Thailand Holiday. Day One. Getting there.Manchester-Abu Dhabi-Bangkok

In February this year we had a family holiday. Anyone with Adult Dependants will understand that it is difficult to get agreements on such subjects. to help smooth the process, each family member nominated a destination. An itinerary for each destination was then outlined and put forward when we were all together. The vote for the final destination was held in October. The destinations nominated were, South Africa, The Cape and Garden Route.

Sri Lanker, Touring the Island.

New Zealand, North Island.

Thailand, BKK, Kanchanaburi and the beach. Thailand won with 2 votes.
So on a very rainy and grey February day We flew from Manchester to Abu Dhabi with Etihad .

They use Terminal One and unlike the Emirates plane that you can see parked next to the Radisson SAS Hotel, you don’t see this plane till you get into the ‘gondola’ shaped terminal to get on it. I think theses new structures have been built to accommodate the A380 when it starts to fly to Manchester?

Ethiad use an Airbus on this leg, and doesn’t look like it can accommodate the amount of passengers in the waiting area! But, we did all fit on, and the plane had about 6 seats to spare as we left Manchester on time.

Nothing about Etihad is as nice as Emirates, not the layout of the plane, it was very cramped seating. The colour scheme of the planes interior is very dull, and looks quite dated even though the planes are new. Also, and this is most important for some members of my family....... the on board entertainment system is very limited. This does not bother me, as I never watch the film, I read. But for my fellow travelers, they love the films and watch them all if they can !
The Crew were very uninterested in the passengers, we never saw them! This airline pretends to serve drinks, it was had to get water, you had to beg for wine!
It was a short an uneventful flight to Abu Dhabi. At the airport we had a 1 and ½ hour wait to connect to our next leg. It was at this point that we were met by Trolly. She was waiting for us in ‘Costa Coffee’.
Abu Dhabi airport is a very strange affair. From the exterior It looks like concrete pods, almost like something the Babapapas would live in! In side, there are odd floor to ceiling mosaics to take photos of . But it all seems to work from a transit point of view, and very soon we were getting on the Boeing to go to Bangkok.

Bangkok has had a new airport since we passed through in 2003. Very nice, but like many of the new terminals around the world, the design is very modern but not unique to the Country you are in. It could be Dubai, London Terminal 5, in fact, with out the signage saying Bangkok you could be any where in the world!

We slowly got through customs and picked up our bags. Due to the time difference it was very early in the morning, 06.30, when we hailed a Taxi to take us to the Khaosan road in the Banglamphu district of Bangkok.
I had booked us in at the New Siam III Guest House, a double room with hot water and AC worked out at £15.00 pp per night! The Taxi driver had a few problems finding it, but luckily I had my Map with me, it is the Nancy Chandlers Map and is very useful. I recognised the street name the guest house was on, so was able to point the Taxi in the right direction.

This is a photo of the Guest House.

This is the street the Guest House is on, there is a temple behind the white wall. Later in the day this street was very busy, lined with small stalls selling food, clothes ect.