A visit to Thailand with Skyscanner

In the last two years I have been bitten by the travel bug multiple times.
It started with the two amazing countries of Truly Asia, Singapore and Malaysia.
The dazzling Petronas Twin Towers, Majestic KL tower,  Adventurous Genting Highland, A completely different world, Universal Studio and Casinos made it the most memorable trip of my life.

Next the Heaven on earth "Kashmir" beckoned me.
Skiing and Sledging with countless falls, Visiting the most beautiful gardens of the world which dates back to Mughal era and enjoying delightful stay in the houseboats of jewel of Kashmir, Dal lake gave me lifelong memories.

Crazy Goa and Picturesque Bandhavgarh National Park ends the list.

But now the bug which was dormant for last 5 months has got back into senses again.
And this time I was dreaming to visit the land of white elephants, the country of smiles, Thailand.

But this beautiful dream looked less likely to convert into reality when the humongous task of "Planning" the trip that too in a pre-decided budget of  one lakh rupees started.

Internet bombarded me with numerous options but none proved to bring any ray of hope, it was when travel-o-wiz SkyScanner came to my rescue.

The first daunting task was to find the cheapest two way flight for our travel period which was from
1-8 Nov 2014.
As I selected the destinations and clicked on search flights. Man I was agape after seeing the price for 3 adult people which included me and my parents. Just Rs 14,545....simply wow..:)

Planning Accommodation took the next priority and I clicked Hotels so see what magic was stored there.
A Pitara of offers on the most lavish and re-known hotels of Bangkok showed up before me.
Was I dreaming..No not really..5 stars luxury at such a "grab it at that moment" offer was so delightful.
I quickly booked Siam@Siam , Design Hotel & SPA, this 3 words took me off the ground just for Rs 14,931.

And the last task was to get a car for commuting from one place to another.
I was a bit worried about it as in India the cost of booking a cab is very high. The cheapest one charges
Rs 10/ KM. Hoping SkyScanner to wave its magic wand again, I clicked on Car Hire tab.
It rarely happens that you don't get a magical offer and this time was no exception.
2 Days car rental just for 4,799. I was surely dreaming..*Rubbed my eyes twice*..

Bangkok is famous for its historic palaces, ancient temples , magnificent buildings and shop till you drop markets.

                                                              Temple of Emerald Buddha

We devoted two complete days exploring Bangkok. Grand Palace, Temple of Emerald Buddha and Holy temple of Wat Pho were the main attractions.

                                                              Holy temple of Wat Pho 

Next we took a flight to Phuket which costed us a mere Rs 4,796. **Happy face**..

This time we wanted to book a Resort near the beach and Skyscanner read our mind at once.
It presented with a wonderful option of staying at Mangrove Panwa Resort for a fair enough price
Rs 25,820.

We rented a car for 4 days and it was at our disposal for just 8,439 bucks.

After relaxing at the hotel for some time we were on our way to Khao Lak which is a collection of beautiful sandy beaches famous for clear blue waters far away from the cry of the city.
Just 1 hour boat journey from Khao Lak are the Similian Islands which are famous for their white sand beaches , underwater marine life and water sports.

                                                                 Similian Islands

I am always crazy for beaches. Fresh air of sea, cool relaxing sand and the beautiful marine life are just splendid. And if the beach is isolated its a treat for the travelers.
We returned to our hotel in night after having a chilling day.

Next on our list was Khao Sok National Park.
This 739-square-kilometer park offers a variety of outdoor adventure including elephant trekking, hiking, jeep safaris and canoeing. Also it is home to various mammals, birds, insect and reptiles.
It was a full day adventurous trip which gave us memories of lifetime.

                                               Stone Structures at Khao Sok National Park


Next day we relaxed at our hotel and also indulged in exploring the local markets and places.
It was the last day of our stay in Phuket and we planned to visit Phang Nga which is famous for James Bond Island. Long tail tourist boats are available to visit this magical land of mother nature.
James Bond Island, with its signature rocky pinnacle has been a major attraction since it was featured in 1974 bond movie.

