Cheap Flights to Thailand-July to September maybe??

Doshwaster

The point about getting a visa in advance is very valid as the cases of people being refused entry are those who haven't done the research and just book the flight and turn up.

As for a disposable ticket, I've never done it myself and wouldn't recommend it, but I know many do use this method.

monsta2005

danandjens_worldtravels wrote: »

Holiday pirates have two deals to Bangkok at the moment, its worth keeping an eye on the site because some great deals come up. Also consider flying to Malaysia and/or Singapore and making your own way to Thailand, that may bring up some other deals and its really easy and cheap to travel between most SE Asia countries.
http://www.holidaypirates.com/flights

I've only ever used one way fights for traveling and found Skyscanner sometimes half the return price when you put in one way but when you go to the airline site is not 'half price'. I have no idea why or how to get round this. I don't think Kayak do it (but could be wrong).

The only place I had trouble boarding without an onward flight was Australia to NZ (no problems when I went from Malaysia to NZ) had no problems in SE asia either. If you want to get a cheap flight out of thailand look at AirAsia.

Laos and Malaysia are great, go visit all of the countries if you can, they are all different and special.

have fun!

Thanks for your advice. Looking at Holiday Pirates is part of my daily routine Shame nothing has come up for a while for Uk to Thailand . Like yourself I only usually book one way flights just so my options are open as to how long I can stay (but then again never been outside of europe). But yeah your right-apart from a flight with norwegian air, Ive not been able to find a stand alone one way flight that is half the price of a return ticket for thailand.

Will definitely now consider Malaysia, but more so Laos. Thanks once again.

monsta2005

Doshwaster wrote: »

If you are going to the region for 3 months then noth Malaysia and Laos are worth a week each. Malaysia isn't everyone's cup of tea - it's more developed and "grown up" compared to Thailand but there's still plenty of places worth seeing. Laos is one of the world's best kept secrets.

The most important thing with planning such a long trip is to work out a reasonable budget and then stick to it. I've met so many people on my travels there who had dreams of spending months in SE Asia but have blown their money in the first two weeks in Bangkok and Phuket and have had to go home or were miserably trying to survive on £10 a day. Yes, it's a cheap part of the world but it's not the crazily cheap place that it was 10 years ago.

Thank you for your advice. I reckon my budget is more than reasonable from what Ive read- when I get out there. Actually your opinion on that...£50 a day is enough right? Ill be solo and staying in hostels.
(the only thing which is eating into the budget slowly but surely, is the pre trip costs ) Hence I would be over the moon to find the cheapest flights possible. Also another why im keen to get one way flights...in case I do run out of money/things dont work out.

Heliflyguy

QF via DXB have some very good fares at the moment but you will need to travel before the 16th as that's the date the fare goes to high season and more than doubles in price and is more comparable to direct out of LHR.
Flights are on QF codeshares with EK so good for MAN.

There are some surcharges for Friday and Saturday travel (add £20.00)

Maximum stay is 4 months, changes £75 but you would need to get the same booking class otherwise its going to cost more.

You can also have 1 free stopover in DXB if you want.

I dont know why you bothering with one way tickets, fares out of BKK can be a lot more than ex UK and as you found out one ways are generally not half the return fare for example in November (when you would be returning) MAN-BKK on EK oneway lowest filed fare ex taxes etc is £313.00 return is £224.
Lowest one way BKK-MAN on EK is THB28665 £598 return THB40950 £855.

So if you've run out of money...

Doshwaster

monsta2005 wrote: »

Thank you for your advice. I reckon my budget is more than reasonable from what Ive read- when I get out there. Actually your opinion on that...£50 a day is enough right? Ill be solo and staying in hostels.

£50 a day sounds like a decent amount which means that you'll be able to afford to stop in reasonable places, eat properly and enjoy yourself. Below that level you'd be looking at very basic accommodation, living on instant noodles and missing out on a lot of the fun.

There will always be accomodation available for a couple of quid a night but I would tend to steer clear unless you fancy sharing a fan-only room with a group of smelly Aussie backpackers. Once you get up to the £10-15/night level then you will typically be looking at a nice private room with air conditioning and with wifi and breakfast included. If you can average out at £10 a night then once in a while you may want to treat yourself to somewhere a little more expensive for a spot of luxury.

If you have 3 months to play with then you can avoid the expense of flying and use very cheap (if slow) buses and trains. There are well beaten paths around the region (see Pompey Pete's post) so no matter where you go you are sure to meet fellow travellers to share stories and tips with.

I go to SE Asia for 10-14 days twice a year and would love to go for a longer trip but I have the inconvenience of a job and can only take 2 weeks off at a time.


Edit - I just found this useful blog posting on bidgeting: http://waytomanang.com/ - he suggests $35 a day which shows that it is possible to do it cheaply but for me that would be too low. As I have got older my minimum standard of accommodation has gone up and I do like my beer. He does have a good point that long trips are different to short holidays so you need to set you budgets and expectations accordingly.