What's the shortest length trip you have ever made to LOS?

[mlomker]

I know one week sounds crazy but I'm going to see someone special and any time we have together is precious to me.

I can empathize. There's that catch 22 -- if you make enough money to afford to travel then you probably don't have enough time away from work to do so.

[ceejay]

I'm beginning to think that a one-week trip from the UK is not as daft as it sounds. I've just been looking around for a reasonably priced one week break in the Mediterranean and, by the time you add up the prices of flights and hotels the cost is really not that different.

Depending on where you're going, air ticket £200-£300 and the very best you can do on a decent place to stay is around 60 Euros a night, so the basics are around £560-£660

You can get a direct flight to BKK for around £520 at the moment, and 1000 to 1200 baht a night will cover hotel costs so that comes in at pretty much the same.

As an aside, it's not just Thai businesses that don't seem to get the supply and demand thing. There's a place on Santorini with 14 out of 22 rooms unlet for the second week in July. Are they offering deals to fill some rooms? No, they are not.

[colmx]

Just took the plunge and booked a 7 night trip to LOS at the end of October

Flights cost €529 return from Ireland to Bkk via Amsterdam
This is the same price that i paid for my trip around the new year last month...

So over all €1058 in flights... i paid approx this price for return flights to thailand around new year 2006... so the price of travelling has definately dropped for us europeans...

An even better offer was return fights to HK for €372... but the accom in HK was going to cost as much as my Accom+entertainment budget for LOS

I was planning on a 3 night rip to london around that time - which would have cost me €600 for flights+accom+entertainment... so aThailand trip seems to be a winner budget wise on all counts

16 weeks to go!

[Oogleman]

3 days....quick hop from Taipei to show my taiwanese bf bangkok - big mistake!

[coreyk]

4 days, 3 nights. As a stopover between Melbourne and London. Just enough time for some shopping, a little sightseeing with freinds on their first visit to BKK, and then back on the plane.

[ceejay]

Was it worth it?
Would you do it again?

I'll let you know Colmx. This thread put an idea into my head - I arrive a week tomorrow for a week's stay

[Alaan]

Interesting comment from cnx4shan re:Soel and Taipei with no sick grannys or dead buffalos in sight.... and slightly off topic...but

Even though most of my thai boy experiences do fall into the Issan boy arena...including my bf from outside Khon Kaen...
the thing i do like about Thailand especially Bkk is that you can avoid any sick granny or buffalo requests if you meet a guy from the more affluent areas of Bkk and if the boy is perhaps a university student.

I do have a very cute 20 year old Thai boy i sometimes meet up with...he is a Uni student in Bkk with a fairly comfortable family life...father police... mother teaching.... and the places we visit and people we meet seems a world away from my Issan world. It is more likely they will be the ones with the jokes about sick buffalos etc...not me.

None of his friends have or have any desire to meet farang... and although they do not hassle him about going out with me... in fact we have real good fun with his friends as most of them can speak and understand very passible english and i can have much more interaction with these thais than i do my bfs family and friends in Issan.....well i have as much interaction only it is much easier on me and them.

We met my chance when we were both on holiday in Phuket and checking out Paradise Complex as he has a gay friend who is a proffessional coyote dancer there and he was visiting him... while i was just checking out the local gay bars etc... for some reason we just got on...... introduced into the same company going to the Galaxy disco... and got on from there.

He said he had never been looking to hook up with a farang...but seemed comfortable with me...

So all this long winded post is to say......more upscale or pseudo upscale boys with no interest in the sex trade and no connections to the sick mother/dead buffalo brigade can be found in Bangkok also.... and in its own way is very enjoyable too.

You do stand out more... but if the boy and his friends are comfortable with it...it can be very good fun. I am actually a bit disappointed that i will have to stop seeing him when i visit due to my now having a Thai bf. He knows i have a Thai bf but asks me to go see him every time i visit...he says its ok to have one 'gig' on the side! No need to travel to korea or Taiwan to avoid the sob story guys.

[Beach Bunny]

you can avoid any sick granny or buffalo requests if you meet a guy from the more affluent areas of Bkk and if the boy is perhaps a university student.

Brilliant idea. But, 1) there is no such thing as "more affluent areas of Bkk". There are rich people, and poor people, in every area of Bangkok. And 2) there are just as many university students on the make as there are non-university students on the make. Going to university means absolutely nothing, unless it happens to be one of the handful of very expensive private schools.

