richard_smith237

I just can't sleep on a flight unless laying flat, no matter how tired I am. Laying flat in Business class I still need an Benzodiazepine.... We did the Finn Air route (business class)... which also had very fast transit in Helskini.... it was good for cheap business class (9-10 hrs BKK to Helskini - pre Ukraine) and another 3.5 hrs to Heathrow... But in Eco, sitting in a seat for 9-10 hrs... its just too much. Thai Airways were offering 10,000 baht BKK to UK last year (one way)... I thought about it for a split second !!! 11-12 hrs not stop in an eco seat... no thanks. And now business class fares and upgrades are so expensive its not worth it at all which makes the layover / stopover a more viable option. Thus.. when its family leisure travel its day time Eco flights and break up the 'numb-bumb' boredom with a layover... Of course - this all depends upon how well you can sleep while sitting in an Eco seat... It seems you can sleep well in an Eco seat - I'm quite jealous !!! Best flight I ever had Qatar Airways to BKK... 2am flight, I'd been up since 4am. Travelling for work, business class, I took a Clonozapam... Told the FA no food, wake me up at the last possible minute. I slept from seatbelt sign off (bed to flat) to being woken up before final approach - awesome, it was like clicking my fingers and being on a 1 hr flight !!!

Looks jeffin' hideous... But I'd actually want to give that a go !!!... In contrast to the hypocrites slagging of Gordon Ramsay's food... y'never know until you've tried it.

Are you of the misunderstanding that every Gordon Ramsay restaurant is supposed to be a Michelin star experience ??... He's a chef with 17 Michelin stars for various restaurants, but not all of his restaurants 'target that' such as bread-street-kitchen and 'street-burger'... In London Ramsay has 15 restaurants, just two of which have Michelin stars becasue the others aren' targeting that. Contrary to the misunderstanding of many, they are not fine dining restaurants, the are simple good quality fare... that people keep coming back for. Weren't you earlier suggesting Thai's couldn't afford a weeks wages on a meal ?.. make your mind up !!! You're comparing a donut chain to a restaurant ???... erm.... Like any new restaurant, there will be an opening 'buzz', more so becasue of the celebrity status of Ramsay, that status comes with the 'promise' of quality, much like hotel chains... there's a consistency to be met and people know they will get good quality food for a reasonable (subjective) price. That wasn't just in Thailand.. many of his restaurants closed - covid was to blame. Are you suggesting because one failed, everyone else will ???... blinkered again !!! Now.. back to you meat-pies or rice and whatever...

Exactly... and while the nation (UK) places a financial chokehold on itself it achieves insignificant environmental gains. Everyone wants cheap, buys from China, China's economy booms, Chinese businesses infiltrate our countries, China takes over, China is laughing as they bank more power while refusing to kneecap itself in the same manner the West has.

the British public never vote for the PM. Technically no... However, every voter knows who the leader of the party of the constituent MP they are voting for is.... and this will influence their decision. Thus - the British Public do also vote for the PM in a round about way.

Or, if, as most people encounter they want something beyond Thai food for breakfast, lunch and dinner the there are options for ordering. I certainly don't want to be eating any cuisine day in day out and enjoy variety - when outside of major hubs, ordering on line is a solid option, if not sometimes slightly inconvenient.

Well thats that then... No need for anyone to ensure they have a return ticket because you used an automatic check-in desk....

I did hear that they love a chipolata !!

Such a simple 'fit for everyone' solution.... who'd have thunk it !!!.... genius !!!

You should have studied harder at school.... you'd have been able to afford yer dinner !!!

Agreed, there is an unequal wealth distrubution... Thats the world over... There are a lot of very poor Thai's... There are also a lot of 'middle class Thai's who can afford to eat in restaurants - if that wasn't the case, these restaurants would be shut down already as they can't rely on foreign custom only. Walk into any decent international restaurant in Thailand and you will find it full of Thai's. I know this because I go to these restaurants a few times per week. Your blinkered opinions are well out of touch.

Thats going to be very tough... BKK-DXB is 6 hours... I think its going to be difficult to break it down less than that and still be economically viable. Fly Emirates, depart in the mornings... don't drink... Take an iPad with decent moves / TV series and noise cancelling headphones, wear comfortable clothing etc... Arrive in DXB, stay within a reasonable distance to the airport (i.e. the crown-plaza Festival city, 10mins from the airport ), 6 hours flight, realistically about 5.5 hrs in the air, land and be in a swimming pool within an hrs after taking off from BKK !!!... Shopping mall next door (Festival city) for a nice Arabic dinner... Wake up, have breakfast sent to your room (pre-ordered) go to the airport without needing to check-in because you already have your boarding pass. Grab a coffee, board the flight stress free....

