#the gay passport
Flying to Thailand from the United States is not for the faint of heart. Even with a nearly direct flight, it is a seriously long trip — about 23 hours door to door from New York City. Our biggest splurge of the entire honeymoon was booking business class seats on Philippine Airlines. It’s an airline that we had flown recently and we’d loved our travel experience. The cabin on their brand new Airbus A350-900 was the most impressive we’d ever seen. The entertainment module was huge and both of our seats were spacious and folded down completely flat, which makes prepping for a twelve-hour time difference just a little less daunting. Landing in our connecting city of Manila, we were shocked by what a good sleep we got on the eighteen-hour flight.
We began out honeymoon in the capital city of Bangkok. It’s the most visited city in Asia, and a logical place to start our journey. We checked into our hotel, Inn a Day right on the Chao Phraya river.
Our room had a super modern, industrial feel that felt perfectly edgy in a city that’s constantly reinventing its architectural style.
The first thing we did (after showering, of course) was cross the river to visit to the legendary temple, Wat Arun.
Conveniently, there was a ferry right outside of our hotel which was well marked and only cost five baht (or about 15 cents). We’d seen pictures of the temple, but you can’t really fathom how big and ornate the porcelain-coated temple is until you are standing beneath it.
That evening, we took a recommendation from a friend who had recently honeymooned in Thailand, and booked a midnight tuk tuk food tour. Tuk tuks are motorized buggies — imagine a go-kart had a baby with a rickshaw and raised it in a disco — and are both an iconic and romantic way to explore the city. On the tour, our guide took us to three restaurants, from the very famous to the completely off-the-beaten-trail.
We can say with confidence that this was the BEST food we had on the entire trip. We still talk about the kua gai (a wok-fried noodle dish) at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant. In between meals, our guide took us to a Chinese flower market and temple to give us time to digest. All in all, we’d highly recommend this, as it forced us to stay awake and made it much easier to adjust to the twelve hour time difference.
We couldn’t visit Bangkok without checking out its famed nightlife, and it’s with good reason that Bangkok is named the unofficial gay capital of Asia. The Silom district houses a swath of gay bars, nightclubs and dance parties so we decided to stay at the Pullman Bangkok Hotel G, a perfect spot for travelers hoping to pair a fantastic view of Bangkok with a quick walk to some of the greatest nightlife in the city.
Our room had smart and simple decor and the rooftop restaurant and bar had stunning views of the city’s greatest sights and an affordable happy-hour cocktail list.
The proximity to Silom’s nightlife, as well as the smart, simple decor, made the Pullman Bangkok Hotel G a perfect spot for gay travelers like us hoping to hit Bangkok’s legendary nightlife in style.
With its ornate temples, bustling nightlife and mouth-watering street food, Bangkok was a perfect introduction to Thailand. Even if you seek a total beach vacation, we’d still recommend flying into Bangkok and spending at least day checking it out.
When Scott and I got engaged in the fall of 2017, we had our mind set on planning the wedding ceremony, but we were just as excited to plan the big trip we would take after. Scott and I love traveling — we always say that we’re happiest as a couple when we’re exploring a new place together. That means that we’re always saving up and planning for our next adventure!
Why Thailand?
The first decision we had to make when planning our honeymoon was the destination. Our wedding date was set for mid-October, and because of Scott’s work (he’s a political reporter), we knew it would be tricky taking a honeymoon directly following our wedding. The midterm elections couldn’t exactly get rescheduled! This put us closer to December before we could get time off to travel. We knew that after a hectic election cycle and a lot of time spent executing a destination wedding, we wanted to go somewhere warm and relaxing — hopefully with beautiful beaches. This knocked out a bunch of potential European destinations and the Caribbean, which turned our attention to Asia.
Finding a destination with pristine beaches and a culture of luxury hospitality was a top priority, but we also wanted to have a little time to be explorers. Some of our favorite adventures have included getting lost in the hip neighborhoods of Rome, or discovering colorful alleys in Nice, so a destination that offered more than just pretty beaches and drinks with umbrellas would be ideal.
Our last determining factor was, where would it be safe to travel as gay newlyweds? We understand that not all cultures have developed in the same way as America, and it’s not fair to expect a country to be as tolerant as our own. But when it came to planning a honeymoon, it was really important that we could feel comfortable checking into a hotel or reaching for one another’s hand on the beach. We talked to some friends and followed some gay travel-themed Instagram accounts (namely @thegaypassport) and Thailand kept coming up as a possible destination. Not only did it have the right mix of beach and city, but it was affordable and very accommodating to LGBT travelers. After reading countless blog posts, watching hours of travel videos and chatting with representatives at The Gay Passport, we decided that Thailand checked off every box on our honeymoon wish list — and then some.
We just returned from our two-week honeymoon in paradise and have put together some travel guides for anyone planning a trip to Thailand — especially if you are looking to honeymoon there or are an LGBT traveler yourself. We’ll be posting one a day for each city we visited, so make sure you’re following this blog. Enjoy!
