Hmmm....what do you think? Honeymoon dilemma..
Oct 27th, 2011, 04:43 PM
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Hmmm....what do you think? Honeymoon dilemma..
My new wife and I planned to take our honeymoon to the far east next month. Our itinerary has us leaving NYC on 11/22, spending 2 days in Hong Kong, and arriving in Bangkok on 11/25, where we will stay for 5 days. After that we will be flying to Phuket and staying there for 6 days. We were not wise enough to purchase trip insurance as we didnt think anything would come between our honeymoon and us. Furthermore, everything aside from the flights is refundable if canceled prior to arrival. Vayama charges a cancellation fee of $200/ticket, and Air Asias flight in nonrefundable.
Do you think the flood waters will recede by our arrival, and if so, do you think it will be worth making the trip all the way there, or do you think the area will be ravaged by the flood?
We are planning on staying at the Shangri La in Bangkok...
TIA!
s&c
Do you think the flood waters will recede by our arrival, and if so, do you think it will be worth making the trip all the way there, or do you think the area will be ravaged by the flood?
We are planning on staying at the Shangri La in Bangkok...
TIA!
s&c
Oct 27th, 2011, 06:14 PM
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There are so many beautiful places in the region I suggest you change what you need to change and go somewhere else. It makes no sense to go to a place that may or may not be ready to receive visitors.
Go to Hong Kong and spend more time there. It's a great city and there are other things to see besides the city, islands by ferry for instance. Then go to a different SE Asian place like Bali. You can stay at the beach for part of the time and I suggest Ubud for the rest. You'll have a great honeymoon.
Go to Hong Kong and spend more time there. It's a great city and there are other things to see besides the city, islands by ferry for instance. Then go to a different SE Asian place like Bali. You can stay at the beach for part of the time and I suggest Ubud for the rest. You'll have a great honeymoon.
Oct 27th, 2011, 07:16 PM
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Phuket is just fine - no reason to avoid that at all. As for whether Bangkok will be back not normal, there is no way to tell. You might simply combine Hong Kong with Phuket. You'd need to book a hotel in Hong Kong for the Bangkok nights. You can certainly fly from Hong Kong to Bangkok then on to Phuket easily. By then I would expect no problems with that. If need be you can spend a night at the airport hotel if you need to. Or, I believe there are non-stop flights from hong Kong to Phuket. The Shangri-La might be just fine, but we don't know yet. I'm scheduled to land in Bangkok on Nov 16, and I'm not changing anything yet (but it's not my honeymoon). You might start looking for Hong Kong hotels now and make a reservation that doesn't require pre-payment.
I expect we'll know more after the king tides this weekend.
I wouldn't change from Phuket to Bali at this point.
I expect we'll know more after the king tides this weekend.
I wouldn't change from Phuket to Bali at this point.
Oct 27th, 2011, 07:55 PM
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Phuket is not affected by the flooding, so you have no issues there.
I am guessing your international flights are into and out of Hong Kong, so you should not have to change those, you just may want to re-work the time in between those flights a bit. (Even if your return flight is from Bangkok, at this point the international airport has not been affected. I changed planes in Bangkok on Wednesday on a flight home from India, and operations seemed quite normal. So even if you skip sightseeing in Bangkok, it at this point seems quite possible to get flights into and out of the airport.)
I assume you have contact Air Asia and they have indicated that even under the extraordinary events in Thailand, they are sticking to their “no refund” rule. If you have not confirmed this, you may want to just in case they are waiving this for flights to Bangkok or allowing passengers to change routing. See http://www.airasia.com/hk/en/latestn...t-options.page for some information on that.
As for Bangkok, as you can still cancel the hotel booking, I would wait a week or 10 days and see what the flood levels are at that point. If they seem bad (or if they have receded but it appears that public transport will continue to be affected or major sights are going to be cleaning up for a while), you could consider skipping. You would have to rearrange flights, so look into that now to see flight schedules. Air Asia has a daily non-stop to/from Phuket, perhaps you can get on that.
