one week to dive and site see in thailand...

[Hoag]

From a purely logistics point of view, don't forget that you will be crossing the International Dateline twice on your trip. This will give the impression of a much longer trip (based on the dates) to get there and a much shorter trip home. You could (as an example) take off from LAX at 10:00pm on the 1st. Two hours into the flight, it is midnight, and it is now the 2nd. A few hours after that you cross the International Dateline, and it is the 3rd when you land. Coming home, you might take off on the 10th (after being there for a week since the 3rd) and a few hours later, you will cross the International dateline coming home, and it will now be the 9th. If it is not an overnight flight, you could possibly land the (local calendar) day before you depart on your homeward journey.

This should not be a deal breaker by any means, but just something that has the potential to really mess things up if you lose track of it especially if you are looking at a one week trip.

 

[nuts4corals]

Hoag... thanks for that. was messing around on priceline with flights and noticed the time diff... how do i preplan for this international dateline? Or will online travel sites account for this?

 

[Hoag]

Hoag... thanks for that. was messing around on priceline with flights and noticed the time diff... how do i preplan for this international dateline? Or will online travel sites account for this?

When I went to Fiji in 2007, I ran into this. I looked for flights on Orbitz, and the flights to Fiji kept coming up as "+2" in the flight duration line. I wanted to be there on the Saturday to catch a Live Aboard (the Nia'a), so I just backed it of two days and looked for a Thursday departure out of Toronto connecting to a flight out of LAX that evening. The flight out of LAX departed at about 10:00PM Thursday night just like the scenario I played out in the previous post. The flight out of LAX landed in Fiji around 6:00AM (Fiji time) Saturday morning.

It all depends on what your "fixed point in time" is. Do you need to "fix" your departure to a specific date but are somewhat flexible on your arrival date? Or do you need to be there for a specific date and have to adjust your departure to meet your planned arrival?

Hitting a specific timeline on the way home was much less critical, but again, because of crossing the International Dateline (this time heading eastbound), I gained back the day that I lost on my outbound trip. If you look at my boarding passes, I took the "red-eye" out of Fiji on 10 Feb and then the "red-eye" from LAX to Toronto also on 10 Feb.

As a side note, unless you are used to rotating shiftwork, do not forget that you will be flipping your "body clock" by roughly 10-12 hours twice during your trip. Normally, the body tends to adapt to one hour of change per day. It might not be a bad idea to allow for a couple days before you go back to work after your trip to allow for missed airline connections and to give a little time for your body to get back to local time.

Hopefully, I cleared up a few things & didn't just make them more confusing. If all else fails, you could always find and use a good travel agent the "old fashioned way".

 

[Trailboss123]

If you live in New York and will be traveling to and from NY and you only have 7-10 days to vacation and assuming you are not independently wealthy or have access to a private jet-- then you should not even be considering Thailand. Particularly if you are trying to do some diving. You should be looking at the Caribbean.

 

[nuts4corals]

If you live in New York and will be traveling to and from NY and you only have 7-10 days to vacation and assuming you are not independently wealthy or have access to a private jet-- then you should not even be considering Thailand. Particularly if you are trying to do some diving. You should be looking at the Caribbean.

care to explain why you say this?

 

[Trailboss123]

Travel time alone is going to eat up the bulk of your vacation. I don't see how you can meaningfully sightsee the best of Thailand and get to any decent diving and get back to NY in that amount of time. Is it technically possible? yes-- I just couldn't imagine trying to do it or it being worth the time and cost in 1 week or even 10 days considering the flight time, jet lag, no fly time after diving. I have lived and dived in Thailand and I have lived in SE Asia for 7 years of my life. My rule of thumb is a full 2 weeks or more to make it viable and worth it. I fly out of LAX- which is at least as far away time wise as NY- if not a bit closer.

 

[nuts4corals]

I have never been to thailand. I mentioned this and just starting my research. Please make me understand. I am seeing flights time should be 12 hours if non-stop. is it much longer to get there? If it is 12 hours there would be jet lag for sure for a day which you cant dive anyway. but shouldn't you be good the following? am I missing something? I know that if i take 4 days off a 10 day for jet lag and flight time I am left with 6 days if not at least 5... yes? 5 days would be great for me doing two tank dives twice a day if possible at these places (unsure of distance to dive sites from Phuket island. even if I do 4 days of diving and one light siteseeing seems plenty for me.

 

[Trailboss123]

Give it a go and let us know how it turns out for you. I don't believe there are any non-stops between JFK and Bangkok and I am happy to be corrected! Shortest flight time I am aware of is 19 hours, if all goes well (not counting transit time to and from airports). You will then need to travel additionally to get to any diving jump off point (whether to Phuket or Koh Tao or Koh Samui or Koh Chang). As I said, is it possible? Yes-- you can totally do it and get in a few dives and see some countryside and if this is your only option to go and see a bit of Thailand and do a couple dives, then by all means go for it. It is an amazing country, people and culture. Personally, I wouldn't do it unless I had more time to devote- -but, that is me and I have spent 2 years of my life there, so maybe that is influencing my reaction. If you do go, the best time to dive and sightsee is between November and February. All the best! I am sure that I am a bit jaded. I have lived, traveled and dived in over 70 countries. I am at the point in my life that I want to maximize my travel time and devote most of it to great diving. Personally, given your home base and the time that you have to devote and your stated desire to both dive and sightsee, I wouldn't be considering Thailand. We all have our own filters. As the 19 year old surfer/hippie/vagabond that I was back in the late 70's and early 80's- I'd probably go for it. So, don't let me influence you too much.

 

[nuts4corals]

Got you... thanks for your input.

and... of course you are right about there not being any direct flight from NY which makes it 20-22 hour flight.

I have been to most places I want to see in the Caribbean. Best diving IMHO was Turks and Caicos nad Curacao. wanted to see better reefs. perhaps leave this trip for when I have more time.

 

[Trailboss123]

Got you... thanks for your input.

and... of course you are right about there not being any direct flight from NY which makes it 20-22 hour flight.

I have been to most places I want to see in the Caribbean. Best diving IMHO was Turks and Caicos nad Curacao. wanted to see better reefs. perhaps leave this trip for when I have more time.

Yes, give yourself more time and if you want better corals, then consider Indonesia (Komodo, Raja Ampat) or Fiji. As for the Caribbean, if you have not been to Cozumel or the Caymans, then I would put them at the top of your list.