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torrenova

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Everything posted by torrenova

  1. If you don't need in town and can live past Sukhumvit you can get a small house for less than 10k and have either your own pool or simply choose from the best pool in the area and pay to use that - or not, just use for free. If in town, outside Stalag Nirun and associated bottom end stuff, then you are going to find it hard to look past VT1 as the cheapest option. A place there annually can come in under 100k.
  2. Prices from UK 2 x prices from Scandinavia which routes back through UK anyway !
  3. Only ever found them useful once. Website stuck in 1990s and of last few years, not even accurate on business fares. Sad but inevitable as they were years behind the times.
  4. Thanks for the heads up. I just received this email response to my enquiry. Greetings from Avani Pattaya Resort! Regarding to your e-mail, we would like to inform you that Avani Pattaya Resort had ceased its operations of the AvaniFit fitness centre since 31 July 2019. If you wish to use Jetts fitness centre, at the Second road end, of the Royal Garden Plaza Mall, adjacent to the hotel. Please feel free to collect your complimentary membership card, which is valid for the duration of your stay, from the Front Desk. Please enjoy this 24 hour amenity, at your leisure.
  5. Back again in a few weeks. Didn't stay elsewhere the last time, or the time before or before that ! It just delivers for me on so many levels. I "want" room service 24/7 and maid service 24/7. I don't want to have to argue or get serviced at their schedule. Fuck that, I'm dictating when. I could save 50% to 75% by going elsewhere which would be great when compared with Bt1000 places but the Hilton charges more and delivers less and others are either too far away or can't deliver IMHO.
  6. Lazy days, passing the time, some exercise, I like poolside in a good location. Can't be too crowded or just rows of chairs with 5cm between you and your neighbour. Good service, charge to account etc.
  7. I had a huge motorised dish at one house but as others have said, it is old tech now and obsolete. A fast internet connection is what you need.
  8. The Avani is messing me around with the corporate long stay rate for 2019 and as my upcoming trip straddles New Year, they are trying to get me onto a regular rate for 2019 until I arrive and sign the 2019 agreement. Of course, I'd rather know what the hell their proposed rate is for 2019 first !!! Hilton is out, too long a stay for that place (27 days but could split in two if absolutely had to) and to be honest, I've been back at the Avani for so many years now that I've not kept touch with other developments. Not worried too much about price, but I do want value of sorts. Decent poo
  9. Go Eva from LHR ? Too much fucking about going ex EU and no through bags. QR will sometimes interline with BA so you can use the EU QR deals. I'm on QR QSuites in a week ! But ex LHR :)
  10. Not that BA business class is worth of the name but does anyone else have unused Amex 241 Avios vouchers ? I sometimes don't use it as I earn the points for others to fly and I fly a better airline but if two people wanted to go, the normal deal is about 165k Avios and £1050 cash for 2 x tickets. As you can now buy Avios for about 1p each, that is about £2700 for 2 x direct in business class, which is not bad really.
  11. Swiss Airways business class London - Zurich - Bangkok a couple of months ago and the single suitcase was left behind in Zurich. Ground crew stopped by heavy thunderstorms and a tight connection fucked that up. It arrived the next day but it was essentially a lost day in Bangkok. I decided not to go running around for emergency clothes etc. and my hotel had all the toiletries I needed. However, had it not turned up the following day, I could seriously have considered just flying back.
  12. As others have said, it is Sydney that needs the direct link, not some wasteland in the west. I want to get back to Cairns and also visit friends in Melbourne and Sydney so the idea of flying into Perth is a joke.
  13. I flew both twice in the last month (and have flown both maybe 50+ times previously) and the A380 beats the 777 hands down. The only way I'd choose the 777 would be in a scenario where the A380 was like BA, with 8 abreast in business whereas the 777 was like Etihad with 4 abreast. Thus, it can depend on the airline and their configuration - check.
  14. Business class is being seriously pared back ! Look at Etihad. Chauffeurs - gone, even for first class (outside UAE) Wine - downgraded Food - downgraded Cheese - 2 types down from 4 Amenity kits - no kits for daytime flights (this shocked me) Lounges - selling access to economy passengers and charging for spa treatments previously free Mileage - huge devaluations and raised taxes All in all, I work it out that the value (including the now missing 3x and 4x points which were regular items) the cost of a ticket has risen by 1/3rd netting off the lost items and
  15. If you are 21 stone then whilst you may think you fit into a basic economy seat I can virtually assure you that those unfortunate enough to sit either side of you will not feel as if you do as your body sprawls over the edges of your seat and the shared arm rests become solely yours etc. I sat next to a fatty in economy one time and insisted on a move as he was seriously encroaching into my space making my journey uncomfortable. Fat people should be made to pay more, just as extra baggage costs more and they should not be allowed to squash themselves into small seats and inconvenience
  16. If you hold business class on Etihad they allow you to bid for first class and per sector (LHR-AUH) they take bids from around £650 to £1250. As it is a shade over 6 hours, that is £100 to £200 per hour more than business class and for only have a one way trip (no first on AUH-BKK). They do not confirm whether you are successful until very near to flight time so they can still sell out of first class and then no-one would win. I suspect this economy bidding for another seat would be similar and you might find no-one wins on busy flights.
  17. I agree with the charity shops. They only pay half rates (or none) I think and they have all staff bar one manager as "helpers" and as charities they get away with all sorts of tax breaks which means that they drive rents up because they are not well versed in negotiation and simply accept the first or second offer without reference to other nearby leases. I pitched in for another place the other month which should have gone for less than £10k rent and come with rent free upfront and some other incentives and a local charity just agreed to no incentives and £14k a year. That doesn'
  18. Anchor tenants are key to survival as otherwise you have to make two trips, one local and then elsewhere to get the remainder of what you want. Or you just go to the place where you can get it all.
  19. My retail stuff is largely in affluent market towns but despite most folk not really needing to care about parking charges, it is a pet hate and they simply drive their cars to elsewhere. We largely don't have busses or at best one an hour for a few hours a day with none on a weekend in places. It keeps the poor elsewhere
  20. All of them can do a price BKK-LHR but never good as the conditions of tickets bought in LOS are way different from the ones bought over the net from UK based agents.
  21. Hardly. If no-one uses the banks then why would closing the banks stop people coming to town ? The lack of free parking (ours just went up to £1.20 an hour) is the big killer and the lack of an anchor tenant to keep people coming in and then using the ancillary shops.
  22. I got as far as design specs for a website and online database back in about 2007/8 which would not only include the usual bedrooms, price, area etc.but also other useful criteria like private pool, high/medium/low floors for condos, distance from an input location etc. In the end the available talent in Pattaya couldn't come up with a technical solution to a relatively simple SQL database (or alternative) requirement and after months of frustration I dropped the project. To date, nearly a decade later, there is still not a completely useful site with even half the options required. Ho
  23. Agreed. TopCashBack is miles better but if you get a few quid back then why not, however the route. Other sites tend to be offering "IT" or special fares with no flexibility and certainly not the flexibility the airline offers. You also have to speak to the intermediary to sort out changes and not the airline.
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