samjp26 Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 Anybody got any advice for traveling from Orlando to Miami? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 I settled on thailand in the end. The flights to vietnam were just too much. Considering im only there 2 weeks what does people think of my itenary. Ive booked flights to bangkok. 2 nights there. Then sleeper train to chain mai. 3 nights there. Flight back to bangkok. Then flight to siem riep (I know its probably not a good idea to go here with my short time, but really want to see angkor watt). 2 nights here. Fly back then go islands like koi samoi fir rest of holiday. Any nice islands anyone recommends that will be quieter and still beautiful?? Any changes to my itinerary? I would recommend taking one day out of Chiang Mai to have a look at Pai (four hours on a bus, nice scenic journey; or you can fly). I preferred it to Chiang Mai anyway. If you're looking to stay in a hostel rather than a hotel then Julie's in Chiang Mai is really cool and cheap too. Just a heads up on your trip to Siem Reap if you didn;t know, the visa will cost $20 cash on arrival at Siem Reap airport. Angkor Wat is so worth it; get up early and find a tuk tuk driver to hire for the day, think we paid $17 to our bloke for the day and he will drive you to the temples and then around when you get there and they tend to know decent routes around the temples too. The static hot air balloon ( ie it just goes up rather than a flight over it )giving a view over Angkor Wat is pretty cool as well We had a tour guide for the site itself ... True you forget most of it but they do know the interesting bits to go to and take you to the outer areas as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 The static hot air balloon ( ie it just goes up rather than a flight over it )giving a view over Angkor Wat is pretty cool as well We had a tour guide for the site itself ... True you forget most of it but they do know the interesting bits to go to and take you to the outer areas as well We wanted to go in that for sunrise. They said it was too windy too go all the way up (it wasn't very windy at all) so they were only going half way up. We said okay then we'll pay half the price. They were having none of it so we missed out in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HolteEndRob Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 Anybody got any advice for traveling from Orlando to Miami? Depends on your budget. Flights would be about 100-150. If you could fit that in to your budget then I would definitely recommend flying as it is obviously much quicker than by road! There is a bus that does Orlando to Miami. It takes over three hours though! Nice scenery along the way but it is too long to be sat on a bus for me! The first time that I did this I got the bus there but I got a flight back! If sitting on a bus for that long doesn't bother you then it is a good, cheap option. The pick up and drop off points are in decent locations too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 Anybody got any advice for traveling from Orlando to Miami? There is a bus that does Orlando to Miami. It takes over three hours though! Nice scenery along the way but it is too long to be sat on a bus for me!. That isn't a very long bus journey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HolteEndRob Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 Anybody got any advice for traveling from Orlando to Miami? There is a bus that does Orlando to Miami. It takes over three hours though! Nice scenery along the way but it is too long to be sat on a bus for me!. That isn't a very long bus journey Maybe not to others but to me it is which is why I said "for me" I just don't do well with road journeys. Going up and down motorways to away games for years has played a big part in this. I get bored easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samjp26 Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 3 hours isn't too bad IMO, do you know the name of the service by any chance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 (edited) 3 hours isn't too bad IMO, do you know the name of the service by any chance? http://miamiorlando.com/services.php is your friend but might be a slow service Edited January 26, 2014 by tonyh29 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted January 26, 2014 Author Share Posted January 26, 2014 Check Amtrak as well, there is bound to be a train service. Might give better views then the bus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samjp26 Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 Check Amtrak as well, there is bound to be a train service. Might give better views then the bus Yeah checked Amtrak but they go to Tampa first before heading down to Miami, which makes the journey about 6 to 8 hours one way. If I went down the flight route, would I be better off booking tickets when I get to the states? