Went to this last summer. Perfect day, perfect music 😎

I come for the beaches and temples of course 😄

Great pics, thanks! I was there about a year ago (been a few times) and I generally spend a couple of days walking the length of the island and having a quick look at every beach. The road is now very good (it was full of massive pot-holes and reduced to rubble for a while in some sections) the whole length of the island but when you walk down through the forest to the beaches it is just full of trash/rubbish which is very sad to see in an National Park, especially considering how much Baht they collect from visitors, and after the army 'cleaned up' the island a couple of years ago.

There's a Lego store now?!? #lifecomplete 👍

On a boat, hardly walking at all, can't trust anyone! I bet that hat comes right off! 😉 Great pics though....what's this place? The size, number of, and style of the windows reminds me of Victorian factories where they needed maximum light for dexterous work.

Wow, great pics /\ 😎

That's good to hear. Guess i'll be binning these three 'old' new style one's now though! 😄 Weird they're calling it 'Fast Track' now because all the signage and branding is 'Premium Lane' Unless they have now rebranded and re-signed it all to 'Fast Track' did you notice?

Michael Portillo's Great Railway Journeys program was him doing the whole Saigon - Hanoi route a couple of weeks ago, very good show and a trip I've done myself and will do again. Not so much luxury for him though as for some sections he had a third class no air-con seat 😮

Do you advertise anywhere? Or just personal recommendations?

No. He's said sorry, handed in his ticket, and really, imo, he's done enough over the last 60+ years to earn a pass not to mention his war time service.

Great thread idea. Best thing about The Daily Torygraph is the Obits now. Wing Commander Tim Elkington, who has died aged 98, was one of the last surviving pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain, and was one of only two survivors of the RAF Hurricane Wing that operated with the Russians from the Arctic port of Murmansk. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2019/02/03/wing-commander-tim-elkington-fought-battle-britain-went-hurricane/

I'd say Lamai and avoid Chaweng apart from maybe a day trip to look round the shops. The last time I stayed in Chaweng a couple of years ago it had deteriorated a lot in terms of atmosphere, quality of tourist and general fun. At night, especially around the well known bar/entertainment area it at times felt very edgy and uncomfortable, probably the most I've ever felt that in Thailand. Lamai beach is also a lot better.

I haven't flown them for a few years now, I used to fly them a lot when they had just started up as they were the only airline serving the smaller new airports in Eastern Europe, one new airport I flew into was an old MiG25 base that had hardly changed since the Soviets left. Wizz were a bit quirky back then. Does everyone still clap when you land?

Safety is one of my priorities too, as well as crew backgrounds and associated things you might infer from them. A good example is the Asiana 214 crash at SFO where the pilot flying the plane had only 43 hours on type but was senior to the pilot with thousands of hours on type in the right hand seat. Pilot error and lack of communication was a major contributor to the crash.

From a UK perspective - For cheap short haul done well to pretty much everywhere in Europe you could ever want to go then Easyjet. In fact they are probably the best low coast airline in Europe overall. Long haul/full service then BA or Lufthansa.