Both of us have never been to Bangkok before this, which was why we really wanted to go Bangkok instead of going to Phuket. I have been to Phuket 3 times in my entire life in 2011, 2012 and 2013. It was almost like a yearly thing for me. Went there with different bunch of people every year too. Like me, Yat have been to Phuket so it was really out of the question to head there again even though initially, a part of me wanted to head there really badly. You see, Yat's mistake was that he actually asked me to choose between Krabi and Phuket, so I chose Phuket, looked through the accomodations and things to do, already made a rough itinerary, only to have my bubble burst by Yat saying that we should go to Krabi because neither of us have been there before.
I don't get it. You asked me to choose when you already decided on your own. Tsk! Men!
The plan was Bangkok first then head to Krabi. Mainly because we could only get time off from work from 30th May, which is a Saturday, and we did not want to miss out on Bangkok's Weekend Market. an ideal situation would be to head to Krabi first, then Bangkok before heading back to Singapore because everyone have been telling me that I will shop a lot in Bangkok. So if you head to Bangkok first and shopped a lot, you will have to carry ALL that shopping to Krabi then again back to Singapore which is quite a hassle.
But this is not a perfect world and we could only take leave from 30th May till 5th June so we have to suck it up and deal with it.
So we browsed and counter checked with different airlines for good offers for flights and surprisingly, Scoot's flight ticket to BKK from SIN was only $92/pax after taxes and surcharge with $4/pax processing fee!!! (Imagine my excitement on the $4 ONLY processing fee after my previous encounter with Jetstar. I have never tried Scoot before, because it is usually more expensive than the likes of budget airlines (e.g AirAsia, Tiger Airways or Jetstar), so this was a huge deal for me. By the way, Jetstar one way ticket to BKK from SIN was going at $124/pax after taxes and surcharge and no, that is not after the processing fee so you can imagine how much it cost. The reason it was that expensive is probably because we only book the flight ONE WEEK before our trip hahahaha (it is called spontaneous, not poor planning lol). Tiger Airways and AirAsia was even more expensive than Jetstar so let's not even go there.
Tip : While checking out flight prices between airlines, use your incognito browser. It really is true! I tried checking Scoot's price using the normal browser and at the same time using the incognito browser, IT WAS OF DIFFERENT PRICE? Ended up booking using the incognito browser.
Also, a reminder to Scoot to step up their online booking game. I used my desktop to book it and had to key in my credit card details 5 times before the booking went through. It was so frustrating because there were only 5 seats left on that flight with that price and my heart was literally beating really fast.
But all is good. Because you had the best deal. So we good man, we good. 😎
After which I had to check for flight prices from Bangkok to Krabi, in which, AirAsia had the best deal. They also had the best deal among the rest for going back to Singapore from Krabi. (Scoot does not fly to Krabi, which was really sad lol.) Keep in mind that Tiger Airways do not do domestic flight. Which means, they do not offer flights from BKK to KBV. Only Jetstar and AirAsia has them. Not sure about LionAir though. Never really check them out actually. Heee.
Here is the breakdown of our all inclusive flight fare for 2 pax :
Scoot SIN to BKK : $192
AirAsia BKK TO KBV : $102
AirAsia KBV TO SIN : $196
Total cost for flights : $490
Per pax : $245 nett
*Note that the flight KBV-SIN includes 20kg baggage at about $20. So technically, it was only about $235 per pax.
Next was accomodation.
In Bangkok, we stayed in two different hotel. First night was a in a budget hotel while the second night we paid a little more to be in a better hotel.
Cacha Hotel $51/night (booked through Hotels.com after going through Trivago for the best deal). The price was for room only.
Baiyoke Sky Hotel $96/night (booked through their website because of their benefits) inclusive of buffet breakfast, free upgrade, tickets to enter observation dock at 77th floor and the revolving view point at 84th floor.
I thought it was quite a reasonable price to pay for all of that.
Meanwhile, in Krabi, we stayed in a resort with ocean view.
After crazy amount of hours spent waiting for Yat to decide on the accomodation (because I get to choose for Bangkok), we (read:he) finally chose a place with the best price!
We went through Trivago to get the best deal for Railay Great View Resort & Spa, and Expedia was the site to go to.
Here is the best thing about Expedia : Their discount coupon.
Tip : After choosing the room we wanted, we clicked on check out. Before we made payment, I actually went to google "Expedia Voucher Code" and got an additional 10% discount from this page: http://www.expedia.com.sg/mastercard
Anyway, that deal is only for Mastercard holders, and the voucher is only valid till 31 May 2015, for traveling period till 31 March 2016.
You can also try other sites and try different discount code and see which one works.
So instead of paying $306.60 for 5D4N stay in their Sunrise Tropical Cottage, we paid only $280.76 using the voucher code! That was a saving of $25.85!!!
That is pretty much $70/night for a room with a great view, and it includes breakfast and free Wi-Fi.
Here is the breakdown of our all inclusive accomodation cost for 2 pax :
Bangkok Cacha Hotel : $51
Bangkok Baiyoke Sky Hotel : $96
Krabi : $281
Total cost for accomodation : $428
Per pax : $214 nett
On average, we paid about $36 per night per person!
So we paid about $459 per person for flights and accommodation alone.
I will post on what we did in Bangkok in my next post... so just come back and check my blog on Tuesday okay? :)
Hello, I also would like to comment over all the points mentioned in this blog. I agree with essence of few point but somewhere I found myself on other place. I hope, there might little opinion of others as well.
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