a day ago
Bangkok is better — and cheaper — than Center Parcs for a celebration
Last week I flew to Bangkok for a group holiday that had been years in the making and involved about 679 different messages with flight times, hotel bookings and memes about The Hangover. To borrow the Gen Z parlance, the trip finally made it out of the WhatsApp group.
We were seven women, arriving from various parts of the world (London, Paris, Hong Kong, how terribly international). Our connection was that we once lived and worked in Hong Kong together, almost a decade ago in what now feels like the last glory days of Asia's world city. For this long-planned trip we considered various cities in Europe (too expensive),as well as Dubai (too hot), before eventually settling on the Thai capital (cheap, fun). When some of you are welcoming your fifth decade on Earth, the vibe is very much go big or go home — which meant I could swallow the 6,000 miles it took to get there.
• 21 of the best hotels in Bangkok
It turns out I'm part of a trend to supersize milestone celebrations. According to research from M&S Bank, we are shelling out an average of £2,650 on luxury trips to mark a big birthday, such as, ahem, turning 40; and 42 per cent of the survey's 2,000 respondents said they were planning a big trip in the next five years. I'm still recovering from my Bangkok bender, so I'm not planning on doing another one for at least the next half decade, but it got me thinking.
First, about the cost. The great thing about choosing Thailand is that it cost me nowhere near £2,650, despite staying in the lovely Shangri-La hotel right on the Chao Phraya River. The flights were the biggest outlay, but still cost just £600; I had four massages over as many days; plus there was the shopping in chichi Chinatown. I spent £1150 in total. In August that won't even stretch to four nights at Center Parcs.
Second, it made me think about the etiquette of big group trips, and navigating different interests and needs now that we're embracing middle age. Seven years ago, in a villa outside Hoi An in Vietnam, we drank the bars dry and didn't go to sleep until the sun came up. Now, with young children and serious jobs, bedtimes were … well, an entire working day earlier. Most of us got up to use the gym before breakfast; some of us even wanted to see some temples — unthinkable a few years ago. The most action took place in the bill-sharing app Splitwise, which diligently tracked our spending.
Rather than eating street food on the backpacker party strip of Khao San Road, we spent evenings in posh Thai restaurants in quiet residential areas. Out went the Thai moonshine buckets in banging nightclubs: instead it was cocktails with live jazz in the Mandarin Oriental. (It wasn't all classy — one night I did manage to strong-arm the group into a party minibus and on to Soi Cowboy, one of the sleaziest strips in the city, to carry on the night. When in Bangkok!)
• Read our full guide to Bangkok
But of course the most important lesson is the mawkish one. Take the trip. Spend time with your friends. A decade on from meeting in Hong Kong, our group's lives are scattered across the world; having a few days to create anecdotes to feed the WhatsApp group for a few more years feels like the ultimate privilege. Let's do it all again for our fiftieths?