[i_am_me]

Less than 24 hours. I had a layover and decided to stop over for the night and party a little if I was flying through anyway. I don't count my numerous layovers that I have had in the past few years and didn't stop as a 'trip' though. I also don't say I have visited a country if I never left the airport. I have flown into KL many times but I can't say I have been to Malaysia in all honesty.

[x in pattaya]

Just curious... what is the shortest trip any of you have made to Thailand?
Was it worth it?
Would you do it again?

Did a two day run from Dubai in 1998 when I needed to finalize something ... can't recall what ... to do with the purchase of my condo. My Thai friend of that time was doing most of what was needed, including over-seeing the remodelling and purchase of some major furniture items, but I needed to be here for something. He met me at the airport, we checked into the Ambiance ... not even sure if we spent one night or two ...and then I was back to work in the UAE.

Back then I came to Thailand at least four times a year and the length of visits varied from less than a week to three months. The dates for shorter holidays in the UAE were often announced on very short notice ... sometimes literally a day or two before they would officially begin, so travel agents were accustomed to people making tentative airline bookings only confirmed at the last minute.

When Sheikh Zayed passed away everything in the country shut down, including travel agencies, so I had to call Bangkok to change bookings I had made on Thai Airways for a holiday that came soon after the period of mourning began. I already had the tickets, though with the wrong dates, but they had been changed it in the computer from Bangkok so I got away earlier than many who wanted to extend their holidays out of the country.

Yes, it was always worth it.

[Cedric]

Definitely worth it. Five days is forever. But not long-haul.

I recently, just a week ago went on a seven day trip but found I was ready to leave after four days so changed my flight. If you can accomplish what you need to in a short time why not.

Must add I live 2 hours away by plane but still I enjoyed the three full days and four nights I had and can recommend.

It helps if you do all your research, phone calls and appointments before you leave.

One thing I would never recommend is economy long haul not even for two weeks, it would knock the stuffing out of you, you need longer to recuperate. Bangkok as a stop over for a few days is excellent and far nicer than Hong Kong or Singapore. Stop overs also knock the stuffing I find, can be quite horrific, so it helps if it's Bangkok.

p-hess (What an adorable sniffer Chihuahua, it looks just like mLomker niet?)

[colmx]

Just back from my 7 night trip to LOS!
1 night in Bkk followed by 6 in Pattaya

I was joined by an Irish friend on the trip -so it helped to shorten the journey- although the 21 hour journey back to Dublin (via Amsterdam) was pretty gruelling

The trip itself was pretty full on and i don't think i saw any sunshine - except the sun in the morning as we struggled home from the night club!
But as usual a fun night was had by all

We stayed in the Mosaik this trip - my first time staying there, both my friend and I were very impressed with the quality of finish of the apartments and the location... Unfortunately they are already booked out on teh dates of my next trip so i will have to look elsewher

Was it worth it?
Absolutely

Would i do it again?
Probably!

Only 8 weeks till my next trip!

[sjaak327]

How do you define a trip ? If it means entering and exiting Thailand, I have had trips of a few days. As I always travel to neighboring countries (mostly Laos and Cambodia, but also side trips to other places like Hong Kong, Vietnam, KL or Singapore).

My shortest trip Europe-Thailand-Europe was 11 days.

[mlomker]

My shortest trip Europe-Thailand-Europe was 11 days.

I think the length of your travel is a big factor. I couldn't imagine doing America-Thailand-America on less than 2 weeks. It's 24 hrs of airports/planes and at least a day jet lag on each end.

[ceejay]

I've done a one week trip, this year as it happens. The total journey, out the door at home to checking in at Baan Dok Mai was a touch over 18 hours. The trip was well worth it.

I favour taking one of the many flights that leave Heathrow at around 9.30 at night UK time. That'll land in BKK at about 3.30 in the afternoon local time, so by the time you're through immigration you get to Pattaya sometime before 6. Then I just have a shower, find something to eat, chill for a couple of hours and go to bed at about 10.00 pm. Next day, I'm up at a normal local time and ready to go, without jet lag. Same on the way back - I landed at Heathrow at 7.30 pm on sunday, home and in bed by 10, up and at work by 9.00 am next day with no ill effects.

I travelled light - cabin baggage only - to speed up the transit through the airports.