jaizan

Now that is tempting. Both in terms of price & sticking it to our current & previous governments, for over taxing people flying from British airports. The part I don't like is being liable for any delays or cancellations in getting to Amsterdam. So I would probably end up building in a silly safety margin.

Thanks. I have paid the £46. I agree with the sentiment over paying for to fly further forward on the plane. In fact, for several years, I did pay to fly in Premium Economy, when the extra was only around £300, admittedly booked well in advance. Divide that by 24 hours for a round trip and it was acceptable. Then post covid, every time I look, it is ~£1000 extra to fly in Premium Economy. Which works out at over £40 per hour. So I'm back in economy for now. [Incidentally, about 10 years ago, I used to get an economy emergency exit seat over 90% of the time, just by being the first to check in at the airport. That stopped working with online check in.] Due to Covid and other disruptions, I've also tried some indirect flights. I dislike flying via the Middle East, as it means waking up and walking around some enormous airport in the middle of the night when I want to be sleeping. If I must go indirect, I'd prefer to transfer in Europe.

I'm going on a long trip to Thailand, over 100 days, with a little side trip to another country. I don't need a visa, as I have flights to another country booked with a different airline, just before my 60 days are up. However, EVA are requiring me to supply visa details in order to permit the online check in. I have no visa. However, I'm quite keen to get an aisle seat ! Do I: 1 Phone EVA during office hours to see if they can sort this out ? 2 Pay the £46 or so to reserve an aisle seat ? 3 Check in early, at the airport & hope I get an aisle seat ? When I did this a few years ago, it wasn't successful, as I think too many people had checked in online. This might be a matter of considering how many other people are defeated by the 2024 online check in process. I guess most will not require visas & therefore should have no problem checking in. 4 Check in online with an old visa number, then sort it out at the airport, having already bagged my seat ? Or ??

For years, I have used a rucksack. About 80l capacity. This means I can walk up and down steps & have no problems with the rough pavements found in Thailand & nearby countries. The downside is it can be a bit sweaty at times. I think I'd like something which has the option of using a rucksack or wheels. The first thing I note is small wheels. Wouldn't larger wheels be preferable on Thai pavements ? Then most of the products I see are lower capacity. Note, I will typically take public transport from Suvarnabhumi to my hotel. Or from regional bus & train stations. So there is some walking with the luggage. I'm fine with that, but the luggage needs to be up to it. .

Thank you for the additional recommendation. The 30 baht repair didn't last long, but mainly due to the inadequate pocket lining material supplied by North Face. Those shorts were bought from a reputable shop in central London, not Patpong. Although I suspect knock offs might be better made than the North Face product. I have since bought a used sewing machine on ebay and totally replaced the nasty North Face mesh material with a solid fabric. That's the kind of difficult job I would like to get done in Thailand, but they only seem to be interested in the easy jobs. Another difficult job that I've managed myself is adding a zip to existing trousers. I'd still prefer to outsource such work, but if no one wants to tackle difficult work, I'll do it myself. Incidentally, there's also a guy doing repairs and modifications on the east side of Tuk Com, near the post office (last checked March 24). He added some velcro to pockets for me. I think it was about 50 baht.

Thank you. Is that the one on the end of the row, right next to the 7-eleven ?

Agreed. The bus has next to no visible impact damage. Yet it's caught fire. Passenger cars are subject to various crash test that leave the cars heavily deformed after crashing into solid barriers at 30mph. They still must not catch fire after such tests. I presume the same kind of principles apply to the engineering of buses in developed countries. I note it's a Mercedes Benz bus. I suspect it would be some kind of aftermarket conversion to catch fire like this.

Thank you. However, the question I asked is how do I convert an existing list of words to the new font ?

Another option is to arrive early & only buy your ticket onto Cambodia at the airport, if you really have to. Incidentally, my last trip with Lufthansa had a return flight about 3 months later & I had no Thai visa. I told them I had a flight to Cambodia (which I had, as I was going there). They just accepted that without asking to see proof. But there's no guarantee a different airline, or even different counter staff do the same thing.

I have a list of Thai words in Excel which I use for learning. How can I convert that list to a different Thai font in order to learn that ? Excel says the existing words are in Calibri, which is actually a font for our English (Roman) alphabet. I've tried loading Thai fonts into Windows. I've tried fiddling around with Excel settings. At one stage, I even managed to get all the Excel menus in Thai, which wasn't what I wanted. Ideally, I'd expect to select the sections, then change the font a the top, just like I would with the Roman alphabet. But I'm prepared to use different methods. Even a website or something.

What are the fixed costs of owning an apartment in Pattaya or Jomtien ? Like before I start consuming water, electric etc, which obviously depends on lifestyle. Obviously this will depend on the type of apartment, so if you're kind enough to answer, please explain that. I'm thinking in terms of 1~3 rooms plus bathroom.

In developed countries, it is normal practice to publish detailed route maps for all of these new projects so that the public can comment before approval. Thailand seems to have endless newspaper reports, with no proper detail about the plans. Then the routes that are constructed end up with enormous stations, in the wrong & long walks between them. In the case of the existing red line, it's so badly botched that it's still quicker to take the bus to the DMK International terminal.

I wonder why the likes of TrueMove don't simply publish their USSD codes for phone packages. What could be simpler than landing at Suvarnabhumi, typing in my USSD code and having the package I want ? Instead, I have to navigate to the app, consuming data & then buy the package I want. If anyone knows where to get a list of up to date TrueMove USSD codes for each package, please share the link.

Well, after a little more testing I solved that problem: The Thai SIM does not receive incoming text messages (or show any sign of a connection) in my Nokia 1661 phone, but DOES receive them in on a newer Android phone My UK SIM receives incoming text messages in both phones. I don't quite know precisely why this fails, but suspect my 2018 Thai SIM is not compatible with the older phone, whilst my 2023 UK SIM is. I find the Nokia is very convenient for receiving 2FA text messages on my UK SIM in Thailand & other countries. It's small, has a long battery life and boots up quickly. Unfortunately, reversing that process and putting my Thai SIM in the Nokia in the UK fails. Naturally I use a smart phone for my main SIM, whatever the country. One day I must look into e-sims.

As usual, the New Year death rate was BELOW the daily average for the whole year.