After the first two days of our road trip going awry before finally stumbling across a small piece of paradise on Hin Ngam Beach in Sichon, Thailand, we woke to a postcard perfect day hopeful that our bad luck was over. We’d had a lovely evening the night before with the resort and beach practically to ourselves, so we were pretty optimistic that today was going to be a good day!
Recent rains meant the sea wasn’t blue but it was clean and warm. The bay was shallow enough to be safe for kids but deep enough to swim in, staying kids-stomach level until 50m offshore. We had an early morning swim, explored paths and dug our own pools for waves to fill as the tide came in. If you are looking for a quiet location for a family holiday where the kids can roam and explore in relative safety this is it!
Mid breakfast Noah suddenly announced he felt ill and couldn’t eat anything. Hayley announced with conviction “I have a fever. Feel my head … see it’s hot”. It was a little warm but I thought it was just our morning in the sun and that she was trying to draw attention away from her brother. An hour later they were both in bed with a fever, Noah with such a bad headache he was refusing to move.
Road tripping lesson 1: Bad road tripping days can come in threes …
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Since we were picking Christine, Drew and Cole, up from the airport that afternoon we had no choice but to get the kids out of bed, give them paracetamol and bundle them into the car. That’s when we realised that we had a lot less children’s paracetamol than we’d realised – precisely half a dose for just one child. The bottle honestly looked like it had more in it when I packed the medical kit! Hayley was only a little feverish and tired so we gave her the half dose and started Googling whether Noah was old enough to take half an adult paracetomol tablet or if we had to high tail it to the nearest pharmacy.
Road tripping lesson 2: If the bottle of medication is less than half and you are going to locations that aren’t close to a pharmacy, buy a new bottle before you leave!
One hundred meters down the road Hayley started complaining her stomach hurt. It’s a common car trip complaint – 95% of the time it’s just her way of saying she’s had enough of the car. A kilometer later she was clutching her stomach and still complaining. Another 100m later she went white.
“Hayley, do you want to sit up front wi …” I never finished the sentence. Projectile vomit suddenly covered the car seat, her clothes, the floor and leaked through every crack and lining in the car seat until it found it’s way onto the chair underneath.
Road tripping lesson 3: Complaints of sick tummies shouldn’t be ignored if they’re accompanied by fever and stomach clutching!
With a car seat out of action and Noah looking a little green himself we rearranged the car. Noah up front with Colin, alternating between discussing random science thoughts and sleeping, while Hayley moved to Noah’s car seat and I got the joy of sitting in the back on the recently spew covered chair that was now thankfully only wet but only slightly less gross.
Road tripping lesson 4: If you are going to ignore rule 3, pack lots of spare towels!
Hayley of course by now felt fantastic and started working her way through our remaining snacks.
We made it to 10km from the airport when she started to go white again and we started pulling over to give her a break. It soon got to point where we were stopping every kilometer so we took a lunch break to find more children’s paracetamol. We bought two bottles.
Finally we made it to the airport, picked up our friends and raced to get the last car ferry of the day to Koh Samui. Funnily enough after Colin’s war against people cutting in and rude driving behaviour, when we got to the ferry terminal we didn’t realise there was a cue and parked up front near the ferry. In our defense we were almost the first ones there so it was easy to over look the three cars parked on the side of the road. By the time we realised our mistake there were 100 cars all lined up in a cue we weren’t part of. The ferry staff told us to just sneak in at the front of the cue, which we did hanging our hypocritical heads in shame. Ahh the irony!
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After three days of misadventure in Thailand we finally made it to Koh Samui. The mid-range resort we picked out online, Phalarn Inn turned out to be perfect – lovely staff, great restaurant, a pool and just a short walk to the beach. We’re just glad to be here finally with the chance to spend some fun days hanging out with friends. And I think everyone will understand if we don’t set a foot in our car for the next six nights! Swimming and beach here we come!
