Planning A Short Trip To Thailand

Instead of letting a tour agent plan a short trip for me, I decided to do it on my own. The places that I

decided to visit in Thailand were Chiangmai and Bangkok (from Singapore). Was it a good or bad decision? Perhaps you will be able to answer the question after reading what was involved in the planning.

It will be my first time visiting Chiangmai followed by a stopover at Bangkok where I have been a few times. The stopover in Bangkok was mainly for shopping as I like the variety of places and things you can see, do, eat and buy with great ease. Why Chiangmai? It has a cooler climate and back to nature surrounds as compared to Bangkok city. Also, I wanted to experience a day out with an elephant and do some light trekking and Chiangmai has lots to offer for that.

To start planning for this trip, I asked myself, what would be the most important thing to settle first? It was quite clear that I have to get there and stay somewhere when I am there, so I started to look for the best deals on flights and accommodations for Chiangmai and Bangkok.

Chiangmai | Planning A Trip To Thailand:

The choice of accommodations in Chiangmai and Bangkok were numerous. Oddly, I wished there were lesser options as it can be quite daunting to go through all of them. Based on my budget and preference of location, I narrowed down the choices. Then, I eliminate those with bad reviews or were less convenient due to location or amenities. This process took a few days before I decided on the accommodation. It was good that I had some time to do this and when I made the bookings, I felt satisfied and confident as I had time to think through and make a more informed decision. Another plus factor with time in your hands, you can scout for offers or deals like early bird discounts, 2 nights get 1 night free, etc.

Now, for booking of flights, we tend to jump on budget airline offers and fail to see the small prints. The offers would often be for one-way flights and you need to add all your bookings up to know the final cost. It may well be close to the price offered by non-budget airlines. We also forget that budget airlines may charge for baggage and do not provide free food and drinks on flight. Nevertheless, I still do lookout for offers from Jetstar and Air Asia but will also check out other airlines like Thai Airways and Singapore Airlines which do give good deals from time to time.

I was quite baffled about booking the flights as I was wondering whether it was cheaper to book return flights to Bangkok and Chiangmai via Bangkok, instead of from Singapore to Chiangmai, Chiangmai to Bangkok and finally, Bangkok to Singapore.

Important Part Of Chiangmai | To Plan A Trip To Thailand:

After some checks and tries online, I realized that there were no direct flights to Chiangmai and I had to go via Bangkok. So I tried to book the flights to Bangkok and find the next connecting flight to Chiangmai. As I was doing that, I was concerned about the risk and kept asking, "What if the time between flights was not long enough to catch the next flight? What if there was a delay in the flight and I may miss the next one?" The anxiety level for making such bookings was too high for me. Thankfully, Thai Airways had a system of booking where I can leave it to them to settle the connecting flights for me.

As I plan to spend a total of 8 days, I booked with Thai Airways stating Day 1 as Singapore to Chiangmai, Day 4 as Chiangmai to Bangkok and Day 8 as Bangkok to Singapore. Wala! Thai Airways suggested the flights which included the connecting flight via Bangkok to Chiangmai. The bonus was that the total cost was fairly reasonable and the timings were favorable to my plans. It sure beats the hassle of arranging each one of the flights with all the `what ifs' hovering over my head for a few dollars of savings. It was really worth the peace of mind.

Well, that covers what would be the most important part of the planning and initial preparation for the trip. At this point, I must say that the fun of going for this trip starts from the planning. It was grueling at times but somehow, it made me find out more about the place, the people, the options and it does form part of the preparation before heading for the destination.

For more information about Bangkok and Pattaya tours in Thailand, please visit our site http://www.goluxtour.com/.