Well, after reading all your comments on my "insane" itinerary yesterday, I've done some finagling with the airline and was able to switch my flights to arrive into Langkawi and return from Siem Reap. Here is the latest and greatest:

Day 1 - Arrive Langkawi in afternoon, overnight in Langkawi
Day 2 - Langkawi
Day 3 - transfer to Koh Lipe (boats & mini-bus)
Day 4 - Koh Lipe
Day 5 - Koh Lipe
Day 6 - Koh Lipe
Day 7 - transfer to Ko Lanta (boat & minibus)
Day 8 - Ko Lanta
Day 9 - ferry to Phi Phi
Day 10 - Phi Phi
Day 11 - Phi Phi
Day 12 - ferry to Railay
Day 13 - Railay
Day 14 - fly Krabi > Bangkok in morning
Day 15 - Bangkok
Day 16 - Bangkok
Day 17 - fly Bangkok -> Siem Reap in morning
Day 18 - Siem Reap
Day 19 - Siem Reap
Day 20 - Fly Siem Reap -> Kuala Lumpur, overnight in KL
Day 21 - Fly Kuala Lumpur -> LAX

Obviously, the beach days won't be set in stone. This is just a rough estimate. Please let me know what ya'll think and if you have suggestions for some good mid-range bungalows or hotels. We try to keep it under $100 per night with an occassional splurge, but we do love the creature comforts of A.C. and a pool where available (especially since we're traveling in April). I already know Mountain Resort is our only option for A.C. on Lipe.

One more thing... we are still toying with flying into Phnom Penh and taking a bus or taxi to Siem Reap. Would it be worth it if we can spend one day/night in Phnom Penh or does Phnom Penh warrant more time on a later trip?

It's looking better! Though I still think you're "island hopping" too much.

On Ko Lanta, I'm considering staying at the Narima Resort (www.narima-lanta.com) Their best beachview bungalows with A/C go for about $70 a night, less in the "off season". When are you going?

As for Phnom Penh, you're looking at almost a full day in transit between PP and Siem Reap overland. Not sure if it's worth it for just one day there. We spent 2 nights and 1 full day and were able to see the S-21, the palace and the National Museum. No time to go out to the Killing Fields. If it's important for you to go to Phnom Penh, take a day off the beach time and spend 2 nights there.
Keep in mind, even if you get an early flight from BKK to PP, you won't get to your hotel until a little before noon. Then, if you want to go overland to SR, you'll need to leave early morning so that would really give you less than a full day there if you only spend 1 night. If you can FLY PP to SR, later on the 2nd day, then maybe it's worth it.
If you want to see what the overland trip was like, and how we spent our time in PP, you can see it on my website:
http://www.wired2theworld.com
Click on "other trips" and go to the Cambodia 2002 trip.

Why go from Phi Phi to Railay and leave from Krabi? You could end your island stay in Phi Phi, ferry to Phuket and fly back to BKK from there (cheaper than Krabi).
OR, if you have to do all those islands, why not Ko Lipe (ferry)-Ko Lanta-(ferry)-Railay-(Ferry)Phi Phi (ferry)Phuket fly to BKK?

I think in another post you asked about KL hotels?
Years back (about 6) we arrived in KL on our RTW trip with no reservations. There was a hotel booking desk in the airport and 5 star hotels were going for absurdly low rates (under $50 a night). We were on a serious budget but we splurged and stayed at the Hotel Equatorial and it was really nice. I did a quick search and I've seen some rates for that hotel for around $100 a night now.

This is more do-able than your previous itinerary. Still, you are spending a lot of time in transit as you are visiting so many places. (My personal rule of thumb for the "right" number of places for me in three weeks is four locations... you have 7) For that reason alone I'd say no to Phnom Penh.

I'd also note that you visit 5 (!!) different beach locations. Each time you transfer from one to another you lose time and relaxation. You're going to spend a lot of time betwwen places rather than getting the relaxation you crave.

You are spending two-thirds of your time at beaches (or in transit betwwen beaches) is that what you want from your trip?

