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Yep. I used to do some pretty crammed trips myself, trying to wedge SE Asia into a typical 2-week annual vacation arrangement at work. I was the only person in a department of 60 who'd try to do that. A 2-weeker to Thailand in 1995 included Bangkok, Phuket, Ko Samui and Pattaya all via Bangkok Airways, plus the usual initial fight against jet lag.Originally Posted by glennaa11
I guess there's a happy medium somewhere. But here on FT and elsewhere I often see people posting unrealistic trip plans. 5 countries in 4 days. Spending all of their time going to and from airports. Or planning to visit places that aren't easy to get to as if it's just across the street. Or they are going halfway around the world for a weekend. (Which I have done but don't necessarily recommend) So a reality check can be worthwhile. And if you ask for opinions on your plans, don't be surprised to get them.
Indeed I see lots of plans in the Asia forums that try to take in too much. Like a day for Angkor Wat. Most often, though, there are too many western assumptions about travel times or things running on time or not getting canceled, when in places like Vietnam or the back routes of Indonesia or the Philippines things can easily go wrong.
You also don't want to spend too high a percentage of time in transit vs. at the destination, especially now that airlines are cutting off some of the old tricks like "baht runs" to run up the scores on UA.