Keeping up with our tradition of spending Thanksgiving in a tropical place, this year we are going to beautiful and exotic Thailand!
For the scuba group, CLICK HERE
As always, we are taking advantage of the holiday and weekends, so that you only have to take three days off work, but go on a nine-day vacation to one of the most beautiful places on earth.
We are going to be based in Phuket, one of the most beautiful places in Thailand. November is one of the best times to go: clear skies, calm and clear waters, but still not in the thick of the high season.
Here are some of the highlights:
- Visit Phi Phi Island (yes, from Leonardo Di Caprio's movie The Beach).
- Snorkeling at the Racha Yai islands.
- Visit James Bond Island
- Go on Hong by Starlight, one of the most amazing tours in Phuket.
- Visit an elephant sanctuary and a tiger sanctuary!
- Seeing The Big Buddha, Wat Chalong, Bangla Road, Phuket Old
Town, Night Markets, and other unique things to Phuket.
- Watch a gorgeous sunset from Promthep Cape
- Have a day to do super fun activities such as ziplining, ATV, GoKart, Wakeboarding and even FlowRider Surfing!
- Go to unique Thai night shows such as Siam Niarit, and Simon Cabaret Show .
All the hotel stays at double-occupancy (please see OCCUPANCY below).
8 Breakfasts, 3 Lunches, 1 Dinner
Transportation to and from airports (if you arrive within the flight guidelines).
Entrance to all activities, tours, & locations listed in the itinerary unless otherwise listed as optional.
English-speaking guides throughout the trip (guides won't be with us 24/7, but we will have guides throughout the trip).
1000 Treks Group Leader throughout the trip.
Flights to and from Phuket
Any activity listed as optional or not specifically listed as included in the itinerary.
Any meal not specifically listed in the itinerary
Required at the latest 7 days after final payment for the trip.
Gratuities to guides, drivers, staff, etc.
Any potential rentals outside of included activities.
Souvenirs or anything you would like to purchase.
PAYMENT TERMS
- A deposit of $400 (non-refundable, but movable) starts your reservation. Once you make your deposit, you will need to fill out the questionnaire that will be sent to you, sign our contract and send us a copy of your passport within 72 hours to guarantee your spot. You can read the contract in advance HERE.
- You will have until August 23, 2024 (three months before the trip) to finish making your payment. You can make payments in any way you prefer, so long as you are fully paid by August 23, 2024.
- Your deposit is movable. That means, if you need to cancel your participation in the trip for any reason before August 23, 2024, you may request a credit for 100% of your deposit that can be applied to any 1000 Treks Trip which departs within one year of the departing date of the original trip.
- Uplift Financing available. Low-interest travel financing with low APR, no pre-payment penalty, and no effect on credit.
FLIGHTS
Flights are NOT included.
Flight Guidelines
Shuttles will be provided if you meet the flight guidelines below:
Arrival: Arrive at Phuket International Airport (HKT) on Saturday, November 23 between 10am and 5pm. Check in at the hotel is at 2:00PM
Departure: Leave Phuket International Airport (HKT) on Sunday, December 1 between 10am and 5pm. Check-out from the hotel is at 12:00PM.
IMPORTANT MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
- Trip Physical Level: 3
- All trips are governed by our comprehensive contract. You should familiarize yourself with it prior to signing up for any of our trips. You can access it by clicking HERE or visiting https://www.1000treks.com/contract/. A link to the contract can also be found at the bottom of all our web pages under CONTRACT.
- Travel insurance is required. You will need to provide a copy of your insurance policy to 1000 Leagues Travel at the latest seven (7) days after the final payment for the Trip.
- Some countries impose taxes such as VAT, hotel taxes, city taxes, etc. It is impossible to predict every tax for every city in every country, so, every now and then, we run into additional taxes that travelers need pay on-the-spot. They are usually very small, but be aware that it sometimes happens, and when it does, those taxes are your responsibility.
- Because of the adventurous nature of our trips, from time to time, we need to make changes to the itinerary, schedule, accommodations, amenities, and mode of transportation. Those changes are rare, but do happen. Whenever they happen, we will do our best to maintain the integrity of the trip.
- VISA: As of the time of this posting American citizens don’t need a visa for Thailand, so long as your stay is under 30 days. If you have a foreign passport, you may need a visa. Here's the Thailand Official Webpage on Visas so you can look into that:
We also recommend that everyone, regardless of citizenship, periodically check to make sure visa requirements have not changed as 1000 Treks is not responsible for any changes.
ARRIVE IN PHUKET | FREE DAY | ORIENTATION MEETING | FREE EVENING
Sawasdee! Welcome to gorgeous Thailand, home of some of the most beautiful places you will ever see, and some of the most beautiful and friendly people you will ever meet!
Arrive in Phuket at any time between 10am and 5pm. Check in at our hotel is at 2pm. We will have a free day to go to the beach, one block away, to walk around town (Phuket is generally safe and very tourist-friendly) or just chill at the pool at the hotel. At 8pm we will have our brief orientation meeting where we will get to meet each other and get whatever information we need.
Accommodations: Ibis Phuket Kata or similar
Meals: N/A
SNORKELING AT RACHA YAI | SIMON CABARET SHOW | BANGLA ROAD
We'll kick off our amazing week with a snorkeling trip to Racha Yai, together with the scuba divers. With crystal-clear turquoise waters, white sandy beaches, and diverse marine life, Racha Yai will be the perfect beginning for an amazing trip!
This will be a full day outing from 7:45am until around 4:30pm, and we will have lunch on the boat.
As if that wasn’t enough, if you are interested you can go scuba diving! Yup, you read that right. Even if you have never done it. You can do a Discover Scuba dive, in which you take a brief class, and go diving with an instructor accompanying you. No experience necessary! We actually have quite a few 1000 Trekkers that have become scuba divers after trying Discover Scuba, so, maybe that will be the beginning of a new, super-fun chapter of your life!
