At the last minute (by that I mean 12:00am Christmas Eve morning), I booked a trip to Phuket. I got home from school on December 23^rd around 5:30pm and the thought of sitting in China for the holidays was just wearing down what little holiday cheer I had. So the entire evening I just kept trolling cheap ticket travel sites and dreaming of going somewhere. I had 4 days holiday and could not bear to spend them in China. While I was in the middle of trolling about, a Skype call came in from my cousin Mia. She is always one to jump on a plane or in her car for a holiday whether it is one day, a weekend, or two weeks. That is why she became a travel agent.

She was celebrating the holidays with her mother, my mom’s only surviving sister. I was happy to see my aunt and say hello. My sister Veta and I had made it a tradition to travel somewhere together at Christmas since our mom died in February of 2010. This year we were not because I had so few days off. She came to visit in November and saw what my gated village had to offer and there was no need to return. So Mia encouraged me to just book the trip. So at midnight, I clicked on purchase and that was that.

I went to school the next day and told the other teachers that I had made dinner plans with that I had booked a last minute holiday in Phuket. That was also the same day that I found out my friend was fired.

So at 10pm I was on a plane for Phuket. It was just a 2 ½ -hour flight. In order to leave on the 24^th, I had to book business class going and coach coming back on Sunday. It was a 4-day beach holiday, which is not my usual trip of choice, but beggars with little time cannot be choosers at this late date.

When I got into Phuket it was around 11:30pm. All the people from my flight went running for a window at immigration. I was not paying attention because I was exhausted from teaching earlier in the day and feeling bad for my friend so I blindly followed them into the line and started pushing and shoving back to secure my place. Well, I can elbow and shove with the best of them – training from the 80s lines for VIP lounges and the ultimate training in Romania. So I whipped through the Chinese people to the front feeling very proud of my crowd surfing skills. The joke was on me. It was the wrong line. Western passports were on the other side and to add insult to injury – no visa was necessary. So I had to take the walk of shame to the other side and get into the correct line where there was no pushing or shoving just orderly waiting. I was right next to the line for disabled, seniors, and children. The security guard looked at me and waived me to that empty line and I whizzed through. I am not a child but I guess I could fit a senior or possibly a mentally-challenged description. Who cares…my passport was stamped and off I went to find my driver.

I was taken to my hotel at about 1:30am and the receptionist could not have been kinder. She checked me in, gave me a list of local tours and activities to do, and then showed me to my room. It was clean, had a comfortable bed, and had a strong air conditioner – heaven.

Always a troll to see as much as I can, I immediately started to look through the list of activities to make a list of everything I needed to do and see. BUT then I remembered my promise to myself that this trip was going to be about relaxing. So I shut the book and went to sleep.

The next morning, I got up put on my bathing suit and some shorts and went to eat a leisurely breakfast. After breakfast I decided to go and sit on Kata beach. But before I could stop myself, I was in the hotel office booking a cooking class for the evening and a speedboat trip for the next day to the Phi Phi (pronounced pee pee) Islands.   Then I walked to the beach. I took a beach mat that I purchased along the way, a book, and a towel. I forced myself to sit on the beach for 6 hours. Within that time I looked at my watch 1000 times, swam, tried to sleep, read my book, and drank water. When it was 4pm, my job was done. I packed up my stuff and headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready for my cooking class.

The next day, December 26^th, I went to the Phi Phi Islands. It was a fun beach trip, but nothing much to report: more sand, sun, and swimming.

On Dec. 27^th, I spent the day at Karon beach. More of the same. But today’s aim was to get as tan as possible. I sat in the direct sun, swam, and drank a few beers all the while checking my watch. I could not punch out until 4:30pm. Another day of hard labor.

The best part of my trip came on my last day. My taxi was late for my morning flight so the owner drove me to the airport. It was a great conversation. He was from London originally but ended up somehow opening health clubs in Kuwait. He was there for the start of the Iraq war and decided to switch into the war biz because he knew there was money to be made. He used his contacts and his balls of steel to profit off the war by providing the US military bases with internet access. He took a small contract worth $60,000 and parlayed it into getting million dollar contracts. He was a very interesting guy who told me that the only way to make it as an entrepreneur is to have laser beam focus and the inability to hear the word “no.” Words to live by.