Travel within Thailand is a doddle! And so much fun, and sometimes a bit of an adventure too. Let me give you a flavour of how it works.

Back in the 1990s when I was teaching in Bangkok I used to regularly take holidays down in the very very special archipelago in the Gulf of Siam, in the southern portion of the nation. Like three or four times every year. The islands are, in decreasing size, Ko Samui, Ko Phangan, Ko Tao, where ‘Ko’ means island. My method was to choose one island for my main stay, and one other for a shorter time.

Now while holidays on these three islands in the 90s were something so special as to be ‘out of this world’, my story here is how I used to get down there from Bangkok.

So, late afternoon I’d leave my apartment in Lard Prao in northern Bangkok, walk two minutes to the main road and flag down a taxi, which would appear in no more than 1-2 minutes. That would deliver me to the train station, an hour before my train was due. This would give me time to eat there, enjoying a fiery curry and a cold beer, and to just take in the atmosphere of where I was. Being on the travel puts me in serious buzz and excitement mode, always has done!

My train would arrive, about 6pm, and I would find my carriage and seat. It was an overnight train, and would arrive in Surat Thani about 12 hours later. I always booked up a lower berth bed when possible, but sometimes would have to get the upper berth, and then you climbed a ladder with about four steps on it! I always used to think of Some Like It Hot, that great movie starring Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis.

Once I was settled in, and the train was out of Bangkok, I would usually make my way along to the buffet car. A meal and beers were always the order of the evening as the train made its progress southwards through night-time Thailand. I always chose second-class sleeper carriages with fans, not air-con, because part of the excitement was hearing all the night noises of tropical Thailand coming in through the windows, and enjoying the different smells. Sometimes I would practise my Thai with other Thai passengers, and sometimes I would meet interesting travellers and we would swap travel tales. Other times I would fill my head with reggae from my Walkman. I always imploded with supreme joy.

You would be woken up in the morning by the carriage attendant, and shortly find yourself at Surat Thani train station. A bus would be waiting for us right there, we’d climb aboard and it would then drive us hardy travellers to the express boat pier, about 40 minutes away. There was usually time to enjoy a top breakfast before getting on the boat for the two hour journey to Ko Samui. Mostly speaking the sea was calm, and the colours and sights and hot humid tropical air so exciting to drink into one’s consciousness. The blues and greens and huge open expanse of ocean and sky life were mesmerising.

During the boat journey, many Thai people would come to you with a photo album, with lots of pictures and information about their resorts on various beaches, usually family-owned and run. When I liked the look of one (or the family member was super beautiful!), I would choose it and that meant I was staying at their resort for at least one night.

Once we got to the island, my resort guide ushered me to their resort’s pick-up truck. I would walk along to their truck, deeply breathing and taking in the island air, sounds and smells, and feel stupendously good about life! I had arrived in my favourite place in the entire world and I was in a heavenly state of being.

Presently we’d be off, perhaps three or four of us, but often just me alone, driving along the island roads to get to their resort. And not long later I would be in a resort right on the beach, looking out into the stunning ocean and huge blue sky. If I liked it, great, i would stay there. If not, then I had nearly a day to find another one that would suit me. Of course, this was in the pre-internet days, and you never booked anything up, you always found what you liked once you got there.

So let me recap this journey, because this is travel working super efficiently!

Taxi from home to train station in Bangkok >> train to Surat Thani station >> bus to boat pier >> boat to island >> pick-up truck to beach resort.

How good is that?!! Everything waiting to take you to the next stage, and each method of transport bringing its own adventures. What a grand journey it was in itself, but the excitement of getting another stay in Ko Samui and Ko Phangan or Ko Tao was always at fever pitch for me, I was a hopeless addict for island life. Still am, but I get there less often these days since I live in Chiang Mai. Oh…

… so let me tell you briefly how it works in more recent times.

Taxi to Chiang Mai Airport >> plane to Krabi Airport >> taxi to a long-tail boat ‘pier’ in a fishing village >> long-tail boat to beautiful stunning non-touristed island, same pace of life as back in the 90s >> pick-up to beach resort. There!

You see how easy it is to travel in Thailand. Everything is set up to interlink and make things easy for the traveller, and it all runs like clockwork. For me all journeys in Asia are a huge part of any and all holidays. It’s a big adventure every time, and you know you’re heading towards a paradise while thoroughly enjoying the time spent getting there.

The stairway to heaven is always paved in gold in Thailand…