marleyboy

yup! i think if you go on your own you can please yourself as to where and when you go anywhere! im going for 4 weeks (at the end of the month!) with my wife and daughter, i know a few people out there, ive gone alone and with mates b4, but personally id ratrher go solo! As everyone else says its so easy to meet up with other folk anyway! so hope you have a good time out there!

for the time youre staying and the amount youre paying, id stay in a hotel! After all youre on holidays! Id have thought its less hassle (ie. laundry etc) if you stay in a hotel as its all done for you?

for the time youre staying and the amount youre paying, id stay in a hotel! After all youre on holidays! Id have thought its less hassle (ie. laundry etc) if you stay in a hotel as its all done for you?

well id agree with everybody else so far! im going with thai in 7 weeks time, i think the food is slightly better on thai, but the entertainment is miles better on eva! if you plan on going over frequently join the frequent flyes club on whichever air-line you join! personally i think you can accrue more mileage with eva-air as you normally get 100% mileage accrual with most tickets whereas with thai you only get 50% mileage with the cheaper V and W type tickets!

no idea of the cost of an upgrade sorry! but have you got enough miles in your r.o.p. to get an up-grade award/ if you do buy an up-grade at the airport mate let us know how much it cost as im going over at the end of march! good luck mate!

well ive always found them ok on the same route! they have refurbished business and first i think, not too sure about economy! but as i say ive always found them ok hust dont like the fact econ doeant have individual seat-back-screens! not being funny but if you think they were crap last time you flew you could have maybe booked eva-airs all new 777! they are good wenyt with them elite class in october!

ranger if its the aisle seat (with only 2 seats together!) that youRe after you want 68B or 68J, 69B 69J 70B 70J

ranger as far as i know its the 747-400! least thats the one i normally go with!

gus whenever i fly l always get the travel agent i book with to book my seats (booked 42 a,b, and c, last week with ariline network) or else failing that try phoning thai airways in london? like i say ive always got more or less what i wanted! (obviously cant get the emergency exit one!) if im travelling alone i try to get a seat at the back of plane where there are only 2 seats , so you only have 1 passenger climbing over you when he or she wants to take a leak! take a look at thais site they have the seat layout i think the seat with only 2 together is about seat 68 or 69?

oops! youre right tom! ive got "V" class tickets! getting excited and got carried away! just checking my dates now and ill be gone for 32 days so i suppose ill need a visa? years ago i just paid 100 baht a day excess but im sure those days are gone? guess ill have to buy some visas then! £25.00 a go! although last time the nice woman in the cardiff consulate only charged me £15 for my daughters visa!

ive just booked for the end of march with airline ticket network flying thai, i paid just over £1,200 for myself my missus and our daughter, this was £70 cheaper than west-east travel so i was quite pleased! only a "Q" ticket though so will only get 50% of miles on our r.o.p. cards but better than nothing! only trouble is ive got to do the hard part now and get time off work! a quick note though these "specials" are selling fast! as i was on the phone this morning the flight i wanted on the outbound literally sold out as i was doing the booking! also the same thing happened whilst i was phoning west-east!

ah! yes i remember in samui in the 80s it was about 80 baht for half a bottle of sang som or mekhong a bucket of ice and 2 bottles of coke or water! i still drink thai whaisky and bars in pattaya (some anyway) still do it that way but i just drink it by the glass now!

well id never travel on an eastern european air-line sorry! first time i went long haul it was to sri lanka, me and a few mates went with gulf-air and 2 mates went aeroflot! on the way home my mates on aeroflot left colombo 13 hours before us and got home 8 hours after us! so go figure! i think with gulf we changed planes twice as well! worst one ive been to thai with was bangladesh biman (mind you they coulnt have been that bad cos i went with them twice!) so now i try and go thai or eva!

well the beer is free on all airlines going to thailand! personally i go non-stop as it saves hanging about and changing planes etc. as for comfy seats well nuch of a muchness really! although some airlines have slightly more leg-room, so all in all id go for a direct flight according to the fares! for me if the fare is the same for a direct flight and a flight with a stop/plane change id go direct any day!

i wanna fly out on march 30 or 31 this year, likewise i mormally book early but i havent yet!i normally go thai , but i went eva in oct. i think i prefer eva (purely for the tv screens!-as i will be going with my wife and 10 year old daughter!) but thai is better for the reason of having more frequency of flight! (and my wife likes thai!) but i dont like the fact that you only get 50% of mileage with V and W Tickets! so i think ill gamble and wait until the end of this month and see if west-east or e-bookers or somebody will drop to the £400 mark! (well they did last yar to £360ish!)

