As I replied to another post in this forum earlier, I need advice on the topic.

I read all kinds if horror stories about Phantip on the Trip Advisor website, so now I feel very scared and confused about how to take my family ( baby!) from Lamai to Surat Thani airport (flying to KL) and back again 2 days later.

Thank you for any advice.

Taxi to Nathon then boat over to Donsak followed by another taxi from there to Surat.

[edit]

Or am I missing something?

Thank you. I heard that Su. airport vicinity is "fenced off" by transport scammers to keep any taxi freely chosen by me away. Like they make them stop and we would be forced to get on their mafia transport for the last miles or so. Fairytale?

There is a minibus scam where you get dropped of so far away that you have to use local transport but never heard of it with taxis.

Lomprahya have a combi ticket service, perfect. See their website

Just use Lompraya catamaran and they offer shuttle transport usually with their large bus to the airport. There's no problems whatsoever and will be much cheaper than to take a taxi from pier to airport.

The catamaran only takes 45 mins from Samui to Donsak, where the slow car ferries will take 90 mins.

Here is their time table and estimated time of arrival:

http://www.lomprayah.com/surat/surat.html

From Samui to Suratthani airport it's only 700bt for Catamaran+bus. They can also pick you from your hotel to pier with their van.

When you call them, just tell you want to be picked from your hotel. I think they charge 150 per person.

Just use Lompraya catamaran and they offer shuttle transport usually with their large bus to the airport. There's no problems whatsoever and will be much cheaper than to take a taxi from pier to airport.

The catamaran only takes 45 mins from Samui to Donsak, where the slow car ferries will take 90 mins.

Here is their time table and estimated time of arrival:

http://www.lomprayah.com/surat/surat.html

I chose exactly that. Thank you!

From Samui to Suratthani airport it's only 700bt for Catamaran+bus. They can also pick you from your hotel to pier with their van.

When you call them, just tell you want to be picked from your hotel. I think they charge 150 per person.

Those van pickups I would not do again....travelling to Nathon in a minivan driven by a Jenson Button wannabe was not my idea of fun.

I have only been put into a van when I was going to Nakorn Sri Thammarat airport. There were so few going there that they sent us in a van.

But the trip to Suratthani is always usually packed, so they use their big buses.

(Haven't had my morning coffee yet..) I see now that you meant the trip from hotel to catamaran pier in Nathon. They also have smaller minibuses, but usually this goes to the Lamai route because they can pick up more people on 1 trip.

Some of them do drive their vans like a madman, but it's only a short trip anyway.

Personally, if I don't have too much heavy bags, (which I usually don't since I'll be going with AirAsia), I'll just take a song thiaw to the pier and save a few bucks.

I have only been put into a van when I was going to Nakorn Sri Thammarat airport. There were so few going there that they sent us in a van.

But the trip to Suratthani is always usually packed, so they use their big buses.

(Haven't had my morning coffee yet..) I see now that you meant the trip from hotel to catamaran pier in Nathon. They also have smaller minibuses, but usually this goes to the Lamai route because they can pick up more people on 1 trip.

Some of them do drive their vans like a madman, but it's only a short trip anyway.

Personally, if I don't have too much heavy bags, (which I usually don't since I'll be going with AirAsia), I'll just take a song thiaw to the pier and save a few bucks.

Feels much better, dying on a short trip, instead of a long one . .

Sorry, i know, the probability is smaller on a short trip, but still . . .

I have only been put into a van when I was going to Nakorn Sri Thammarat airport. There were so few going there that they sent us in a van.

But the trip to Suratthani is always usually packed, so they use their big buses.

(Haven't had my morning coffee yet..) I see now that you meant the trip from hotel to catamaran pier in Nathon. They also have smaller minibuses, but usually this goes to the Lamai route because they can pick up more people on 1 trip.

Some of them do drive their vans like a madman, but it's only a short trip anyway.

Personally, if I don't have too much heavy bags, (which I usually don't since I'll be going with AirAsia), I'll just take a song thiaw to the pier and save a few bucks.

Feels much better, dying on a short trip, instead of a long one . .

Sorry, i know, the probability is smaller on a short trip, but still . . .

And yes, take the songtheaws, whenever you can, they usually drive careful, because there are usually thaipeople on board, not many farangs . . .

(no, it´s just because of fear for their car, i´m afraid)

The reason why the song thiaw which goes during the day about every 15 mins is that they're not allowed to drive too fast so they overtake the one before. They're also always on the lookout for any potential passengers by the road, that's why the slow pace. Nowadays I see about 50/50 with Thais and farangs on those and trust me, the drivers would rather prefer to have farang on board than Thais, since they'll usually charge more for farangs.

But later in the night when the 15 mins service stop, I've seen many song thiaw drive even worse than the vans.