Zeus

I am soooooooo glad that back in January, I locked up a frequent flier seat in business class for November (LAX-BKK). It is now pricing out at almost $9,000 US. Only a year ago the same flights were $3,000. See ya in November! Zeus

ROFL!

I like this one.....Yummy Zeus

I just want to add my compliments for Mr Toom! Not only did he handle my pickup he did so with two last minute changes, about a year ago. I had my reservation via email with Mr Toom and confirmed it shortly to leaving on my trip. Simple - right? Well, as they say never make plans in the LOS. My NW flight from LAX to NRT was overbooked & NW was offering $750 US for anyone willing to give up their seat. Plus they upgraded me to Business class! I took that up in a flash. I would leave 3 hours later for HNL, and stay a night in Hawaii (on NW), leave for NRT in the morning and catch the NRT flight to BKK that evening. So I lost 1 day. I emailed Mr Toom from LAX and crossed my fingers that he would get the notice in time. Everything held to plan, until I arrived in NRT. There a NW agent had my name on a sign, and offered me a seat on a JAL flight leaving 3 hours ealier than the NW flight to BKK. I took them up on this too. Only later did I realize that they did this because the NRT-BKK leg was overbooked too - I should have asked for some additional compensation (duh!). Anyway, I went to the NW club and emailed Mr. Toom that my plans had changed AGAIN, and gave him my new arrival airline and time. Now it was only 7 hours to touchdown in BKK and I was really worried that my messages would not get read in time. I was now arriving on a different airline 3 hours earlier than planned! Well, wouldn't you know it when I got through customs there was a man waiting on me with my name on a sign! I am not sure if it was Mr. Toom or one of his drivers - and I really didn't care - He was there! Mr. Toom has a customer for life now. Any time I go to the LOS I will use his services when I need an airport driver. Zeus

I haven't been in town for over a year, but I remember a great value place on 2nd road: The Boat Bakery - I think american breakfast was 40 baht ( 2 eggs, bacon or ham, toast w/butter & jam, coffee) There are much better places for overall quality ( Sportsman), but this place was a real deal for a daily morning(or noon) meal. Thai food was also reasonably priced. Zeus

A different twist on this question that I have yet to see answered elsewhere: For the 65k baht / month requirement, can a steady stream of interest from CDs, money market, dividends etc. be used? This income would be coming from a US bank/financial institution. If you have $2,500/month in interest etc. that would translate into 75K+ baht/month. I know..... If you have that kind of interest, the principle would give you more than enough to meet the 800K/year. But I figured if I managed to meet the income requirement, then I could base my funds in a US financial institution, and withdraw needed funds by ATM etc. Finally - If this is allowed as meeting the income requirement, what proof/documentation would be needed? Zeus

http://www.angeltravel.com/destinations/bangkok1.htm I used them once. OK, but not much better than you can get online. Zeus

Yes .... airfare is up across the board. And with the US $ in the tank, I almost considered giving up on my annual trip to the LOS. But I was hunting for Frequent Flier flights and all of a sudden there was availability for a busness class flight LAX-BKK. Well, you didn't have to ask me twice! I am booked for 3 weeks in Nov! I recently checked and this availability is now gone, but if you stay vigilent and check regularly a few seats pop up from time to time. With prices this high use your FF mileage if you have it! I priced the same flight out and if I had paid it would have been $6000+ US. I feel good about going back to the LOS again! See ya in November! Keep those women hot and the beer cold! Zeus

I always enjoy these discussions of what it takes to get to the LOS from a monetary perspective. All the experienced replys give a lot of insight to what it takes and long term planning. If it were just the money, I would have been there years ago. For me the biggest problem is that if I am to consider a long term life in the LOS is that I would need to maintain some sort of ties/residence in my home country (USA). Even though I am a single man (thank god), I have friends, family, financial investments, not to mention a job that I can not just up and leave (well I could leave the job). So the only solution is A) keep working and take as much vacation in the LOS or B ) Quit & relocate to the LOS - but maintain a residence in the USA. That ups the $$ a lot, for any desired move. For now the solution is A and socking away more money to make B possible. If I go for only five years with the intention of returning, then who is going to keep all of my stuff. I can't take it to Thailand, and storage is too expensive. I guess I could chuck it all, but that seems a bit overboard too, and would leave me with nothing when I return. What I really need is someone who spends 50% of their time in LOS and 50% in the USA, and we have the same residence in both places and swap when we travel. Of course there would be some overlap, but that could be a great situation. One problem would be that this fictional person would have to be 100% trustworthy. Unfortunately, many of the people making regular trips to the LOS might have a less than sterling character ( BMs excepted). Till then I will just enjoy my vacations and dream the dream. Zeus

