Comments on: Free Trip to Thailand: Travel Hacking Case Study

By: Thai Villa

Thai Villa — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 03:17:57 +0000

When you come to Thailand, do keep in mind the budget carriers. Whilst the average tourist will not have any interest in the frequent flyer programmes of local discount airlines such as Nok (as you need an armful of points to redeem anything and most travellers will not fly that much within the country), they do offer cheaper point to point flights. And if you want to fly from Thailand to Laos, then bypass the expensive international fares of Bangkok Air and Thai, and fly from Bangkok to Udon (near the Lao border) on Nok Air at under a third of the price, then take the US$4 bus from Udon Thani to Vientiane. Voila, you’ve earned yourself as free hotel room or two or even a night at Gecko Villa in Udon!

By: Devin

Devin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 05:44:06 +0000

Hey Chris,

I want to know more about travel hacking. While I should probably know more about this portion of the travel industry in general, I also want to have a little leverage in working with the airlines. Truthfully, some of them are just the pits.
devin

By: Patrice

Patrice — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 23:24:21 +0000

I second visiting Pai if you can squeeze it in. We detoured there from Chiang Mai on our Thailand trip in March and it was one of my favorite places in Thailand.

By: Anne Bobroff-Hajal

Anne Bobroff-Hajal — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:18:55 +0000

Nicky Bobroff Hajal’s (and my) ancestors probably came originally from Belarus: the village of Bobr, near Borisov. If you happen to get to (or hear about) either one, please let us know!

By: Casey Friday

Casey Friday — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:45:33 +0000

You are my hero, Chris! I’m working on getting tons of miles without flying. I used the recent Chase promotion and opened two checking accounts, in order to receive 50,000 Continental Onepass miles. I’m working on some credit card churning at the moment and hope to have around 300,000 miles by the end of 2010.

You continue to inspire me to rack up more miles! Thanks so much!

By: Joel

Joel — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:03:36 +0000

I love how you just roll with the punches and make things work no matter the circumstances…so awesome.

By: Brett Henley

Brett Henley — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:49:36 +0000

Thanks as always Chris,

It’s funny … just as I was scouring around researching mileage opportunities so my better half and I can fly to Thailand in early 2011, this blog post slapped me between the eyes.

The universe is awesome in truly strange and wondrous ways, is it not?

By: Amy Putkonen

Amy Putkonen — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:55:22 +0000

Wow. That is quite the initerary. I have never even heard of some of those countries! I suppose the best cure for being “geographically challenged” would be to actually visit some of the countries in little corners of the world. I am fascinated by your plight (and flight).

By: Jacob Schweitzer

Jacob Schweitzer — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:21:45 +0000

I’ve been to Belarus, though unintentionally. I was on a train from St Petersburg to Kiev and didn’t realize it took a short trip to Belarus. I had no visa and they took me off the train to a city called Gomel. My phone didn’t work, no w-fi cafes (only internet on a shitty computer in the post office).. I was stuck. Nice girls there but not a great place.

By: Maxim

Maxim — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:20:30 +0000

I’m going to visit Thailand next winter. This is probably very exciting considering that I’m going to have a flight from Moscow (from -5 to -30, I expect) to Bangkok (+35?))…