My family and I flew into Phuket from Bangkok airport for a crazy low fare of 2,200 baht for all four of us, and decided to do a road trip South to Koh Lanta.

Phuket was, like every tourist destination at the moment, a ghost town and very sad to see. The only positive is purely selfish in that we got to enjoy paradise beaches to ourselves. I hope that the opportunity to explore Thailand with a lack of crowds is a one off moment and that International tourism finds a way to come back soon. Whilst I have this moment though, I want to make the most of it.

But what is clear in tourist centric destinations in Thailand is that every day the borders remain closed, another business will close for good.

4-hour road trip

Rather than fly into Krabi airport I decided to hire car and take the 4 hour drive from Phuket to Koh Lanta. Rather than a chore, I saw it very much as a pleasure.

En-route we stopped off at a roadside BBQ chicken food stall and got to enjoy natural hot springs. We loved it.