Originally Posted by
Rampo
I also was in Thailand when the airport was closed and during the red shirt "revolution." My own inconvenience was minor, but it seems a bit pointless to deny that there is a global perception that Thailand has been having problems that many tourists would rather avoid. Hundreds of thousands were "trapped" by the airport closing; taking the train to KL or Singapore or flying out of U Tapao was not a viable solution for the majority of those affected by BKK's shutdown.
+1
It's real easy to be flippant about these events if you have the time and money to deal with the inconvenience.
I don't. My time off is scarce and I'm not wealthy, so dealing with the airport shutdown would have been a major hassle. We were, luckily, there in early November so we missed the chaos.
Given that I only get so many days off per year, the possibility of continued instability makes me consider not traveling to Thailand. Why chance it when there are plenty of other destinations, in Asia and elsewhere, that don't carry the same hassle factor?
Inconvenience doesn't equal danger, but it's still a very real factor.