Guest TomUK Posted June 10, 2008 Posted June 10, 2008 Well, I will be flying to Thailand on Friday. I thought I report this here to make a change from the usual "Flying Farang" stories. Sorry if I have disappointed anyone who was expecting some gory details. TomUK Quote
Bob Posted June 10, 2008 Posted June 10, 2008 Well, other than being jealous, I do hope your arms don't get too sore. And, for god's (or buddha's sake), don't exit the plane before it lands! Have fun. Quote
Guest TomUK Posted June 15, 2008 Posted June 15, 2008 The eagle has landed after another pleasant and uneventfull flight with Thai Airways. I always fly Thai and this time I noticed that they no longer provide hot towels. Instead we received a little refreshment towel wrapped in alu foil shortly before they served breakfast. Now it could be because I was sleeping most of the time between the evening meal and breakfast, but this time they did not seem to serve juice and water in between as often as they used to do. I just hope they don't start reducing the service level because of the increase in fuel prices. Apart from this I don't have any complains. The crappy inflight entertainment did not bother me at all since I wanted to sleep as much as possible anyway. After a quiet flight with only minor turbulence we arrived about 15 min before the scheduled arrival time of 15:05 (TG917). At 15:06 I was already leaving the aircraft. I headed for the next toilet where I did not even have to queue. Then on to passport control - the nearest one of them was near baggage carousel 6 -8 where I usually have to go to pick up my luggage. There were long lines of passengers waiting and I remembered what I recently read on one of the Thailand related boards: I turned back and headed straight (well, more or less) to the middle section of the immigration area (there are three in total). When I arrived I was faced with a dilemma. There were about 5 immigration counters open and not a single passenger in sight, so I really had a hard time to decide to which counter I should go. Well, it took me about a minute and I was through immigration and headed for the luggage belts. When I arrived at the belt my suitcase came just around the corner, I grabbed it, put my jacket inside it and went through customs without being stopped. In the arrival hall I cashed a travellers cheque (the fee is 30 Baht plus 3 Baht tax per cheque) and made my way to the taxi rank. Overall it took me about 30 min from leaving the plane to getting into the taxi. Since my last visit they have moved the taxi rank slightly. Before, I had to turn left in the arrival hall, now one has to go to the right and then take the next exit to the left. There is now a big sign with prices clearly shown to several destinations. A taxi to Pattaya cost 1,300 Baht plus 60 Baht for highway tolls or 1,400 Baht all inclusive (don't ask but that's what I was told when I asked at the taxi desk). This time the taxi driver did not have to stop for petrol or gas (a first), but instead made a 5 min stop to fix the aircon in the car. I did not object since it started to get very hot in the car.There was little traffic on the road which I found rather unusual, but of course I did not complain. I arrived at my hotel at about 17:15, much earlier than I had expected. TomUK Quote
