About to book Honeymoon to Thailand / Aus - Too Packed?

tippbride2012 · by **tippbride2012** » Tue Apr 10, 2022 11:59 am

Hi All,

We're planning on putting the deposit down on our honeymoon with trailfinders this week. I think its perfect but i haven't done the long haul thing before (bar a trip to San Fran / LA ) so would love to hear some feedback on whether we're doing too much flying or packing too much in.

We're going with Trailfinders. Haven't done much price comparison but for the amount of connections, i feel more comfortable that they are responsible from start to finish for any issues. Bit of piece of mind which i want on my honeymoon. Neither myself or OH has been to Asis so want to see as much as we can with out rushing it too much.

So plan so far is.

Fly to Bankok to arrive on Wed.
3 nights in Phuket (wed - sat)
4 day sail cruise around islands (sat- wed)
1 night in Phi Phi
Fly back to Bankok (Thurs morning)
1 night in Bankok
Fly to Sydney (Friday Evening)
3 nights in Sydney (Fri - Mon)
Fly to Ularu (mon morning)
2 nights in Ularu (booked into Sounds of Silance Dinner) (Mon - Wed)
Fly to Cairns
7 nights in Port Douglas (Wed - Wed)
Fly to Singapore
2 nights in Singapore (Wed - Fri)
Back in Ireland Saturday.

Now that i put it all down, i'm wondering if an extra day in Syndey would be better.
Think we'd like to do visit to Olgas while at Ularu, hense the 2 nights there.
And plan on doing great barrier reef and rainforest from port douglas as well as some R&R before making our way back home.
We weren't going to do Singapore but were reccommended to see it as a Asian contrast to Bankok.
Including connections, this is coming to a total of 11 flights in 3 and half weeks.
I don't mind flying, but is this too much to fit in? Are we fooling ourselves ?

Would love to hear the thoughts of anybody who has done a similar trip.

Thanks

fizzgig · by **fizzgig** » Tue Apr 10, 2022 12:48 pm

On paper it does look like alot of travelling & flights.
All that checking in and unpacking wouldnt be for me, but then everyone is different.

I would imagine after the wedding, you wil be tired and emotionally drained, all id want at that stage is to flop out and relax.
We have booked 8 nights in Ko Samui, 8 nights in Ko Phangan and 4 night in Bangkok.

My sister in law did 6 flights over two weeks in South Africa and she says it was something she regrets now. Airports are awful places at the best of times.

I would really limit the amounts of places you want to visit.

elpi · by **elpi** » Tue Apr 10, 2022 1:01 pm

Personally I would find that way too many flights but I guess when youre going that far you want to try and see as much as possible.

We were absolutely wrecked after our wedding(but it was abroad so we had flights there and back) and to be honest if I'd had to face into the itinerary you've outlined I'd have cried. BUT, me and DH are complete lazy asses on holidays and are happy out lying by a pool for 2 weeks so everyone is different.

We did 5 nights in Orlando, 7 night Caribbean cruise and 4 nights in Clearwater and if I was doing it again I'd cut out Clearwater so even 3 locations that didn't even involve flights was a bit too much for me.

tippbride2012 · by **tippbride2012** » Tue Apr 10, 2022 1:24 pm

Well we did think we'd need rest after the wedding so we're not flying out for 3 days after wedding and then going straight to Phuket for 3 days doing absolutley nothing other than lying out and eating. Any more than that and i'd go mad so hence the 4 day sail trip which will still be relaxing but will see some of the islands.

Australia will be a bit of a hop around but the way the flights are organised they are either first thing in morning or last thing in evening so we're not waisting whole days flying.

Packing will be a challenge but i suppose that's the cost of getting to see lots of places. Going to have to sort out a good travelling and mix and match wardrobe

vinoqueeno · by **vinoqueeno** » Fri Apr 13, 2022 6:43 pm

If you or your H2b aren't into lazing around for 2 weeks then I'd say go for it. We've done a few heavy going holidays and it's a great way to get to see places in a short space of time.
I'd have a few suggestions though although I'm guessing some of your days/itinerary depend of flight schedules etc.

Sydney - if you're only flying in on the Friday night & out again on Monday morning I'd suggest you take an extra day as that only gives you 2days there and it's a big city. It'd be terrible to go all that way & leave yourself short.

Port Douglas - We stayed in Palm Cove just south of Port Douglas on our honeymoon (for 3nights I think) and that gave us plenty of time to see the area. However we didn't do the Barrier Reef from here so I suppose you might need an extra day or so there but I'd still advise you cutting maybe a day from here & spending it in Sydney instead. Also, I'm not sure if you're planning on hiring a car but I'd recommend it especially for seeing & getting around this area.

Singapore - we used this as a stopover base on our way to Oz & while it was nice, it was mainly just a stopover/shopping hub & I'd reckon you might be better off spending an extra day either in Bangkok or maybe Phi Phi or the islands in Thailand. I haven't been to the islands so can't comment on them but I had fierce jet-lag in Palm Cove so reckon you could probably do with giving yourselves an extra night or so on the way out & cutting Singapore rather than trying to rush & do it all.

