Thinking about a trip with the wife,Son and Daughter in law. Thailand came to mind.
Looking for a relaxing trip, maybe renting a house to stay in, beach area, maybe fishing.
Airline recommendations (leaving from Chicago).
Possible early June departure for about 10days.

I visited Phuket and Kanchanaburi a few years back.

Phuket had some nice beaches and was a pretty laid back place. My hotel was about 1/2 a mile from the beach and I really enjoyed walking through town everyday. You can also hire a boat to go out to the Phi Phi islands which are remarkably beautiful. It is a pretty long flight for a trip of less than 7-10 days in my opinion so I would definitely try for 10 full days.

And a couple of pictures just because they bring back great memories.

Beach at Phuket.


And the Phi Phi islands

I love the Phi Phi (pee pee) Islands. Phuket is cool, too.

quote:

I love the Phi Phi (pee pee) Islands.

You gotta love a country with city and place names like Bangkok, Phuket and Phi Phi (pee pee).

Phuket is a good place, I usually stay in Rawai.

You can go to the Phi Phi islands easily from there as well as being very close to several nice beaches and lots of good restaraunts.

You could also check out Karon beach and Kata beach.

Im personally not all that into Phi Phi island, while its beautiful, its absolutely packed with tourists and its heavily islamic. If you like hearing that call to prayer shit then fine, I find it quite annoying.

I was there not last Christmas but the one before, if I were doing to trip over again, I would have skipped Phi Phi.

In fact....

if I were going to do it over again, Id skip Thailand all together, Ive been there a dozen times and each time I go back its more expensive and more developed than the time before, its amazing how a place can completely change on a yearly basis...you go back and that restaraunt you loved isnt there...

Check out Cambodia if you have a week, Sihanoukville has some awesome beaches and is quite cheap and peacful.

I would be open to Cambodia.
Any advice for that area?

What airlines are best for such a long flight.
Any suggested lay over cities?

A good jumping-off point to many of the south-Asian destinations is Hong Kong. There's for example multiple nonstop flights from HKG to Phuket (on AirAsia, or Dragon Air, which belongs to Cathay Pacific).

From O'Hare, you can get to HKG nonstop on United and Cathay. Be prepared, though: that's a 16 hour flight.

If your looking specifically at Phuket, you can also get there on Asiana or Korean Air, with a single stop in Seoul.

Once you've decided where to go, check out Google Flights to give you an idea of your options to get there. Typically, it'll be a trade-off between price, time required to get to destination, and "hassle" (what airline? how many stops? how difficult is it to change flights at any given airport, maybe even between different airlines?)

It's been a long time since I made the trip but if I were to make the trip again i would break it up with stops in Hawaii and Japan along the way. Maybe the PI on the way home.

quote:

Originally posted by armored:
I would be open to Cambodia.
Any advice for that area?

What airlines are best for such a long flight.
Any suggested lay over cities?

I flew Korean air from lax to Seoul to Phnom Penh the first time I went to Cambodia. About 8 days is enough time to see pretty much everything.

I was there just about ~ a month ago and we flew tonsiem reap, checked out Angkor wat for a few days, then flew to sihanoukville (beaches) for about 3 days which was awesome other than I stepped on a sea urchin while snorkeling (don't reccomend that). The flight from siemm reap cost around 135 dollars and took less than an hour.

From there we hired a driver to drive us to Phnom pen which is about 4 hours and cost around 50 dollars. You can go to all the temples, killing fields, museums and restsraunts for a day or so before flying out.

It's a. Ice place to visit, you can spend us currency there and people are quite friendly, I've never had a problem with people trying g to rip me off there, can't say the same for Thailand.

While I'm at it,

I'll also throw the phillipines in there as a place that I've visited a few times and would do so again before going to Thailand. Just avoid the. I do so archipalago and you'll be fine.

Places like boracay, Palawan and Cebu are all nice places, lots of people go to boracay for their whole trip and just enjoy the. Rachel's, food, kite surfing, island hopping and all that stuff. You can fly right into kalibo and get out of customs in just a few minutes.

That's another thing I'll mention about Thailand....if you fly to Phuket, plan for at least a few hours standing in line to get through customs at phuket international airport.

Beware of the lady boys

Haven't seen member toovira in a while but I'm sure he'd have some good advice.

I lived in Singapore for about 5 1/2 years and traveled quite extensively in the region. For relaxation at a reasonable price, Thailand is hard to beat. I can send you some activities ideas as well if you decide to go there. If you want something more cultural, then go to Siem Reap, Cambodia. If you want really off the beaten path, Myanmar was really cool, but doesn't have all the amenities you might be accustomed to.

If you are sticking to the beaches...Thailand, Philippines, and The Maldives are probably your best bet. Be careful in the Philippines as there are areas to stay away from (kidnapping etc.). The Maldives was awesome but is difficult to get to and you basically have to stay at a resort (all great, but that's the limitation). It's also really expensive.

Lot's of locals used to tell me to go to Redang, Malaysia. I never made it, but they swore by it. We enjoyed Kota Kinabalu on the Malaysian part of Borneo. Langkawi, Malaysia was a really good mix of nature, beach, etc.

