Samsonite

One day an Irishman who had been stranded on a deserted island for over 10 years, saw a speck on the horizon. He thought to himself, "It's certainly not a ship." And, as the speck got closer and closer, he began to rule out the possibilities of a small boat and even a raft. Suddenly there emerged from the surf a wet-suited black clad figure. Putting aside the scuba gear and the top of the wet suit, there stood a drop-dead gorgeous blonde! The glamorous blonde strode up to the stunned Irishman and said to him, "Tell me, how long has it been since you've had a good cigar. "Ten years," replied the amazed Irishman. With that, she reached over and unzipped a waterproof pocket on the left sleeve of her wetsuit and pulled out a fresh package of cigars. He takes one, lights it, and takes a long drag. "Faith and begorrah," said the man, "that is so good I'd almost forgotten how great a smoke can be!" "And how long has it been since you've had a drop of good Powers Irish Whiskey?" asked the blonde. Trembling, the castaway replied, "Ten years." Hearing that, the blonde reaches over to her right sleeve, unzips a pocket and removes a flask and hands it to him. He opened the flask and took a long drink. "'Tis nectar of the gods!" stated the Irishman. ''Tis truly fantastic!!!" At this point the gorgeous blonde started to slowly unzip the long front of her wet suit, right down the middle. She looked at the trembling man and asked, "And how long has it been since you played around?" With tears in his eyes, the Irishman fell to his knees and sobbed, "Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Don't tell me that you've got golf clubs in there, too !"

Sure you don't have this mixed up or mixed in with the "fuel surcharge"? I've never paid anywhere near that amount in "airport tax."

Do you have to walk through the restaurant to get to your room?

Great pharmacy directly across the street from the VC Hotel. TOP Pharmacy. Knowledgeable, helpful people and good prices. Discounts for volume purchases. Best retail experience I've had to date in Thailand. Not associated with TOPS Department Store.

Excellent. Thanks.

It just goes to show that just because he has his name in print, whoever in the hell he is, it doesn't mean he knows what he is talking about. Getting to be a bigger and bigger problem with "journalist" these days. Some newspaper gives them a byline and suddenly they are an "expert."

The number of engines has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with it. The type of seat, width of the seat and pitch (distance from the seat in front of you) is determined by the airline. The aircraft manufacturer delivers the plane to the airline with only the heads (toilets) and galleys (kitchens) installed. The rest is up to each individual airline. I've always been a big fan of the B747-400, but the most comfortable plane I've flown on is the B777-200, and that, has a lot to do, as I said, with what seats the airline chose to installed and in what configuration. Anything else is purely subjective.

You shouldn't get much rain, if any, in June, but it will be HOT. HOTTEST time of the year is April, May, and June. Normally, most of the rain is over by November, but not this year. It is still raining occasionally, but then the rains started late this year. November is generally cooler and by the end of November it might, Might, get down into the low/mid 80s. MAYBE. Varies from year to year.

*1001

Tried that once and the girl behind the counter asked to see my phone. I handed it to her and she flipped it over, removed the battery and started to remove the SIM chip. I reached over and took it away from her before she could slip the chip out. She had no need to do that and I figured she was up to no good. After that experience and my lack of confidence (learned the hard way) in doing business with the Thai, I prefer to go directly to a company store where I know it will be done properly. How do these small shop "show you" the time added to your phone? At a DTAC owned store they enter the information into a computer, a receipt is printed out, and by the time they are handing you the receipt your phone is beeping indicating you have a text message. The message is from DTAC showing you your new balance and expiration date. I top it off to one year out each time.

In September the Thai girl took me everywhere, but Big C. After going to the far south end of town to that HUGE Tesco shopping center, I popped into an Internet Shop and looked up DTAC's locations on their web site. The only Pattaya location listed, at that time, was in Big C. It wasn't listed on the Big C mall directory, but T.I.T., so I walked all over the place and couldn't find it. Finally, I found a couple of very cute Thai girls in a mall "information booth" and asked them the location of the DTAC Shop. "No have DTAC Shop in Big C, Sir." Ditto in October. I feel more comfortable going into a DTAC owned shop and having them add the credit to the account via their computer system. 800 Baht buys you 100 days of service and/or that amount of credit. You can purchase lesser amounts.

