So I’m leaving, now what? Do you know people that have been where you’re going? Have you got contacts? Is this on your own? Well for me I knew a few people that have traveled to Thailand, so having a chat with them started the juices flowing in what opportunities I could be in for. For me I did not want a stock itinerary, I wanted to be able to go where I wanted and when I wanted. So with this in mind, I applied for a double entry 120 day Visa from the Thai Consul in Sydney. This took about a week to return, at a bank busting $90. You send them your passport, and they mail it back to you with a pretty stamp. Bargain!
Next for me was to make some new contacts on the ground. After trawling some sites, I came across www.thaifriendly.com, no not a dating site, just a site to meet people out to make friends. Yeah there’s some sketchy shit on there, but from what I have found, if you look hard enough there’s some really nice, genuine people you can meet. Just be wary of the profiles with only one photo, and fuck all in the bio.
I figured after a flight, messing about with accommodation would be a headache, so given I haven’t traveled in many long years, booked a decent hotel on Agoda.
Make sure with this, read the reviews people post. Some hotels look like the bomb, great ratings, great pics, then you read the reviews and people complaining about noise, sewer smells, distance from anything etc etc. Do your research.