Our next stop was Koh Samui and we had two short flights with Bangkok Airways, so filled up with breakfast from our hotel, we headed over to Chiang Mai International Airport via taxi to check in.

The first thing we noticed was that everything had to be scanned as we entered the terminal building – great security but it did confuse us as we weren’t sure if we needed to get our liquids and electronics out at this point! After negotiating security we headed over to Bangkok Airways check-in where we managed to check in all three bags and stay under the weight limit which for these flights was just 20kg. Our folding duffle bag was perfect at this point and as we had forgotten a padlock to secure it Dave managed to tie the zip down with a hair bobble!

At check in we were given stickers and directed to the Bangkok Airways free lounge to wait for our flight. We found our way to the second floor and were very impressed that the lounge not only had comfortable seating and free wifi but also free food and drink – including popcorn which was a huge hit with Sophie. As we knew we wouldn’t be arriving on Koh Samui until around 1.30pm and would most likely miss lunch we all had a few snacks to keep us going.

Flight One – Chiang Mai to Bangkok

We made our way through security with our liquids and electronics separated this time and headed to the gate for our first flight. We have a top tip here – if you have been taking your sun cream around with you day to day in your backpack please ensure you stow it safely away in your checked bags before any internal flights – we didn’t and lost a whole bottle – we were gutted, especially given suncream costs between £10 – £15 a bottle in Thailand.

We settled down for our short flight and the girls enjoyed looking out the window. Much to our surprise around 15 minutes into the flight we were served a light meal of cheese & egg croissants and fresh fruit – not a hit with the girls but we very much enjoyed it. We also had water, tea, coffee and orange juice offered to us.

On landing, we knew we had just an hour to get to our second flight, and as we departed from our first flight we were once again impressed with Bangkok Airways as they had staff holding a board listing all the connecting flights and their gate numbers.

After a short walk, we were able to sit down and relax for 45 minutes before our next flight.

Flight Two – Bangkok to Koh Samui

When boarding opened for our second flight we were directed to buses that were to take us across the tarmac to our flight. We were all (Dave less so) very excited at the prospect of standing next to our plane and climbing up the staircase to board!

Again we settled into our seats and this time Sophie was by the window looking out as we made our ascent.  Then much to our surprise, it was time for another in-flight meal! This time we had fresh fruit, lemon chicken and rice as well as water, tea, coffee and orange juice. All our worries about being hungry were completely unnecessary as if anything we overfed on these two flights!

The girls loved looking out the window as we flew over Koh Pha-ngan and then made our approach to Koh Samui airport where the pilot was given a round of applause as he landed.

The airport was beautiful, open air with stunning views over the island and again we were bused from the plane to the terminal.

We navigated our way to the meeting point where we were met by our taxi which took us on the short journey to our home for the next 8 nights – Sazana Villa Resort