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetrees Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 Check Amtrak as well, there is bound to be a train service. Might give better views then the bus Yeah checked Amtrak but they go to Tampa first before heading down to Miami, which makes the journey about 6 to 8 hours one way. If I went down the flight route, would I be better off booking tickets when I get to the states? For flights, book as early as possible. Inside FL doesn't benefit from the joys of Southwest or JetBlue, so you can either fly American or American, if you want to go direct. Suggest Expedia and www.americanairlines.com Should cost about £100 one way - the days of dirt cheap US internal fares are over! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donnie Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 I settled on thailand in the end. The flights to vietnam were just too much. Considering im only there 2 weeks what does people think of my itenary. Ive booked flights to bangkok. 2 nights there. Then sleeper train to chain mai. 3 nights there. Flight back to bangkok. Then flight to siem riep (I know its probably not a good idea to go here with my short time, but really want to see angkor watt). 2 nights here. Fly back then go islands like koi samoi fir rest of holiday. Any nice islands anyone recommends that will be quieter and still beautiful?? Any changes to my itinerary? I would recommend taking one day out of Chiang Mai to have a look at Pai (four hours on a bus, nice scenic journey; or you can fly). I preferred it to Chiang Mai anyway. If you're looking to stay in a hostel rather than a hotel then Julie's in Chiang Mai is really cool and cheap too. Just a heads up on your trip to Siem Reap if you didn;t know, the visa will cost $20 cash on arrival at Siem Reap airport. Angkor Wat is so worth it; get up early and find a tuk tuk driver to hire for the day, think we paid $17 to our bloke for the day and he will drive you to the temples and then around when you get there and they tend to know decent routes around the temples too. Thanks for the advice really appreciate it!! As ill be doing alot of internal flying within and thailand and to siam reap is their a way to save money on flights like multi flights or something?? I hear air asia is the best for flights in thailand like bangkok to koi samui etc. I seen return flights for £60 with air asia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 Don't think there is a multiglight deal but someone else (tony?!) might. Air Asia is the airline to look at in any case though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetrees Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 I settled on thailand in the end. The flights to vietnam were just too much. Considering im only there 2 weeks what does people think of my itenary. Ive booked flights to bangkok. 2 nights there. Then sleeper train to chain mai. 3 nights there. Flight back to bangkok. Then flight to siem riep (I know its probably not a good idea to go here with my short time, but really want to see angkor watt). 2 nights here. Fly back then go islands like koi samoi fir rest of holiday. Any nice islands anyone recommends that will be quieter and still beautiful?? Any changes to my itinerary? I would recommend taking one day out of Chiang Mai to have a look at Pai (four hours on a bus, nice scenic journey; or you can fly). I preferred it to Chiang Mai anyway. If you're looking to stay in a hostel rather than a hotel then Julie's in Chiang Mai is really cool and cheap too. Just a heads up on your trip to Siem Reap if you didn;t know, the visa will cost $20 cash on arrival at Siem Reap airport. Angkor Wat is so worth it; get up early and find a tuk tuk driver to hire for the day, think we paid $17 to our bloke for the day and he will drive you to the temples and then around when you get there and they tend to know decent routes around the temples too. Thanks for the advice really appreciate it!! As ill be doing alot of internal flying within and thailand and to siam reap is their a way to save money on flights like multi flights or something?? I hear air asia is the best for flights in thailand like bangkok to koi samui etc. I seen return flights for £60 with air asia. From Suvarnabhami, Bangkok Airways. From Don Muaeng, Thai Air Asia, Thai Lion Air, or Nok Air Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donnie Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 I settled on thailand in the end. The flights to vietnam were just too much. Considering im only there 2 weeks what does people think of my itenary. Ive booked flights to bangkok. 2 nights there. Then sleeper train to chain mai. 3 nights there. Flight back to bangkok. Then flight to siem riep (I know its probably not a good idea to go here with my short time, but really want to see angkor watt). 