Thaiberius

 

KLM offer a premium seat that has extra leg room which is a shade over £100 each way....If you get the front of this row at each side its bulkhead with huge leg room.

Everything else is economy about it but worthwhile if you like to stretch out....much less still than most airline Premium Economy.

Bulkhead = bassinets and young children (most likely), so you are suggesting that the OP might like to consider paying a premium for that pleasure? Surely not.

 

The "Comfort Economy" on KLM is fine if you get as far away from the bassinets as you can. Just look your seat up on Seat Guru. I think there are about 10 rows of Premium Economy.

Don't avoid any of the long-haul due to safety as they are all pretty safe, contrary to what some might think.

Avoid any Indian airline (high probability of having to sit next to someone who smells) although Kingfisher was good while it lasted. Saw a stewardess climb over a couple of seats to whack a punter a few years back.

KLM/Air France ok but it's a lottery over the cabin crew, some totally ignorant, some can't do enough. On one flight an AF steward kept me full of beer even when I didn't ask for it. The really annoying thing about KLM are the constant announcements about this and that about nothing in particular even when halfway though the flight and everybody was fast asleep;

Thai, not used them since I travelled in that old 747 they had with a movie screen on the bulkhead. Documentary about Drew Barrymore, wanted to top myself the whole journey. Worst journey of my life.

Eva Air, big fan of their Premium Economy, nice staff. Easy to build up points (unlike Flying Blue) and you can use them to reduce the price of a ticket on their website, unlike Flying Blue where doing anything like that on the website is like trying to operate the space shuttle navigation software.

Turkish, undercurrent of dislike towards the passengers although when I used them to Iraq they were fine but with no booze on the Iraq legs. Istanbul a happening airport to change.

Cathay Pacific - Absolutely awful contraption of a seat. To stop the passenger leaning back it is in a fixed position but you can lower the seat where your bottom is and move it forward, then a net comes out to help your lower back. Once the contraption is fixed it's like sitting on the floor with your legs out in front of you.

China Airlines - let's just say the are still in the seventies with their IFE but the food in business and economy is good. Had my first and only caviar ever with them in business.

Etihad, don't like the prayer they play before take-off - freaks me a bit. Much the same as Oman, Emirates, Gulf Air, etc in the Middle East. Not bad but when changing it's a nightmare if the airport is full. Planes and IFE not bad.

BA and Qantas very much the same as KLM and AF, quite sanitised and if you upset the cabin crew early on be prepared to be ignored for 12 hours.

Vietnam Airlines were quirky. I couldn't quite get the hang of what was going on the entire journey. Main meal served when everybody was asleep, drink was given out in such quantities I had to use the next seat to store my stash. The cabin crew appeared to be eating pots of noodles from take off until landing. Nice uniforms.

Out off of them all I have to go for Eva, got a free upgrade to business which was not expected last year. Just a really good airline.

Flown with China Southerm, Eastern etc on legs in Asia and to be honest I'm just pleased they landed with all passengers still alive.

Amsterdam Schiphol is an old airport, though well planned. Allow yourself at least 1.5 hours for the change of aircraft since it is a long walk and there are no moving walkways.

If you check in on line you may be able to change seats in the website. Failing that, speak to the cabin staff on boarding.

Lots of moving walkways at Schiphol, On the flight movements signs they give approximate walking times between gates.

Amsterdam is my favourite airport as there is no problems with finding somewhere to have a beer, everywhere is within walking distance and it's a simple layout. Much worse than de Gaulle or Heathrow or even the ME airlines where queuing can be a nightmare. Won't even mention Delhi or Mumbai. 

Its a German Shepherd what do you expect, Typical used for security, Not a Family dog and known for attacking people, a Dangerous breed of dog. That's all I have to say on the issue.

A GSD makes a great family pet, but they need plenty of exercise and training. Yes, they can be used for security, tracking and as a seeing eye dog. If they were a "dangerous breed" they would not be used as seeing eye dogs. They are Watchful, Alert, Curious, Obedient, Loyal, Confident, Courageous, Intelligent Well breed GSD's are not know for attacking people, small dogs attack a lot more people than GSDs. They had a bad name in Australia because there was a ban on importing them till 1972, so they were developing bad temperaments with too much close breeding for too long. After the ban was lifted, the quality improved remarkably,and now are of a very high standard.

When you get puppy factories churning them out, with no regard to temperament, they can be vicious dur to the breeder not concerned about what they are breeding.. If they are not trained and think they are the leader of the pack, then you can have big problems too.

After owning and training GSDs for over 25 years, I have to disagree strongly with your ill informed statement.

Considering you felt the need to copy and paste most of your post, are you really an authority on dogs or Wiki?

What do you expect from an attack dog? Put a muzzle on when it goes out and take some time in training it ............... properly. The quote you made about not wanting to put a muzzle on him in in case he starts a fight is nonsensical and indicates you know nothing about dogs.

