Travelduo: 3rd trip to Thailand!!!!
 

Hello everyone! Just wanted to pass along our new information!

My wife April has been asked to come to Thailand in July to interpret for a conference in CM! She is very excited! But also very nervous! Because for the first time, it will not be travelduo going, but travelsolo! April is so nervous about doing everything herself! On all of our previous trips, I do all the planning and April gets to hold my hand and walk around wherever we go without a care in the world! So she could use some words of encouragement from you other ladies that frequent Thailand solo!

She will spend a few days in BKK at the start of the trip, with one or two of those days in local universities giving some talks. Then its off to CM for a week at the conference, she will have a partner so she wont have to interpret all week alone!

While in CM I am going to have a surprise for her. We sponsor a 8 year old boy named Sathit thru Compassion International, and he lives about 30 miles north of CM. I am going to arrange it so that one of the workers from the local church can bring him to meet April! Our son Parker is the exact same age as Sathit and I am sure will be jealous that he doesnt get to meet him first, they write letters to eachother about once a month.

Then its back to BKK for a few days. I know that she will probably spend a few days with Tong, since we both love to her so much and she would be really pissed if she knew carrot(april) was in bkk and didnt come see her.

Anyway, any words of encouragement for April would be wonderful!

Thanks!


jeffrey and april

Ttt

April, you'll have a wonderful time on your own in Thailand!

While I have been traving with a friend for the last several years, I have traveled to many places on my own over the years... places in Europe and in Asia. I find that when I'm traveling alone I meet so many interesting people. One of the (many) advantages of traveling alone is deciding what/when you want to do something and not having someone else around to say "oh, I don't want to go there" or let's do it later." Want a massge right now? do it! Want to wander aimlessly though a neighborhood you haven't explored before? yes!

As you know, Thais are warm, welcoming, and glad to be helpful. If you are lost, ther are glad to direct you, even when you don't have more than a few words of a common language.

I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time. And if you need support - just post on Fodors and lots of us will be willing to chime in with encouragement.

travelduo,

i take it april doesn't cruise fodors too much or the surprise is out of the bag already!!

just tell her to look pissed-off and familiar with bkk while walking around by herself. if she looks scared, confused, or out of her element she may make herself look like a target.

You feel the need to look pissed off in Bangkok, Mango?

Your point about not looking confused or purposeless is valid (although In Thailand you only make yourself vulnerable to the tuk tuk drivers who want to take you to jewelry stores or people who want to direct you to a particular store or spa). It pays all over the world to look purposeful and in control. Even in asking directions.

You are right lincasanova! she never looks on fodors, its always me doing the planning!

Thank you so much for your nice words Kathie! I was hoping you would chime in! As soon as I tell her the plans, I will show her your post!


I have to say that April has changed a lot since we got married! The first time we went to Thailand she wanted to buy something from every person we saw selling stuff, and wanted to give $$$$ to the street people holding babies!!! AS a short side note, we went to Las vegas before we were married, and on the flight I told her to NEVER take anything that someone tried to give you on the street. well what does she do????as soon as we walk out of the hotel, we walk past all the people handing out the "business" cards, actually shoving them at you, and she takes ALL of them! I tell her to look at what she has in her hands and she started screaming!!!!! She got better after that!


If she went to BKK alone a few years ago in would not of been good! But today I am confident she can do it well on her own!

Mango, it would make me laugh to see her with that look on her face, because I dont think she has shown that pissed off face to anyone but me!

For a person being scared to be in Bkk by herself, its good to look tough when out on the street. Less people will be inclined to approach you. Black contact lenses and vampire fangs could also be a great deterrent as well.

Mango's point is absolutely correct - as a general rule: look like you've been there before. It's really only in the tourist parts.

AND it's about how you dress. If you wander around looking like a loon with 'idiot tourist' tattooed on your forehead, draped in cameras and unnecessary backpacks, wearing clothes with two hundred pockets then you're asking to be done over.

Wandering around BKK I don't get approached by anybody ever but Mango's words are incredibly appropriate for India. It's all about what you project.

i am available as a male escort and as i already know her she should feel perfectly at ease.....all i require is a driver and a suite at the peninsula---ok, a suite at marriott is fine too.....

i will even lower my standards and go to CM for the week...

send my first class ticket to me here in needham...

Dogster- Good point.. Tourists often walking around oblivious and in a more or less randomized path which is easily ID'd. Although Thailand is pretty safe, its losing its general jai-dee philosophy to a more western mindset.

Bob, if I had to pick someone to escort my wife in Thailand, I would choose you!!!!!!!!

I can afford the plane ticket and they hotel......but what will the food bill look like after two weeks????

big-like me