Let me know what kind of things you want to do/see and I can give some better advice on recommendations. I loved the region in general and people were great everywhere we went.

quote:

Originally posted by armored:
I would be open to Cambodia.
Any advice for that area?

What airlines are best for such a long flight.
Any suggested lay over cities?

Sorry, I missed this reply. I'd advise flying into Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur or maybe Bangkok then taking one of the local budget carriers.

Since you're in Chicago, United might be your best bet. Otherwise you're going out of your way to take Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, or Emirates. The three Asian carriers will have better service. Fly into either Hong Kong or Tokyo-Narita then to Singapore. Then you can transfer to the budget carriers. Keep in mind that it's about 22-24 hours of traveling to get to SE Asia.

The best local carriers are Jetstar, Air Asia, Scoot, and Tiger Airways. I've been on all but Scoot and they are all basically like Southwest. Scoot might be fine, but it was just starting up when we left, so no real experience. You could also look at Silk Air. Singapore airlines may also be an option if you're flying from Singapore.

What kind of activities are you looking for in Cambodia? If you look into it, only look at Siem Reap. I've never been, but heard Phnom Penh isn't worth going to.

quote:

Originally posted by Kampy:

quote:

Originally posted by armored:
I would be open to Cambodia.
Any advice for that area?

What airlines are best for such a long flight.
Any suggested lay over cities?

Sorry, I missed this reply. I'd advise flying into Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur or maybe Bangkok then taking one of the local budget carriers.

Since you're in Chicago, United might be your best bet. Otherwise you're going out of your way to take Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, or Emirates. The three Asian carriers will have better service. Fly into either Hong Kong or Tokyo-Narita then to Singapore. Then you can transfer to the budget carriers. Keep in mind that it's about 22-24 hours of traveling to get to SE Asia.

The best local carriers are Jetstar, Air Asia, Scoot, and Tiger Airways. I've been on all but Scoot and they are all basically like Southwest. Scoot might be fine, but it was just starting up when we left, so no real experience. You could also look at Silk Air. Singapore airlines may also be an option if you're flying from Singapore.

What kind of activities are you looking for in Cambodia? If you look into it, only look at Siem Reap. I've never been, but heard Phnom Penh isn't worth going to.

Phnom Penh isn't really worth going to but depending on what your trip is like it can be a good place to fly out of.

Siemm reap is cooL but Angkor wat is really the only thing there, it's cool but it gets old you only really need a day to see it. Other than that, the only other thing to do there is go to
Bars and stuff.

Sihanoukville is where the beaches are at, get on the far end like otres2 and you'll have some quiet beaches that aren't too busy with plenty of places to eat.

We took a small boat around to go snorkeling and ended up on this island in a place called treehouse bay and basically all it was was tree houses and hammocks on this pristine beach but there was a bar where they were openly selling weed I all forms, joints, cookies etc. good music was playing it was a pretty relaxing place.

Have you considered the Dominican?

Damn. I'd eat myself to death if I traveled to Thailand.

quote:

Originally posted by newmexican:

Phnom Penh isn't really worth going to but depending on what your trip is like it can be a good place to fly out of.

Siemm reap is cooL but Angkor wat is really the only thing there, it's cool but it gets old you only really need a day to see it. Other than that, the only other thing to do there is go to
Bars and stuff.

Sihanoukville is where the beaches are at, get on the far end like otres2 and you'll have some quiet beaches that aren't too busy with plenty of places to eat.

We took a small boat around to go snorkeling and ended up on this island in a place called treehouse bay and basically all it was was tree houses and hammocks on this pristine beach but there was a bar where they were openly selling weed I all forms, joints, cookies etc. good music was playing it was a pretty relaxing place.

I would partially agree (how committed is that). I think Angkor Wat is a solid day or so. There are many other temples worth seeing (Angkor Thom, Tha Prom (sp? on both), etc.). A good guide can help. You could do Angkor Wat in a day, a bunch of other temples another day, then a half day to either the floating village or the stilted village. At night there is a night market, a very uh, interesting circus, some Khmer dance shows etc. There is quite a bit to do including just lounging around the pool with cheap drinks.

I'd say 3 or maybe 4 days in Cambodia would be enough. Then you can go to Thailand and just relax on a beach on Phuket. Lots of snorkeling, excursions to Phi Phi Islands etc. I can help suggest a few things (sea kayaks are a must). I wouldn't stay in Patong unless "shows" and lady boys are your thing. Maybe split your 6-7 days between a couple destinations to combine culture and relaxation.

Have fun. I don't think you can go wrong with anything that's been suggested.

Have flown Air Asia from KL to Siem Reap. Very easy. Customs and immigration at that airport was interesting. This was about 2007.

Link to Siem Reap International Airport below.

http://www.rep.aero/#anchor

Be brave, and give the durian fruit a try!

It tastes much better tjan it smells!

I enjoyed visiting Wat Arun. Touring the canals around Bangkok are also quite interesting. Try to interact with / get to know some locals if you can. The Thais are very friendly and warm people.

Silly Thai proverb -

He who goes thru turnstile sideways, always Bang-cock.
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