Opinions and thoughts please

[garytheanimal 4]

Booked to arrive 7th May, should I postpone until later in the year? Booking.com are giving me the chance to change dates at the hotel, but as yet Emirates have said nothing aside from they’re still flying from the UK to BK.

[Bazle 1,485]

My opinion is that you should get back as much of your money as you can, by whatever means possible. Forget postponing - it'll be many months (possibly years) before you'll want / be able to do the trip.

[tombon 113]

Also if you cancel a flight the airline should give you the tax back that applied to your ticket. Often the tax makes up half the price of the ticket.

Edited March 21, 2020 by tombon

[garytheanimal 4]

59 minutes ago, Bazle said:

My opinion is that you should get back as much of your money as you can, by whatever means possible. Forget postponing - it'll be many months (possibly years) before you'll want / be able to do the trip.

Thank you, I’ll speak to the guy I’m travelling with before I make any decisions, only fair really.

I can get back the money for the hotels, they’re offering a date change or refund. Emirates though aren’t offering anything at the moment.

[jacko 8,814]

2 hours ago, garytheanimal said:

Thank you, I’ll speak to the guy I’m travelling with before I make any decisions, only fair really.

I can get back the money for the hotels, they’re offering a date change or refund. Emirates though aren’t offering anything at the moment.

With the current requirements to enter Thailand you would be unable to board anyhow. 

Postpone, but cancel altogether if you can and there is a financial advantage. 

Make your own decisions.... 

[Bazle 1,485]

32 minutes ago, jacko said:

With the current requirements to enter Thailand you would be unable to board anyhow. 

Why is that?

[jacko 8,814]

32 minutes ago, Bazle said:

Why is that?

One needs a medical certificate saying all clear of Covid-19, and I doubt they  can be obtained easily. Also insurance of $100,000 Covid specific. 

[Bazle 1,485]

32 minutes ago, jacko said:

One needs a medical certificate saying all clear of Covid-19, and I doubt they  can be obtained easily. Also insurance of $100,000 Covid specific. 

A friend of a friend here in London was intending to spend a few days in Thailand en route to NZ, to where she is emigrating. She had the test all lined up at a cost of £60, but at the last moment decided to go straight to NZ as a result of the closures in LOS.

So it can be done. I, too, was surprised.

[jacko 8,814]

1 hour ago, Bazle said:

A friend of a friend here in London was intending to spend a few days in Thailand en route to NZ, to where she is emigrating. She had the test all lined up at a cost of £60, but at the last moment decided to go straight to NZ as a result of the closures in LOS.

So it can be done. I, too, was surprised.

The OP is from the UK too and I thought the tests were only available from a hospital, and even then only when a person had symptoms.

[awesum4 2,332]

4 hours ago, Bazle said:

A friend of a friend here in London was intending to spend a few days in Thailand en route to NZ, to where she is emigrating. She had the test all lined up at a cost of £60, but at the last moment decided to go straight to NZ as a result of the closures in LOS.

So it can be done. I, too, was surprised.

New Zealand is closed to all except citizens and permanent residents returning home. The only exceptions are family of the above and some workers in the health sectors.  

Is she one of those people?  If not she needs to check carefully before she travels here,  they are refusing to let people in.

[Bazle 1,485]

8 hours ago, awesum4 said:

New Zealand is closed to all except citizens and permanent residents returning home. The only exceptions are family of the above and some workers in the health sectors.  

Is she one of those people?  If not she needs to check carefully before she travels here,  they are refusing to let people in.

Thanks. I don't know the woman, but have passed your comments on to our mutual friend.

[Bazle 1,485]

1 hour ago, Bazle said:

Thanks. I don't know the woman, but have passed your comments on to our mutual friend.

Just had a response:

She can, because her husband and 3 children are all New Zealanders.

[Olded 243]

15 hours ago, jacko said:

One needs a medical certificate saying all clear of Covid-19, and I doubt they  can be obtained easily. Also insurance of $100,000 Covid specific. 

Yes and the certificate has to be within 72 hours, -Thai Examiner

[helloitsme 251]

19 hours ago, garytheanimal said:

Booked to arrive 7th May, should I postpone until later in the year? Booking.com are giving me the chance to change dates at the hotel, but as yet Emirates have said nothing aside from they’re still flying from the UK to BK.

 

19 hours ago, Bazle said:

My opinion is that you should get back as much of your money as you can, by whatever means possible. Forget postponing - it'll be many months (possibly years) before you'll want / be able to do the trip.

FWIW, I've just walked from 2nd road soi 15, to and road, down 13/3 to beach road, right to royal garden, back to walking street, up soi diamond, up pattaya tai to buckhou and back to condo. 

It was between 8pm and 8.30, so early.

I think I saw 20 other tourists,  mainly Russian youngsters i think.

Walking street had 2 or 3 hello people outside each of the restaurants.

Beach road had maybe 10-15 girls, no more. I saw 3 others as I walked back.

Even the tourist police have reduce numbers!!!

If I was coming for the girls and beer, I wouldnt bother.

[MrMango 671]

19 hours ago, awesum4 said:

New Zealand is closed to all except citizens and permanent residents returning home. The only exceptions are family of the above and some workers in the health sectors.  

Is she one of those people?  If not she needs to check carefully before she travels here,  they are refusing to let people in.

Hawaii has just announced that ALL arrivals will be quarantined for 14 days upon arrival.