Hong Kong is in fantastic weather in November (it’s the weather we wait for all year), so I also agree that you could spend more time in Hong Kong. I could provide a long list of things to do here, esp if you can tell me a bit more about your interests. I would always recommend more than 2 days here, IMO 3 nights/4 days is good, or more if you wanted to go to Macau for a day or an overnight. But if you plan on 4 days, that only leaves you with 3 days to use elsewhere.
You could consider going to Kuala Lumpur for 2-3 days, and then onto Phuket. KL is not nearly as interesting as Bangkok, but for 2-3 days there would be enough to do. They have very good food and nice people.
Singapore would be another good option for 2-3 days, however getting there on Air Asia will require connecting in Kuala Lumpur, so for that short a time, may not be worth it. (There is a non-stop on Air Asia from Singapore to Phuket, however, so that makes it a little more attractive.) I would choose Singapore over Kuala Lumpur if all things were equal or if you don’t mind longish travel days.
I think the idea of Bali is fine, and it’s a wonderful magical place, but you may be scrambling for flights and hotels at this point (as others may have the same idea as you to skip Thailand) and it may turn out to be difficult to accomplish. You also seemed to have ruled it out in you original planning, so perhaps it is not as interesting to you. To go on Air Asia, you would have to connect through KL which will take half a day from your schedule, and may not work that well. November is also the second month of the rainy season on Bali; it’s not a huge issue in Bali as in other places as you don’t go to Bali to sit on a beach, but can mean overcast skies and/or days of rain.
I am guessing your international flights are into and out of Hong Kong, so you should not have to change those, you just may want to re-work the time in between those flights a bit. (Even if your return flight is from Bangkok, at this point the international airport has not been affected. I changed planes in Bangkok on Wednesday on a flight home from India, and operations seemed quite normal. So even if you skip sightseeing in Bangkok, it at this point seems quite possible to get flights into and out of the airport.)
I assume you have contact Air Asia and they have indicated that even under the extraordinary events in Thailand, they are sticking to their “no refund” rule. If you have not confirmed this, you may want to just in case they are waiving this for flights to Bangkok or allowing passengers to change routing. See http://www.airasia.com/hk/en/latestn...t-options.page for some information on that.
As for Bangkok, as you can still cancel the hotel booking, I would wait a week or 10 days and see what the flood levels are at that point. If they seem bad (or if they have receded but it appears that public transport will continue to be affected or major sights are going to be cleaning up for a while), you could consider skipping. You would have to rearrange flights, so look into that now to see flight schedules. Air Asia has a daily non-stop to/from Phuket, perhaps you can get on that.
Hong Kong is in fantastic weather in November (it’s the weather we wait for all year), so I also agree that you could spend more time in Hong Kong. I could provide a long list of things to do here, esp if you can tell me a bit more about your interests. I would always recommend more than 2 days here, IMO 3 nights/4 days is good, or more if you wanted to go to Macau for a day or an overnight. But if you plan on 4 days, that only leaves you with 3 days to use elsewhere.
You could consider going to Kuala Lumpur for 2-3 days, and then onto Phuket. KL is not nearly as interesting as Bangkok, but for 2-3 days there would be enough to do. They have very good food and nice people.
Singapore would be another good option for 2-3 days, however getting there on Air Asia will require connecting in Kuala Lumpur, so for that short a time, may not be worth it. (There is a non-stop on Air Asia from Singapore to Phuket, however, so that makes it a little more attractive.) I would choose Singapore over Kuala Lumpur if all things were equal or if you don’t mind longish travel days.
I think the idea of Bali is fine, and it’s a wonderful magical place, but you may be scrambling for flights and hotels at this point (as others may have the same idea as you to skip Thailand) and it may turn out to be difficult to accomplish. You also seemed to have ruled it out in you original planning, so perhaps it is not as interesting to you. To go on Air Asia, you would have to connect through KL which will take half a day from your schedule, and may not work that well. November is also the second month of the rainy season on Bali; it’s not a huge issue in Bali as in other places as you don’t go to Bali to sit on a beach, but can mean overcast skies and/or days of rain.