2 nights here. Fly back then go islands like koi samoi fir rest of holiday. Any nice islands anyone recommends that will be quieter and still beautiful?? Any changes to my itinerary? I would recommend taking one day out of Chiang Mai to have a look at Pai (four hours on a bus, nice scenic journey; or you can fly). I preferred it to Chiang Mai anyway. If you're looking to stay in a hostel rather than a hotel then Julie's in Chiang Mai is really cool and cheap too. Just a heads up on your trip to Siem Reap if you didn;t know, the visa will cost $20 cash on arrival at Siem Reap airport. Angkor Wat is so worth it; get up early and find a tuk tuk driver to hire for the day, think we paid $17 to our bloke for the day and he will drive you to the temples and then around when you get there and they tend to know decent routes around the temples too. Forgot to ask how come you dont seem to keen on chaing mai?? Alot of websites say its the must see place of thailand...in terms of beaches what do you think is the best?? Was thinking koi samui but open to ideas? Pai looks amazing from what ive just seen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Forgot to ask how come you dont seem to keen on chaing mai?? Alot of websites say its the must see place of thailand...in terms of beaches what do you think is the best?? Was thinking koi samui but open to ideas? Pai looks amazing from what ive just seen Don't get me wrong I had a great time in CM, Pai just blew it out of the water for me though (even though we didn't really do much there!). I was in Northern Thailand at the end of my trip. Started in Bangkok then straight to Cambodia where I spent five weeks working in a school (did the tourist stuff at weekends, plus there was a ten day public holiday for Khmer new year when we went to Siem Reap), then a month in Vietnam, a week in Laos, then spent the final week split between CM and Pai. CM has the temple scene covered but having been over there for a while I'd seen plenty of temples by the time I got there! We did an elephant ride from CM too which was incredible (ignore the innuendos and do it bare back). There's also a place called I think tiger kingdom within reach of CM which I couldn't afford in the end but heard wasn't great (unless you like heavily sedated animals). The night markets in CM were really cool, there's a huge one if you're there on the weekend but the midweek ones are decent too. Nightlife is also pretty good. As I said before Julie's hostel was great, one of my favourite places I stayed in Asia. Pai was just a beautiful little town up in the hills. Really relaxed and don't be put off by the 'hippie vibe' mentioned in guide books; it's meant in a good way! It's just really cool, the scenery around the town is idyllic for renting mopeds and having a drive around. You can head out to some hot springs (we went to the less touristy ones - never been more scared for my life on 20 minute bike ride along a very hilly unstable rocky dirt track from the main road to the springs but was worth it when we got there! (.lets just say two people on a moped going down pretty much a sheer drop with little grip on the surface can get pretty tense!). There's also some waterfalls you can go to, and the strawberry farm is pretty strange but cool. Lots of bars and a good nightlife. I'd say Pai was in my top 3 places from the whole trip. As for the islands someone else will have to weigh in because I didn't have time to go to any (went to plenty of beaches in Cambodia and Vietnam though so didn't miss out), looking to go back to Thailand at some point and go to them.Koh Samui sounds like a decent bet though from what I heard from people I met along the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Koh Samui i spent a couple of days there .. wasn't blown away by it , but then I'm not really a beach type person i stayed in town in some cheap hostel type place , the world cup was on ( we beat the Argies 1-0 the day i arrived ) , then the Lennox lewis fight then the F1 so to be fair with the time zones i spent all my time in Fawlty towers watching sport and evenings in the bars .. was hard graft let me tell you if you go to the swanky resorts then it's probably idyllic.. if you stay in town then the beach that I saw was a bit meh ( but I'm sure the back packers will say it's paradise ) i'm not in the Thailand fan club though (i'd score it 1) Burma 2 ) Vietnam 3) Cambodia for that next of the woods ) so I'm probably not the best person to ask Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted January 27, 2014 Author Share Posted January 27, 2014 I settled on thailand in the end. The flights to vietnam were just too much. Considering im only there 2 weeks what does people think of my itenary. Ive booked flights to bangkok. 2 nights there. Then sleeper train to chain mai. 3 nights there. Flight back to bangkok. Then flight to siem riep (I know its probably not a good idea to go here with my short time, but really want to see angkor watt). 