Hub

Mr Toom is OK on standard car to and from Pattaya, but last year caused me major stress and problems which I didn't need anymore of. Specifically asked for van/suv several days in advance for three people, luggage,a nd golf clubs. Trip from Bangkok to Pattaya with a drop off of two at Laem Chabang. Confirmed day before with Toom. Of course a tiny littlle car showed up could even fit two of us with all our stuff. Resulted in late to course, wife in different taxi by herself, paying for two taxis which was more than a minivan would have been, and a lot of stress. Not a happy morning and no offer of recompense by Toom. I had previously good experiences on the 2-3 routine pickups and have no problem suggesting him for the airport-pattaya run. I wish he had fucked one of those up, as I could have just got another taxi. But the time he did fuck up affected three of us, people as the golf course, more money for two taxis, my wife travelling solo with a bunch of luggage, etc., which has put me off ever using him again. hub

I think it would be tough to be on that soi and be otherwise! Yes, girl friendly. Hub

Clever use of words; Tabmule would be proud of you! I sold my my shares of BA at 100 but put in another limit order at 96.25, hopefully it hits. I agree with Zaph....box that EADS and BA will both go up with the replacement of the fleets and also on the "white elephant" comment - and lets be honest and admit Airbus has totally shit the bed on this one. BTW, where is my email? I read news stories and you can't keep your friends up to date on how you are doing? Hub

emil: Does your place have a website? Any suites available? Hub

I booked that flight as well. Cathay is great. Don't sweat the FF miles as much as I used to as I have 140K on NWA that I cant seem to get redeemed. Travelling with my wife with sharing two seats seems to free up room.

And you are living very comfortably in Thailand already Sorry, Tom but you never point these things out yourself. You would make a good poker player. Which is big stretch from where your posts above cites: Airbus does not intend to make changes to the fundamental fuselage design of its A350XWB, the company’s chief commercial officer customers John Leahy said today. Discounting a report that Airbus is preparing to shift to an all-composite barrel, Leahy stressed that the fuselage design is frozen. “We have the A350-800, -900 and -1000,” he notes. why? Hub

Eltib: Good. Guitars......good. Semiautomatic weapons.........bad. Good luck with the new job. Hub

I have no idea what you are speaking of (sorry, you lost my attention a long time ago with your "neocon" paranoia and ramblings and can not be bothered to read them), I was simply commenting (tongue in cheek ) on your rambling postings on this thread as a disgruntled former employee. BTW - I think BA was up to $98 yesterday, up eight bucks for me since April Hub

All of the above IMO has very little to do with the viability of the 787 (the topic at hand), and your continued rantings on emails being legal documents and your triple backed up "evidence" further depicts you as someone with an unrelated an axe to grind. By your own admission "Now you know why I show negative bias towards Boeing" you are not really a reliable or objective party in this discussion. Actually, funny that you mention that, as I previously thought when I read some of your previous posts "God, I hope this guy doesn't have any automatic weapons at home or some execs at Boeing are going to have a rough morning one of these days." Anyways, congrats on you new job. Hub

Great rebuttal on the seven year old articles Also, Eltib's post above on former Boeng employees do nothing to support the claim that "problems being encountered are being covered up" with the new Boeing lne of aircraft. Sorry to say and hate to cause offense, but the diatribes and triple backed up hard drives on supposed company dirt reeks of a disgruntled former employee with an axe to grind. Tough to take his take on the new boeing products without a grain of salt, regardless of his former profession. Hub

Are you serious? What a loser.

Looks pretty good to me also up seven bucks from early april when I bought at $90 . Sometimes you can pick up some really good information from this board if you can filter out some of the nonsense. Hub

Great deal on great airline and may book for that period, thanks for tip.

