PhillipUK

getting a settlement visa is dead easy. All you have to do is prove you have a genuine relationship and provide the nesessary documents. Whats hard about that? If you have a genuine relationship and a job and somewhere to live you have nothing to fear. Admittedly putting the documents together is time consuming, but I'm glad I did it alone. Not only saved the money, but also was a terrific learning experience. Congratulations on the visa by the way Phillip

as far as I am aware the planet is dying. Thats quite sad. The government is at least making an effort to address the issue. However as in all politics there is hypocricy. Why spend £20 Billion developing yet another airport terminal (Heathrow T5) Which I assume is to ensure that more flights are able to enter and leave the UK. Surely they must have considered global warming when making this decision? Didnt they? There has to be some sort of balance in this. By hitting Long haul flights what the govt is saying in essence is that if you are in a position to afford to go on holiday to long haul destinations, then it is these people who should bear the brunt of the taxation. In doing so it means the people who cannot afford to go so far away are not hit so hard and it means that they can still afford their cheap holidays to europe. The real key to it though is whether they use the money raised to fund scientific research which will prevent the planet from decaying any further. Somehow I doubt it! But politics is politics and politicians are not interested in you or me or planets or education or health. They are interested in money and votes. Thats the reality! Govts will tax anything they can get away with as long as it doesnt cost votes. Thats the reason for this. On the positive front it may provoke an airline price war........who knows!

Having just read through the excerts on the book website, it seems to me that Only "13" is a reincarnation of "my name is Lon, You like me?" So whats that all about then? Maybe she didnt make enough money first time round. Who knows. Still an interesting read though.

I agree Allen and it is handy if you already know a bit of Thai before starting on Beckers book. Thats why for those just wanting to have conversations in Thai, "Thai trainer" in my opinion is the best place to start. And it's cheap!!

Hi Andy I think the one I played to her was the old version. However it's not the tonal element she was laughing at. It was the emphasis on correct grammer. Using too many words when a couple would do. I wouldn't have thought that they had changed this element of the course that much, but not knowing the new version I cant say. I would be reluctant to spend that knid of money though on an unknown product, when there are cheaper and in my opinion and my TGs opinion better options available. However if you do get hold of the Linguaphone new version, let us know how you get on! Cheers Phillip

Guys I bought PDQ before my first trip to Thailand and thought i had nailed it PDG (pretty darn good). However on arrival and speaking to Thai people I was getting some POL (pretty odd looks) and no one seem to understand what the hell I was on about. I played the CDs for my TG and she just laughed and stated that Thai poeple do not talk like that and that is why no one could understand me. Grammatically it's correct but it's almost too correct!! There are better and cheaper courses. You could try Thai for beginners by Benjawan Poomsan Becker. She is one of Thailand's leading teachers and currently I am about 2/3 of the way through this course. It teaches the language the correct way by focusing on reading and writing as well as speaking the language. Much more realistic than Linguaphone. It comes with CD's of the text. I think I paid just over 3000 baht in Asia books or maybe the bookstore on the 7th floor MBK, one of the two. If you don't want to learn to read and write, there is a shareware course online Thai Trainer by Wattana Link Thai Trainer Open the Webpage ; click on Applications/utilities and then scroll down to Thai trainer. Click on the download and this will take you to the download page. Click on the english flag and then download Thai 1.exe and try it out! This is by far the best course I have ever used to learn to speak Thai. There are 90 lessons and if you go through them all you will be able to hold your own in a conversation. Cost of this as I recall is about £47.20. The first 5 lessons are free as well for you to try it before you buy. This is the one I used first and I am yet to find one better. As you can see both are much cheaper than Linguaphone and in my opinion are far superior in content. They teach you to speak as the Thai's speak and not as an english speaking tourist would. I have to stress that I do not receive any form of payment for advertising either of these courses. They are just the ones that I have found most useful and am happy to recommend. I speak Thai fairly well now and that is thanks to these two courses. get a better course at a cheaper price. Thats what I would recommend. Cheers Phillip

No Problems to report with the Woraburi. Just booked a deluxe with them for my upcoming trip for 1100. Stayed there last year, and of all the hotels I've been in this is without doubt the best value for money.