Edited March 22, 2020 by MrMango

[nkped 1,208]

7 hours ago, MrMango said:

Hawaii has just announced that ALL arrivals will be quarantined for 14 days upon arrival.

They've shut down tourism.

[MrMango 671]

2 hours ago, nkped said:

They've shut down tourism.

Yep, and also killed the economy.......

At some point, the cure is worse than the illness.

[awesum4 2,332]

11 hours ago, MrMango said:

Yep, and also killed the economy.......

At some point, the cure is worse than the illness.

Unless you are one of the people who dies from it.

Remember men die at twice the rate of women, smokers die at twice the rate of nonsmokers, old people die at a much higher rate than young, people with serious medical conditions die at a much higher rate than healthy ones.

If you are an old, male, who smokes, is overweight and already has health problems and you catch this once the hospitals have more patients than ventilators then you are fucked. But it would be a comfort to know tourists would still be going to the luau at the King Kamehameha hotel.

[MrMango 671]

53 minutes ago, awesum4 said:

Unless you are one of the people who dies from it.

How about all of the people who die becase of the quarantine?

 

53 minutes ago, awesum4 said:

Remember men die at twice the rate of women, smokers die at twice the rate of nonsmokers, old people die at a much higher rate than young, people with serious medical conditions die at a much higher rate than healthy ones.

Ok so what. Common sense and old news.

 

53 minutes ago, awesum4 said:

If you are an old, male, who smokes, is overweight and already has health problems and you catch this once the hospitals have more patients than ventilators then you are fucked.

Your usual bs. I have never said that we should immediately return to past times, but a total quarantine that stops the economy is worse than moderate  actions.

 

53 minutes ago, awesum4 said:

But it would be a comfort to know tourists would still be going to the luau at the King Kamehameha hotel.

Been there, done that a few times.

But not the best on the island

[awesum4 2,332]

If a total quarantine for 4 weeks actually stops the virus completely the economy will recover gradually.

If lesser measures are used the economy could take a lot longer to recover,  and people continue to get really sick and possibly die. 

Lots of industries especially tourism are fucked either way.  How many tourists do you expect would holiday in Hawaii over the next two months if they left it open? 

We were only on Hawaii itself for a week, so one luau was enough,  we went where our travel agent suggested. It's a pity we weren't in contact with you so we could have gone to one of the better ones.  It was ok but the maori haka was way too gentle,  native Hawaiians seem less aggressive than NZ maori

[Bazle 1,485]

38 minutes ago, awesum4 said:

If a total quarantine for 4 weeks actually stops the virus completely the economy will recover gradually.

I don't think I'm interpreting the situation the same as you are.

As I read the situation, absent a vaccine or cure, we are all going to catch it. As some of us will get it very seriously, the government is simply trying to make sure we don't all get it at the same time.
 

Edited March 23, 2020 by Bazle

[midlifecrisis 4,048]

1 hour ago, Bazle said:

I don't think I'm interpreting the situation the same as you are.

As I read the situation, absent a vaccine or cure, we are all going to catch it. As some of us will get it very seriously, the government is simply trying to make sure we don't all get it at the same time.
 

Excellent!

[MrMango 671]

3 hours ago, awesum4 said:

Lots of industries especially tourism are fucked either way.  How many tourists do you expect would holiday in Hawaii over the next two months if they left it open? 

Actually January and February, tourism was petty good. We were virus free up to a couple of weeks ago, so mainlander's took vacations here as they did not have many choices. We also have been impacted by the lack of Japanese Golfers - It was cheaper to fly to Hawaii and play golf for a week or so than play golf in Japan.

 

3 hours ago, awesum4 said:

We were only on Hawaii itself for a week, so one luau was enough,  we went where our travel agent suggested. It's a pity we weren't in contact with you so we could have gone to one of the better ones.  It was ok but the maori haka was way too gentle,  native Hawaiians seem less aggressive than NZ maori

Actually most of the Luau entertainment is done by an independent company that works the different hotels on different nights and most of the dancers are Philippine decent.

[awesum4 2,332]

3 hours ago, Bazle said:

I don't think I'm interpreting the situation the same as you are.

As I read the situation, absent a vaccine or cure, we are all going to catch it. As some of us will get it very seriously, the government is simply trying to make sure we don't all get it at the same time.
 

In most countries the strategy is to flatten the curve so health systems aren't overloaded.

But here we are trying to eliminate it. All but 2 of the cases are linked to people arriving from overseas, so little or no community transfer. If people isolate the virus cant spread and therefore dies. So as long as no new cases come from overseas we would be free from it.

Hawaii is even further from its neighbours than we are, so could try the same strategy. 

But it requires an almost complete shutdown and everyone following the rules. Kiwis are more likely to do that than Americans.

[awesum4 2,332]

1 hour ago, MrMango said:

also have been impacted by the lack of Japanese Golfers - It was cheaper to fly to Hawaii and play golf for a week or so than play golf in Japan.

We were there to attend our Chinese students wedding to a Japanese guy she met here. Father was a very wealthy guy from Hong Kong. Flew 16 people from Hong Kong, 16 from Japan and us from New Zealand. Put us up in the Moana Surfrider which is definitely not the cheapest hotel in the world.

Bloody lavish wedding in a chapel on the beach. Seafood dinners in the Hilton.  I said to her "this must have cost a fortune". Her reply "way cheaper than Hong Kong, there we would have 2,000 guests".

Father swam to Hong Kong from the mainland when he was 15. Started as a worker in a sweatshop and built his own massive fortune. Hated the communists with a vengeance.