i normally fly thai but a few months ago i went with eva-air, as said really not difference comfort wise (i think thais food is better as wee-ll!) but i dont take that into consideration, what i take into account are the prices, and arrival times and departure times! obviously thai have more flights, but! eva has seat back tv screens , whereas thai doesnt!so its up to you! if a personal tv screen is what you want then go with eva if not go for the best deal! whoever you fly with join their frequent fliers club before you go! good luck

ditto the other replies! i alway take sterling travellers cheques,can change them very easily! and as said before NEVER!! buy baht in the uk you will get a much lower rate than you will get in thailand! and you can change your cheques at the air-port anyway as there are two exchange booths on the way out of thre airport! have a good trip!

well i for one cant wait till i retire! already got a house in pattaya (even though im 14 years away from retirement!) im not too certain if ill sell up in the uk when i retire (mind you im married -if i was single id sell up for sure and use a friends adress for mail etc!) i probalbly wont sell up and just spend 6 months or so over there each year, ive seen some posts on this thread where folk mention a minimum of £1,000 a month, there are lots of people in the uk who would love to have a £1,000 a month to live on! everybody lives differently , obviously! but if i had a grand a month to live in pattaya id be hard pressed to spend that amount! bearing in mind i for one anyway couldnt go out on the piss every night! anyway just my opinion on this! and for anyone who has the chance ro live in thailand . just do it! if i was single id be there by now!

actually poker i was on about the last post bagwan-about the uk being a shithole etc etc. and my "opinion" is just that my opinion! if you think that is support well carry on it bothers me not a jot! and can somebody only express their opinion on here if they have a certain amount of posts? if so i apologise from the bottom of my heart and i swear most sincerely i wont express my opinion on here again, and for christmas i will buy you another teddy to throw out of your pram! anyway mate all the best and hope you have a merry christmas

im pretty certain ive seen adverts in the pattaya mail newspaper (comes out every friday in pattaya and on the net) as to what you require, with people advertising themselves asd carers. ive not used them mind you! and as the other posters say the thais in the hotels will look after you grandly! (especially if you tip them!) so id try not to worry too much on that score! as for mobiles they are as cheap as chips! you can get second hand ones for around 1,000 baht, in october i took mine swimming with me! 800 baht to get it fixed so i bought a brand new one for 1,900 baht! all the best mate!

well said bagwan!

personally id prefer pattaya (cheaper , beach etc not so much traffic!) it takes about! 2 hours (maybe up to 3 depending on traffic) from pattaya to bangkok. there are more tours (eg kanchaburi thats the bridge on the river kwai place!, temples, river trips ayuthaya markets etc etc) to be taken from bangkok, whereas in pattaya as already stated there isnt as much to do (but dont worry there is still plenty to do there!) i guess i prefer pattaya as its not too hectic or hot as bangkok! depending on your time its up to you where to spend your days! but in my experience a lot of people who go tp thailand dont like bangkok the first time they go there! so its up to you! as for being gay, it wont make any difference where you go id have thought! just get over there and enjoy yourself! onr thing i guarantee is , when you do go, you will definetly go back again!

when i went through in october i went to the 2 shops (by the baggage carousels) and the one shop has no ciggies and the other shop had only 1 brand! (i forgot which 1-but i hadnt heard of them anyway!) of course typical thailand! coming back i bought 5 cartons in the duty-free at thailand! my missus went over in june she brought a bit of food from thailand with her (into the uk) and they confiscated the lot! let her keep the ciggies (and my J.D.!) AND BOOZE THOUGH!

i agree with everyone else! as long as possible! you will love it! and for valley boy (it wasnt you in the red t-shirt was it?!) id love to live there been going for 20 odd years now! but im gonna have to wait for my pension to kick in! 9im gonna finish as early as possible!) cos in my humble opinion! you need "guaranteed" money coming in every week! you know as well as me how cheap it is over there but you need money! you wont be able to live off your savings forever! however if you are lucky enough to have enough income be it pension , interest off savings et al! go for it! who wants to spend another winter here (the summers here arent much cop either come to think of it!) when you can be in thailand! so if you can go for it! good luck mate!

hello im hoping to go the end of march but ive not booked yet! i normally fly with thai but in october i went with eva air! obviously with thai you have more choice of flights, the food is better with thai too, with eva air you have personal in flight entertainment (a tv screen in the back of the seat!) and you can watch any film or show or music on there whenever you like) eva uses new 777s while thai use 747s, really i dont think there is much between them (when i went with eva in october i went elite class so i cant comment on the economy seats but apparently they are as good as thais the legroom is good too apparently! so really its up to you! if the price is the same (what price did you get quoted by the way?) i guess the deciding factor for me! would be what id rather between 2 things! theses being the in flight entertainment of eva or the more frequent flights of thai! sorry if im rambling on but im hung-over!