Thailand Trips Used To Be So Simple

[Jambo]

In the year 2004 I would have made my second and third trips back to Thailand.

Life then would have been so simple other than the fact that being self-employed I limited myself to two trips each year of 10 nights duration. So it was just a matter of regular logging into the internet, booking the cheapest return flight(s) from Edinburgh and my preferred room at the Residence Gardens in Pattaya. Transport to and from Swampy was the first available taxi.

Go forward 20 years to the year 2024 and I am back to two trips per annum rather than residence. We shall see how things go however the master plan dictates each of one month duration.

The first return trip is 3 weeks away and is a touch more complicated.

Holiday Inn Express - Edinburgh Airport  - 1 night before departure.

International flights   - 2, changing flights at Doha.

(Buy AIS monthly sim card at Swampy)

Internal flights - 2 changing Airports from Swampy to Don Mueang via free shuttle bus or taxi if I cannot be arsed waiting for the bus. 

Lounges booked at airports - 2

Airport fast track-   2

Not yet booked - Nok Air, Mae Sot to Don Mueang - 8 November.

Hotels booked in Mae Sot - Teak Hotel (4 nights) and Centara Hotel (9 nights) - Another 7 nights still to be booked. (The Teak Hotel is twice as expensive as The Centara but it is new and Sai wants to try it out!)

Taxi - Don Mueang to Pattaya

Hotel in Pattaya - Areca Lodge (10 nights)

Likely first appearance starting at Le Pub, Friday 8th November.

What goes on in Pattaya stays in Pattaya! 🤣

Note to myself

Car only in Thailand - no more riding motorbikes!

[Derek Dangleberries]

Too true mate!!

It used to be so easy in the 90s getting around the world in business class luxury! Even cabbage class was good if you booked a seat in the smoking section at the back and were able to lay out for a drunken sleep! It was little more than jumping on a bus !! (Didn't National Express coaches have a "stewardess" giving out food ???)

Oddly enough I have no recollection of how I chose and booked a hotel before the internet .. Probably by the Company or people already on the Project chose for you..

[Phantom51red]

3 hours ago, Jambo said:

In the year 2004 I would have made my second and third trips back to Thailand.

Life then would have been so simple other than the fact that being self-employed I limited myself to two trips each year of 10 nights duration. So it was just a matter of regular logging into the internet, booking the cheapest return flight(s) from Edinburgh and my preferred room at the Residence Gardens in Pattaya. Transport to and from Swampy was the first available taxi.

Go forward 20 years to the year 2024 and I am back to two trips per annum rather than residence. We shall see how things go however the master plan dictates each of one month duration.

The first return trip is 3 weeks away and is a touch more complicated.

Holiday Inn Express - Edinburgh Airport  - 1 night before departure.

International flights   - 2, changing flights at Doha.

(Buy AIS monthly sim card at Swampy)

Internal flights - 2 changing Airports from Swampy to Don Mueang via free shuttle bus or taxi if I cannot be arsed waiting for the bus. 

Lounges booked at airports - 2

Airport fast track-   2

Not yet booked - Nok Air, Mae Sot to Don Mueang - 8 November.

Hotels booked in Mae Sot - Teak Hotel (4 nights) and Centara Hotel (9 nights) - Another 7 nights still to be booked. (The Teak Hotel is twice as expensive as The Centara but it is new and Sai wants to try it out!)

Taxi - Don Mueang to Pattaya

Hotel in Pattaya - Areca Lodge (10 nights)

Likely first appearance starting at Le Pub, Friday 8th November.

What goes on in Pattaya stays in Pattaya! 🤣

Note to myself

Car only in Thailand - no more riding motorbikes!

Oh i thought ye would be going to hua hin instead of pattaya

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

lol

[Derek Dangleberries]

2 hours ago, fang said:

You seem to be worrying about nothing.

I don't think he's worrying mate, he's just pointing out the difference in travel arrangements from 20 years ago

 

2 hours ago, fang said:

Stay 1 night in Bangkok near Victory then go Don Muang next day.

When I took my contract here in '96 I lived near Victory Monument because the Company was based on Soi Rangnam. Saxophone Bar Bars a good place early doors but we tended to meet up in Henry J Beans Happy Hour .. In those days it was Rockin !!

I used Don Muang too, up to CM for weekly meetings ... Those were the days .. 

[Zeb]

11 hours ago, Derek Dangleberries said:

Oddly enough I have no recollection of how I chose and booked a hotel before the internet .

