randolpho2

ATL and CVG (Terminal B? - Behind McDonalds in the food court) both have smoking rooms.. ATL being the better example, as it will be your launching off point. Might be a bit of a pain for you BigD, you would have to do PHL-ATL-NRT(or ICN)-BKK on a Skyteam (Delta/NW/Korean) conglomeration of flights in order to take advantage. Delta has really been pushing the new DTW gateway they picked up from NW for Asia and steering away from the ATL Skyteam connections as of late, as far as pricing goes. The smoking availability is one of the big factors of why I go Elite with Delta for my business flying.. it makes life so much easier. In ATL the lounges are available on pretty much every concourse (one on each side of the terminal from the central escalators), and are fairly convenient. The only one that is a big pain is the E Concourse, which handles most international departures.. that lounge is way down at an isolated corner that is a bit of a hike. Just come off the escalator from the trains, go straight past the food court on your left, Delta Sky Club/Duty Free on your right, and follow the hallway to the right... continue all the way down almost to the end. You will see a Coca-Cola vending area, and the smoking lounge is down a short hallway on the right.

Hey guys, in order to bring some civility back around here... not that I don't mind seeing BigD vs. someone other than ROLAND for a change. Does the CX transfer in HK require a Chinese transit visa for Americans? I have flown through ICN and NRT myself, but never HKG so am not aware of this... I appreciate your help! Randy

I guess it was good luck, but I should be more specific... it was a 3/4 size refrigerator... not your typical full-size home refrigerator. I was thinking full-size in relation to a normal minibar. And you were one room away, I was in #203, where my 3/4 was... I'd have let you borrow part of it!

I have stayed on both the 2nd and 6th floors, and both times had 2 TVs and a full-size refrigerator... might be luck of the draw though?

I am one of the big Residence Garden fans on here, and would definitely recommend it. The fact is that RG is not WAY too far from Walking Street at all, and IF it isn't oppressively humid, then the walk isn't too bad. Otherwise, you can easily get a baht bus, but at night it may be just as easy to get a motorbike driver to run you back for 20 baht per... I have done that on many occasions and never had much of a problem.

Looks like prices are FINALLY starting to come down from the mid-South for March departures... $780 ballpark for DFW and IAH on AA/EVA, flight times are a bit dodgy, but it beats paying the $1000+ that it has been!

BigD, as usual you are awesome... hope it works.

On my last trip I did the flight from Atlanta to Tokyo in cattle class on Delta, and it would be really difficult for me to recommend it, but again that was on Delta, not Korean Air and more than anything it was simply the length of the flight that did it for me, as service was typical for US airlines... nothing special, but certainly not bad. As far as Korean goes, the one major disadvantage if you plan on staying awake on the plane a bit, which I do, they do not have personal video screens, and a very limited entertainment selection. One plus is, they always close with a video of a Korean variety song & dance show (in Korean) towards the end of the flight, which can be entertaining. Another thing to consider is what I did on my first trip. You are probably flying from TPA, MCO, or MIA all of which are more than likely going to take you an intermediate stop to get to the west coast. See if you can arrange a flight to the west coast (SFO-LAX) for one price ($200-$300 r/t @ 5-6 hours), get a room at an airport hotel for $40 with priceline.com, wake up refreshed the next day and do the long haul with one of the deals on China Airlines for $600-$675 r/t or so. Your total cost ends up being around the same $1000 the ticket from Florida usually costs, and you break up the trip going out there so you are not totally zombified. It is really up to you though... from experience, the ATL-ICN-BKK route is pretty rough as you can end up with a nasty layover in Seoul if you aren't careful, but it is liveable, and once you get to BKK and you walk off that plane you won't care at all about the time you just spent. Oh, and if you do end up having to choose, Thai Air is awesome from Seoul to Bangkok! Just my two baht...

www.airasia.com... They can get you into Kuala Lampur real cheap.

Sounds like you are describing Climax Beer Bar, as mentioned above... bottom floor underneath Polo on the left.

Now the question is... will TG pay the extra 5 baht for the in-seat video screens that they passed on for the 777s?

I just stayed there at 1350B/day, but then again this is low season... I dunno this might be one for Pete to investigate, hash out, etc. Also make SURE you try your booking through the direct link from this website... I was not allowed the FLB rate on walk-up last week... I had to fill out the form and make the reservation that way in order to get the rate. Randy

My mattress was harder than a ladyboy on the first night of Cobra Gold, so no you were not alone. That was another contributing factor to moving to the Residence Garden.. though I have to admit the price was very nice at 650B, but I couldn't deal with the noise primarily.

I stayed in 103 as well... and yes that was the spot. Were you the one that left the half-empty bottle of baby oil under the end table?

Hey guys! I am currently sitting in Incheon airport waiting out my 5 hour layover to get back to the States I just wanted to let you all know that I stayed at the Roof Garden on the first couple nights of my trip but there is some pretty damned loud construction starting up across the road that got me up at 8:00 both mornings, so I moved over to the Residence Garden, tried and true, it didn't fail me, even with the new building going up across the street there, the noise was negligible... I will give a more detailed trip report with some pics when I get back to the States... I just wanted to give everyone a heads up about the construction at Roof Garden. Cheers! Randy