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Old 24 Jan 16, 09:15 PM  
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katiec68
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Cant ski - lets go to Thailand instead

Well I am starting this pre-trippy on the day we should have started our skiing holiday…
This is what we are missing...


Who we are -
Katie, 48 (just), emergency services waller - 14 done and 11 to go… loves my gym & weights but currently injured and also training for London marathon.
Something interesting - I don't like to mix my food - I eat it all separately and definitely don't let bean juice get into my chips!
DH - Andy/Mr C - 46 (just) what he doesn't know about air conditioning isn't worth knowing, keeps a tight reign on the finances - and therefore me! Loves his gadgets and - well did - love - Man U.
Something interesting - apart from the fact that he looks at aircon units in restaurants and states the part numbers - as if id know if he was telling the truth - is that despite being right handed he eats with his knife and fork the “wrong” way round and likes to make sandwiches out of everything!

We both love our holidays and walking on the beach. Oh and eating!


So mostly its just the two of us - not even a goldfish

Last January we booked our (mostly) annual ski trip - we normally go to Canada for 11 nights, but this time we decided to go for 14 nights. Sorted. Currency - sorted. Currency as presents for our birthdays - sorted. Andy birthday is 1 Jan and mine is 3 Jan so we feel each others “no-one wants to celebrate” pain! We don't do big pressies for xmas or birthdays & "treat" ourselves to a skiing trip instead.

Then disaster stuck - on Boxing day Andy woke up with trapped a nerve in his back/shoulder, cue a week of lying in bed, tons of tablets, missed rugby at Twickenham and a re-arranged (and therefore more expensive) 2 nights in London that had been planned for our birthdays on 1&2 Jan.

4 weeks later he is much better but no-where near good enough for 2 weeks skiing :-(

So with a heavy heart we have cancelled our skiing trip.

Now Andy usually lets me get my own way with most things - luckily he's happy to go along with whatever holiday plans I dream up…. I had wanted to go back to Florida and do they Keys and revisit my favourite beach Anna Maria and a little sea food restaurant called Star Fish Co.
Flight prices are really good I inform him - no reply even after constant nagging.
Then Andy said that he fancied Thailand. Our golf instructor had recently been with his girlfriend and had raved about it. I wasnt so keen after watching dubious things on the TV about scams etc - yes I know they happen everywhere but I just wasnt keen.

Also - when would we go. We don't want to go straight away to give Andy time to get better, we have Adele tickets in March and I have London Marathon in April and its half term at the end of May and everyone else will want that week off and June is too late….. aarrrrrggggghhhhhhhhh

But I was eventually persuaded a trip would be in order following a promise that we could go and visit elephants. I love elephants and have a dream of getting up close and personal - I didn't want a ride on experience - I really wanted just to spend some time with them in their own habitat.

Cue a bit of research - Mr C who normally just says “give me the final price” was right on it by this time as he saw the light at the end of the tunnel and we find an overnight trip at a place called Elephant hills. I though it looked perfect but it was quite expensive and only gave you 2 hours with the elephants so Mr C was again quoting “value for money” etc - almost his favourite phrase.

Any way we get a couple of prices for a couple of nights in Bangkok, a night at Elephant hills and then 10 nights or so at the beach - around £2000 give or take a hundred or so. This wasnt each it was for BOTH of us - so Mr C goes into bargain overdrive and says its worth considering.

We got my friend who works as a TA to price up a trip - however the transfers were REALLY expensive, then on the off chance we popped into a Flight Centre office. One very helpful assistant later and we had the working outlines of our trip in place. About the same price as my friend had quoted but with all the transfers included, plus £100 experience credit and access to the lounge at Heathrow.

More research followed - once we set our minds to it we’re up till all hours - my usual bedtime is 930ish but this evening were were still on our computers at midnight!

Now we have a real change - 3 nights in Bangkok, 3 nights in Chiang Mai - nearby elephant experience - and 10 nights at the beach.

We finally had the approval of our claim from the insurance so we go back to Flight Centre - Mr C will have to explain this one to my friend as Im too chicken!

There is a bit of a too-ing and fro-ing as apparently we no longer qualify for the experience credit despite spending another £1000. Flight Centre do 2 levels of booking - a journey and an experience. Apparently the journey is classed as the more straightforward holidays and they only give the credit to that holiday. Well they argued our case and we have the experience credit and the lounge reinstated.

And as we are now booking “An Experience” all our final documents will come in a fabulous box and are all personalised to us with photos etc - rather than just a sheet of paper. Its a nice extra touch as we would book without it anyway.
And we also get a “Travel Butler” - sounds amazing doesnt it! Apparently the Butler - as the name suggests - can do most things that we need - book restaurants, advise the best places to go etc. Im quite liking the idea of my own butler…. lol!

We have finally….. reallly… decided on 3 nights…. really…. in Bangkok, Banyan Tree club room (this will become important later), 4 nights in Chiang Mai at the Anantara Resort and 7 nights in Khoa Lak at The Sands hotel. We love our club rooms but there wasnt a club level in Chiang Mai or Khoa Lak :-( so standard rooms it is. They have a lovely suite in the Anantara but its about £300 more and a really lovely sea view suite at The Sands but its about another £400 so both are too much on top for us. Well not for me but remember that Mr C likes to keep a tight reign on the purse strings! That will pay for another holiday he says. Thats a “NO” then.