                                                               James Bond Island

After having a thrilling 4 days stay at Phuket , it was time to bid good bye and head back to Bangkok.
We spend around 15k during this stay. This summed our expenses to Rs 90,000 and were still left with a good 10k.
We used this for shopping in Bangkok where electronics are really cheap.

Finally we boarded our flight back to Mumbai.
It was a great trip all thanks to SkyScanner which helped us plan it smartly so that it could fit in the
Rs 1,00,000 budget.


This post is a part of Skyscanner travel wizard activity at BlogAdda.com

Travel Smart, When you plan it with Skyscanner

This time the most liveable, most network ready and most tourist loved country of Asia is on our cards. Yes you got it right it is “Singapore”, the island country of Southeast Asia.

But when you are thinking to visit the 7 most expensive city of the world a smart plan to travel to the dream destination is a must. Tough to accomplish it in a budget is difficult but not impossible.

The best way is to find a place where you can compare fares of different airlines to get the cheapest deal without burning your pocket and to add cherry on the cake also the best accommodation suiting your budget.

After lot of brainstorming, goggling, analysis and speculation we found the one stop destination for cheap airfares, hotels and cars – “Skyscanner".

A bit about the leader
It is the leading global travel search site which provides instant online comparisons for millions of flights on over a thousand airlines. In addition to that you can also find deals on hotels and car rentals. Travel search in over 30 languages makes it easy for people around the world to navigate it.

Step 1 – Pick the right time to travel
If you are planning to visit Goa in July when it is damn hot,
USA in winters when you can't even get out from your hotel because of everyday storms.
Or a place which gets flooded during monsoon is not a good deal.
You are not planning smartly.
So the first thing you need to plan is the best time period to visit your dream destination.

For Singapore the climate remains the same round the year so that was of no concern.
The high season is from June to July & Nov to Dec, so the smart way to travel was during the low one.

Step 2 – Plan your flight

After deciding on the time period next is to book the flights.
It is quite possible that we are not sure about the date we want to travel.
For us anytime round the 8 months the plan could spin off, so we wanted our travel dates to be flexible.
After we entered the From and To of our travel and went on to click the Depart button we were utterly surprised. Flexible date for a complete year, just wow!!

After selecting the whole year we clicked on search and selected Mumbai city to board our flight from.

The amazing comparisons of flight rates for each month round the year was impressively presented in form of Chart and Calendar.

Seeing such a great comparison you can easily decide on
Which Airline is cheaper ?
On which days it's flight are cheaper ?

Whether it is good to board a morning or night flight ?

Planing a travel under budget suddenly seems to be a quite easy task.

Also go for transit flights as they are cheaper.
Direct flights should be taken only when you have a serious time constraint.

Step 3 – Plan your stay
After flights are booked next is to plan your stay.
You can search for hotels, guest houses and private homes.
During low season there are many hotels who welcome you with open arms
that too at a reasonable rate.
But than reviews from the past travelers gives you a brighter idea which one to pick from the lot.

When we searched for hotels on Skyscanner we were welcomed with another surprise

You can search accommodation based on Popularity, Price, Distance from city's center & ratings and decide on the perfect one.
Also to help you more there is another feature called MAP.
I tells you the exact location of different hotels on the MAP and also of the near by attractions.
So accordingly you can choose the one which lies in the center.

Step 4 – Plan your commuting 
After your travelling and stay planning is done and you have googled about all the major attractions and extracted the required info, the only thing remains is your mode of commuting.
For that you just have to click on the CAR HIRE option and bingo.

You can find all classes of car here and pick which suits you the best.
Even you can pick the age of the driver...:P

Last but not the least the best way to travel smart to any destination is to keep oneself updated about all the latest deals, offers and prices for that place.
And for that you just need to subscribe to the newsletter "Airmail" from Skyscanner.
Follow it on twitter and Facebook and set up a price alert which provides the best prices for the destinations chosen by you.



This post is part of contest Travel Smart With Skyscanner on Indiblogger.