althom1122

Many on this board ask questions on how to get started planning their trip to Asia. And many more provide fabulous trip reports when they get back. But few if any ever offer a blow-by-blow description of how they put their trip together. So at Bob’s suggestion, I’ve decided to give you a “PRE-trip report” laying out the logistics I’ve worked out and what I’ve got planned for February. So for those of you who relish the details, herewith begins the tale of “How a 49-Year-Old Asia Neophyte, With a Lot of Help from Fellow Fodorites, Cooked Up a Fabulous Three-Week Trip to Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia... ALL BY HERSELF... and If She Can Do It, Surely Any of You Can.”
By althom1122 (aka Karen)

It started over a year ago with a dream of expanding my horizons. The U.S. had become old-hat, and even Europe, after nine trips, was starting to seem bland. I’m not, after all, just your average government worker with a stable job and suburban lifestyle. (Well, I am that, but) I’m also a travel junkie who, as the years pass, needs more and more travel spice for the same travel kick.

So in 2004 I turned my imagination loose, and Morocco, Turkey, China, and Egypt all beckoned. But it was Southeast Asia that grabbed hold of my heart and wouldn’t let go. Visions of wonder danced in my head: Buddhist temples, floating markets, monks in orange robes, elephants that I might actually touch, and architecture with designs more intricate than anything my Scandinavian ancestors in their plain wooden boats had ever dreamed of. Ah, Asia. A plethora of sights, sounds, smells. My fancy was captured, my trip decided (my fate sealed?).

But... how to do it? Sure, I’d done Europe on my own – mostly with a husband at my side. And I’d been to the Middle East – on work trips where Uncle Sam made all the arrangements. But how in the world was a rather naive, somewhat timid 49-year-old West Virginia native to embark on a journey to Southeast Asia with her 24-year-old daughter, a Penn State grad with a degree in, of all things, philosophy?

I could picture it clearly. We’d arrive at the airport in Bangkok, I’d say to my daughter, “Well, here we are,” and then... then... then, what? We’d stare at each other wide-eyed, look around, not have a clue what to do, and I’d burst into tears. (She, being the more mature one, would figure out our next step.)

To avoid that nightmare, I had a lot of work ahead of me. I started with Fodor’s
(TIP #1: START WITH FODOR'S) and read every trip report I could find. One thing I’ve discovered is if I’m not interested in visiting a place it’s because I don’t know much about it. Before long, every place in Southeast Asia seemed fascinating. I wanted to see as much as possible and posted my first draft itinerary.

Fodorites went to work on me. I was “trying to see too much,” “wouldn’t enjoy it,” “needed to slow down,” “would definitely be back.” Humph, I thought. I LIKE to travel fast. Didn’t wanna slow down. Didn’t think I’d be back. But I also knew that the experts here are just that – experts. And I was not. So I went back to the drawing board to rethink my plans. Unfortunately, I got side-tracked – a year at the National War College for a master’s degree (and a trip to South Africa!) derailed my plans for a 2004 Asia vacation.

To be continued.

althom1122

Fast-forward to fall 2005 (master’s degree completed and back to a regular office job), and my vacation dreams resurfaced. I dusted off my original itinerary and decided to scale back my expectations. I focused on what I thought my daughter and I would enjoy most: rural areas as well as cities, a variety of cultural experiences, shopping, and major tourist sites. We wanted to visit fabulous temples, talk to Buddhist monks, touch an elephant, see hill tribes, and sample lots of Thai food. The beaches sounded nice, but weren’t a priority for us, given our limited amount of time.
(TIP 2: KNOW THYSELF and plan your itinerary around the things YOU enjoy –not what someone else enjoys. Don’t feel like you have to go to the beach just because someone else says to.)