As we are going through the final, final FINAL arrangements the internal fight from Bangkok to Chaing Mai is at 1330 on the paperwork and 1030 on the computer - oooh - thats an early start - so we add on another night in Bangkok at the start of the trip as the rest of the plans are already in place.

Job done and deposit paid. The balance is due in less than 4 weeks not our normal 9 months.

So we go home happy and ready to do more planning.

Then we recheck the Banyan Tree website and apparently our room doesnt give us lounge access but the TA is now shut.
So I send off a quick e-mail to see what the next step is.

So there we are - one trip missed and another planned. Cant be too bad. Even if DH is not fully healed he’ll be able to manage a bit of time on the beach!

And all I have to do is lose 1/2 stone

Edited at 04:47 PM.
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Old 24 Jan 16, 10:52 PM  
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Tink75
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How exciting - fate has a way of dealing us these hands!

I must say, you have the most amazing eyes Katie! I like the photos and the interesting information - I too eat everything, and keep everything separate - drives DH mad!

The price you got the holiday for is a steal esp with the Banyan Tree! Hope you get the little hickup sorted with the lounge - I'm sure you will.

So, just need to get your DH's shoulder sorted now!

Will look forward to reading all about your trip and planning!
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Old 25 Jan 16, 07:49 PM  
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Originally Posted by Tink75 View Post
How exciting - fate has a way of dealing us these hands!

I must say, you have the most amazing eyes Katie! I like the photos and the interesting information - I too eat everything, and keep everything separate - drives DH mad!

The price you got the holiday for is a steal esp with the Banyan Tree! Hope you get the little hickup sorted with the lounge - I'm sure you will.

So, just need to get your DH's shoulder sorted now!

Will look forward to reading all about your trip and planning!
Oh thank you so much for your kind words :waves:

Katie x
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Old 25 Jan 16, 08:46 PM  
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Todays update


Well I hadn't heard from the TA by mid afternoon so I called them.

The TA was very kind but said that she too had thought it was a lounge access room but to upgrade would be £130...

I did say that we weren't getting what we had though we were getting/paid for so she offered to go halves with us - but this would come off her figures and not something the company would go as a gesture of goodwill

So we checked the hotels website and if we booked direct the cost difference would only be around £60 so we have e-mailed the hotel to see how much they would charge us if we upgraded directly with them.

Hopefully by the morning we'll have a reply from them and the decision can be made.

It might seem like a small thing but we think you do get a lot extra for the club rooms and we do like to treat ourselves on holiday.

When we were in Hong Kong a couple of years ago they changed the carpet in the lefts every day so that they read the day of the week.
I loved it.

DH arm seems to be better bit by bit - still no where good enough to ski but at least the pain is much more manageable now.

So lets see what happens tomorrow now.

Katie x
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Old 26 Jan 16, 08:45 PM  
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katiec68
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Well we went halves with the agent so the Club room is all booked.

WE have also changed our trip days so we have the day we arrive,day 1- then the temples/palaces our, day 2 to ourselves, day 3 - floating market tour then leave the next day for Chiang Mai.

We have also booked our parking... under £80 for 17 nights - bargain.

WE have also booked the Premier Inn on Bath Road at Heathrow. £39 plus breakfast - another bargain.

So I think were just about there - just got the weight to shift now!

Katie x
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Old 4 Feb 16, 12:00 PM  
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Trip sounds fabulous, we were in Thailand in 2011.We have a friend who lives so we had our own tour guide. Hope you enjoy it ( I am sure you will). Good luck with the marathon training too!
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Old 4 Feb 16, 08:05 PM  
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Originally Posted by letty View Post
Trip sounds fabulous, we were in Thailand in 2011.We have a friend who lives so we had our own tour guide. Hope you enjoy it ( I am sure you will). Good luck with the marathon training too!
Any top tips?

Training going well - 12 miles planned for this saturday


Katie x
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Old 8 Feb 16, 07:16 PM  
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katiec68
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News for this week.

Still no weight loss - must do better this week!

However we have got a rough plan for our 4 nights in Bangkok
1st night - Khoa San Road street market
2nd night - Saturday night - drinks at the Moon and Stars bar in the hotel - apparently its the best bar in Bangkok but at £100 a meal i think we're gonna give it a miss!
We have found a restaurant with fab reviews called Rock Restaurant - lots of seafood apparently - so here for Saturday night.

Well thats the first 2 nights in the bag - well I did say it was a rough plan .

I still need to do more research on the places to eat in Chiang Mai - thats this weeks plan.

katie x x
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Old 14 Feb 16, 11:09 AM  
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Balance all paid yesterday.

We even enquired about a Christmas trip but its just too expensive - £4k for 10 nights

Only 74 Days to go :pig:

Katie x
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Old 15 Feb 16, 12:04 PM  
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We found the food to be amazing and so so cheap compared to here. Don't be afraid to try anything!.
And you must try a foot massage….ours lasted about an hour for about £4 each!
We went 4 times ,even the kids loved it.
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