Fireman Sam

Have to agree with you there 100% the same seats are on their A380 as well. The business seats on their 777 are much better IMHO, even though you might have to climb over the next seat to exit if you're seated at a window. Regards

Jesus "Cheese Beano" that brings back memories, haven't heard that term for donkeys years. Used to get served that sometimes on P&O General Cargo Division ships. Probably when the cooks couldn't be arsed cooking. Apologies for going off topic. Regards

If you have a reasonable internet connection then go to www.watchfreeview.com then you can watch the snooker on BBC 2 with English commentary, or any other UK domestic TV that you want for free. If you haven't got a smart TV just run a cable from your computer to TV for full size viewing. Regards

Great photos, thanks for posting. I also visited the Chiang Rai area at the end of last year but gave the actual city a miss and stayed around the Doi Tung area around 20KM north of the city. Plenty of things to see and do and as you say much more relaxed than Chiang Mai. Hoping to return to the area again later this year. That must be a new charge implemented for Wat Rong Kuhn it was definitely free last year, also free parking opposite. Regards

I'm still a gold card frequent flyer with Qatar Airways, although my days of travelling extensively are well and truly over thankfully. I always found the times I asked or was offered a paid upgrade at the airport it was not any cheaper than pre-booking on the website, in fact probably more expensive. If you book when their offers are on probably the best way to save a little bit of cash. Regards

Is this promotion any use to you guys, I noticed it on the Bangkok post website. I haven't followed it up on Emirates website so not sure if it's accurate or not, thankfully my travelling days are over. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/transport/818348/emirates-offers-big-fare-cuts Regards

Cheers for the speed test results MM and jacko. Seems they slow things down quite a bit, I presume from the answers the vpn is easily turned on/off and not like some extensions that run all the time ? No chance of me searching for the Daily Mail jacko lol. Regards

Cheers for that link jacko, now getting my BBC news for a while everyday now. No problem at all with it freezing here in Nakhon Phanom, I'm using an i-mac with Google Chrome browser. Regards

Do any of these VPN services slow your internet connection down at all, if so is it noticeable at all ? Just doing a bit of research incase I take the plunge and subscribe to one. I am using Apple computers, not sure if that would make any difference ? Regards

Never heard of the Guy, just thought it was quite funny. Regards

To my friends from the U S of A............... Michael Yon 2 November 2012 · A MESSAGE FROM THE QUEEN To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II In light of your failure in recent years to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary.) Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except North Dakota, which she does not fancy). Your new Prime Minister, David Cameron, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect: ----------------------- 1. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour,' 'favour,' 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise.' Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary'). ------------------------ 2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ''like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u'' and the elimination of '-ize.' ------------------- 3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday. ----------------- 4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can't sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not ready to shoot grouse. ---------------------- 5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public. ---------------------- 6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour. -------------------- 7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it. ------------------- 8. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar. ------------------- 9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable, as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth - see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion. --------------------- 10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialect in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater. --------------------- 11. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies). --------------------- 12. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries. -------------------- 13.. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad. ----------------- 14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776). --------------- 15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season. God Save the Queen! PS: Only share this with friends who have a good sense of humour (NOT humor)!

Now onto 'Inside Team Sky' written David Walsh, Lance's mate lol. Regards

Just about to start 'Cold Granite' by Stuart Macbride' which I believe is set in my old home town of Aberdeen. Regards

Sorry for that my bad, Qatar had two layouts on their 777's one has more business class seats at the front therefore impacting the seat row numbers. I thought they had all been converted to the layout with more economy seats, especially on the Bangkok route which is not high demand for business class. Yes, stick with row 17 where there are only two seats on each side of the cabin. Keep checking nearer to your departure date that they don't switch the plane to the other layout. Regards

I actually prefered the stop over in the Middle East, always seemed to make the journey shorter in my mind, don't know why just seemed that way. I'm a Gold card member of Qatar's frequent flyer program, on your 777 leg try and book either 24 a,b,h or k seats, that is the last row of seats in the first economy section of the aircraft. The seats are just in front of the bulkhead and recline just like any other seat in the aircraft, only slight drawback is the proximity of the toilets, although I always saw that as a plus, I could see when they were empty so no queueing. Qatar's A380 is an excellent aircraft. I was always seated upstairs in the small rear economy section which is reserved for their frequent flyers only, so can't really recommend a economy class seat on the A380. Upstairs in business class on the A380 really is the business, ah, those were the days. I always tried to avoid booking their 787 in economy class due to bad reports I had heard about it, but due to an aircraft swap one day from Doha to London I ended up on it. I wasn't impressed at all, biggest draw back definitely the legroom when compared to the 777 and A380. I never noticed any difference to any other aircraft reference the air quality or humidity on the aircraft. One and a half hours is plenty of time to transit the new Airport in Doha. Going through security again on arrival in Doha is hit and miss, sometimes you have to and sometimes not I think it depends on your embarkation airport. Regards

Just finished a 'Casual Vacancy' by JK Rowling, on the Kindle. Very slow at the start, wouldn't say it was the best read ever but I persevered. I believe it was made into a TV series. Regards

I tried bringing one from the UK to my house in Nakhon Phanom a few years back, it didn't work, apparently you just need to reverse a couple of wires and they will work. I just binned it as they were cheap to buy here anyway. We moved house six months or so ago in Nakhon Phanom and we scrapped the home phone alltogether. Our fibre optic broadband is run directly into the back of the computer, so no real need these days for a home phone IMHO. Regards

One plane will make no real difference to the immigration lines, more to do with how many planes arrive at the same time. Emirates and more recently Qatar have been flying the A380 into BKK, I have been on both numerous times and never noticed any change to the time it takes to pass through immigration. Regards