Hi everyone,
In the post starter's post Lee g mentioned the he had a budget of 1000bht a day each. Is this enough and what would you be able to afford with that? Im heading to Thailand In September so this post is helpfull for me :-)
Thanks all
Reply to this In the post starter's post Lee g mentioned the he had a budget of 1000bht a day each.
Yes, that is quite a nice amount. Guesthouse rooms start at around 150 Bahts per night. A 10 hour bus journey would be around 400 bahts. Meals can cost 50 to 200 bahts.
I was in Thailand for a month with my daughter twice. Each time we spent 30 days there. We only spent 500 Euros between us each time for the 30 days. We were budget travellers but we did have a few nice dinners out and always had enough for things like drinks in cafes etc and an occasional taxi ride.
If you are out drinking and partying everynight, Thailand will be a bit more expensive for you than it was for me and my daughter.
Reply to this Ah right thanks alot much apreciated. :-)
I dont think Im going to be partying every night,maybe just on the odd occasion.Happy days.
Dont suppose you know much about cost of flying to neighbouring countries to Thailand do you?
Im only just starting to build my travel plans so still trying to source which route Im going to take or where to actually go.
So. . . wouldnt mind finding out cost to
Cambodia.(Siem Reap or others)
Laos
Malaysia (KL?)
Vietnam
I know this question has probably been asked a million times on here but how easy is it to get hold of visas for these places while in Thailand? Or is it just a case of getting a visa on entry for maybe some countries if not all??
Also last thing,do you (or anyone) know of easy to find accomodation when I first land in Bangkok?Is it best to pre-book somewere to stay for the first few days or is it fairly easy to find somewere straight out the airport?
Any replies will be much appreciated.
Reply to this I can tell you who do know how much it is to fly to the neighbouring countries - the airlines. Check out the budget carriers like Air Asia, Jetstar Asia and Tiger Airways.
Visas:
Cambodia and Laos - visa on the border.
Vietnam - in a travel agent in Bangkok. Takes 2-5 days depending on how much you pay
Malaysia - most nationalities don't need a visa.
Accommodation:
www.khoasanroad.com
You need to get from the airport into Bangkok. The airport is outside the city.
It might help you to have a good browse of both the forums and the blogs. These sort of questions have been answered in detail there and you will get loads of useful information.
Hope this helps.
Kate
Reply to this You can also get the Vietnamese visa at their consulate in Bangkok. They can issue it in 24 hours and tailor it to the dates you want to be in Vietnam. At least that is how it was, last I heard. Be sure to take some passport sized photos with you when you go there.
You can just arrive in Bangkok and go to the Khao San Road. If you dont pre book accomodation on the internet it will cost less. You can get a double room for as little as 4 Euros per night on and near the Khao San Road.
A useful purchase for you may be 'South East Asia on a Shoestring, by Lonely Planet'. It costs around 40 Euros but is worth it for the information it gives, in my opinion.
Mel
Reply to this Mell is right about the consul in Bangkok. When we went there, however, we found it was actually MORE expensive than the travel agents. What's that about? Anyway, don't trek all the way over to the consul from KSR, cos the travel agents can do it for a cheaper price.
If you want the address of our travel agent for the visa I can pass it on. She is great. We got stuck in Thailand during the airport closure and had to cancel our flight ticket and get a refund. The airline wouldn't pay it to us, only to her, and we were already in Vietnam and nowhere near KSR to pick it up. She kept it for us and passed it on to a friend of ours who was passing through so he could bring it to us. In full.
So we feel we can trust her.
Reply to this What's that about?
Yeah, weird! I presumed a travel agents fee would make it more expensive.
That is a cool travel agent. Such excellent and honeset customer service is so rare!
Reply to this Hey yea that would be brill if you could send me the address of the travel agent.Sounds very helpfull. :-)
Thanks Mell for the visa info and accomodation pointers.
Back onto the topic of money once more. . .Which debit cards and visa cards are best to take with? Iv been looking at Nationwide as they only charge 1% on card transactions in Asia.Just wonderd what other people used and found best?
Thanks
Reply to this NB : Be very careful where you use your credit card in Thailand. There is a lot of credit card fraud in Thailand. If you must use it at all, make sure it is at a very reputable 5 star hotel or bank. Also, if you are using a credit card in Thailand, the credit card company might stop it in case it is being used for fraud. Then you would have to phone them to get it switched back on again.
What I did the last 2 times I was in Thailand was take cash and change it at the airport. A bit risky to carry around that much cash, but if I was robbed I had my boyfriend at home who could wire me some money. It does mean the inconvenience of wearing my moneybelt all the time though.
Reply to this We used Nationwide throughout our SE Asia travels. It worked fine. Some banks don't accept it, so just find one that does. Most do. It was free when we last used it. They have started charging now though. Boo.
Make sure you tell your bank that you are going travelling in SE Asia before you go. And take the number with you. If they do stop your card you can then ring them to switch it back on again.
We actually have three UK bank accounts between us. We used the Nationwide account for day to day transactions but had the cards for the other two with us in case the bank swallowed one card. We kept one card seperate from the others in case a wallet got nicked and we needed to stop the Nationwide cards.
We took a credit card for emergencies but rarely used it. Only really for internet bookings. Apart from the fraud risk, you don't want to be spending money that you will have to pay back later. Plus the bills go to your home address and it's really easy to miss the pay by date and get charged overdue fees.
Kate
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