baylor

I hope to take a 6 week trip to Asia in Sept. & Oct. I will depart from & return to the East Coast of the US (preferably Washington DC), and spend a week in Nepal & 5 or so weeks in Thailand. I am not committed to the travel times or durations. I ask your help in finding a low-price airline. I've never been past Europe; I'm very excited to go. I've had trouble with mere US to UK jetlag, so I am thinking of a stopover in Turkey for a few days to reduce that monster 20 hour voyage. I wonder whether I should seek a carrier that flies US to Bangkok with a stopover in Delhi, whence I can travel to & from Nepal. Is there an airline that travels US to Thailand with stopovers in Turkey & Delhi (or Nepal)? Or one with a mere Delhi stopover? I realize I may need to fly among a number of partnered airlines.
Would I cheaper to seek a Round the World ticket?
I'll hit Nepal first when I'll still have the energy for the mountain trails. I'm told I should try to miss the monsoon season; I hope mid September will be the end of monsoons.
I ask your advice on how best to get off the beaten track and how to share something of the lives of the Thais & the Nepalese. I welcome any other advice, as well.
Yours, Baylor

rkkwan

The cheapest way (though not necessarily the shortest) is to fly IAD to BKK first. For weekdays in August/September departure, you can get that for around $800 on UA or Korean/Delta. Then buy a roundtrip BKK-KTM. Not sure of the exact price, but it's not that expensive, and you may even do that after arriving in Bangkok.

This will be cheaper than flying to India first; or to get a RTW ticket. Some RTW fares are quite reasonable, but with certain restrictions that may or may not apply to your trip. Go find a travel agent and find out.

mrwunrfl

I would follow rkkwan's advice and also check for fares that go to KTM via BKK and that allow for a free stopover and then make that stopover in BKK (I would hope, but not expect, that this would be less expensive and more convenient).

Am wondering about the plan to go to Nepal first. Not sure how, after 20+ hours (probably 24+) of travelling you will have more energy for mountain trails (more than if you went to Thailand first). I would think that it would be better to get over the jetlag in Thailand first, then have a 0 or 1 or 2 hour time change to cope with when going on to Nepal.

mrwunrfl

Not that I really know what I am talking about in the post that I just made. Just offering my $0.02

JamesA

You will probably find the easiest way to do it would be to get a BKK return ticket and then get a ticket BKK-KTM, Thai fly daily with a 777 and Royal nepal fly about 3 x per week.
Emirates fly non-stop from EWR(or is is JFK?) to Dubai from where you connect to Bangkok, that is a very fast routing.

Target1

"Emirates fly non-stop from EWR(or is is JFK?) to Dubai from where you connect to Bangkok, that is a very fast routing."


NYC-HKG-BKK = 9120 miles
NYC-DXB-BKK = 9885 miles

You should go west young man!

rkkwan

Eastbound NYC-DXB-BKK will have prvailing wind and shorter FLIGHT time to via the Pacific by about an hour. But that's technical. As I mentioned, the cheapest fares I can see are UA (via NRT) or KE (via ICN). Plus, you'll need to consider the extra time for extra connections, either way you fly.

It also depends on what class you fly in. If you can afford first class tickets, then you should try the JFK-DXB service from Emirates, as their new 340-500 on this route has the most luxurious first class suite on any commercial aircraft.

Target1

The flight times are almost equal, but the fares are very much different. UAL non-stop to NRT with continued service to BKK is about 1/2 cheaper or better when compared to Emirates non-stop to DXB with continuing service to BKK.