As mentioned in a previous post, this last September a local Thai girl and I went from one end of Pattaya to the other, but couldn't find a DTAC Store. Ditto when I went looking in October. Here, for what it is worth, is an e-mail received from them today listing their outlets in Pattaya: "Dear Sir, Thank you for your email. We appreciate to inform you that DTAC Shop in Pattaya have various branches where you can refill balance and anothe doing follow: - Lotus Northern Pattaya : locate on Banglamoong subdistrict Pattayanuea Rd. Chonburi - BiG C Southern Pattaya : locate on Banglamoong subdistrict Nongprue district Chonburi -Carefull Central Pattaya : locate on Banglamoong subdistrict Nongprue district Chonburi Please do not hesitate to contact us again if there is anything else we can do for you. For more information, please call 1678 from your mobile or 0-2202-7000 available 24 hours."

Bestmate is exactly right. I would not call it a suite. In the "living room" all you have to do is remove the couch and replace it with a bed and you have another standard room. You don't even have to change the end tables as they are the same table used for night stands and they don't have drawers, btw. Also, there is no chest of drawers for your clothes. Actually, none of the basic amenities that a hotel in that price range (in Pattaya) should offer. What do they have going for them? Location. Great location and some rooms have a good view of the bay. They were asking 2,500 a night for those "suites" up to October, the last time I checked their prices. If they are now willing to take 1,990 in the High Season, maybe they have finally gotten the hint.....you think? ....couldn't be...........

They are down to 4 days/flights a week out of JFK and 3 days/flight a week out of LAX.

Thai Air can't get enough people to fly non-stop from New York or Los Angeles to BKK. Is there something about Manchester, besides being one of the wettest and coldest places on earth, that would produce a sufficient demand for Thai Air to offer such a service?

> I think your reading too many of these airline forums with all the other > wannabe airline execs. Nah, just wanted to be a pilot. Executives just fuck up good ideas. > "Our assembly lines are booked solid...." "Our assembly lines...""" What do you do for Airbus, Tom? > "...last five years when it has wiped the floor...." Let's see....2003, Airbus delivered 19 more aircraft than Boeing. In 2004, Airbus delivered 35 more aircraft than Boeing. Hardly wiping anyones floor. Yes, I noted that the airlines choose the seats fitted to their aircraft. Recent health studies have shown the British are major lard asses. Here, as you are so unabashedly bias toward Airbus, I'm sure you will enjoy reading this: http://www.thetravelinsider.info/2003/boeing1.htm You'll especially enjoy sections 3 through 5. Should make your day. Emirates has a very good reputation, but they don't service the West Coast of the United States. Their web site does not show a West Coast Airport as a departure point or destination. Thai Air?! Joking, right?

Don't have to go back too far to find an Airbus accident. What was the outcome of the investigation of the A340 that went off the end of the runway a few months ago? The 6 or 7 cases where the front nose gear locked in a 90 degree position on landing? Boeing has made their mistakes in recent years. They lost their will to be innovative, they were content to rest on their laurels, and their attitude was to ignore the competition. For this they paid dearly. However, things are on the turn around and by the end of the year, in just a few weeks, Boeing will have out sold Airbus for 2005. Wednesday of this week there should be a major announcement both is size and importance. As for Airbus themselves, I don't care for their aircraft. I find them noisy, especially when climbing to altitude, rough riding, and cramped. I have no way to know exactly, short of taking a tape measure along on the next trip, but my shoulders "tell me" the seats on an Airbus are even closer together than on a Boeing. Of course, it is the Airlines that choose the seats and where to install them, but in cattle class on an Airbus, my shoulders are wider than the back of the seat. BTW, I recently flew on a A340 and thought Boeing should be flattered that Airbus thinks so much of Boeing's past designs they did such an good job of copying and enlarging the B707. It is not always possible, but I try to follow the old adage, "If it isn't Boeing, I'm not going." Me thinks you should re-read your past posts on this topic and see who is really totally lacking in objectivity.

