hanwellmike

Buy a small one for 1000 - 1500 baht at Big C as suggested (or Central shopping mall) and take it home with you when you go. Just make sure you buy a multi region one so it works with USA dvd's when you get home. Loads of choice. You will need to check the connections to your hotel TV to make sure you get a scart lead or whatever is required. Er actually if you are from USA (as it seems) the Thai DVD players are 220-240 volts so won't work in USA unless you spend more money on transformer............... So just buy it, use it and lose it...............

The only private laugh I can have at the Irish & Scottish pi$$ takers is that they have undoubtedly spent more time watching England play in the last 8 world cups than they have watching their own teams......... Maybe they are secret England fans ? As a disappointed England fan I say that you just have to take the comments & jokes on the chin and look forward to the next tournament. As gutted as I am about how badly we played, it was still better to be along for the ride than sitting at home watching from the sidelines. The disappointment has been huge but in a few weeks it won't seem so bad. A new manager and a new squad of players and I will still watch them and support them in the next Euro campaign. It's in the blood if you like football.

Cheshire Tom - thanks for that. I looked again at their websites yesterday and arrived at that same conclusion eventually. I need to speak with them to get to the bottom line. If the most expensive one way flight was say £600 then it would cost 6 x £9 = £54 each way which is not cheap but maybe OK. On a par with Thai and I guess EVA would probably match their prices with Thai / BA so's not to lose their golfing customers.

For sure I will do that before I book any tickets. EVA's website seems to indicate they will charge 6 kilos excess for a golf bag but don't specify at what rate. 6 x say £25 per kilo would be a lot of extra dosh. I was hoping someone could confirm that. I will phone EVA in due course when I get back to the UK.

Guys I am looking for some up to date information regarding charges for bringing golf clubs to BKK from London in economy class (return). I know that BA charge £32 each way but from their websites I cannot see for sure what EVA or Thai Air charge. Both indicate that 1 case at 20kg is the allowance so I expect that the golf clubs would be considered excess - but how much exactly will it cost. I found an old report on the internet that indicated EVA on occasion charged a huge amount for carrying golf clubs. If anyone has flown recently with either EVA or Thai from LHR and brought golf clubs I would appreciate any info you can share.

Thanks Marleyboy - I'm sorted out with a good flight now so just checking accommodation.......

No I'm not suggesting that you could save all the required money on one trip but if you were planning to go to Thailand regular (as a few people do) then investing in your own personal IFE (in the form of DVD player or netbook or IPOD and noise cancelling earphones) is worth considering. As for power outlets you are correct - I have never found them in any economy seats but you can get 4 hours out of most netbooks these days so enough for a couple of movies plus some games. Personally I would buy a good netbook for about £300 rather than a DVD player. I agree with you on EVA, they are at least as good as Thai and do have some good prices. But I am looking at flights from LHR in late October and Thai currently have the best - at around £490 maybe £150 less than EVA....

My experience with Thai Air is that from LHR their 747's have no individual IFE. However, the rest of the service (seats, food & drink) is good. So if EVA or BA or Qantas is a lot more expensive then I would fly with Thai and use the money saved to buy a decent portable DVD player (£200) or netbook / laptop (£300) to plug the gap in Thai Air's service...

I have just booked 30 nights a Superior room at the LK Metropole for 38400. I sent an email to their general address and did ask for the FLB rate. I did not try and send a ''card''. I thought it was a good rate so snapped it up. They wanted 10000 baht deposit which I did over the phone. The email reponses from the Metropole were quite quick and efficient. If you can't get a response via email then I would book a few nights elsewhere and try for a walk in. I am sure that they are looking to fill their rooms.

I have just booked the LK Metropole at the FLB rate of 38400 for 30 nights (1280 per night) for a Superior room for Feb 09. The response to my email enquiry was quick and the booking process was quite good. So the FLB rate is still available and a good price I would say.