Thread: Possible vacation to Tahiti or Oceania region

Hey MRS. We decided on BKK for the first week of OCT, what hotels would you recommend. I believe the FLT from NRT gets in late around 2325 so maybe something that has an airport transfer.

BKK is a great choice! How many nonrevs? Do you have S2s available? Hint: if you have any return issues, nonrev to SIN and go to transfer desk.
Do you want a pool? Budget? How long can you stay?
We like riverside Sheraton. Another option is Silom Road. Avoid Khao San (backpackers, etc) We've stayed at Lebua Tower(upgrade was ridiculous--2 BR monster suite) Banyan Tree was finest but Sheraton Royal Orchid is great, too.
Last trip we had transfers included but have taken taxi or gotten a driver. We use Mr. Roong (roongsayam@gmail.com)--might be best for more than 3 people. That late flt is pretty exhausting even w/BE, but you'll be cranked up. Plenty of ATMs arrival hall. Taxis are cheap and at that time of night they don't need to take expressway (70thb toll). Make sure you have small enough bills for fare.
There is a driver (Ratt) and she has a very nice guest house--not too far from river and Lebua. Rat Bed & Breakfast
Rooms look very clean and could be a great experience. She has a typo on location--it is NOT far from river and looks to be very accessible to BTS. Seems you can do 1-2 nts w/pickup for good $.

Its just me and the wife going, and yes we still have S2's, Ive learned to try and save them for INTL travel. Hopefully We are leaving ATL on Oct 4 and coming back on Oct 9th or 10th. (My sweet loving dog decided my passport and other docs would be suitable for dinner, so now i have to go to the passport office). A pool would be nice but its not required, I had a co worker tell me i could also stay in BKK the first night and head down to Hau Hin or Pattaya for a few days, but I havent really looked into that. Ive also been looking at AirBNB for this trip.

Get a good map of the city before you start looking at airbnb--BKK is HUGE!
Recommend staying near BTS (or river for ferries)--taxis and traffic should be avoided (but taxis are cheap) I'd avoid tuktuks unless you can bargain and know where you're going.
The deals at luxurylink are great for upscale digs.
If you stay Silom /Sathorn Rds, great clean spa--Mulberry and she takes CCs.

We love Hua Hin--quirky but beaches are better south. Great vineyard and good elephants nearby. Very fond of Ruen Kanok hotel--email owner Mark and he might give discount. The honeymoon suite was special at $130. Very close to local beach. Just 8 rooms I think and nice pool. Ate at night market every night. Also stayed at Asara Resort (LL) and it had the BEST pool. Lots of fun places in town. We had Mr. Roong bring us straight from BKK at 2am. It's 3 hour drive. If you go, contact this tuktuk driver in HH: TAK_3WDS@hotmail.com. Phone 086-1675429. He has a disco tuktuk (lights and music) to boogie down the road. He was friendly and cheap. So much fun. Hotel can call him.

If you limit to BKK, 1 nt side trip to Amphawa on wkends is unusual, and River Kwai is fascinatiing. There's also the old capitol, Ayutthaya but planned stay at BaanThaiHouse but canceled last minute for HH.
There are good recs on tripadvisor for riverside hotels--I've seen many of them from the ferries. The Ibis looks fine but pretty basic. Not sure about the Novotels but they have some good locations.
Please feel free to ask more--I probably have the answer somewhere in my grey matter (no, not my hair!)

EDIT: Chatrium - Riverside or Sathon (5 days with Family). - Bangkok Forum - TripAdvisor
Chatrium Riverside is extremely popular and might have everything you need--has ferry to Taksim pier and that gets you to BTS. Highly recommend the Loy Nava dinner cruise--real rice junk, small occupancy and nice Thai food. Split between reg and seafood menus and share. Book online--instant romance. Request aft table for two--it's a bit more interesting when you pass everything and can see it for quite a while.
You can also book the Apsara but only if it's menu, not buffet. It's more expensive but you can buy drink pkg (alcohol is fairly $ on boats) The food is highly rated, tho. Every time we booked it turned into buffet (due to # of res) so we canceled.

Word to the wise: pack very lightly. Laundry is cheap and fast and wife will want to shop!

I stayed at the Intercontinental Bangkok. It is in a good, central location near the metro. There is a pool on the roof with nice views of the city. We had an early AM departing flight and stayed at the Novotel at the BKK airport. I emailed them at info@novotelairportbkk.com and they were able to offer an airline discount. Don't remember what the rate was.

If you are willing to venture more south, we also spent about a week in Koh Samui. Booked a cheap flight on Bangkok Airways. Stayed at the Intercontinental there as well which had just opened.

Enjoy your trip wherever you stay. Thailand is on my must return list.

Thanks MRS and ISP for the info. I do have another question, since we are connecting in NRT, would you suggest staying a night for the return trip. We have never ventured to the far east so we figured if we have time and theflgihts look good we could try it. If the NRT flights dont look good we plan on heading to HND to catch that one, we arent above traveling for BE.

If you do NRT overnight, I suggest crew hotel, Radisson. Email them for rates. They have shuttle and excellent pub fare. Tell them you're DL, of course. CNX are so efficient, not much reason; if you got BE BKK/NRT and have time, you can access SkyClub (save BP stub) briefly to ck flights and grab a beverage/snack (they have good stuff there--not just junk)
If you choose HND, keep in mind times are really weird as opposed to NRT and you have to get there. My BPs used airbnb or housetrip, maybe--I'll find out, but they had to do it OW.
Novotel is Accor but the discount isn't stellar. They give 25% off rack on their website using DL codes. Just stay in city and get car @ 3:00. Do the dinner cruise last night (Loy Nava pciks up most hotels) and catch a quick snooze before you call taxi. BKK never sleeps! They won't let you access airside unless they give you seat.That was 2 yrs ago. They gave me a seat but my BP had to wait and meet me at the gate. Doubt it has changed. Maybe ISP knows.
PS--I know what you mean about BE--we'll be early retired in a few years and the idea of losing S2's is killing me! It's ok to be spoiled.

Didn't nonrev out of BKK so not sure what the procedure is. Had some leftover UA/CO miles and was able to redeem miles for a o/w first class ticket on TG to NRT then non-revved in First on AA back to the US. It was quite an unforgettable experience. One final Thai massage in the TG FC lounge anyone? Decided to spend 2 nights in NRT at the last minute as it was cherry blossom season. If you've never been to Tokyo, you should spend at least a night or two to check it out. This was our second trip to NRT so we stayed at one of the NRT hotels. The AA hotel didn't have any rooms available so we stayed at the Crowne Plaza. They offered a reasonable airline discount. The train from NRT to Tokyo took about an hour.