By: April Cole
When the Tourism Authority of Thailand calls and says they will pay for your flight, plus accommodation, food and touring for you to attend their conference in Bangkok and represent Journeys Within Tour Company, you say YES! So this Monday I’m heading on my all expense paid trip to Thailand to attend the Thailand Travel Mart Plus 2011.
The Travel Mart is a bit different from a typical conference in that buyers and sellers are introduced via email ahead of time, and we have scheduled appointments during the conference days. I’ll be taking advantage of the conference times to have face-to-face time with the managers of our current partner hotels, in addition to looking for new properties that would be a great fit for our guests.
Now, this wouldn’t be Thailand without some great adventures mixed in with the conference, now would it? I’m squeezing in as much as I can in the short seven days I’ll be there. Ill be touring Ayyuthaya, watching a Muay Thai match, heading out for drinks and dancing with our Bangkok guides, and I’m also hoping to find the time to get a maid of honor dress made for my sister’s upcoming wedding. And that’s just the extra activities in Bangkok!
After the conference I’ll be heading to Northern Thailand on tour. I had quite a few options of tours (one of which was basically lazing at the beach and trying out a bunch of spas!) but I chose to head to Northern Thailand. One, because I love Northern Thailand’s beauty and two, because there were places in the tour I think JW guests will love. I’m really excited to check these new locations out to see if they are as incredible as they sound. I’ll be staying in a home stay outside of Chiang Mai city in a nature reserve, then off to a jungle retreat and then the elephant nature park!
It will be a whirlwind trip with things planned every minute, and it will be amazing. Can you expect anything less from Amazing Thailand??