You are barefoot.

The sand feels soft, between your toes.

The breeze is warm.

The waves are brushing the shore.

The air smells like salty sea and coconut. 

 

Maybe you need some coffee.

Come ON – you KNEW we’d mention coffee when discussing Seattle.  In the Queen Anne neighborhood, at the corner of Queen Anne Ave. and Boston St., there are no fewer than 4 coffee shops.  That seems a little excessive, but it totally explains the real reason Tom Hanks was sleepless here.

The flannel/grunge thing is about as current a reference as any quote from the first season of “Friends” (could grunge BE any more over?).  Seattle has definitely stepped up the style quotient in the past 10 years, and the Belltown, Ballard and Fremont boutiques are a testament.  Testament, testify, buy yourself some shoes!

There are plenty of chic lounges, wine bars, and restaurants downtown, and in the closely surrounding neighborhoods.  Seattle is definitely a "neighborhoody" city, and each of the 'hoods offers a distinct feel.

In 2003 my friend Bethany and I were talking about taking a girlfriend getaway, and going to France in November.  We were discussing this on a really sunny day in the summer – but then realized that France in November would be crappy and rainy, like Seattle (where we live)…

We tried to figure out a place that would be sunny & cheap – even though we’d pay more in airfare, we’d save in hotels and food, etc.

Thailand!

We booked the tickets in late September.

We knew we didn’t want to stay in Bangkok the whole time, and were going to be gone for over 2 weeks.  We specifically wanted to pick a remote place where we knew we wouldn’t be able to check our email…

Ko Phi Phi (Phi Phi Island, pronounced "pee pee")– okay, we realized we also chose places because of the funniness of their names - and Phuket, were the winners. 

We flew to Krabi, then took a ferry to Phuket, then another ferry to Phi Phi. We stayed a week in each place.

In the horrible Tsunami, we heard that the little hut we stayed in on Phi Phi was, sadly washed away.  The P P Princess – our cute little bungalow, with coconuts falling on the roof at night.  That was really sad, but we have great memories of it.

One of my personal goals for this trip was to be able to stand, neck-deep in water, and still look down and see my toes.

We were there on Ko Phi Phi for Thanksgiving, and had fruity drinks that were served in sand pails.  We don't need to talk about the unfortunate outcome of too many pails. 

Highlight in Phuket – staying at Le Meridian (fancy, it was a hotel that could have been anywhere, but we liked it).  There was one day when I saw a little elephant being walked around the grounds, and when I went to tell Bethany about it, she thought I was drunk or hallucinating.  Until she saw the little elephant herself.

When we went back to Bangkok we stayed at the Peninsula Hotel, which was rated the #1 hotel in the WORLD by Travel & Leisure magazine.  It was a very affordable $185/night, and we had a TV at the foot of our bathtub.

As we traveled, we found ourselves staying at progressively more expensive hotels.  We don’t recommend doing it the other way around.

The Peninsula was hard to leave, because it was so pretty, but we did venture out and around Bangkok and went to some palaces - the Gold Palace I think?  But we really got stuck at the Jim Thompson silk store, where a salesperson invited us to a sample sale.  We found ourselves at a huge convention hall filled with scarves, pillowcases, toiletries kits, etc.  We each had to buy a large duffel bag to fit all the stuff we bought at the sample sale.

Our Girlfriend Getaway motto was pretty much:  get a good tan, have a good time, throw a little culture in there.

Carol - Seattle, WA 

*********************************** 

Ed note:  we, here at Holiday Golightly, are still waiting for our gifts from that silk sample sale...

We love it when our readers share!  Tell us about your favorite (or maybe not-so-favorite?) girlfriend trip. 

Email gretta@holidaygolightly.com, and we'll make sure to do all the messy editing for you.  If you have a photo (or photos) from the trip, attach that too! 

Feel the wind whipping through your...wait, no.  Put your helmet, scarf and goggles on, so you don't feel the wind.