Kris

I'm in the beginning stages of planning a trip to Bangkok and maybe one other location in Thailand. I was going to use Pacific Delight Tours as we had done last year to Beijing but their schedule isn't ideal and is a couple of days shorter than what I'd like to do. So I'm trying to get an idea of how much this will cost me if I try to put it together myself. I'm limited in the number of days I can travel to 10 at most.<BR><BR>Is there a reliable discount hotel booking site for Bangkok? The ones I use normally (Travelocity, expedia) are coming in pretty high for hotels comparable to the Pacific Delight hotels (Penisula, Shangri-La, etc.). Has anyone used www.asiatravel.com?<BR><BR>From Chicago to Bangkok I'm coming up with $833 RT on United for dates in early Nov. Is this about what I should expect to pay?<BR><BR>Is it easy to arrange for a guide for a day from the major hotels? Approx. what would I expect to pay for a guide for 2 people?<BR><BR>If there are any other tour companies that are reliable for travel to Bangkok, I'd appreciate the tips. I like Pacific Delight because they give you a couple of days with a guide and then several free days so I don't want anything too structured.<BR><BR>Thanks for any advice!<BR>

fiona

can't help with getting there(I stay in Scotland) but it is easy to arrange trips once there. Any hotel reception will easily help with this. I know you can go to the Grand Palace without a tour but you would miss out on so much information. However, many people using this forum have gone on their own.<BR>Re accomodation- why not contact the hotels directly? You seem to have ideas of what you want, although the hotels you mentioned are at the top of the range. We recently stayed at the Landmark hotel. This hotel has gone through a major renovation and is superb!! Look in Fodors hotel rants and raves for ideas.Hope this helps a little!

Kathie

I think independent travel to Thailand is very easy to arrange. The United airfare you quote is probably average from Chicago. It doesn't hurt to check the website daily for airfare changes.<BR><BR>I've used several websites to book hotels in Asia. The one I've used most often is www.asia-hotels.com<BR>Even if you don't book through them, they will give you many ideas on hotels and a price to compare. Sometimes an individual hotel will have as good or better price on their website, but I've generally found that the internet booking services can do better. Check out a few, including circleofasia.com and thai-hotels.com and thai-rooms.com<BR><BR>You hotels (or a travel agency at the hotels) can always arrange either a tour or, better yet, a car and driver for you.

John

Kris:<BR><BR>I'm also looking at a Pacific Delight tour of Thailand. Since I wanted a little more time in Bangkok, I asked about extending my stay. There is no charge for extending the stay and they offer a very good rate on the hotel for the extension.

Kris

Thanks for the info everyone!<BR><BR>I hadn't thought about calling Pacific Delight but that's a great suggestion. I will give that a try when I nail down the dates.<BR><BR>We used them for an 8 day trip to Beijing last October and were very happy with the service. Everything was as advertised although I was surprised that we were the only two on the "tour". That was fine with us as we prefer to travel independently anyway.