entertaining clown who ended up falling down, all over the place.

I scraped my belongings along with my dignity of the ground and kept walking until I got behind the corner. Me knee was all wounded and bleeding. Yeah, right, what could happen?


I took a photo of my knee and sent it to my partner:
Nothing new here, how about there?







End of Part I

---

Come back next weekend for more stories of unexpected stories of real life.
Trust me, it's worth it!

,,,yes, unexpected events have become familiar, but also happy events, and you'll get to read those stories too, once this 3-part blog post is done, so stay with me.

Little tip on what's to come: bugs and bad weather...

Happy times with good laughs are yet to come!

xoxo!