In probably 100 visits over the past decade or more I've never once had an immigration officer - in or out - ask me a question - generally 28/28, 35/35 or even 14/14 sometimes. The only time until recently when he handed me my passport back when leaving and ushered me to the side of his booth and whispered, "hope you do well in the world cup ....... but not as well as Brazil" - He laughed, I diplomatically laughed aswell.

Change in Thailand. SuperRich may offer slightly better than bank rates. Depends on how much you are changing as to whether it's worth the travelling time.

Otherwise the KBank booth at the entrance to the Airport - City rail link at Suvarnabhumi offers a much better rate than any of the exchange booths at Suvarnabhumi arrivals or departures.

Forget the booths or any banks, get the moneychangers to do it. Around 1 baht difference, 1.5 baht difference if you have crispy £50's - I'm a Brit so referring to the good old pound.

I knew a farang prostitute living in Blackpool, UK who would travel to Thailand twice a year to be serviced by younger men. This would have been about '87/'88 and she was about mid-forties at the time. 

You might get a deal on EVA ...to Seattle. If you do, you can usually find a ticket on American Airlines from Seattle to where you want to go. A year ago I got a low price (about 700 usd) for the EVA and 150

Well, my home is 250 km north of San Francisco and expensive as hell to fly there from SFO, so I take good old Grayhound back home. EVA seems to be the lowest price now at around 1,1xx. I will wait a few more weeks.

I've just been looking on Skyscanner for the next month or two using their bar chart (LHR - BKK - LHR) - late August seems to be when the prices become reasonable again.

it seemed the Thai society has accepted a large age gap in a relationship between younger Thai woman and older foreign man

 

no sir...!

it is only a question of money for the family and where the girl is from (usualy poor area)......a respectable medium class or high class thai famlily will never accept that kind of marriage.

thats why there is a discordance beetween the government laws and what should be our rights in this country , they dont understand what we are doing with those girls, we look like pervert to them.

they dont like it at all, they autorize it or close the eyes because we spend a lot of money, and contribute to the thai economy, but the high society is concervative and do not accept and agree with this way of life.

 

Not forgetting of course the snidey comments when an elderly farang brings back a young Thai wife to the West. Have to concede though once in the West the marriage goes down the pan, the girl quickly gambles away her share of the spoils and either ends up on the game or goes home. One can understand why westerners have a stereotyped view. 

When I see a street vendor wearing the blue plastic gloves I always stop and observe. Cooked/uncooked good it doesn't matter, they still handle the food with the same pair of gloves. I'm convinced the vendors have it in their minds the gloves are to stop cross-contamination from bare hands to food.

i am 70 year old and my wife is 23 year old we are married for four year now and we have a 14 month baby,we are very happy and spend 100% of are time together

we have no problem at all,before i was living whit a 40 year old women and she was  really bad after we start living toughter,i live her and was not ready to make a serious relation so soon, but my wife show up and it was a dream life so i married her,my wife love me for real no play game there,she never ask for anything and the best of all she as no more relation whit her all family...

so now what your guy are going to said!

Good luck to your sir!

 

Talking about stretch marks I've seen plenty of Thai girls with the lower belly and breast stretch marks. However, cellulite on thighs seems to be almost non-existent in Thailand.

 

Really? Maybe you live in a different Thailand to me.

 

Seriously, maybe it's confined to real porkers but I'm racking my brain to try and remember seeing cellulite. 

Talking about stretch marks I've seen plenty of Thai girls with the lower belly and breast stretch marks. However, cellulite on thighs seems to be almost non-existent in Thailand.  

The raw prawn salads I see at some of the street stalls look like botulism on a plate to me.

The Prince has a perfect double working in one of the soi's on Sukhumvit near Asoke. It really is uncanny.

In Bangkok a lot of the street vendors (and restaurants) go early hours to the Klong Thoey wet market which to me is just one big rat infested, germ spreading nightmare, the Thai's seem to like it though.

You check in online from up to 24 - 36 hours in advance. However with flights being full at this time of the year your chances of being able to sit in a row of 4 is unlikely. The BKK - AMS leg is in a Boeing 777 with a 3-4-3 configuration. No disrespect to you but one of my pet hates is passengers on aircraft before take off playing seat chess in order to sit together. 

Arguing with motorbike taxi drivers over a 20 baht fare, I don't get it. As for nearly getting into a ruck with them over 20 baht, I'm guessing you are losing all sense of proportion. How about one of the 8 baht buses they travel down your neck of the woods in the early hours.

I think most Thai women will be able to tell a similar story about songtheaw/taxi drivers.

Well done to the person who intervened.

Edit : There are still rumours about the serial killer Bangkok taxi driver who has many victims. How true this is, who knows.

Be polite and expect to be relieved of a large wad of cash at some point.