I mainly used telex machine at work. Travel agents or phoning etc were other options.

Don't recall having problems though.

[Derek Dangleberries]

2 minutes ago, Zeb said:

I mainly used telex machine at work. Travel agents or phoning etc were other options.

Don't recall having problems though.

Yep.. and used Lonely Planet or other Guide Books before heading off on a new contract somewhere in the world !!

Always as a starting point, just to be able to get to work, then look around when there !!

[Derek Dangleberries]

3 hours ago, fang said:

Stay 1 night in Bangkok near Victory

You've brought back some memories mate ..

I was booked into a small room on soi Ratchawithi 1 with a window looking out on wasteland at the back.... That wasteland became Santiphap Park .... I think work must have just began as I moved in as I remember the diggers going at it till dark .... !

[Derek Dangleberries]

16 minutes ago, fang said:

Raintree Pub is good if still there. Folk music and restaurant.

That looks bloody excellent mate ... My daughter lives in Bangkok now so once I have closed down things in Pattaya I will probably start meeting her in Bangkok.... Easy drive in from Ubon too !!!

I'll start looking for cheap hotels there ...

I knew that area quite well back in the 90s .. Bet it's changed a bit !!

[Butch]

Back in the 90's I'd go to my local TA, EVA would offer 2 or 3 nights free in a Hotel as part of the deal and were cheaper than THAI. I did a bit of research, apparently EVA used to fly direct from LGW to BKK in 1989 using a Boeing 767, then moved to LHR in 1991. My first trip I flew to Oman as a freebie then hopped on a Gulf Air in Muscat , change at Bahrain onto BKK.

when flying from UK, all I did was book the flight at a local TA, get a Taxi at DM to Pattaya and turn up unannounced at the Lek, or give the Taxi driver a few extra baht to take me to the Britannia on Soi Yamato which always had rooms.

Once the internet became a thing I'd book the RG using Pattaya Pete's discount from the FLB bar website, I think that was around 2000 or so, might be wrong. Email booking was slightly hit and miss as the language barrier was always going to be a thing because not many Thai staff in the guesthouses or smaller hotels would write in English.

I do miss booking at my local TA, they'd give me stuff like free pens and mugs etc and were brilliant at sorting out problems. It was a local company but in the end they just couldn't compete with the online deals.

I still get the same "budderfries" when I get into town on my first night, as my routine remains the same (apart from last trip when I was shattered and just slept). Get my gear squared away, ablutions, mincing gear on, then out.

 

 

Edited September 30 by Butch

[Glasseye]

On 9/30/2024 at 7:57 AM, Derek Dangleberries said:

Yep.. and used Lonely Planet or other Guide Books before heading off on a new contract somewhere in the world !!

Always as a starting point, just to be able to get to work, then look around when there !!

 

Yes. Lonely Planet was brilliant back in the day.

On trips I would usually do the best research I could with what looked like something in the location I wanted to be. Then once on the ground have a look around and see if there was anything better. If not I would extend the booking with the intial place.

I almost always travelled during "shoulder seasons". Booking and finding a proper room during holiday period can be a nightmare.

[Zambo]

I used to research trips using Lonely Planet, then usually i would arrive travelling light and find a hotel as a walk in customer. But i do remember sometimes using a UK company called Travelbag. I just checked and they're still around on the internet today. What i can't remember is how Travelbag put together a flight and hotel package pre-internet. Must have been by phone and describing the area and budget.

[Glasseye]

48 minutes ago, Zambo said:

I used to research trips using Lonely Planet, then usually i would arrive travelling light and find a hotel as a walk in customer. But i do remember sometimes using a UK company called Travelbag. I just checked and they're still around on the internet today. What i can't remember is how Travelbag put together a flight and hotel package pre-internet. Must have been by phone and describing the area and budget.

 

It's really cool to look back at when it started, and how it evolved.

The first trips (outside of the country, into what used to be called "Third World Countries" was where you discovered within yourself if you could make it or break it. Most that tried couldn't get through the first (most difficult) hurdles. Those that couldn't now sit in their recliners thinking to themsleves "should I have tried again" or "What if I had done this or that ?".

Those of us that found within their inner strength, courage, and confidence to make it past the intial challenges discoverd the avenue to what I think is beyond anything else in respect to learning. Learning about themselves, others and the mystical beauty of the World.

We are very fortunate.