Actually 2/3 of my time at beaches sounds wonderful right now. Our problem is that we tend to get a little bored at the "same" beach for more than a few days. I could snorkel a new location every day and be happy though. Given the easy boat transfers, I'm not so worried about the transit days. To give ya'll an idea of how we like to travel, our last trip consisted of six locations in Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala over 15 days and nine locations over 18 days in Costa Rica and Panama, so we're cool with the moving around thing.

As far as Lanta and Railay go, I'm only including Lanta because we'll have to spend the night somewhere between Lipe and Phi Phi. I've thought about going straight to Railay instead, but I'm not so sure we can make it all the way to Railay in one day. The scenery in Railay looks cool, which is why we want to check it out. If we could make it all the way there, I'd just do that and stay there 2 or 3 nights and then add a night somewhere else, like maybe Bangkok. Do ya'll think it's possible to get all the way from Lipe to Railay in time for the last boat?

Also, I've heard it's much easier to fly out of Krabi from Phi Phi than Phuket, given the longer boat ride and long taxi ride going via Phuket. That's why I went the Railay direction back. I know flying from Phuket is cheaper, but is it really that much cheaper after paying for the taxi?

That's better, and you now know that Langkawi - Saturn is easy and simple !

Flying to BKK from Phuket is cheaper as you have 5 airlines on the route compared with just one ( Thai ) from Krabi.
You can browse through beachsiam.com for Koh lanta, Krabi etc places

Asiaoz has a good choice of KL hotels, if you want to go straight to hotel rates and copy and paste this, it's long but takes you straight there for KL, also has reviews, maps etc, somewhere like the Swiss Garden ( 4 star ) is about USD 60 a night, Micasa All Suite is about USD 85 for a suite, the Corus is quite close to Petronas Towers and quite a bargain around USD 55 a night, if you want in the under say USD 60 range the Corus is a good option. if you want cheaper the 3 star Stanford is about USD 38

http://b2b.hotelclub.net/Enter.asp?i...asp%3Fid%3D357

Thai has I think 4 a day from krabi, that's the only airline, from Phuket you have 20 or 20+ flights per day, 5 airlines, but as long as you avoid the period from about 12th to 19th April you should not have a problem on a flight.

Do look back through posting regarding the bangkok Airways Discovery pass because if you are doing Siem reap and then a Phuket-Bangkok sectors it might work out better, but ask the 'Discovery pass' experts on that one.

Sorry did not see you are doing one way from Siem reap to KL, so forget the Discovery pass idea.

As always, thanks JamesA! Do you have any idea if Lipe to Railay is doable in a day?? If so, I'll probably cut Lanta and go Lipe>Railay>Phi Phi and then fly back via Phuket, leaving a day to add to one of the locations, maybe BKK or Siem Reap.

Sure you can easily do in a day, the road is quite good and in Thailand ( outside the cities ) roads are 'clear' and even at reasonable speeds you can cover a great distance easily. But what I would suggest is allocate on your budget for a 'car+driver' for that route, even if it means downgrading to a cheaper hotel in KL or whatever and allocate a bit of money on that, it would be well spend, I am total wild guessing here as car+driver rates vary a great deal, but a very rough 'back of the envelope' guide might be about B 3-4,000, could be less ( that's max USD 100 tops ) but for a straight run from the pier through to Ao Nang ( for boat to Railey ) that would be money well spent, but you might want to overnight in Ao Nang if you get there after dark, but certainly you can do it well easy, again very roughyl I would say if you allowed 5 hours from pier to Ao nang that would be sensible, so doing that trip no problem, but if you say took local transport to trang and then used a bus into krabi Town, then local Songthaew pick up to Ao nang it would stretch the day out.

JamesA, that's a great idea (as usual)! How would I go about arranging something like that? The budget is very flexible, so no worries there. We just like to save whenever we can, but we can also splurge a bit when needed.

It's 2.30 pm here in Thailand, are you in LA? if so time you got some shut eye.

