kimberlyb

Planning first trip to Thailand in late March/early April for approx. 14 days (including travel). Thinking of following itinerary:
3 days BKK
3 days CM
3-4 days Phuket
2 days BKK
It looks like we will fly from LAX to Thailand via Hong Kong. My husband mentioned possibly staying over in Hong Kong one night at either the start or end of trip. Is this too much? We don't have our Thailand itinerary finalized yet so we can change things. We've never been to Asia before and would appreciate your thoughts and advice.

Kathie

Unless you can add two or three days to your trip in order to have a short stay in Hong Kong, I wouldn't do it. You have a good balance of your time in Thailand. if you add another destination in the time you have allotted, you'll be rushing around all the time and won't have time to settle in and experience anyplace.

Hong Kong is fun and interesting, and worth much more than a day. Indeed, in a day, you might just feel overwhelmed by the busy-ness of the city and not have time to enjoy it.

rkkwan

I agree with Kathie. At least two nights or don't do it (unless absolutely have to, due to flight connections). Hotels are expensive in HK too.

kimberlyb

Thank you Kathie and rkkwan. You bring up good points. I definitely don't want to be rushed, especially since we will be there during one of the hotter months. (the original itinerary will be tiresome enough).

I'd love to get your advice on one more thing as I finalize our itinerary.
• As of now, our BKK time is being split at the beginning and end of trip (is this a good idea?)
• We will be in Thailand for Chakri Day and heard that it's the only day that a certain palace is open to the public in BKK. Is it worth moving things around to be in BKK this day?

Thanks in advance.

Kathie

Splitting your time in Bangkok works well, since your transpacific flighst arrive and leave from there. I do that almost every year.

As to whether to try to rearrange for the Taksin Palace... I'd say save it for next trip. You'll have plenty to keep you busy. And Michael has just posted that we can arrange tours of the palace for a small group at other times.

kimberlyb

Thanks Kathie. Appreciate your advice.

As for airfare, we are American frequent flyers so will probably look into flying Cathay Pacific or Japan Air and use our miles. Heard that Thai Air offers non-stop from LAX, but don't want to pay for airfare if we can use miles instead.

Anyone fly Cathay Pacific? We are hoping to use miles for business or first class. Their site is confusing. Times are military (that is easy enough), but some have +1 or +2 after the times. Does anyone know what this means?

geosand

but some have +1 or +2 after the times. Does anyone know what this means?

it means +1 (or 2 ) day

Kathie

Yup, geo is right. You leave on day and arrive one or two days later.

rkkwan

Times are not military. They're always local, just that in some parts of the world, they use the 24-hour clock rather than 12-hour clock plus am/pm.

CX currently 3 daily flights out of LAX. CX885 departs around noon and arrives HKG evening of the next day.

The other two departs around midnight, but check the dates carefully. 883 departs late evening and arrives HKG the morning 2 days later. 881 departs just past midnight and arrives HKG the morning 1 day later.

kimberlyb

Thank you geo and rkkwan for explaining. I didn't realize it wasn't military time. So 23:20 is still US 11:20pm and 1:20 means 1:20am right? Is Thailand time set up like this as well?

rkkwan-greatly appreciate the additional advice on the LAX flights. #881 seems to be the best and maximizes our time...hope we can make it work.

The Hong Kong visit is still being discussed. My husband really wants to spend a couple of days there. I agree with the posts that it will be too rushed and with the hot weather, not worth it. I agreed to re-evaluate the original itinerary. We could remove one day from Phuket and add one more day to our total trip. So we'd have 5 total days in BKK, 3 days CM, 3 days Phuket and 2 days in Hong Kong. I'm still not sure about flight schedules and how that effects it, but we plan to fly to each Thai city. Is this new itinerary better or are we still going to be rushed?

rkkwan

Correct. CX883 departs 11:20p, while CX881 departs two hours later at 1:20a in March.

tweety817

I flew Cathay Pacific JFK HK BKK going and on return stopped in Hong Kong 2 days and then JFK. I enjoyed the Cathay Pacific flight. Two days in Hong Kong is very little time but it was not my first trip.