I've had an amazing couple of weeks with a good group and a fantastic "ninja" Arthur and his sidekick Oat the intern but equally cooler than a cucumber. The tour itself has been great for seeing a lot in a short space of time with plenty of fun things to do and a decent balance of your own time to do what you want (with plenty of info/ideas from Arthur+Oat) but also without feeling too rushed. This was also my first ever tour and I've travelled quite a lot independently and work in travel but I fancied letting someone else do all of the planning and thinking to give my brain a break and in turn I've definitely done and seen more in 16 days than I would have managed on my own. It's been a very fun and friendly itinerary with all of the destinations being top choices with beautiful scenery, plenty of food, shops and nightlife (which you can take a break from if you need) and also a few good surprises. The full moon party was sick partying til Sun rise (well half of us made it), Arthur and Oat stayed all night and made clear where they will be if anyone needed them and just in general always great to be around with an awesome sense of humour, cool guys, cannot fault them! I also had my 30th birthday on this trip which I wasn't looking forward to but Arthur and Oat and the dudes made it one to remember in Koh Tao. Thanks for the cake! Arthur and Oat really communicated things well during the trip, and even before with introductions on email and by Facebook group, they made excellent use of this group to tell us what the plan was with times and things for the next day or so (after they told us in person, it was a nice reassurance especially for times) and also we used as a tool for sharing photos and videos from the trip which was nice to look at lying in bed as most places had wifi. Arthur had an in depth knowledge of all the places and I've overhead him helping people who have already left that only did 10 days of the trip (as they booked it) which I think is a great touch for the tour operator to still give a hoot after you leave, that's a brilliant principle for a travel company. Accomodation wise most of the places have been very good, clean with friendly hotel/hostel staff. Bangkok: Mango Lagoon, nice hotel, good pool, good location. Khao Sok floating bungalows, big double beds, nice views, electric only on from 6-6 this is cos of generators or something, not a problem for me but some people couldn't cope without a hairdryer, again good experience and live a little in the wild. Koh Pha-ngnan, I wish we stayed at Bottle Beach longer than 1 night (beautiful, great bar, nice atmosphere and a bit of pyromania) before moving to Echo Beach at as those beds were solid and the AC didn't work for the first day and a half which wasn't ideal when we were recovering from full moon but it is what it is, no point crying about it, when they got round to fixing it, it was a frickin' blessing. Koh Tao, Pranee Amata, this was simpleh' loveleh' and good proximity to the beach and town. If I were to amend the trip I would take a day or 2 from KP and add to KT. Phi Phi, Indigo, got put in a loft hotel room with a roof garden thing, it was very nice and great location in the centre of all of the hustle and bustle... Love how Arthur is chasing us up at the end of the trip to make sure we know how to get from A to B for the next part of people's trips or to airports, that's brilliant. He's definitely a brilliant credit your company and has certainly played a good mix of music on this trip! #dancemonkeydance Overall this has been a great trip and is making me think of applying for a role myself. You are very likely to hear from me in later in the year. Thank you.
