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Hi All,
I am trying to plan my next trip, and I am looking at Tahiti for now but I am looking for suggestions to other areas. If anyone has been to PPT how did they get there, one option I see is to go to HNL then nonrev on HA to PPT. We have already been to Europe, and Central America this year so we are looking to visit somewhere new.
Have you been to SE Asia? Thailand and Bali are wonderful places! So is South Africa...
Tahiti sounds real good. And your plan the way to get there is right on. Via HNL. I never been to Tahiti.. Other places i wanted to check out was GALAPAGOS. I was in Australia years ago. Like 1989. Very interesting country, wide open land. Alaska is something to see about now. San Blas islands in Panama pretty neat, All of Mexico is great and lots of fun. I like Acapulco. Can't go wrong in Canada, Niagra falls.Quote:
Originally Posted by ATG-DL
Pohnpei is interesting to see Nan Madol. I've never made it there, so far off the beaten path between HNL and GUM. Gotta take the island hopper from HNL to GUM like 12 hours. Stops in all these pacific islands you can't pronounce.
Hi Mrs we havent made it to Asia yet. I have personally always wanted to see the Terra cotta army, and great wall.
29Palms,
The Galapagos are definitely on my list. We actually just came back from CUN last week, we stayed at a nice AI place for 60 pppn using their Delta discount. As far as Canada been there done that, got detained and got a t-shirt.
I've been all over Asia. Singapore, Beijing, Hong Kong, Port Morseby, Sydney, Brisbane, Bali, Philippines. Not to mention out in the Pacific on ships too, Okinawa, Korea, Guam, Saipan, Rota, Tinian, Iwo Jima Hawaii. All have their beauty.
I went to FP for my honeymoon. As it was one of those times were we 'had' to get there, I redeemed AA miles for biz seats on Air Tahiti Nui. Note that the HA flight is only once a week, leaving HNL on a Sat afternoon and returning from PPT on a Sat night. Air Tahiti Nui has at least one daily flight from LAX and on some days, they have two. Air France flies from LAX but I think they are down to 3x/wk. Tahiti is more of a stepping off point. I wouldn't spend more than a day there. Bora Bora and Moorea are the two most popular islands to visit. I would also highly recommend the Paul Gaugin cruise.
Aside from FP which I highly recommend, I would second Mrs767s rec of Thailand (esp Koh Samui) and would also suggest Argentina (esp Mendoza if you are into wine).
FP??
Sorry, FP = French Polynesia with Tahiti being one of the islands of 'FP'.
thanks for all the suggestions. I will look into Thailand as well, are any of these place unreasonably cold during December?
Anywhere near, at, or south of the equator should be fine, I would imagine. I'd be more concerned about when the rainy seasons are (no idea). My advice: Wikipedia entries for most cities include a climate table with average and record highs and lows for any given month, plus average precipitation amounts.
Thailand will be a BLAST!! If you go early enuff in the month--after TGiving and well before Christmas. I've been several times and we're planning to go back in Aug to get to Bali. We like the lazy beach town of Hua Hin (2-3 hrs from BKK) and nearby areas like River Kwai (very moving and beautiful, as well as Amphawa river market area. I'm sure some of the more touristy beaches like Phuket, Koh Smaui are beautiful for a few days R&R. I have several hotel/small resort recommendations if you need them. Also a driver to get to HH.
I can tell you that Dec is BRRRRRRRRRR for Beijing--we had lots of snow/ice on Great Wall.
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.
What are you looking for in an OCEANIA vacation? Solitude? Great diving? Some of these islands can be tough. White people are not always welcomed or wanted. Things can come up missing like suit cases or money from your hotel or wallet. Break inns in cars are wide open game. You park a car somewhere to go diving, you leave anything in the car, its wide open game for anyone to take it. They are very good at it. Tahiti you may be all right, its geared for tourism. But hit some of those islands like Korsae, Chuuk, Yap, even Saipan, or Tinian. High unemployment, some bad "ICE" going around....which is what we call "CRACK". I've seen locals gang up on wise guys that come off the ships and think they own the place because they were white.....WRONG ANSWER.....HOMEY.Quote:
Originally Posted by ATG-DL
Of my four visits to the islands in the south sea I've never seen or experienced what 29palms described above. In fact I'd rank them as some of my favourite holidays. I especially loved the Cook Islands. Rarotonga is the main island and some other gems like Aitutaki. In Tahiti, PPT is just a stopover point. As a non-rev getting to the Polynesian Islands calls for some careful planning though
I know there is a big difference between a visit and actually living in these islands.Quote:
Originally Posted by frapos
We decided on going to BKK, just booked a riverside hotel.
What did you choose?
I booked Ibis, but it looks like they have a easy cancellation policy so if i find anything else I can go with it.
We just got back from our trip to BKK and it was awesome (despite the typhoons). We got economy comfort to NRT, and BE to BKK. Once we were in Bangkok we went to the MBK mall, took a cooking class, rode a tuk-tuk, and bartered alot.
Unfortunately because of the typhoons in Japan our flight to NRT was payload optimized to carry more fuel. Since that is the only DL flight out of BKK, nonrev panic set in for all 20+ of us. Instead of trying to head back to NRT we were able to ZED our way on AF to CDG, and luckily the flight was completely open so the wife and I choose our own rows in the back of the 777 and chilled for the next 8 hours. Once we got to CDG we booked a room at Only Suites CDG and called it a night. We got up first thing in the AM checked out the hotel and headed to the city. We took some pictures under the Eiffel Tower, had a few pastries, bought some souvenirs then back to the airport for our flight in BE to JFK. From start to finish we flew ATL-LAX-NRT-BKK-CDG-JFK/LGA-TYS, then a 4hr drive home. 7 days 3 countries 20k+ miles= 1 long trip literally around the world.
So now I suppose you’ll go easy on the chilies? :cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by ATG-DL
WOW--we did zeds to SIN but didn't have any typhoon to deal with. LAX/NRT in EC is too long for me! Glad it worked for you. Loved doing a cooking class--ours was at a house of US Army vet, Thai wife. He did the teaching after our market visit. I'm sure yours was more comfy--ours was outdoors and HOT! Tell me about BKK. MBK is overwhelming to me!
Mrs.
the MBK was massive, i couldnt believe there were soo many stands on the inside. But Bangkok it self was awesome, I couldnt believe how massive the city was. The food was pretty cheap as well, the wife and I at a nice Thai restaurant for less than $9. The cooking class itself was outdoors but we had a nice cool breeze the entire time.I think for everything we got including gifts, clothes, and the cooking class it was around $120.
Mig,
I should've rethought that combo of eating the spicy thai then a 30 minute ride around the city.