Congrats to Mrs. Solar! Wish I was there for the celebration as might have gotten away with a hug and a surrepticious squeeze or two. Even though she probably thought it was idle flattery (which you know I am not above), always thought she had a nice swing even when starting out. The only suspect part of the story is that you hit the green. Hub

No offense to the OP, but this reminds me of a post on another board where posters were encouraging other punters to give 50 and 100 baht tips to dancers "to make things more lively" in gogo bars and really get the girls into dancing instead of shuffling. Why screw with a good thing? I say keep lap dances in the west. I find that many interested girls will generally give you a casual one anyways with a LD or two. Hub

It will definitely be better than taking a western carrier like NWA. They treated my 73 YO mother very good on that route last year and she was impressed, and she travels extensively. Just curious, did you know about this website? http://www.angeltravel.com/Airfare/Thai_Airways/economy.htm

Cheshire Tom can correct me if I am wrong, but some of my family flew that from NYC last year and it is the Airbus A340-500 with 2-4-2. Here is the seat map: http://www.thaiair.com/Travel_Destination_...tmaps/A3452.htm Seat guru to pick the best seats: http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Thai_Airw...us_A340-500.php Hub

Hi, From everything I have read it seems that whenever Mr. toom provides transportation, the service is good. However, and mind you that this is probably my expectation based on my culture, I would have expected him to disclose the fact that such a problem may occur. I would have also expected him to contact me after the mishap in the airport. I do not blame him for the actions of the police (Nor do I really care what are their motivations and if they are corrupted or not). I blame him only for not advising me ahead of time that such a thing may happen, and for not expressing regret that such a mishap has happened afterwards. I do not think I should rephrase my phrase ``pretty bad experience from the service'' as I consider part of the ordering process and the follow through process part of any good service (again expectations from my culture). I think the problem comes with not only Mr. Toom, but with many Thais when it comes to non-routine situations and dealing with them effectively at all, or even admitting that they are encountering a problem. Get them to go from Point A to Point B, they are great, but they aint exactly McGyver when a non-routine situation arises. It may sound a bit of a negative generalizations on all Thais, but I've seen it over and over. I can't count how many times I've had a van driver on a golf trip not want to admit he is lost, much less pick up the cell phone or ask for help. Obviously, quite likely related to face issues. For those board members that took the trip out to River Kwai 3-4 years ago, we remember fondly (now that its over) that the van service hadn't ever opened the hood (bonnet) on the sports utility vehicle to replace fluids or oil and the car broke down after a year (i.e., none of the drivers ever could be bothered to even check the oil With Mr. Toom in specific I had used him 2-3 times last year during a five-week vacation. Near the end, asked if he had an SUV or van to take three people, clubs and a good amount of luggage from Bangkok to Kaow Kheow golf course, drop two off, and continue to Pattaya with my wife and luggage. Toom said "no problem". Made prolly 2-3 confirmation calls, including one completely in Thai by my wife, as i had a sneaking suspicion I was getting "yessed". Negotiated the price - can't remember but think 1,800 or 2,000. Sure enough, what shows up at the hotel is a very small taxi that could even fit two of us and half the clubs/luggage. We had to wait for Toom to get another taxi (which, in hindsight, he had probably had planned the entire time). Resulted in a lot of stress, almost missing tee time, wife travelling alone, extra costs and inconvenience for two taxis instead of one van, having to ask Pattaya ex-pat friend not only to drive us back to Pattaya as originally planned but squeeze some of our luggage in, yadda yadda. Ruined my morning. I could have used a van via Solar Travel (as I had done twice previously) but used Toom as he had taken me to the same course before and wanted to show some loyalty, and also didn't want to bother my friend from Solar to do me another favor. Toom could have just told me up front he couldn't handle situation, but Thais just don't seem to want to admit that sometimes. Point A to B, great. Anything else, don't expect a lot of innovation. Hub

Kaiju: The Thai Air flight is the only non-stop to Bangkokfrom the east coast. Some of my family flew from Boston for my wedding last year and were very impressed by the flight. We put my mom (sprightly 74) on the Thai economy plus and she really liked it - it certainly blows any US carriers out of the water for service/etc. They really hooked her up flying back from Chiang Rai - she was beat after all the golf, river boats and elephant rides and they met her with a wheel chair on the connections and ensured all the baggage/etc. Some like to connect and break up the flight, but I would much rather take a str8 shot unless I am on a business fare. By the way,we used Jet Blue for the connecting flights from boston - very cheap and the flight times matched up well. Try this site for Thai fares, may be able to save a few bucks: http://www.angeltravel.com/Airfare/Thai_Airways/economy.htm Hub

