Woody

Very interesting, I never knew about these lounges. I did a search on the internet and came up with this web site. http://www.holideck.co.uk The cost appears to be £17.50 but you do seem to get all drinks thrown in!! :) Terminal 4 is no good to me but my search revealed another lounge called Servisair Lounge in Terminal 3. The cost is £17.50 again and all drinks are included. You can check their web site here: https://www.holidayextras.co.uk/# (click on Lounges) I probably spend about £15 in the airport bars when I fly out so these lounges are worth considering. Anyone tried out them out?

Val, My girlfriend in Nakhon Sawan says that Nokias are selling for 2200 baht there. At current exchange rates that is £33. Compare that to £80 which is about the cheapest you can get a Nokia in the UK. If buy one on my next trip, do you think I will have any problems putting a T-mobile (pay as you go) sim card in it and use it in the UK? Regards,

No, you are wrong.... that is what it costs to use a switchcard abroad in ATMs. The NatWest switchcard charges 2.25% for foreign cash machine withdrawals plus commision on the exchange rate which may be hidden in the exchange rate shown. Your exchange rates were 64.9 and 65.17 baht to £1. The day previous to the 27th November I got 68.34 using a Nationwide debit card with no charges!! Including your charges, your exchange rate works out to 63.94 and 64.20 which is a 6 to 6.5% difference to the rate I got. You got caned! Change your bank mate! There have been quite alot of posts recently about the Nationwide debit card. Do a search and read up on it. Regards,

Val, Do you know what company/service this is? I would like to find their web site.

58 F is coldish... I suppose one could always nip in to the night bazzar and buy a cheap jacket.

Hi aj, It really gets cool enough in Chiang Mai to warrant a jacket?? Is that just late at night or generally? I have never even contemplated taking a jacket to LOS but I am considering visiting Chiang Mai for a short trip. Regards,

Sure, no problem, go there. They have western food on the menu despite the name. Don't get a table too near the stage if you want table conversation.

These free offers included with credit cards are not a substitute for a proper travel insurance.

Tom is correct in saying get something in writing. I did the same thing awhile back. The travel agent should inform EVA of the spelling error. The best thing to do is fax your travel agent a letter informing them of the error and ask them to correct it with the airline. Keep copies of all correspondence. Incidently, if you are on a 30 day visa on entry you require a return ticket. If the return ticket is not in your correct name then you could have problems with Thai immigration.

That is unusal, an airline telling you to wait before booking. They must be putting up the prices in November and would prefer you to buy at the higher price. :)

Go here: http://www.direct-travel.co.uk/ Annual multi-trip, worldwide travel insurance for £45 a year.

Hi The_Druid, Is that zero percent on both foreign and sterling T/C or just foreign only? Somehow, I can't see them giving sterling T/C away free of charge of commission.

Is that sober or drunk?

Well, I have heard people having trouble with cashing Visa T/C in Pattaya.

You are right valentinoxxx, If for example your credit card is charging 16% per annum, then that is 1.25% per month. So if it takes one month to pay your cash advance off at the next bill, you are losing 1.25%. Add on to that the 2 % cash advance and 2.75% foreign transaction fee and you get a loss of 6% !! >

Thanks for keeping us informed Steve.

You will be okay if you get a tourist visa prior to entering Thailand. This is from the UK Thai Embassy web site:- "It is worth noting that British, Irish and South African nationals are entitled to enter and stay as tourists in the kingdom for less than 30 days without any Thai visa but are required to show to Immigration Control on demand their tickets confirmed to leave the kingdom within 29 days from the date of arrival in the kingdom. If they desire to stay longer than 29 days. a tourist visa is required. With the tourist visa, a return ticket confirmed to leave Thailand is not required. " http://www.thaiinuk.com/visa.html

Well you are throwing away money then! You lose money converting to dollars and then you lose money a second time converting the dollars to Baht. Not a wise thing to do considering the ripoff foreign exchange rates in the UK. Forget any other travellers cheques, only take American Express sterling.

You will have to open a Nationwide flexaccount for the debit card. Whatever you do, still take some travellers cheques as "backup". Take American Express sterling travellers cheques. The usual charge is 1% for sterling T/C. Don't take Visa travellers cheques. They are difficult to change in Pattaya.

Change your bank mate! Nationwide have no charges for cash withdrawals on their Visa debit card and only 0.5% cash withdrawal charge on their Visa credit card. Many banks charge up to 2.75% foreign transaction fee plus 1.5% cash advance fee on debit as well as credit cards. You will not even see these fees in your statements because they are disguised in the form of a lower exchange rate. An alternative credit card is the Liverpool Victoria visa card which charges 1% foreign transaction fee plus 1.5% cash advance fee. To complicate it even further some banks charge interest on cash advance from the day of the withdrawal even if you pay the sum of at your next statement. None of the cards I mentioned above do. :-)

Nice one Tom, thanks for the good information. These cheap tickets, do they still qualify for air miles? Regards,

Steptoe, How did the travel agent get around it and what is FO?? Regards,

Steve, I don't understand... the ad says Thai Airways but you say you booked Eva?? It also says Sept-Nov. Have you booked two trips in this period?

That looks a good offer Steve. I checked out their web site but it made no mention of it. http://www.thgholidays.co.uk/index.html Sometimes I wonder if these teletext ads are all bullshit. Did you follow it up and get any more info?

I have sorted it out now and have successfully connected to a mobile and a landline in Thailand. Full marks to Trev who has probably saved me 15 quid so far with this tip. I wonder how long this will last at 5p a minute (to a mobile as well!) seems to good to be true! I have just noticed their web site is up again and they are showing the new price of 5p a minute for Thailand now. http://www.telediscount.co.uk/ I checked out the 08440 number on the BT pricelist and it is indeed 5p a minute. Good idea Tom to put the number in as the best friend number on BT and get a further 20% discount which makes it 4p a minute!!!! :) Are you sure BT will give a discount on this number? Regards,