CharleneT
09-29-2011, 02:44 PM
{some of these post are going to be long -- sorry, there a lot to tell !}
SO, I thought I would start a thread about going to Thailand for surgery. Many of us pick that route for good reasons. My goal is to share my recent experiences, while it is fresh in my head, and hopefully for others to put in theirs too.
One thing, let's have this thread be about everything BUT doctors ;)
I'm going to start with travel, assuming you are from the US, this is a big deal because you are going to fly a LONG friggin way !! My total travel time was 27 hours. Of that, 20 was in the air, the rest lay over periods. My ticket was pretty reasonable, $1455. That was on Korean Air. Not the lowest price, but near the bottom. My seat was "economy" - business class is a LOT more comfortable, but also at the time, around $4300. Why Korean Air ?? I have some friends who are very experienced travelers in the Orient. They suggested to choose a non-US based carrier. Indeed, the level of service, quality etc was all way above what I have ever experienced on a US carrier. The seats are also a bit bigger. Before booking, you can use this very cool web site to find out the best seat, and how big it is:
www.seatguru.com
You need to know the carrier and flight number.
Thailand is exactly 12 hours ahead of Central Std Time, which also means you are going to have to leave a day earlier than you think. IF you can, a few days prior to travel, switch your days and nights. It helps eliminate jet lag. For me that was easy as I had just started a job that is "midnight" shifts. I arrived late at night, went to bed, got up and was fine the first day. I was lucky with that.
In terms of currency, get some Thai money here if you want, but the rate of exchange is much better in Thailand. You'll start seeing exchange counters as soon as you get off the plane - dozens of them. A couple of hints. First, the rate is going to be better in town at any bank vs the airport. But the difference is not huge. Second, even if your bills are real, they may refuse them. They scan every single one and sometimes they are just to worn to scan ok. As well, if the bill is more than 10 years old, it will be rejected. SO, get brand new bills at your home bank. Also, the rate for $100 bills is better than $20's etc. All currency in Thailand has Roman numerals to show amounts now, so you do not need to be able to read Thai to know the value of what you've got.
You can also use almost any american ATM card there. There are ATM's everywhere, truly almost every block. You'll pay a fee on the Thai side, and maybe your bank too. While I was there it was about $5 on the Thai side, and my bank added $1. Not a lot, but strait up exchange of bills has no fees at all. The best rates seem to be a TMB banks and ATM's. At least with the machines I used, when you put a US card it in, the words change to both Thai and English. This is great because when you first walk up, it is going to be in Thai only.
In the airport most signs are in Thai and English. This is also true of many on the highways. Other than tourist area malls, that will be the last english you see for a while. Even though there are not a lot of English speaking folks in stores etc, they are great at figuring out what you want.
My doc had his driver pick me up at the airport and take me to my hotel. That helped a lot. If you do have to take public transport, there are numerous taxi's, make sure the one you get in has a meter !!! Taxi prices are very reasonable there. There is also a train from the airport that goes by a lot of major hotels etc. If you know that you're going to have to use public transport to get to your hotel, have them send you an email with the directions to get there in Thai. Taxi drivers rarely speak a lot of english.
Not sure where I should fit this comment in, so here will do: in Thailand they generally do not tip often. But it is considered polite to round up from the price to the next highest bill or coin and let the vendor or taxi have the difference. So, if your ride was 80 baht, give the driver a 100 and let him have the change. This is true in restaurants and with the street vendors too.
The trip back is harder by far, not just because you'll be sore from surgery, but the time change seems more of a jolt. All of the Thai docs give out a "donut" pillow, which will help a lot with sitting on the plane. By then you'll be very familiar with it :) My friends loaned me a special pillow. It inflates, but also has a bunch of baffles inside. Picture is attached. This one came from Magellan and was quite expensive. BUT, it is way way better than the donut for plane travel. Even going there it helps a lot to avoid sore back. Definitely worth the cost ($60). It feels like you are sitting on a balloon - kinda - and you can adjust it easily. During the flight, keep changing the amount of air, it helps to keep away pain. I think this is it:
http://www.magellans.com/store/In_Flight_Comfort___DVT_Prevention
Food on my flights was great !! They had either American or Korean choices with each meal. Korean Air times the meals nicely, and they come around with a snack or drink at the perfect moments. I had Korean offerings mostly and it was all great. Note: wine etc is free, and what I had was very high quality. You can get up pretty much anytime, they do not use the "seat belt' light much at all. DO SO, walk around, exercise, anything to keep the blood flowing in your legs. They will also close all the window shades, and dim the cabin lights in a pattern that has you adjusted to the time change by arrival. As far as I could tell, every stewardess spoke at least 3 languages. English is one, and they tend to be very fluent. The staff is also polite to a fault, which is very nice to experience. It is also good practice for Thailand, just about everyone in the country is that way ;)
SO, I thought I would start a thread about going to Thailand for surgery. Many of us pick that route for good reasons. My goal is to share my recent experiences, while it is fresh in my head, and hopefully for others to put in theirs too.