I checked it out for May and heres a price I got for United. Best I have seen in a long time. I wish I had the time to go! But for all you other BM - Go for It if you can! The itinerary was for LAX-BKK, RT on 5/17 - 5/29. Base Fare (1 adult) = $ 508.00 Taxes and Fees = $ 254.79 Total Price = $ 762.79 Just a comment: On NW taxes are $44.59; The $254.79 United has must be primarily fuel surcharge, which NW incorporates in its base fare. Still, this fare is about $500 less than NW for the same dates, based on total fare. Wishing I was there! Zeus

I looked at Air Asia for some Phuket fares and found some seemingly great fares: O FARE Guest 288.00 THB Sat, 26/May/2007 Flight FD3021 07:15 Depart Bangkok (BKK) 8:35 Arrive Phuket (HKT) I FARE Guest 399.00 THB Thu, 31/May/2007 Flight FD3020 09:00 Depart Phuket (HKT) 10:20 Arrive Bangkok (BKK) But there is the added tax of 669 Baht each way, bringing the total to about 2000 baht RT. Still not too bad. Do I need to fly the plane? Come on 288 baht is less than $10 US - even at todays shitty exchange rates. I must be missing something here. Zeus

You must be confused: 1) This thread was to acknowledge Mr. Toom's efforts in accommodating a last minute schedule change. Not to complain about "confusion". 2) It wasn't the "pussy talking" (I arrived a day late - by choice). It was the $750 offered to me to take a later flight. OK, in the LOS that translates to pussy ($750 = 27,000 baht. That makes for lot of BF/ST/LT). 3) Sure, if I had sat tight on the LAX-NRT flight - I would have gone on time, as I had a confirmed seat. But the fact that the flight was over-booked was not the reason for the decision, the $$ offered to me was. I agree that I can take 100% of the responsibility for the fact that my itinerary changed. The point was that Mr. Toom handled it VERY well. Zeus

I just want to add my compliments for Mr Toom! Not only did he handle my pickup he did so with two last minute changes, in November 2006. I had my reservation via email with Mr Toom and confirmed it shortly to leaving on my trip. Simple - right? Well, as they say never make plans in the LOS. My NW flight from LAX to NRT was overbooked & NW was offering $750 US for anyone willing to give up their seat. Plus they upgraded me to Business class! I took that up in a flash. I would leave 3 hours later for HNL, and stay a night in Hawaii (on NW), leave for NRT in the morning and catch the NRT flight to BKK that evening. So I lost 1 day. I emailed Mr Toom from LAX and crossed my fingers that he would get the notice in time. Everything held to plan, until I arrived in NRT. There a NW agent had my name on a sign, and offered me a seat on a JAL flight leaving 3 hours ealier than the NW flight to BKK. I took them up on this too. Only later did I realize that they did this because the NRT-BKK leg was overbooked too - I should have asked for some additional compensation (duh!). Anyway, I went to the NW club and emailed Mr. Toom that my plans had changed AGAIN, and gave him my new arrival airline and time. Now it was only 7 hours to touchdown in BKK and I was really worried that my messages would not get read in time. I was now arriving on a different airline 3 hours earlier than planned! Well, wouldn't you know it when I got through customs there was a man waiting on me with my name on a sign! I am not sure if it was Mr. Toom or one of his drivers - and I really didn't care - He was there! Mr. Toom has a customer for life now. Any time I go to the LOS I will use his services when I need an airport driver. Zeus

No takers??? I have a car reserved with Mr. Toom. Last chance.............. Zeus

Arrive Nov 11 at 11:50 pm (NW 27) - But by the time I get to the taxi it will be early in the morning on the 12th. If anyone is on the same flight or time and wants to share a ride to fun town please reply or PM. Zeus

After trying for a long time to use my FF miles on NW, they finally open up some award seating! if you are looking, you might recheck now. No business seats though. LAX-BKK economy for 60K miles. See ya in November! I am looking forward to seeing the new airport (hopefully any problems are gone). Keep the girls hot and the beer cold! Zeus

There are a ton of places serving breakfast (even all day). In fact, it is hard to walk around and not find one. One of my favorite places is the Boat Bakery on 2nd Rd.(its between Pattayaland 2 and S Pataya rd.). 2 can eat for around 100 baht. There are a few places that serve better breakfast, but none can beat the value. Eggs, bacon, toast and coffee for 40 baht. Zeus

While not going into a lot of detail, this calculator does the trick. It reflects everything I need to know. The real beauty of it is that I can change info and see immediate results on the graph that is always displayed. You can also view the inflation adjusted numbers in a table. ( try unclicking the " increase expenses with inflation" button to see why it is important). http://www.lpl.com/calculators/RetireShort.html I've tried several, including FireCalc (which is great for comparing a plan to history). But I really like this one for the "what if scenarios" What if: -I move to a 0% State Tax state - I retire 4 (or whatever)years early - I get terrible returns on my money (one negative about this calc. is that it does not take negative yeild numbers, which sometimes can be a reality) - I start with less/more - Expenses increase (damn water buffalo is always sick) - I have less/more at retirement - inflation is better/worse/not used. - I want 0 years to retirement (a favorite of mine) It won't account for post retirement income(like social security), but that can be subtracted from your expenses. I'd rather plan on not getting SS anyway, instead of relying on it. After playing with it for a while the most important thing seems to be having an after retirement yeild that covers a large portion of your expenses. (Duh - that means living within your means!) And of course keep it realistic....... dreaming the dream, not living it yet........ Zeus