Thank you gentlemen for your comments. Greatly appreciated.

FBW had been in military aircraft for Years before Airbus put it into a commerical aircraft. DFBW, which is what is used today, was developed by NASA, an American Agency, in the 1970s and into the 1980s: http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/technology_and_cu...guilmartin.html http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/history/pastprojects/F8/ This article at the following link, claims the MD-11 was the first commercial airliner to use FBW (True or not, I don't know). Apparently the A320 went into commercial service before the MD-11. "The MD-11, a highly modified version of the popular DC-10, was the first commercial aircraft to adopt computer-assisted flight controls." http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Ev...ters/Tech37.htm Then there was the time when Airbus took a large number of people up on a A320 "demo" flight. The pilot decided to fly low over the field for the benefit of the people on the ground. The computer thought he wanted to land, took control from the pilot, the pilot could not regain control and the computer put the plane into a forest killing 3 people. Fact not fiction. Airbus has since made some "changes" to their FBW system. And, BTW, The biggest manufacturing plant next door to the Airbus Headquarters in France is own by Goodrich, an American Company.

A friend is a airline pilot who has flown L-1011s, B767s, B747s, A330s and A340s. He tells me Boeing aircraft have the reputation for being smoother flying aircraft. When I asked the reason, his answer stunned me. He said, "Software." After X number of minutes into the flight they turn the whole thing over to the computer and the computer flies the plane for most of the journey. Apparently Boeing's software does a better job of reacting to whatever is going on and making the proper adjustments. I found that a little scary, but he insists it is safer that way. However, and I think this is the better philosophy, Boeing gives the pilot the "last say" over the computer. Airbus takes the opposite approach.

Thanks for the great link. I've always been, obviously, a big fan of the 747 and think it is the smoothest flying aircraft I have yet to experience. However, that said, the most comfortable aircraft I've ever flown on was a Korean Air 777-200. Made the trip, SFO to ICN, twice and both times it was a very positive experience. Unfortunately, usually, Korean Air's schedule doesn't fit mine. I'm looking forward to flying on a 777-300ER or a 777-200LR. BTW, many airlines are refurbishing their older 747-400s with the new "Boeing Signature Interior" which is very similar to the 777 interior. All the new 747-400s, of which China Air (Taiwan) has taken delivery of 4 or 5 this year, come with the new interior.

I did a search and the most recent comments on this hotel are well over 3 years old. Has anyone any more current observations? Thank you very much.

The entire article is too long to post here, but the newspaper, "The Australian" points out Airbus' recent mistakes. Here is one excerpt: "...Boeing also said yesterday that it had reduced the Boeing 777-300ER/200LR fuel burn by 1.4 per cent with aerodynamic improvements and weight savings. The fuel burn reduction comes on top of the 2 per cent improvement achieved during the flight test program, which finished late last year for the 777-300ER. These improvements mean the 777-200LR will be capable of a Sydney-London non-stop flight with an economical payload, Qantas insiders say. While the 777-200LR appears to be a clear winner over the A340-500 for the ultra-long-range hub-busting mission for Qantas,........" The entire article is here: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...5E23349,00.html

SunnyValentine is right on the money. There are stairs coming down from the SkyTrain station almost right on the corner of Soi 21 (Asoke) and Sukhumvit Road. If you come down on the north side (odd numbered soi side) of Sukhumvit it is just a few steps to the entrance of the subway system. Take the stairs or escalator down to the first level of the subway station, walk east across the station and exit up the other side. As you leave the station turn right (north) and you are not more than 100 feet from the entrance to Soi Cowboy. If you can't see Soi Cowboy from the northwest corner of Asoke and Sukhumvit Road you really need to swallow your vanity and see an Ophthalmologist.