One thing, let's have this thread be about everything BUT doctors ;)
I'm going to start with travel, assuming you are from the US, this is a big deal because you are going to fly a LONG friggin way !! My total travel time was 27 hours. Of that, 20 was in the air, the rest lay over periods. My ticket was pretty reasonable, $1455. That was on Korean Air. Not the lowest price, but near the bottom. My seat was "economy" - business class is a LOT more comfortable, but also at the time, around $4300. Why Korean Air ?? I have some friends who are very experienced travelers in the Orient. They suggested to choose a non-US based carrier. Indeed, the level of service, quality etc was all way above what I have ever experienced on a US carrier. The seats are also a bit bigger. Before booking, you can use this very cool web site to find out the best seat, and how big it is:
www.seatguru.com
You need to know the carrier and flight number.
Thailand is exactly 12 hours ahead of Central Std Time, which also means you are going to have to leave a day earlier than you think. IF you can, a few days prior to travel, switch your days and nights. It helps eliminate jet lag. For me that was easy as I had just started a job that is "midnight" shifts. I arrived late at night, went to bed, got up and was fine the first day. I was lucky with that.
In terms of currency, get some Thai money here if you want, but the rate of exchange is much better in Thailand. You'll start seeing exchange counters as soon as you get off the plane - dozens of them. A couple of hints. First, the rate is going to be better in town at any bank vs the airport. But the difference is not huge. Second, even if your bills are real, they may refuse them. They scan every single one and sometimes they are just to worn to scan ok. As well, if the bill is more than 10 years old, it will be rejected. SO, get brand new bills at your home bank. Also, the rate for $100 bills is better than $20's etc. All currency in Thailand has Roman numerals to show amounts now, so you do not need to be able to read Thai to know the value of what you've got.
You can also use almost any american ATM card there. There are ATM's everywhere, truly almost every block. You'll pay a fee on the Thai side, and maybe your bank too. While I was there it was about $5 on the Thai side, and my bank added $1. Not a lot, but strait up exchange of bills has no fees at all. The best rates seem to be a TMB banks and ATM's. At least with the machines I used, when you put a US card it in, the words change to both Thai and English. This is great because when you first walk up, it is going to be in Thai only.
In the airport most signs are in Thai and English. This is also true of many on the highways. Other than tourist area malls, that will be the last english you see for a while. Even though there are not a lot of English speaking folks in stores etc, they are great at figuring out what you want.
My doc had his driver pick me up at the airport and take me to my hotel. That helped a lot. If you do have to take public transport, there are numerous taxi's, make sure the one you get in has a meter !!! Taxi prices are very reasonable there. There is also a train from the airport that goes by a lot of major hotels etc. If you know that you're going to have to use public transport to get to your hotel, have them send you an email with the directions to get there in Thai. Taxi drivers rarely speak a lot of english.
Not sure where I should fit this comment in, so here will do: in Thailand they generally do not tip often. But it is considered polite to round up from the price to the next highest bill or coin and let the vendor or taxi have the difference. So, if your ride was 80 baht, give the driver a 100 and let him have the change. This is true in restaurants and with the street vendors too.
The trip back is harder by far, not just because you'll be sore from surgery, but the time change seems more of a jolt. All of the Thai docs give out a "donut" pillow, which will help a lot with sitting on the plane. By then you'll be very familiar with it :) My friends loaned me a special pillow. It inflates, but also has a bunch of baffles inside. Picture is attached. This one came from Magellan and was quite expensive. BUT, it is way way better than the donut for plane travel. Even going there it helps a lot to avoid sore back. Definitely worth the cost ($60). It feels like you are sitting on a balloon - kinda - and you can adjust it easily. During the flight, keep changing the amount of air, it helps to keep away pain. I think this is it:
http://www.magellans.com/store/In_Flight_Comfort___DVT_Prevention
Food on my flights was great !! They had either American or Korean choices with each meal. Korean Air times the meals nicely, and they come around with a snack or drink at the perfect moments. I had Korean offerings mostly and it was all great. Note: wine etc is free, and what I had was very high quality. You can get up pretty much anytime, they do not use the "seat belt' light much at all. DO SO, walk around, exercise, anything to keep the blood flowing in your legs. They will also close all the window shades, and dim the cabin lights in a pattern that has you adjusted to the time change by arrival. As far as I could tell, every stewardess spoke at least 3 languages. English is one, and they tend to be very fluent. The staff is also polite to a fault, which is very nice to experience. It is also good practice for Thailand, just about everyone in the country is that way ;)