Melbourne and Phuket – just under 8,000 kilometers separate the cities

We are off on Sunday morning. We take the SkyBus to the airport in Melbourne – a perfect service.

We had already checked in online, and the luggage drop-off went smoothly without additional staff. We printed the luggage tag and boarding pass ourselves.

This time we are flying with the airline 'JetStar', which was a decisive factor in our choice. JetStar is a budget airline under the wing of Qantas.

We found out during check-in that there would be no free meals. We could have booked a snack in advance for 15 AUS$. However, we missed that because it had to be reserved by a certain time before departure.

We opted for a sandwich that we would buy at Woolworth in the station. It cost only half as much, and we knew it would taste good.

Boarding began, and we sat in our seats. Gradually the plane filled up, and we noticed a wealth of children being seated around us. Usually, children traveling with parents are all seated together in the front area of the plane, but this time, they were all in the back where the two from Cologne sit ...

By children, not only toddlers are meant. We actually had at least two helicopter mothers sitting nearby, constantly checking if the children, who are between 16 and 20 years old, are doing well ... Incredible ... and the kids seem somewhat annoyed by it ...

The organization regarding food and drinks was truly disastrous. First, they distributed the items that were ordered. The crew had handwritten lists noting which food was to be delivered to which seat. After that, drinks were distributed. Except for water, nothing was free. Everything else had to be paid for, a cup of coffee for example cost 3 Euros. Of course, payment was by card, which also caused delays. Passengers repeatedly considered whether they wanted to order something to nibble, drink or eat. That also caused delays.

A cup of water was no longer offered. You had to ask for it. We had filled our bottles at the airport, so we could drink whenever we wanted.

Also, the flight entertainment, which is offered for free by all other airlines, if they even provide such a thing, had to be purchased here. A subscription for movies and music cost 15 AUS$, and if you didn't have a subscription, each movie or CD cost 6 AUS$. A completely new experience.

We had neither and thus had no distraction (although the selection of movies wasn’t too extensive or interesting), and our own playlist on the phone had to suffice.

But the 8-hour flight time passed, and we landed in Phuket. The distance was just under 8,000 kilometers, while the flight over Australia was already 3,000 km. A direct flight across it. According to the map, we also flew over Ayers Rock, but the clouds prevented any view.

In general, the plane flew very high. We were almost exclusively above 13,000 meters ... previously, the flights were at most 11 or 12,000 km high. And outside it was around minus 60 degrees. You don’t want to think about having to go outside now...

Upon arrival at the airport, passport control was again necessary. Once again, fingerprints of all 10 fingers were taken. Until now, only the USA had received our fingerprints. Now Thailand joins the list. Even Germany hasn’t taken so many fingerprints from me. I think I have only submitted my thumbs so far ... But we did get a colorful stamp in our passport – not bad at all.

It is now half-past eight in the evening. In the 'fresh' air, at 28 degrees and high humidity, we now need a taxi to take us to the nearby accommodation. We are surprised that you cannot automatically pay with a credit card here. We hadn’t used cash for weeks, actually since the start of our trip ... And we didn’t want to exchange money here in Thailand for just two days, ending up with cash that you can’t really use afterwards.

It took several conversations and some time to find a way for us to pay the fixed amount for the ride with our credit card.

Now off to the hotel and then sleep.