One last tip - when we go away for a long spell we try to get back at the beginning of a weekend so that DH has time to recover/get over jet-lag rather than landing home on a Sunday & heading straight into work on a Monday. Just a little tip we've picked up along the way!

Enjoy the honeymoon - sounds fab!

amthee · by **amthee** » Fri Apr 13, 2022 8:33 pm

Hi if I was giving advice I would say take a day or two from Port Douglas and give it to Phi Phi.I love Thailand and got engaged in Phi Phi last summer. From the time you leave your home to go to the airport and then land and get to your hotel in Bangkok it will be 24 hours so you will be a bit tired. I didn't really like Bangkok so when we went to Thailand during the summer we just flew into Bangkok airport and got a connecting flight to Phuket.
Where in Phuket are you staying? Are you getting a speedboat back to Phuket or the normal boat? I just ask because the normal boat has two departures and the latest is at two o clock. You can sit on the beach in Phi Phi having a few drinks while listening to the waves and watching fire shows! Also from a budget point of view you can stay in a very luxurious hotel in Thailand for alot cheaper than Australia.
Like another wollie has said I would suggest renting a car in Pourt Douglas. We rented one in Cairns and drove to Port Douglas for a night. We then went to Cape Tribulation and stayed there for a night aswell. Mossaman gorge is really worth stopping at just bring plenty of bug spray! O:|

I was eaten alive but the mozzies do love me! We went to the great barrier reef from Cairns. It will take a full day but it will be worth it. If you go from Cairns theres a photography shop that rents underwater digital cameras. I love my video of real life nemo! :o)ll

I haven't been to Singapore so I can't comment but if you like butterflies terminal 3 in the airport has a butterfly garden :o)ll

tippbride2012 · by **tippbride2012** » Tue Apr 24, 2022 4:54 pm

Sorry, haven't checked back on this in a while. but thanks for all the feedback.

We were under a bit of pressure to book as there was a Quantas flight sale on which we were told was giving us a very good deal, so we bit the bullet and booked. Same with hotels, one or two of our first preference hotels were booked out so am glad we got them sorted as well.

Just to answer some of the questions.

Thailand - Can't remember the name of the accomodation in Phuket but its supposed to be a nice resort to chill out with pool and only walking distance to town if we want to venture up, but i heard it was very sleasy so might just pan out here most of the time.
We arrive in Phi Phi in the afternoon at the end of the cruise and stay one night there and agent has us booked on very first ferry back to Phuket in the morning to get the lunchtime flight to Bankok. We have the guts of a day in bankok and fly to syndney at 8pm next day.

Sydney - I origally thought that we might be tight on time in Syndney but from what i've heard we should be ok. Getting in early on Friday so have almost 3 full days here. And we don't plan on venturing out of the city to wine country or beaches so should have plenty of time here i think. Also, we are in a fairly central hotel so not cheap.

Uluru - If anybody reading this has been here, would love feedback on transport. We arrive at Monday lunchtime. That night have the SOS dinner. Then the next day we wanted to do the Olgas. the tranport over there seems expensive so wandering should we just get rental car while there. We should be back from Olgas in early / late afternoon so might want to head over and take walk around Uluru to get some good pictures.

Cairns - So this was one thing we did change last minute. We were originally booked into a resort up outside Port Douglas as a bit of a treat at end of honeymoon but decided that i'd go mad that cut off for 7 days, even if 2/3 days were taken up with day trips to rainforest and GBR. Thanks for hint about renting cameras. Thats something i need to look into as i wrecked a camera before because i didn't read the leaflet that said it was waterproof to 6 metres but not to the 9 metres so our little scuba session gave us some lovely pics but a broken camera :(.

So we left 2 nights free and planning on renting a car and going down the coast first, maybe to the beach towns. Maybe try to sort out skydiving down on Mission Beach or something. Then back up to the resort for 5 days until we fly out. The resort is set in the rain forest, so definitly need to research really good bug sprays.

Singapore - Weren't originally going to do this but ended up including it as sure when will we be back over that way again. If anybody has any reccomendations on things to do while here, please share. If its good for shopping, might try and do some christmas present shopping while here.
**Butterfly garden".... interesting

Home - So yes, have been warned about the enourmous trip home. So we're flying back in sometime Saturday and if i can get away with it, i don't plan on going back to work until Tuesday, if not Wednesday. Hopefully i'll survive being back in the real world for 3 days before the weekend comes again

Thanks again for the feedback. Am so excited. Holiday of a lifetime!!!

About to book Honeymoon to Thailand / Aus - Too Packed?

About to book Honeymoon to Thailand / Aus - Too Packed?

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Re: About to book Honeymoon to Thailand / Aus - Too Packed?

Re: About to book Honeymoon to Thailand / Aus - Too Packed?

Re: About to book Honeymoon to Thailand / Aus - Too Packed?

Re: About to book Honeymoon to Thailand / Aus - Too Packed?

Re: About to book Honeymoon to Thailand / Aus - Too Packed?

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