I continued to read trip reports, followed every link I could find, and compiled a list of the places I wanted to visit: Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai or Mae Hong Son, Luang Prabang, and Siem Reap. I had originally wanted to include Vietnam, but scrapped it when I realized I couldn’t do it all in three weeks.
(TIP 3: READ EVERYTHING you can to learn what there is to see – Fodor’s, web sites, and guide books. Think of it as a research project. Use the library.) Note: I'll post a list of useful web sites at the end.
(TIP 4: DON’T TRY TO SEE EVERYTHING there is to see in three weeks. Be selective. To quote Kathie: “SLOW DOWN.” NO one-night stands.)

More later.

rettalynn

This is fabulous!!! I am currently planning my first trip to Thailand and my husband has been away for several weeks (we are meeting in BKK for the first time after 10 weeks - yes, that is a long time for me) and I have been planning as much as I can to make it "perfect", but have the same fear you described. I am still dealing with "too much to do - not enough time". Thank you for taking the time to post this!

althom1122

I considered simplifying my life and taking an organized tour – get someone else to handle the logistics, ease my fears, and basically coddle me. But I didn’t want to be tied to a group 24/7. I didn’t want to listen to a tour guide tell me WAY more than I wanted to know about every temple, every statue, and every rock formation. I didn’t want to eat at a restaurant every night that someone else chose. And I didn’t want to be herded around by a guide carrying an umbrella that a crowd of 50 could follow. I wanted to talk to real people, stay in real places, and have adventures on our own that make traveling the greatest high there is. So I posted my “Mother-Daughter Conundrum” missive in mid-October asking if we could REALLY do it ourselves. Eighty-five posts later, I concluded that, YES, we could!
(TIP 5: EVEN THE MOST TIMID TRAVELER can go to Asia without a tour group, if you do your homework. Disclaimer: this comment comes from someone who has not yet BEEN to Asia – but, hey, I’m confident thanks to the guidance and encouragement received here, plus the massive amount of research I’ve done on my own.)

Next up: the nitty-gritty logistics and how I arranged them.

rhkkmk

ok, so far kathie and i have been blamed for anything that may go wrong with your trip....haha

this is very nice actually....i hope it will help others...i see one already above...and it makes "the regulars" feel good which is really what this board is all about...we don't care about travel, we just like to toot our horns...

i keep trying to think of what your first problem will be, but probably there will not be any as you have worked this trip to death....your daughter is the luckiest of travel companions ever....i hope you have told her that!! she will find out in any case....

althom1122

Bob - Thanks! And don't worry, I'll be blaming Gloria (and some others) too!
Stay tuned - more to come tomorrow.

Gpanda

This is great. The origins of a vacation. I envy your planning skills. Asia beckons.

glorialf

Karen-- your planning sounds just like mine my first trip except that there was no internet in those days so it was a lot less fun and a lot less accurate.

I always feel that the planning is half the fun of a trip. I hope that your planning has also included novels, histories etc about the places you're going. Not just guide books. That's another piece of advice. And keep reading when you get home.

emd

Oh my gosh. I finally found someone who planned as much as I did for trip #1. I spent a year planning, every spare moment, read (and printed) so many Japan trip reports on here, followed so many leads til I figured out what we would and wouldn't like. I thought I was the only one. Maybe I was the only one who put my papers into two one inch flexible notebooks, w/tabs for Tokyo sites, Kyoto sites, Sumo, baseball, Hiroshima/Peace park/Miyajima, how to get to all those places, hours things were open, pockets for maps that I put in plastic sleeves, etc. But it turned out to be a great relatively stress-free happy trip. Wasn't shooting for perfect, just wanted to have the details down that can take time and be stressful if you have to figure it all out once you get there. And it worked well.

glorialf

Karen-- if you read nothing else before going to thailand read (or bring with you) Four Reigns by Kukrit Pramoj. It's a novel that starts during the reign of Chulalongkhorn and goes to modern times. It will give you feel for the history and culture. If you want other books I'd be happy to give you a list for now and the future.

vedette

Gloria -- I'm not Kathy, but it seems I have a similar personality. Anyway, I'd like you to post your list of books.

glorialf

Here's a start of fiction that takes place in Thailand. I'll post more when I get home and look at my book shelf. I've ** the best.

