Waterfallsandcaribous seems to be on a winning streak…while not too long ago we bought you the news of the fabulous gift basket we received from Baobae, we are now lucky enough to find ourselves in the position to be bragging yet again of an exciting win. Convinced that our break in Xi’an over the Chinese New Year was to be our last pre-baby escape, we had settled ourselves into the saving, being responsible(ish) and not doing too much mode. While we knew Easter was the last available time off we could have before the ‘no-fly’ part of the pregnancy, we just couldn’t justify the expenditure. Then from out of nowhere came that line that we just love to see at the start of an email,
“Congratulations, you have won a pair of complimentary round-trip tickets with HK Express.”
What the?! Free FLIGHTS?! Seriously?! This was almost too good to be true! We weighed up the merits of each of the destinations we could choose from (Taichung, Kunming, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Sabah, Penang, Seoul, Tokyo, Osaka or Fukuoka) and in attempt not to bankrupt ourselves completely while on the ground (anywhere in food heaven Japan) and to make the most of an absolutely blissed out few days on a beach our tickets to Phuket were booked. Yes, our life can be really tough sometimes. 
Our last go on an LCC airline didn’t go so crash hot. Ironically, it was being asked about our most “memorable flight” that actually won us these tickets in the first place. We have to say though, HK Express delivered us from Hong Kong to Phuket with a minimum of fuss, no delays and no real worries. Arriving in Phuket at 3am Sunday morning, we had made the smart decision to get the resort to pick us up and whip us straight down to the bottom of the island, away from the gross party scene and hopefully to paradise. Finishing work on a Saturday evening, jumping on a plane and waking up ready to go near a Thai beach by first thing Sunday morning is DEFINITELY a recommended approach to travel. 
So what did we get up to in Phuket? Well, we went to Ya Nui Beach…
Kata Noi Beach…
Kata Beach…
And our favourite, Nai Harn Beach.
Some days we even alternated between a few of them. We swam in the pool.
We ate Thai food and drank Thai drinks.
We went to the beach some more and indulged in many a beautiful sunset.
And for a spot of adventure, we played mini-golf on what is possibly the Best mini-golf course we’ve had the pleasure of encountering in Asia. Not that the competition for that title has been much so far!
H-J won, of course.
The perfect holiday must come to an end and without fail have a small disaster or two. Luckily, a mere two hour flight delay (albeit shifting our flights from a gross 3am to an even grosser 5am given that we already at the airport!) and the only food option open being Burger King – who had stopped serving BEEF (!!!) were the worst things to happen to us.
The grey skies of Hong Kong welcomed us back with open arms and just like that, our little sojourn to paradise was but a memory.
A huge thanks to HK Express (with particular gratitude to Julie Diamond, their awesome PR Manager) and also to HK Magazine who ran the competition. Keep the wins coming universe!!!
Congratulations!!! That’s amazing you guys!! What a perfect pre-baby get-away for sure – it looks stunning!!
Not as stunning as the new parents to be though, you guys are glowing with happiness! What amazing memories to add into the mix!
It was the perfect little escape, for sure – and we’re already planning to take baby there after she arrives! She’ll be a right little beach bum 🙂
I love it when great things happen out of the blue! I’ll bet it was the best feeling as you boarded that flight and made your way to tropical island getaway heaven! Dino park looked awesome too!
Boarding the flight AND the flight actually taking off was a breath of fresh air after our last disaster. I don’t think either of us actually thought it would happen until we arrived safely at the resort, haha. The dinosaur mini-golf was loads of fun. Why is there not more mini-golf in this part of the world?!
Congrats on the most awesome win ever — I would just about cut someone to get whisked away to a tropical beach right now. (I’m only kind of kidding!) Your pictures made me jealous beyond belief – especially the beach ones. That water looks incredible, love that shade of blue!
Jealous? Really? We had NO idea all our pictures of endless stretches of white beach, crystal blue waters/skies and our relaxed, happy faces would make people jealous?! Shame on us! (Hehehehehe).
Cut away. Whatever gets you there in our view….
Where was the full moon party?!?
You know us…our experiences at the full moon party were just way too dirty and debauched to go into on the blog, haha.
Awesome pics 🙂
Thanks – it’s a country that lends itself nicely to beautiful pics eh!
Hooray for free tickets!!!
Free tickets are THE BOMB!!! The universe has been smiling on us this year and we are super grateful 🙂
Mini golf in a CAVE, awesome 🙂
This was definitely one of our top mini-golf finds, EVER!
How outrageously lucky and how well deserved!
Luck has been with us this year. Thanks for your lovely comments 🙂
Congratulations on a perfect, surprise Spring Break! (You two do have an odd thing going with mini-golf.)
I’ve been looking to see if there are any other mini-golf courses that we don’t know about either here in HK or across the borders…keep your ears to the ground (or should that be green?!) for us?!
Woot, love it when awesome things happen to awesome people. As soon as I saw the mini golf pics, I thought about your ghetto experience in HK, lol!
Thanks, Cindy! We were pretty thrilled too…and the mini golf just topped off the experience perfectly! This one even had GRASS! Posh, like.
So awesome!! I don’t think I ever got to say CONGRATULATIONS!!!! for, well, everything that’s going on! Yay for the little bun! 😉 I love reading your posts (I do get them in my inbox when you write them!) just can’t always manage to get on and comment 🙂 (Super slow Saipan net sometimes can’t figure out how to load all of your wonderful photos) I’ll definitely keep stalking you, even if I’m not posting much of my own life these days! Lots going on – work mostly, but some fun island adventures, yoga teacher training and a trip to India coming up… life is good, and the universe, I’m sure, will keep pouring out good things for both of us!
Hey Kate, nice to hear from you! By now you’ll be safely tucked up in India – hope it’s going well and that you’re having a blast. We’ll look forward to hearing all about it when you emerge again.
BABY BELLY SUNSET PICTURE ON THE BEACH!!!!! I LOVE IT!!! Good on you guys for getting away before the arrival of baby. Thai food….yuuuum. Actually, I wonder as I’m typing – is baby here already???!!!!! Much love, thinking of you guys!!!! HUZZAH!!!!!
Nope, no baby yet…just a stark realisation of how behind this particular blog is. And our other one. Maternity leave might come in handy after all….Hope you’re enjoying Langdon-land 🙂 xxx