Emil

Cowboy, I don't recall how much faster this new plane will fly, but even at a 50 mph increase it will shave off over 1 1/2 hours to LOS. Add that to 1 less connection (2 hrs), 1 less landing and take off, and a direct path to your location and you'll save at least 4 hours. I thought Mach 1 was closer to 750 mph than 600 mph.

The reason I asked is because some places offer up to 2/3rds off if your staying for a month or more. Since your only staying for a week I would suggest that you pay a few baht more and stay right in the middle of the action like the soi 7/8 area. Unless you enjoy walking, what you save on the cost of a room will cost you on baht bus rides.

If what they are saying about the new plane Boeing is developing, I would prefer the American carriers to use them. Although it is a smaller aircraft it is planned to fly faster than a 747, a greater distance and at a lower operating cost. If that is true then we could see non stop flights from the US. I would love to see about 4 hours cut from the current time that it now requires me to get to LOS.

Bill, Maybe they don't have an airline that has a route with a demand in those numbers. Those planes are only profitable if they can come close to filling up the seats.

How long are you staying. Although many people will recommend that you stay within the Beach Rd/2nd Rd rectangle, baht busses routinely run up and down Soi Buakaow, North Pattay Rd, Centeral Pattaya Rd and South Pattaya Rd and can get you to your destination only a few minutes more and at the same cost or 10 baht more. The cost savings of the hotels just off these roads will more than pay for this extra 10 baht.

Unless things have changed recently, the Sunbeam charges a joiner fee. Consider either the Sunshine or Eastiny Place right across the soi.

Larry, This is my first January in Pattaya and had always heard this way the dry season. Instead it has been the wettest of my trips. Spending alot of time in the room watching videos with GF and am all boomed out.

There are hundreds of places to stay in Pattaya with more opening up every month. You asked about a place that not only have I never stayed or taken a look at, but one that I don't even recall seeing and I'm always on the lookout for something better.

Stay at that new little hotel right across the soi from Lolitia's.

When I was in Pattaya in December I read in the Bangkok Post that they had some cracking of concrete problems on some of the upper floors and were worried about a possible failure similiar to an airport earlier this year in Europe. They believe that this problem was caused by the current attempt to open on time. I don't know if this problem was corrected, but if it wasn't, then we could see a delay.

Did you spot that double miles offer on their website? I'm premier executive and I haven't received any email offers from them recently. Emil

Greg, The room I got was actually 7,500. The ones on the end of the floor are slightly wider and have an extra window on the end wall. TGF liked it better than the other rooms and it was only 1K more. They only wanted first and last month deposit and we were the first to occupy the room. Came with mid size frig, kitchen area (sink only), TV, balcony, rotating fan, and A/C and is close to Carrefour.

I'm in a place that just opened last month, cost is 6500 + elec & water. Many places have just opened or will soon open so I recommend that you look around for a day or two before you decide. As a general rule the further from the beach the better the rate. Don't worry about transportation as long as your close to one of the baht bus routes.

On the same soi as the Dynasty you have the AA Residence, Inn House, Golden Crab, Ma Masion, AA Hotel, Haven and Sandy Springs.

If its located on Soi 6 then the best it would be is a restored hotel as nothing new has been built from the ground up for a few years. For 1400 a night in this area it better come with your choice of a S/T each day.

Arriving at 11:30 PM and should be through immigration and customs around midnight. Anyone interested is sharing a ride to Pattaya?

For any medical emergencies check with your current health plan to see if your covered. I'm with Kaiser and they will cover me, probably would be happy if something were going to happen to me that it would occur in LOS where the costs are but a fraction of what they would be here.

conley, I've used them on my last 4 trips and they have always been there waiting for me even when I arrived once 30 minutes early. They also know where to take you if you tell them in advance where you are staying. Prior to my last trip the cost was only 1000 and the vehicle has always been a clean late model car. On one occasion they must have been short on the standard vehiles and they picked me up in a mini van. Tolls should be around 145 and the parking was about 40 baht. I always send them an email reminder just before I leave my home.

Greg's post reminded me that the unit I bought wasn't region free nor did the instructions tell one how to convert it to region free. However it only takes about a minute to bring up a couple screens with the remote and make the selection to convert it to region free. I don't know why they don't sell them this way in the first place.

sumo, I used the cable that came with the player. It's the type that has 3 prongs on each end, yellow, white, and red. It worked on my TV at home and the 6 different hotels that I have stayed in at Pattaya. The player automatically adapts to the different voltage.

Don't let the DVD player limit your search on available hotels. I purchased one in the US a few months back for around $35 and was told by Soi 7 that he recently saw them for sale at less than $30. The one I bought is about 9" x 9" and fit easily in my carry on.

I've only had one experience with a non-refundable ticket and that was with Southwest Airlines. Their policy was that I received a credit with them in which I had a year to use it. I assumed that this policy was standard among the air carriers that I use that I have never worried about purchasing travel insurance because if I can't fly when scheduled, I will use it later.

Cowboy, Last year I checked their website for a trip to BKK from SFO and the price was around $1600 with a cost of $1000 if I flew from SFO to LAX then BKK and $800 if I flew from SFO to Seattle and then on to BKK. I thought maybe if I put Sacramento into the departure city I would get the same $800 fare by flying Sacramento to Seattle to BKK. I was shocked when the quoted fare was less than $700 and it was Sacramento to SFO to BKK. This was the same departure dates that I had used with SFO to BKK and the same flight numbers. So by flying 90 miles to SFO instead of driving, I saved around $900. Checking the flights today on their website it showing around $1800 from Sacramento to SFO to BKK but they do offer a $1200 fare if I fly Sacramento to Chicago to BKK. I just recently qualified for Premier executive which give me double miles so I don't mind paying a little more for a United flight as it works out to fly 2 and I get one free with 8K miles left over.

Are you getting those prices from the United website? I'm looking for a departure in mid January and they are showing fares around $1200 from Sacramento.

I've always paid 600 baht a night at Mike's Beach Resort on Soi 4. If the work on the Northshore condo is down to interior work you might want to check it out.