**(Four Reigns (the best for learning the culture) by Kukrit Pramoj
**Bangkok 8
** Bangkok Tattoo
**The Secret Agent - Francine Matthews-- a junk novel but fun -- based on the Jim Thompson story
** Kingdom of Make Believe -- Dean Barrett
The Occidentals -- James Eastgate
**Mrs. Pollifax in the Golden Triangle -- Dorothy Gilman
Monsoon Country
Skytrain to Murder - Dean Barrett
**Siam -- Lily Tuck
**Lioness in Bloom -- Susan Fulop Kepner
Thai Amulet - Lyn Hamilton
Thai Horse -- William Diehl
**Letters from Home (fabulous book translated by Susan Fulop Kepner)
** Tatamari Seal by Shaw (a Brit who lives in Chiang Mai)

Non-fiction
**Mai Pen Rai-- am American who spends a year in Bangkok
** History of thailand by David Wyatt who is the real expert on the country
Boom and Bust

More tomorrrow

CFW

Great list- thanks. I read Four Reigns on the plane to Thailand (and on the way back -- it is a long family saga that spans several generations). It was wonderful and I loved being there & being immersed in the book at the same time. Unforgettable characters & a sense of place and time!

glorialf

CFW-- Glad you liked it. I tell everyone that it's the first book you should read if you want! Up until recently it was impossible to find in America (I bought my first copy in Bangkok 15 years ago and it was in 5 volumes) but now that amazon has it I consider it a must read.

gilawi01

This is a great pre-trip report. It mirrors all the hassles but very enjoyable time doing my pre-trip plans for the trip in February. I'm almost done, but the flight arrangements inside Thailand and to Siam Reap are still on the working. I will wait for how do you manage your flight logistics and reservations. The way you describe all your plans are very enjoyable too. Thanks again.

althom1122

I figured I could manage three weeks’ vacation from work. My daughter is a hippie-child of the ‘60s born in the wrong decade who is trying to find herself, which evidently does not require steady employment. (But that’s ANOTHER story. She’s a wonderful, caring, intelligent human being who adores her mother – well, three out of four, anyway.) But she, too, could easily manage a three-week trip to Asia in February – as long as Mom was paying.
So after much agonizing and much help from Kathie, Gloria, Bob, Guenmai, Mrwunrfl, Mary, Paige, and others, I came up with:

5 nights BKK
4 nights Chiang Mai
2 nights Mae Hong Son
3 nights Luang Prabang
3 nights Siem Reap (and last day til 7 p.m.)
2 nights BKK

Now that I had the itinerary nailed down, I could book the airfare. Easier said than done. You see, I’m in Maryland, my daughter’s in California – and I wanted us to arrive in Bangkok on the same plane! I tried Travelocity to see if I could arrange a flight from Baltimore to BKK that would stop in San Francisco or Oakland, but the fare was over $1200. At mrwunrfl’s suggestion, I looked into the possibility of booking two separate tickets for myself – one from Baltimore to San Francisco and a second one from SF (with my daughter) to BKK. Perfect! Fodor’s came through again! So I’m flying AirTran to SF on Feb. 4, arriving at 8 p.m., and departing just after midnight with my daughter on Eva Air (the latter for $837 each). I booked the trans-pacific flights on Eva’s website and my flight to San Francisco on Travelocity.
TIP 6: BE CREATIVE IN SEARCHING for airfares. And don’t rely solely on general sites like Travelocity – check out individual airline sites.
(Comment – I must admit I’m a little nervous about making the connection in San Francisco. Four hours seems ample, but what if there’s a blizzard in Baltimore that day? Will my daughter get on the plane in San Francisco if I don’t show up? Yikes! Should I rebook to leave a day in advance?)

The next task was to arrange the internal Asia flights...

althom1122

We had five internal Asia flights (gulp)...