I fly etihad every time. I can't think of any reason why you shouldn't fly etihad.

Absolutely superb......loved that.......

Like you I hava had to cancel tickets and book new ones because Etihad changed my flight schedule which would have left me with a 20 hour stopover. I had booked through Airline Network. However AN were quite accomodating, and organised the new flights on the telephone for me. They also refunded my original money, on receipt of the old tickets, immediately. Whole thing, to get money back in my bank took about 4 days. Agree with you though. I have never had anything to complain about with Etihad once off the ground.

This bloke walks into the poshest restaurant in town and says, "Where's the goddam, mother fucking Manager you cock sucking arse wipe." The waiter is naturally taken aback and replies, "Excuse me, sir, but could you please refrain from using that sort of language in here, I will get the manager as soon as I can." The manager comes over and the bloke asks, "Are you the chicken fucking manager of this bastard joint?". "Yes, sir, I am," replies the manager, "and I would prefer it if you could refrain from speaking such profanities in this, a private restaurant". "Fuck off!" replies the bloke. "And where's the fucking piano?" "Pardon?" says the manager. "Fucking deaf as well are we? You little piece of sniveling shit, show us your pissing piano." "Ahhhh," replies the manager. "You've come about the pianist's job," and shows the bloke to the piano. "Can you play any blues?" "Of course I fucking can," and the bloke proceeds to play the most inspiring and beautiful sounding honky tonk blues that the manager has ever heard. "Why, that's superb, what's it called?" "I want to fuck your missus on the sofa but the springs keep hurting my knob," replies the pianist. The manager is a bit disturbed and asks if the bloke knows any jazz. The bloke proceeds to play the most melancholy jazz solo the manager has ever heard. "Magnificent!" cries the manager. "What's it called?" "I wanted a wank over the washin' machine but my bollocks got caught in the soap drawer". The manager is a tad embarrassed and asks if he knows any romantic ballads, the bloke then plays the most heartbreaking melody. "And what's this called?" asks the manager. "As I fuck you under the stars with the moonlight shining off your hairy ring-piece," replies the bloke. The manager is highly upset by the bloke's language but offers him the job on condition that he doesn't introduce any of his songs or talk to any of the customers. This arrangement works well for a couple of months until one night, sitting opposite him, is the most gorgeous blonde he has ever laid his eyes on. She's wearing an almost see through dress, her tits are almost falling out the top and the skimpy little 'G' string she's wearing is riding up the crack of her arse. She is sitting there with her legs slightly open, sucking suggestively on asparagus shoots and the butter is dripping down her chin! It's too much for the bloke and he runs off to the bogs to 'wrestle with his bald headed champ'. He's pulling away furiously when he hears the manager's voice... "Where's that bloody pianist?" He just has time to shoot his bolt and in a fluster he runs back to the piano, not having bothered to adjust himself properly, sits down and starts playing some more tunes. The blonde steps up and walks over to the piano, leans over and whispers in his ear: "Do you know your knob and balls are hanging out your trousers and dripping spunk on your shoes?". "Know it," the pianist replies, "I fucking wrote it!"

You have a lot to learn yet. But good luck with the forthcoming marriage.

None whatsoever. Nothing shows on your BT bill.

I use this.....not only great at 1p for calls to my TG's mobile......but its also 0p per minute for calls in the UK to landlines. It's saving me a bloody fortune!!

Looks like your on the same flights as me. See you in Abu Dhabi!!

