I really don’t know what got into my head, but all of a sudden last fall I really wanted to go to Bhutan. I wanted to go somewhere I couldn’t really see myself, I wanted to go somewhere I wouldn’t normally think of going. I couldn’t get it out of my head, so I stopped trying….and we made plans to go to Bhutan in September.
And the more I think about it, the more excited I am. DH has never been to Asia, and I’ve only been to Cambodia. It’s something really, extremely, different for both of us (he likes beaches, I like animals), and we’re really looking forward to it. We’re also going to stop in Bangkok on the way there and Chiang Mai on the way back (since we have to fly through Bangkok anyway to get to Bhutan, why not?) Neither of us have ever been to Thailand, so despite the possibility of crappy weather, we are going to make the most of it.
We unfortunately don’t have a ton of time (about 6 days on the ground in Bhutan), and I’m sort of sad we can’t explore some of the more remote areas, mainly because I would be thrilled to one day see a red panda in the wild (if you have, tell me all about it!). But we have plenty of time to explore the areas where we will be (Paro, Thimpu, and Punakha). This trip has been in the works for many months, as we were trying to fly mostly on miles (success!), and where we wanted to say (COMO properties) already had a great deal of unavailability, even 8 months in advance. It is the “tourist” season there in September.
Yup, I’m going to be honest, Bhutan is a bit expensive, particularly as we elected to upgrade our hotels from those included in the daily tariff that tourists have to pay (I’m in no way saying those hotels aren’t acceptable, mind you). But it’s my birthday…a big birthday…so we decided to splurge.
Everything is booked. I’m super duper psyched that bulkhead seats opened up on our flight to Bangkok from the United States…phew. (Though since DH is flying on miles that leg, we flew United, which means no free drinks, even on a 14 hour international flight. To that I say: Really United, REALLY?). I digress.
But look for more on Bhutan (and Thailand) in the coming months!