Oct 27th, 2011, 07:57 PM
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My suggestion was based on the fret factor as I reason, with things now being in doubt, it might be nice to just make the decision and not think about it again. It makes sense to me to just avoid the area for now unless there's a huge improvement soon which seems unlikely. Things will be a mess literally and logistically for some time even after the worst is over. At least that's my reasoning and this is an important trip, why take a chance. I like to steer clear and not worry.
However, if there are direct flights from HKG to Phuket it might make sense unless lots of extra people end up there. I still think Bali is a good fallback position and who doesn't like Bali.
However, if there are direct flights from HKG to Phuket it might make sense unless lots of extra people end up there. I still think Bali is a good fallback position and who doesn't like Bali.
Oct 27th, 2011, 09:33 PM
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i am in thailand now... bkk is still dry. if the central area does not flood in the next week or so you will be just fine..
i am 1 hour north of phuket, and was in phuket yesterday---everything is just fine there.
if BKK airport remains open you will be fine, if not your airline will offer you alternatives... you could fly to singapore or KL in malaysia and get to phuket from there... same thing with air asia...
just wait a bit longer..
i am 1 hour north of phuket, and was in phuket yesterday---everything is just fine there.
if BKK airport remains open you will be fine, if not your airline will offer you alternatives... you could fly to singapore or KL in malaysia and get to phuket from there... same thing with air asia...
just wait a bit longer..
Oct 28th, 2011, 01:18 AM
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December is the height of the wet season in Bali - not the best time to visit. As long as BKK airport remains open and you are able to fly in/out Phuket would remain your best option or even fly direct from HK. I suppose you could extend your stays in both places by a few days but I imagine that others will be thinking the same thing so you may need to act soon before prices rise and places get booked up. I have just been watching Sky news who report that TAT have advised hotel cancellations running at 25% and a 75% drop in new bookings - many of these people will not just cancel their travel plans but will divert to other places in the Far East
The next few days and the high tides should determine how much worse it gets for Bangkok. Whatever happens, it will be some time before the capital gets back to any semblance of normality. It may therefore be best to wait until after the weekend before making a decision. Although, as it is your honeymoon and you will have more than enough to think about already, you may wish to make the change sooner rather than later and move on asap.
Hanuman has been generous enough to continues updating this forum despite his own personal difficulties and I think you will find his info a lot more accurate than teh news channels:
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...f-thailand.cfm
Best of luck for your wedding and honeymoon.
The next few days and the high tides should determine how much worse it gets for Bangkok. Whatever happens, it will be some time before the capital gets back to any semblance of normality. It may therefore be best to wait until after the weekend before making a decision. Although, as it is your honeymoon and you will have more than enough to think about already, you may wish to make the change sooner rather than later and move on asap.
Hanuman has been generous enough to continues updating this forum despite his own personal difficulties and I think you will find his info a lot more accurate than teh news channels:
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...f-thailand.cfm
Best of luck for your wedding and honeymoon.
Oct 28th, 2011, 05:01 AM
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Do go to Phuket probably would not risk BKK at this juncture
Consider Korean Air Direct flights from Seoul INC
good prices usually for me out of ATL cheapoair.com
Do bind some comp trip insurance quotewright.com
Alternative Bali Hyatt Sanur and komaneka.com Monkey Forest
Aweome romantic also VERY HM worthy.
Congrats!
Consider Korean Air Direct flights from Seoul INC
good prices usually for me out of ATL cheapoair.com
Do bind some comp trip insurance quotewright.com
Alternative Bali Hyatt Sanur and komaneka.com Monkey Forest
Aweome romantic also VERY HM worthy.
Congrats!
Oct 28th, 2011, 05:11 AM
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Air Asia flights are non refundable...but you can change the dates by paying a small charge. This charge just might and I say might not be charged seeing the situation in Bangkok. Call their call center or ask a question on Facebook. They are generally very helpful in stress situations. But end Nov is a long way off but Bangkok many not be dry enough!!!
Oct 28th, 2011, 08:01 AM
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People have different tolerances for uncertainty. If you must know where you are going today, then it makes sense to skip Bangkok. If you can wait a week or two, you will have a better idea of what is/is not possible. In any case, Phuket is fine and Hong Kong is fine.