I'm on the 21.15 out of heathrow on April 1st Cheers Phillip

Its happened twice to me this time. The first time about a month ago they changed my flight out of Abu Dhabi. This would have meant a delay in Abu Dhabi for about 20 hours. I wasnt having that and after some wrangling with Airline network they agreed to put me on a later flight out of London. So had a delay of the normal two hours or so again. Just today I have received another change. The flight out of Abu Dhabi again changed by one and a half hours. So arrival in Bkk one and a half hours later. Ive never had problems of this nature before this trip. Once airborne they are great. But I'm getting a bit fed up with them changing my itinery at a whim. Cheers Phillip

I've always flown Etihad. Never any complaints. Food always edible. Good rates. Friendly staff. I don't drink on the flight but have seen others having a beer. As a Smoker I get a break halfway for a Ciggy or seven One annoying trait they have is that they tend to change your flight schedule on a whim if you book too far in advance. Generally I would recoomend to anyone, but delay booking until about 6 weeks in advance.

Last time in Kho Samet.....we had a cat lodge with us for the whole week we were there. Slept on our Balcony. Also had a pet Gheko that lived inside with us. Spent most of his time in the bathroom.

got this off the BBC website "What causes jet lag? The most important factor in jet lag is how many time zones you cross and travelling east seems to be worst for most people. Jet lag occurs when you cross over a number of time zones and disrupt the normal 'circadian' rhythms, which help you wake up in the morning and go to sleep at night - also known as the 'body clock'. If you have a rigid routine, it's likely that you might suffer more than someone who adapts easily to change - babies seem to be barely susceptible to jet lag. The symptoms of jet lag can include fatigue or exhaustion, a feeling of disorientation or fuzziness, and the inability to sleep. You may also feel dehydrated from being stuck in an air-conditioned cabin for hours, which can cause headaches, make your skin dry and make you more susceptible to colds or viruses. Counteracting jet lag change your watch as soon as you get on the flight: the quicker you adapt to the time zone the lower level of jet lag is likely to be when you arrive in the new time zone, spend some time outside during daylight hours as natural light can help align your body clock try to adjust your bedtime and mealtimes to the local timetable as soon as possible schedule commitments at times when you are likely to have maximum energy: in the evenings after flying east, or in the mornings after flying west the impact of alcohol on the body can be two to three times more potent when you're flying, so one glass of wine during the flight has the effect of two to three glasses on the ground. Avoid feeling even worse with a hangover by reducing alcohol intake before and during your flight get as much exercise as you can: walking up and down the aisle, rotating your ankles and doing gentle stretching exercises in your seat can help to reduce discomfort and allow you to have a more relaxed flight during extended stopovers on a long-haul flight, try to grab a shower: it can wake up your circulation and get things moving"

Personally I can't say I have ever suffered from "jet lag". Normally I just feel tired, whatever direction I am flying in. Generally that is just tiredness from dragging suitcases around and stress of airports. A good nights sleep and I tend to be OK. A friend tiold me to keep to your normal pattern, i.e. no matter how tired you feel avoid going to bed when you get home and go to sleep at the normal time you would when you are at home, and yes I am told, Avoid alcohol on the flight!

Cheers Tom......that is good news for us fans of Etihad

Its really sad.........I do agree with the others though........ and I feel for the ppor people who had to witness it. But this is still sad. He must have been hurting bad.

Hi Coralgraph The occupancy of the plane is fine.....normally tv screens on the seats in front. But have once travelled in an older aircraft. Leg room is standard but as I'm short that has never bothered me whatever airline I used. Food no complaints from the main meal and also the little snack at the end of the flight. I also go via Abu Dhabi. Check in is ok if sometimes a little chaotic at Abu Dhabi......but you can't wander to far from the check in counter. Go downstairs and get a quick coffee before check in. I usually go to check in about 40 mins prior to departure. It can be a long wait then once through....if you call 30 minutes a long wait. If you are in doubt, as you disembark, there are Etihad staff available as you walk through into the terminal......just grab one and ask!! As for upgrading....I have never felt the need to...so maybe someone else can help you with that Have a great trip Cheers Phillip

I agree...........I have flown with Etihad on all three trips so far....this one in April will be no different.