Originally Posted by
jmkclee
Thanks everyone! The Air Asia promo is until tomorrow, so I gotta get this locked down. Seems almost surreal to be booking & finalizing plans for 10 months away!
With regard to compulsory dinners, only LM Chiang Mai has a compulsory dinner listed on the website for NYE. Under any scenario we won't be in Chiang Mai for NYE, so I don't have to worry about that.
I want to thank jiejie for the outline plans! I may want to go to Chiang Mai first, though, saving the beach for the in between slot then BKK last (which, I agree, makes sense). I'm just concerned that if we do the beach first, the kids will then have CM & BKK which is mostly touring & learning (I can't tell you how many times I hear them say "we're sick of learning" can we go back to the pool?). However, having said that, jet lag will be much easier to deal with hanging by the beach. My DH and I are discussing this tonite over some vino and will have decided by the end of the night so that I can book those Air Asia flights!
Since our flights arrive so late, and the morning flights leave around 7 am, is there any hotels attached to the airport we could stay in? Thanks.
Also, and my fault for not being clear on this, we leave the US on 12/17, and arrive on 12/18. So, 16 nights, the first of which is a throwaway as we arrive so late. I think that I may lop off a day off of the beach and put it towards CM vs. taking a day away from BKK...we will need to spend a bit of time with my father-in-law, who is quite sick right now (he's been in the hospital in BKK for a couple of weeks now...).
If we spend 5 nights in the north, does it make sense to spend say 3 in Chiang Mai and 2 in Chiang Rai? The Air Asia flights on 12/19 to CR are $10 pp vs. CM which are $44 pp. Plus, I think the kids would dig the pool at the Le Meridien in CR (and yes, I did see that it went down a category...yippee...less points!). If it doesn't make sense, the flight cost difference is in the noise. If we go to the beach first, again, the flights back from CM & CR are $44 or $10 respectively.
Finally, what is NYE like in BKK? Wild? Crazy? Fun? Scary? Would you personally spend NYE in BKK? Our original plan was to spend NYE on the beach, but not now.
Thank you all so very much!
Jennifer
My bolding, with my answers:
1) Half of Scandinavia and Germany are doing the same bookings this very minute, 10 months in advance. You picked the absolute busiest annual period for tourism in Thailand. Make bookings then you have plenty of time to come up with options for activities per location.
2) You're welcome. North Thailand will be fun stuff whatever order you put it in, don't think of it as boring learning stuff. Kids might pick up some learning along the way, but seeing/riding elephants, rafting, etc. will likely head off potential whining if an odd temple or so is thrown into the mix. Of the locations on your itinerary, it is North Thailand where you can really get the feel of Thai culture and life, see villages, etc. The beach is the beach and a big city is a big city. BTW, most people tend to not be too jet-legged coming from North America TO Thailand, the problem is the return flight.
3) Novotel Airport, but it is expensive. Thriftier people book at one of the many smaller independent hotels that have sprung up about 10-15 minutes from the airport--some of which have shuttles to take you to/from. Pencil in the first night for this, and then research later.
4) Night 1 nr BKK airport. 5 nights Khao Lak. 5 nights CM (or CM/CR combo), 4 nights BKK. Do NOT move from your in town hotel for the last night to someplace closer to the airport. You will need to leave your hotel around 4:30 in the morning but there will be taxis or hotel can arrange something since there are 6 of you. Just pack up the night before, stumble out of bed at 4:00 and finish up. That time of morning, it will only take 30 minutes to get to airport on a traffic-less road. Arriving at airport at 5:00 should give you plenty of time to check-in, get through immigration and security, grab quick breakfast airside (or in lounge if you have access), and get to gate by 6:15. Note that if you are flying a US carrier, or if on the TG flight nonstop to LAX, then there will be an extra secondary security search near the gate area--usually 5-10 minutes to get through that.
5) You can split 2/3 or 3/2 if you want, but if you do it start up in Chiang Rai, take road transport to Chiang Mai, maybe planning it as a private one-way van drive for family + luggage, starting first thing in morning, that stops off in Chiang Dao or Mae Sa valley on the way, so you get a day full of fun and interesting activities by the time you get to Chiang Mai in late afternoon. But I wouldn't go up to Chiang Rai just for a swimming pool, no matter how nice! Go up to CR if you wish to use it to stage rafting, hilltribes, tea plantations. I wish you had time to 3/3 nights in each place. Dare you lop off a day in Khao Lak?
6) NYE in BKK is what you make of it. It is not the Times Square in New York scene. Plenty of clubs and restaurants will do NYE special events but you can keep it simple if you want. Definitely not scary. Wildness can be found every night in Bangkok if you are looking in the right place, heh-heh. Remember Jan 1 is the Western New Year, the Thai New Year is Songkran in April, which is celebrated with much more gusto. I wouldn't hesitate to spend NYE in Bangkok, no problems.