2 nights here. Fly back then go islands like koi samoi fir rest of holiday. Any nice islands anyone recommends that will be quieter and still beautiful?? Any changes to my itinerary? I would recommend taking one day out of Chiang Mai to have a look at Pai (four hours on a bus, nice scenic journey; or you can fly). I preferred it to Chiang Mai anyway. If you're looking to stay in a hostel rather than a hotel then Julie's in Chiang Mai is really cool and cheap too. Just a heads up on your trip to Siem Reap if you didn;t know, the visa will cost $20 cash on arrival at Siem Reap airport. Angkor Wat is so worth it; get up early and find a tuk tuk driver to hire for the day, think we paid $17 to our bloke for the day and he will drive you to the temples and then around when you get there and they tend to know decent routes around the temples too. Thanks for the advice really appreciate it!! As ill be doing alot of internal flying within and thailand and to siam reap is their a way to save money on flights like multi flights or something?? I hear air asia is the best for flights in thailand like bangkok to koi samui etc. I seen return flights for £60 with air asia. Air Asia are brilliant for flights in SE Asia but from memory they don't fly from Bangkok to Koh Samui, as I think Bangkok Airways has the monopoly on that. You've got a lot of flights on your schedule. Flying back from Siem Reap (Angkor is amazing) then flying straight back out to Samui? I like Samui, I went in 07 and stopped in the main area (Chaweng) but it was very popular then and no doubt has got bigger since. There will be quieter resorts though. If you don't want to add another return flight on your trip then look at somewhere where you can get to from Bangkok by taxi / bus. Hua Hin, Koh Chang or Koh Samet are all doable without flying and would no doubt be quieter than Samui (Hua Hin is coastal but still on the mainland, while the other two are accessed by ferry). Not been to any but remember considering them in the past Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 (edited) My travel mate lives in Hua Hin so I stayed there when I went to visit him In theory it's less seedy because they royal family live there ... But that's a theory only , there is still a decent night life ..., plus the Hilton hotel there serves Pork Knuckles I Went and did some tour to a cave complex and some diving but other than that I don't recall doing a lot ... Not sure I'd go out of my way to visit Hua Hin other than to see my mate of course Edited January 27, 2014 by tonyh29 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donnie Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 I settled on thailand in the end. The flights to vietnam were just too much. Considering im only there 2 weeks what does people think of my itenary. Ive booked flights to bangkok. 2 nights there. Then sleeper train to chain mai. 3 nights there. Flight back to bangkok. Then flight to siem riep (I know its probably not a good idea to go here with my short time, but really want to see angkor watt). 2 nights here. Fly back then go islands like koi samoi fir rest of holiday. Any nice islands anyone recommends that will be quieter and still beautiful?? Any changes to my itinerary? I would recommend taking one day out of Chiang Mai to have a look at Pai (four hours on a bus, nice scenic journey; or you can fly). I preferred it to Chiang Mai anyway. If you're looking to stay in a hostel rather than a hotel then Julie's in Chiang Mai is really cool and cheap too. Just a heads up on your trip to Siem Reap if you didn;t know, the visa will cost $20 cash on arrival at Siem Reap airport. Angkor Wat is so worth it; get up early and find a tuk tuk driver to hire for the day, think we paid $17 to our bloke for the day and he will drive you to the temples and then around when you get there and they tend to know decent routes around the temples too. Thanks for the advice really appreciate it!! As ill be doing alot of internal flying within and thailand and to siam reap is their a way to save money on flights like multi flights or something?? I hear air asia is the best for flights in thailand like bangkok to koi samui etc. I seen return flights for £60 with air asia. Air Asia are brilliant for flights in SE Asia but from memory they don't fly from Bangkok to Koh Samui, as I think Bangkok Airways has the monopoly on that. You've got a lot of flights on your schedule. Flying back from Siem Reap (Angkor is amazing) then flying straight back out to Samui? I like Samui, I went in 07 and stopped in the main area (Chaweng) but it was very popular then and no doubt has got bigger since. There will be quieter resorts though. If you don't want to add another return flight on your trip then look at somewhere where you can get to from Bangkok by taxi / bus. Hua Hin, Koh Chang or Koh Samet are all doable without flying and would no doubt be quieter than Samui (Hua Hin is coastal but still on the mainland, while the other two are accessed by ferry). Not been to any but remember considering them in the past Cheers for the advice! Yeah I agree that their seems a lot of flights there. I was reading that you can catch a ferry from bangkok to phuket which woukd be ideal. Is phucket a nice beach resort or is it very seedy?? To be honest for the second week would like a nice beach resort with things to do but not seedy. Ill have a google of the places you mentioned. Also angkor watt, considering im their for only 2 weeks is 2 nights sufficient or is there enought to keep me occupied for 3?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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