Bangkok to Chiang Mai
CM to Mae Hong Son
MHS to Luang Prabang
LP to Siem Reap
SR back to BKK

I knew (from Fodor’s) that Bangkok Airways Discovery Pass would save me money and decided to start there. InisMnroe and Scotters tipped me to the fact that the Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang leg would be tricky because flights are only on certain days (Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday). Moreover, there was no direct flight from Luang Prabang to Siem Reap, (we’d have to connect in Bangkok). And Scotters suggested not using the Discovery Pass for the CM to LP leg because it would be cheaper to use Lao Air. (Great advice, as usual!)

So I went to the Bangkok Airways website, selected all the flights I was interested in, wrote them down in a notebook, and called the airline to make the arrangements. I talked to a guy with a heavy Indian accent, and with my heart pounding (I was SO nervous!), requested the flights we wanted. Surprisingly, although it was only October, a couple of the flights were already booked! Still, I got everything arranged, and the guy told me he’d send an email with instructions. I’d need send a certified check to a PO box in New York, and they’d mail me the tickets. I did so, and sure enough a couple weeks later, the tickets showed up.
TIP 7: IF YOU HAVE MULTIPLE INTERNAL ASIA FLIGHTS, ask Fodorites for suggestions. Check into the Bangkok Airways Discovery Pass. Do your homework on what flights you want before calling them. Be aware that all flights don’t go on all days. Look at individual airline sites (Bangkok Airways, Thai Air, and there are several discount carriers, as well – will dig out the names if anyone wants to know). And lastly, book the flights well in advance if possible since the more popular times tend to sell out early.

Next step was to arrange the non-Discovery Pass portions. I didn’t have a clue how to go about this, but a Fodorite suggested contacting “Eddie” in Bangkok. Hm, Eddie. Ok, I’m game. I don’t know any Eddie in Bangkok, but here I was sending an email to some guy named Eddie, presumably in Bangkok, who was recommended by a total stranger on Fodor’s – and I was prepared to trust this Eddie with my credit card number. It’s a strange world we live in! Well, within 24 hours, Eddie sent me proposed flights, flight numbers, and the cost. Ok, Eddie, I said, let’s do it. Eddie responded that he’d have the tickets delivered to my hotel in Bangkok. I’m hoping he will!

I came to a slight stumbling block when trying to book hotels, which caused a change in plans - going to Mae Hong Son first and then Chiang Mai, so I had to go back to Eddie and ask him to rebook my flights. Eddie said no problem-o (well, that’s not exactly what he said, but close).
TIP 8: FOR NON-DISCOVERY PASS FLIGHTS, use a local travel agent for booking your flights. Eddie’s one. I’ve seen others mentioned here (Mol is another).

So our flights are as follows:
After 5 nights in Bangkok:
- Feb 11, Bangkok Air to Chiang Mai at 1125 and then connect to Mae Hong Son on Thai Air at 1420 (2 nights in MHS)
- Feb 13, Mai Hong Son to Chiang Mai on Thai Air at 1515 (4 nights CM)
- Feb 17, CM to Luang Prabang on Lao Air at 1250 (3 nights LP)
- Feb 20, LP to BKK at 1350 and then connect to Siem Reap at 1840 on Bangkok Airways (yuk, a long layover) (3 nights in LP)
- Feb 23, SR to BKK on Bangkok Airways at 8:20 p.m. (three nights in SR)

Success! We had all our flights arranged. We were really going to do this! Next up – finding hotels.

althom1122

Forgot to mention: total cost for the internal flights (both the Discovery Pass legs and the flights Eddie booked) came to about $600 per person.(Will give a total list of costs at the very end.)

althom1122

One other thing I've been meaning to mention: my screen name is in honor of my (deceased) father. His name was Al Thomas, and it was he who instilled in me my love for travel. I thought it fitting when I chose my Fodor's screen name to come up with something in remembrance of him.

althom1122

And thanks, Gloria, for the book list! Will definitely check some of them out!