When you get to the pier to head to Lipe just make it well known that you will be returning and needing a car to Ao Nang and you will get several offers, go for someone with a cellphone who is 'positive' even if they hard sell that is more likely the person who is 'serious about business' and is more likely to be reliable, it is also a certainty that your accommodation people on Lipe would arrange ( everyone has a friend, brother or Uncle on the mainland with a car ), so if you find someone as you head to Lipe don't make a fixed commitment but ask for their cellphone number, give that to the accommodation people on Lipe, tell them what you need and to handle the details for you, either with that person or their own contacts, if you don't want to take the boat to Railey after dark if it works out on the Lipe-Mainland boats you might get in late there is plenty of air con overnight accommodation in Ao nang in the $25-30 range. Then take the boat around to railey in the morning, but that you can decide when you get to Ao Nang.

Don't forget in these areas to have 'cash' available.

Kristina, I just got a chance to look at your web site. That is so awesome! I keep saying I'm going to set up a similar site, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Now that I'm done with my MBA, maybe I'll have the time.

I love reading other people's travel stories. I didn't get far into your site yet, but I will eventually. The part that caught my eye was the "travel tyrant". Your little rant sounded like you were describing me exactly. That is too damn funny. I'm glad to hear there are other obsessive/compulsive travel freaks like myself out there!

Happy travels!

JamesA, you're right it's time to go to bed now. I have to get up in like six hours. I just got caught up in reading Kristina's wonderful stories on her web site and lost track of time! Well, thanks again for your suggestions. It sounds like that private car will be easy enough to arrange.

LA-Thanks! Glad you liked my site. It's a labor of love started when we did our RTW so our family and friends could follow us. It's much harder to keep up now that I have a full time job and life to manage instead of just traveling.;-)

I'm sure that whatever itinerary you choose, you are going to have a great time. When are you going? And do you live in LA?

its much better, but i do not understand all the moving around but you know your travel likes the best...moving around also costs $$$, even in thailand...

bag the overland PP-SR...way too much time...you could use that additional time at SR....

hotels...may i suggest the marriott resort and spa in bkk...maybe on the high side for you but worth the expense...use one of the discount all inclusive sites like www.huahin.20m.com...a garden room would be fine for you also to keep costs down...

lots of medium priced hotels as well like majestic grande off of sukhumvit or chateau de bangkok or davis hotel...many of us prefer the river locations however...

Thanks for the suggestions rhmkk. I have been considering both the Marriott and Reflections in BKK so far. I'm kind of torn between the river location and nice pool of the Marriott and the boutique/original feel (& price) of Reflections. I guess my main concern with the Marriott is that I stay in places like that here all the time. I kind of feel silly traveling that far and then staying in a Marriott! Then again, I bet it's nice Oh yeah, I think I may have a free night with Intercontinental. How is the one in BKK?

Kristina, to answer your questions... yes, I live in L.A. (Torrance really), you live around here too, right? We are planning to leave here April 15 if I can finalize everything at work. That pesky job needs to stop interfering with my travels!

LA-Yes, I live in LA too. Sounds like we will just miss eachother in Thailand then, we leave BKK on April 15th.

BTW, I've seen your postings on the Thorntree too (I'm &quot;Travelfan&quot. There <b>is</b> a big difference between the boards, but I like to check both for the different points of view. I'm long past staying on Khao San Road however; been there, done that!

You're right Kristina, it's nice to get both perspectives. I consider myself to be somewhere in between the backpacker budget (ThornTree) and upscale budget (Fodors). I like to listen to both sides and then find a happy medium. It's too bad there's not really a board for &quot;mid-range&quot; travelers!

Have fun fellow, Angeleno. I live in L.A. County,too...over 4 decades. Happy Travels!

LA-I like both. I can stay in a $20 a night guesthouse and a $200 a night hotel. I like Thailand because for $200 you can get close to 5 star (though that seems to be changing). However, the older I get, the less likely I am to go &quot;budget&quot;. Plus, my vacations are so short (1-2 weeks) I figure, why suffer? This upcoming trip to Thailand we will temper our Bangkok Peninsula stay with less expensive accomodations on Ko Lanta. But this time, we decided we wanted to step up at bit from the $20 a night bungalow with hard beds and bucket flush toilet.

Have you tried the board at
http://www.travelforum.org/thailand/main.html ? There's a lot of &quot;mid-range&quot; info there.