The CANON EOS 5D MARK IV is a DSLR for professional use. Its 30.4 MP - so all this nonsense of 200 MP seems, well, just like nonsese... its marketing and who has the 'biggest number' gets to win 'top trumps'.... Admittedly, according to reviews, historically, Samsung's photography is better than Apples - BUT... IF someone is really caring about these numbers - aren't they better off getting the stardard version (of whichever phone they are choosing) and purchasing a decent camera. Very good camera's can be bought for $200 that surpass the quality of any phone. While phone's are a good 'Jack of all trades'... they are not 'cameras'... this camera 'one-up-man-ship' seems a little ridiculous to me, especially when the vast majority of users are going to 'point and shot'... and then look at the result on... yup, a 6" or 7" screen....

You need to plug back into reality and open your horizons. What you have written and the way you have written it highlights an absence of basic refinement such that its hardly surprising your attitudes are so locked into this limited bubble. That you call an internationally renown, celebrated and awarded chef and business man an idiot while writing the way you do suggest a great deal about your flaws rather than anyone else's. Given that its in the title and plastered all over this thread, you could start with spelling Gordon Ramsay's name correctly !!!!

He can't... we'll get a throwaway comment about building household debt... Some foreigners here just can't accept that many Thai's around them are competing on the same socio-economic scale... it dents their superiority complex... Hence the repeated comments along the lines of ..... 'this'll never work, Thai's cant afford to eat in an international restaurant' etc...

Bad comparison, Las Vegas, so we see a price without the taxes and tips included which will double it there! Edited 5 hours ago by jacko45k Its still not a $106 burger !!!... the exaggeration was ridiculous and highlights a blinkered outlook to suit his own bias. £25 - Burger & Fries (in London at Gordon Ramsay street burger in Harrods) So.. a 300% exaggeration then (including a 20% tip !)

Meanwhile so many international restaurants in Thailand are flourishing... (I listed them earlier)... I doubt this is going to be 'high end' dining... just decent 'international grub'... This idea so many expats have that all Thai's are poor is flawed, especially in and around Bangkok - there's a whole specturm of society from the dirt poor to filthy rich, and in the middle of that is a large middle class with money. Not every Thai is a poor farmer or farm girl hanging onto a pole.

tbh - food nearly always looks unappetising in photographs, thats why the advertising industry doesn't actually use 'food' in its 'food photos' !!!! Close your eyes and I imagine that tastes pretty decent...

I was the villain on a recent flight... We'd booked 3 seats together (Wife, Son and I) at no charge because of tier membership. Upon boarding a lady and her old mum were sat in our seats because they didn't want to sit apart. That meant Wife, Son and I sitting separately and I wasn't having that. No scene, I just waited patiently for the flight attendants to deal with it - but the lady was not happy with me at all.... especially when I asked her why she thought her mum was more important than my child. I think by law, airlines have to seat children with a parent, but IF you really want to make sure you are sitting next to your wife etc checking in online the day before and choosing your seats is the best option if not wanting to pay (check-in online and choosing seats at that time should be free). A few years ago I made the very amateur mistake of choosing a row each for my Wife, Son and I. Upon online check-in the seat map was empty and I figured the flight was empty so thought we could get plenty of space. How, wrong I was... We walked onto an 80% full flight, fortunately people were happy to 'move forwards or backwards a row' (into the same seat).

Ryan air (A budget carrier based out of Ireland) which has a notorious reputation for poor customer service and charging ridiculous amounts for things such as £55 printing a boarding pass floated the idea of also charging passengers for using the bathrooms on a flight. They also floated the idea of standup seating to cram in more passengers on short flights.

In Thailand... Sloanes https://bangkok.sloanes.co.th/product-category/sausages-burgers/

Why ? have you had a poor experience at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant before ? You have been to one of his restaurants right ??

Most Thai's are perhaps not the uneducated poor Thai's you draw your stereotype from, if thats all your exposure is to Thailand then it understandable you think like that. There is a huge growing middle class in Thailand with expendable income and exposure to international media... They know exactly who Gordon Ramsay is and many other internationally famous people.

Exactly... can even do it on your phone if necessary. There are so many 'onward ticket' websites now... something like this, a ticket can be issued in 2 mins... for $16... never used it though. https://onwardticket.com/form

Yes... BUT... there is a strong possibility at check-in that the Airline will ask to see proof of an onward flight (this could be a cheap throw away regional ticket, or a fully refundable ticket). The above 'fact' always draws an anecdotal comment from some blinkered muppet who will state... "I've been flying visa exempt for 20 years and have never been asked for an onward ticket".... .... it'll be an irrelevant comment... Even if some have a different experience, Airlines do check, thats just fact, so is it worth the risk not to have an onward ticket ?.... (another alternative is to have fast access to purchase a throwaway ticket at the last minute if checked by check-in staff - Immigration are unlikely to check, but thats not to say that could never happen).