And in the evening, well, we are in Thailand, might as well experience everything that is famous about Thailand. This evening we will have an optional outing to see the Simon Cabaret Show. This is one of Phuket's most popular shows, a funny and entertaining show performed by the Thai ladyboys!
After the show, we will go hang out and have a drink at Phuket's famous Bangla Road.
Accommodations: Ibis Phuket Kata or similar
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
FREE MORNING | PHUKET CITY TOUR | SUNSET FROM PROMTHEP CAPE
Today we'll have a free morning to sleep in, relax, go to the hotel pool, or go to the beach. Kata beach, one block away from the hotel, is where Surf House is located. There we can ride the FlowRider surf machine, that provides shallow water flows, which can be used for surfing and or wake boarding.
But we couldn't visit Phuket and not do a city tour, where we get to experience an authentic Thai island town. So, right after lunch (12:30), we'll go on a 6-hour city tour where we will visit all the must-see places in town, like the famous Big Buddha, Wat Chalong Temple, and finish up by watching the sunset from PromThep Cape
Accommodations: Ibis Phuket Kata or similar
Meals: Breakfast
JAMES BOND ISLAND | KOH PANYI FLOATING VILLAGE
Today we'll go on a trip to another one of the must-go places in Phuket: James Bond Island, a unique looking limestone island made famous by being the hideout of the villain in the James Bond movie The Man With the Golden Gun. The island is located in Phang Nga Bay, which is actually full of unique looking islands.
We will also visit, Koh Panyi Floating Village, a village built almost entirely on stilts. We will stop there for lunch (not included), and spend some time at this very unique village.
Accommodations: Ibis Phuket Kata or similar
Meals: Breakfast
ELEPHANT SANCTUARY | TIGER KINGDOM | SIAM NIARIT
Today is a very special day! We will spend the morning with rescued elephants, and the afternoon with tigers! All done in a very humane and respectful way, putting the animals safety, health, care, and happiness first.
We will start early in the morning, getting picked up at 7:15am and taken to the Elephant Sanctuary. We will spend the whole morning with the elephants, and get to feed them, play with them, and swim with them! Yup! You read that correctly! Check this out!
At the end of the morning, they will have lunch for us (Thai food and fruits).
Then after lunch, we continue to the next amazing animal encounter: Tigers! We'll go to Tiger Kingdom, where will get to interact with tigers that have been habituated to humans. They are not drugged, chained, defanged or declawed; they are simply happy tigers that don't see humans as either pray or threat . Entrance to Tiger Kingdom is free, and you pay separately to have the tiger encounters. Prices, depending on the tiger, vary from $30-$40 (the ones that don't bite are more expensive. Just kidding!! :-D).
Well be back to the hotel later in the afternoon, and will have the rest of the evening free.
In the evening we will have an optional outing to see Siam Niarit. Siam Niramit Phuket is a surprising show narrating 700 years of Thailand’s history. The stage is immense, and the choreography involving more than a hundred people is spotless. The narration is simple and clear enough for everyone to understand each scene. The superb sound system immerses you in a fantastic world based on centuries of Thai myths and legends. It is seriously impressive.
Accommodations: Ibis Phuket Kata or similar
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
FREE DAY OR FULL DAY OF FUN ACTIVITIES | ZIPLINING | LUGE | ATV | GO KART | WAKEBOARDING
This would not be a 1000 Treks trip if we didn't have at least one day of fun and exciting activities. So today we'll have a full free day where you can either relax, plan any extra outing on your own, or, if you want to have crazy fun, choose from a host of exhilarating activities that we’ll organize and schedule according to interest when we get a little closer and have the group set, but here are our choices:
Depending on how the schedule flows, you should be able to do at least two activities if you want. Again, we will plan the schedule when we have the group set, but go ahead and get excited and think about which activity or activities you want to do. Prices vary from $25 to $100.
Accommodations: Ibis Phuket Kata or similar
Meals: Breakfast
HONG BY STARLIGHT CANOE TOUR
Today we'll go on one of Phuket's most famous outings: Hong by Starlight, a sea canoe outing where we will get to paddle specially made canoes through sea caves! We'll get to explore a beautiful pristine island with hidden cliff-lined lagoons populated with macaques, water monitors, kingfishers, mudskippers, egrets, Sea Eagles and Brahminy Kites.
The tour starts early in the afternoon (we'll be picked up late in the morning, at around 11:30am), and returns two hours after sunset. It includes lunch and a Thai buffet dinner at sunset.
Accommodations: Ibis Phuket Kata or similar
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
PHI PHI ISLAND PRIVATE TOUR
For our last full day, we will go to the most famous island in the Phuket area: The famous Phi Phi Island. Phi Phi island was made famous to the world by Leonardo Di Caprio's movie The Beach.
We'll get picked up at 7:45 to be taken to the pier and to the island on a private boat. In Phi Phi we will visit Maya bay, Phuket's (and one of the world's) most famous postcards, drive by Monkey beach, a beach ruled by monkeys (really), go snorkeling, and have free time on the main island.
We will be back at around 5pm, and have our farewell dinner at Kan Eang 2, one the best seafood restaurants in Phuket.
Accommodations: Ibis Phuket Kata or similar
Meals: Breakfast
TIME TO SAY GOODBYE
We don't want to say goodbye to beautiful Thailand, so we'll say ฉันจะพบคุณอีกครั้ง! (C̄hạn ca phb khuṇ xīk khrậng!, translated to “I will see you again!”) and promise to one day return to this beautiful country.
Accommodations: N/A
Meals: Breakfast