I think Doggie could answer this better, but after travelling to 5-6 areas and playing golf in all (Chiang Mai/Chiang Rai, Kanchanaburi, Bangkok, Rayong, and Pattaya that I can think of) I would think the Pattaya area would have the highest concentration of courses. Or maybe the Sri Racha/Laem Chabang area, where you would also be in striking distance of some of the Bangkok courses. I liked the Chiang Rai area for other reasons, but only a few courses (although one of them, Santiburi, is a great course). I've heard good things about Hua Hin, but haven't been there yet. Hub

I still get emails from Angel Travel, which I used succesfully several years ago. There seemed to be some good fares from the US in this last one, which I tried to cut and paste below. The text spacing got messed up, but there looks to be some sub-$700 fares (excluding surcharges) from the US to Bangkok on JAL, Nippon, or UAL. I figured I would post it in case it may help anyone thinking of making a trip in the near future. Hub -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- May Special (departure till May31) Book Early! by Japan AirlinesFrom/To Beijing Shanghai Hong Kong Bangkok Singapore Kuala Lumpur Manila Jakarta Saigon Hanoi Seoul Los Angeles San Francisco 650 650 670 750 750 695 830 775 675 Chicago 850 845 780 875 875 725 875 775 775 New York 675 675 670 755 775 735 845 755 835 Sales end Mar2! Midweek departure between May1-31, min-max stay 6-180 days, taxes and fees are extra Return during Aug3-19, add $150 , subject to availability book it! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- San Francisco-Bangkok/ Singapore $575 by All Nippon Airways Sales end Mar7,! departure on between now - Mar15, min-max stay 3-90 days Fuel surcharge and security surcharge extra. book it! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chicago / Washington / New York - Shanghai /Hong Kong $625, Singapore $675 Chicago - Bangkok $675, Singapore $675 Washington / New York - Bangkok $725, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis - Shanghai $725, Singapore / Bangkok $775 by All Nippon Airways Sales end Mar7, departure on between now - Mar15, min-max stay 3-90 days Fuel surcharge and security surcharge extra. book it! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New York to Asia by Japan Airlines Departure date Hong Kong/Taipei Beijing/Shanghai Ho Chi Minh Manila Bangkok Singapore/ Kuala Lumpur Feb27-Mar7 625 625 750 695 725 695 Sales end Mar7,! Midweek departure, min-max stay 3-90 days, taxes and fees are extra book it! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Special by United Airlines LA San Fran Seattle Portland Detroit Minneapolis Chicago Dallas Houston Atlanta New York DC Boston 615 625 670 695 715 720 625 670 685 685 685 685 775 Zone2 Zone3 Zone4 Zone5 Zone6 Zone7 Zone8 Sales end Mar2! Midweek departure between now Mar31, min-max stay 6-30 days, taxes and fees are extra book it! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: Above airfare is based on availability and for weekday departure. Weekend surcharge may apply. Advanced purchased may be required. Seats are limited and fare is subject to availability of certain class of service which must be available at the time of booking. Taxes, airport security fee, and fuel surcharge are between $225-$325 extra depends upon your destinations and airlines. To make reservation or check for availability please specify the deals that you want Angel Travel, Inc. 22nd Anniversary celebrations! Tel: (708) 532-4500, 1-800-922-1092 email: angeltravelinc@yahoo.com , http://www.angeltravel.com

Not surprised in the least. The food is good but the customer service sucks. I've been there many times with friends but won't ever go back. Hub

[quote name='CheshireTom' date='Dec 17 2006, 10:23 AM' post='410889' Tom: I must admit that last pic distracted me sufficiently to forget about the EU's poor attempts to stifle free trade. As our tastes tend to run the same in women, I would love to find those two in LOS....maybe Ratchada Enjoy your long vacation after the games - I still have an outside shot at a March trip if we need to switch schools for the boy. Hub

Scalawag: Thanks for the very cogent and well-informed response. I liked the bit on the "evolutionary vs revolutionary" as well. I see Tom at least took you up on your bet, even though he did not dispute any of your points. So what is the current delivery date and delivered to whom? Usually, I like to throw a few bucks in with Tom on his bets, but I'll have to stay on the sidelines for this one. Maybe make it 500 baht payable to the charity of Tom's choice and I'll get in on the bet.

Forgot to add - any sushi place in Pattaya. Tried about 5-6 at least now, including the ones in the malls, Yamato, Royal Cliff Hotel, the one halfway down Soi 2, and the one up Pattaya Tai near 3rd road (purple helmet?). None of them really can cut the mustard, IMO. Hub