Big_Brian

Quality as always,

Thanks all. That's the sort of info that this board excels at - there's always someone who knows what you need to find. I think I'm going to leave booking for now after all. Eva is showing £530 for March flights, hopefully if I wait a month, they'll show the same for April. Fingers crossed.

I'm looking for next April and the main websites are showing these two as by far the cheapest. I've got no experience of either and AirlineQuality.com has some negative reports - old planes and short seat pitches mostly. Can anyone confirm that they are that bad? Being large and not wealthy enough to pay for business class, I need a reasonable sized seat in economy. Looking for a seat this early IS a gamble I know, I'm betting that prices will go up, not down.

OK, here's my take on this; Firstly, consider buying a "cheap and nasty" golf bag for the trip. I weighed my usual one (a cart bag) and it was almost 4kg empty. Now I travel with a £10 (650 baht) bag which weighs under 1kg. Also, don't take anything with you that you can buy cheaply once you get there, balls, tees, even gloves add to weight. It's surprising how much crap we carry around the world in golf bags. You're still looking at around 6kg for a full set, so you're looking to keep your suitcase under 14kg to avoid charges. And don't forget to dump the crap from your bag

Hmmm, criminals couldn't get at it in a bank, so it must be the authorities that you want to hide it from. Why would you ask us to be a party to that?

This will be my 4th. Team = Europe Handicap = 24 Size = Still huge I'm afraid

This one threw me a bit; last time I looked, the Canary Islands were in the Atlantic. I only got two on the quiz BTW.

Thanks. Glad I booked early then.

That's nice to hear, does that only apply to UK based airlines or is it a general rule? (have booked with Eva)

Congrats on the sprog. Try not to blame him for what he's done to your favourite toy on the way out.

That's fantastic free publicity Pete. How much did it cost?

I'd advise setting yourself a STRICT daily budget to start off with. It's very easy to burn through 6 weeks money in a few days.

I had a look before it opened and am looking forward to chilling there in November. One question though; where's the f***ing garden! You know what a garden's like, plants, bushes, grass, etc. I don't see any of that on the photo's. Pattaya, yes. Beer, yes. Garden????

Thanks, that's all I needed to know. I'll confirm my booking for November.

Can anyone who's stayed in the standard room tell me what the bathrooms are like please - especially the shower? The website says "walk in shower", so I know that it isn't over a bath, but doesn't say if it's one of those little square cubicles or, as seems to be more usual in Thailand, just in the corner of the bathroom with a shower curtain to stop splashes. I ask because those cubicles are small and square and I'm large and round.

Bob, they don't check handicaps - or even ask for them. But. If you can't CARRY the ball IN THE AIR for a minimum of 180 yards off the tee (200 would be better) you'll have big problems on this course. On several holes you're about 180 to the fairway with no "bail out" option. It IS a great course and well worth playing at least once, but it's seriously long. Also, it's one of those courses where the right caddy can take 10 shots off of your score.

Thanks Gus, I've been looking at the Heathrow Connect. I don't think it was in place last time I travelled via Paddington - 10 minutes longer/£10 cheaper? I'll take that! If you want to talk about a rip off, how about no return rail tickets if you're going to be away for over 4 weeks! You have to buy 2 singles.

On short flights (say up to 2 hours) - fine by me. For long haul when people are trying to sleep - a definite no. I can feel air rage coming on.

Thanks Gus but I didn't use a travel agent - booked with Eva directly. Also, I don't really fit on a National Express coach, as well as being fat, I'm 6'3" tall. For me public transport is trains, the sleeper should let me go in to work when I get home.

Just thought I'd finish this thread off. I ended up going over Sukhumvit to a Homemart (opposite Big C) and buying a "Cotto" version. Perfect, didn't even need a tool to tighten it, fingers were enough. I can now say with absolute certainty that mains water, in England, in April, is COLD. Wakes you up in the morning though.

There are 3 things I need; time off work, a flight, and somewhere to stay. I start with booking the time off work, if I can't get that, it's a show-stopper. Because I do that early BEFORE my previous trip, I can book accommodation during that trip - it's nice to have actually seen the place and I can pay a deposit in cash, no CC's over the net for me! Then it's only a flight to book, I start looking early just in case (like this time) there are some good deals out there. I wouldn't actually worry about not having one booked until the last 2 or 3 months, but it's nice to have it done well i

I've just booked Eva through their own website - http://eservice.evaair.com FROM TO FLIGHT CL DEP.DATE DEP.TIME LONDON BANGKOK BR0068 U 31OCT08 2130 BANGKOK LONDON BR0067 U 30NOV08 1320 £481.90 inc taxes - economy of course. It's one of these "don't even think about changing it" fares, but a really good price. A winner I think. It IS their old 747 but as I try to sleep anyway I don't really care. 198 days to go (and I've already worked that out - sad isn't it ). Been home

A nice machine, but it's a scooter. IMO the wheels are too small to handle Thai roads in safety, and especially on a machine of this power. On nice, smooth, western roads this would be fine, but not Thai roads.

Have just been to see it and agree that it's nice and very cheap, DOES have a pool table. Rooms are huge and very clean, 5th floor has twin beds, the rest have king size (some are two singles with one king size mattress across them. In fact it actually looks just like its website (bit of a shock there. ). A few big minuses for me though; ---- The rooms in the front look 20' across the Soi at other windows, the rooms on the sides look 6-8' at a brick wall. I'd have to keep my curtains shut all the time I was in the room. ---- There is a ledge that runs round each floor which would pr

Played Kaow Kheow yesterday. 31 stapleford, 103 gross off 12 handicap. Ashboy is right, my handicap needs to be reviewed...........up Only joking,it's an "official" hanicap from the IPGC - I normally play out of Lewinskiis when I'm in tiown and they work it out from the scorecards.