Well, I don't know if the price of $1172 is a "nice" price. China Air, EVA, and Thai can be had for less. NW does seem to be offering thier "cash and miles" offer again. http://www.nwa.com/features/cmfall06asia/ According to the website, it is $610 +20K miles for a LAX-BKK trip. This seems like a much better deal. However if you try to book it the site says it is unavailable. This is probably because they book the Cash and Miles packages through their FF award system, which never has any BKK availability (unless you book a year in advance or less than a week in advance). If you call an agent, there might be better availability, but the website has nothing in the November date range(when I am looking). Zeus

How many really get searched coming into thailand? Me... 13 trips - not searched once. In fact I have never even seen people being searched entering the country. Zeus

Put me in that 50% group. I have been to Thailand 12 times and I think I got stopped 6 times returning to LAX. The good part is that of all those searches, none were very extensive. Only once did my bag get entirely emptied. I have never had my electronics searched for pictures - even though I had some. I pack in layers, and I am always sure that my used underware is a layer that is close to the top. That seems to stop them unless they are determined, or have a supervisor watching them. I usually attribute the 50% rate to the fact that since I travel light I just have a large carryon. Well this usually means that while everyone else is waiting for their bags, I am heading out to the customs checkpoint. With no one else coming their way , they sometimes will start work on the only available person - ME. However the last 2 trips (2005), I was waved right through even though I was the only one in line. I think they are getting lazy. Just watch - I 'll get picked after my next trip. Zeus

Hey Big chief - sounds perfect for me. I am a project/program mgr. in electronics manufacturing, 20 yrs experience. BSME & MSME. I deal with contract manufacturers, suppliers, supply agreements, and million $ projects all the time. I speak "nit noy" Thai, but I am willing to improve. I pull down decent money here in the states , but am always looking to broaden my horizons. I think the fact that I have a stable decent job here in the US has kept me from doing anything drastic like chucking it all and heading for Thailand. If you have any good contacts or recomendations for some of these opportunities, PM me or post. Zeus

In the low season just walk up to your fav. hotel and ask for a best rate. If you are staying for 2wks+ you can negotiate for a lower rate. Hotels love knowing that they have a room booked long term when times are tough. Sometimes this can be negotiated in advance (ie if you are staying for 3 mo. i would work that situation to your advantage by email prior to arrival). If you are staying the standard tourist In low season (Apr-early Nov) I only reserve the first night or two ahead of time - then there plenty of options if you are willing to walk in (and last seasons bargain may not be the best this year). During high season I would have a room booked for the entire stay though. But this has been said repeatedly on this board. One of my favorites in Pattaya is the Welcome Plaza Hotel. Big pool, close to everything (the #1 reason I like it), excellent price (#2 reason), big rooms with A/C, but the rooms are older. I've gotten walk-in rates of 700 B/night - less if you have a long stay. The web site says 850, but I have always gotten less. It is a great "base of operations" for Pattaya. Not all agree with me, but that's OK - If they did, the place would be always be booked up at a higher rate. As for BKK it is difficult to find a good room under 1000 Baht, without it being a dump or far from the action. Even the Nana is 1200+. One of the reasons I only spend a minimum of time there. Zeus PS In general hotels have seen a 100 - 200 Baht / night increase over that past two years. Before that rates were fairly stable. I guess it is economics - they will charge what the market will bear.

Bill - Since you have been on the direct Thai flights I have a question - How full are they booking the plane? I ask for two reasons - - A booked plane means they will keep the route, although it also might mean future price increases. - Open seats might mean that they could offer future deals in price to fill the plane. Finnally - Since you are flying on the 25th of June, try to take a bunch of pics(cabin, seats, food, and of course cute flight attendants!) and include them in the post you are planning. I am sure that I am not the only BM that would enjoy seeing them. You say you love to travel - make it a mission to capture that experience and share it. In any case, I look forward to the report. Zeus

Agreed - prices are at least +$200 to +$400 this season. Most are in the $1200 - $1600 range. I'm going to wait for the fall when the temperature and prices should cool down a bit. I too am looking at the LAX- BKK options. Right now the nonstop Thai flight for $1089 (in November - it is around $1900 in the summer) is looking good. It would be great to fly directly to BKK (and maybe even the new airport - if the Thais get their shit together). I'd be willing to pay a small amount more for the experience of a nonstop flight. I am in the planning stages right now (got to keep away the Pattaya blues), but I would expect some reductions in most airfares in the fall (or at least the crazy increases to dissapear). However, with fuel costs the way they are, I doubt the ultra cheap flights will return. Zeus