Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

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layman
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by layman »

My sister and her husband have just done the trip, only in reverse. They set off from Cornwall, train and bus all the way to Hanoi, then weakened and flew from there to Luang Prabang. I met them there and we went up the Mekong together to Chiang Khong, from there by bus to Chiang Mai, where I had left my car, and we drove down to Hua Hin via Uttaradit, my wife's home province.
It was certainly a great trip for them, one they'd wanted to do for a long time. Great travellers, in their sixties, sailed the Atlantic a couple of times, etc. But they too described the visa process as a nightmare.
But it all worked out in the end.
I hope you guys have as wonderful a trip.
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Vital Spark
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

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We're not really doing anything special in today's global travelling, but it's an adventure for us. I'm posting all the processes to help anyone else who wants to do the same thing.

Just spent a day in polluted, congested, and noisy Bangkok. Boy was it great to get back into the countryside of NP. The Russian embassy was absolutely heaving with bodies, unlike our last visit. It has a tiny waiting room, just one 'window' and not enough chairs for all the bodies. We arrived at just past 10am and got ticket number 59 - the screen was showing number 8. We managed to squash ourselves onto one chair, which wasn't particularly comfortable as Mr.VS has a much larger bottom than me, so I ended up perched on the side.

Enough was enough after a couple of hours and the screen was only showing ticket number 33, so I decided to find the nearest place to have something to drink and cigarette and left Mr.VS to hold the fort. After I spent rather too long waiting for my mango and lime smoothy at Jim Thompson's restaurant, and paying a whopping 180 baht for the privilege of pretty poor service I made my way back to the embassy. The door was locked! After pressing the buzzer a few times, and staring into what seemed to be a camera, I think I frightened the security man enough to peer out of the door. 'Kor tawt, ka. (big smile). Fan chan tii noon'. He let me in and Mr.VS was surprisingly already at the counter (fuming a little bit at my tardiness...). At first the non-smiling lady (do Russians always look that serious?) told him that she needed to see copies of the train ticket. Here we go again. We can't buy the tickets yet. Here's an official piece of paper from a travel agent (Natasha at RealRussia) with confirmation that we've sort of ordered them, and she'll buy them as soon as they're available. It was a bit of a tense wait while the paperwork was passed to a back office for scrutiny. Finally it reappeared. The rather serious lady flicked papers back to us under the screen, and then thrust a calculator towards us showing 4,000 and something baht.

I think we've cracked it, and we're feeling quite relieved. She's given us a piece of paper and told us to come back next Thursday to pick up the passports. If they had said 'no', then our whole adventure would have gone down the pan. This is our final visa, and now it's all systems go to buy the train tickets and confirm hotel bookings.

VS
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by Frank La Rue »

Whats the number of days estimated for this journey?

Is it the end - of life in Thailand or is there a return ticket by plane
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

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Sorry for the late reply, Frank. We've been a bit busy with summer courses and other bits and pieces at the university before we set off. In answer to your question: we're definitely coming back to Thailand, this is now our home. This is just an extended trip to see our families in the UK. The whole trip (from here to the UK) will take 5 weeks. We're flying back from the UK - I think we'll be totally 'trained-out' by the time we get to the UK.

Mr.VS has started a blog for anyone who's interested. You can follow our trip on henryandlinda.weebly.com (no www). Lift off is next Saturday - so I'm starting to panic just a little.

VS. :wink:
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by JW »

Just looked at the blog, couldnt help but press the ""dont press here"" button!!

Cant wait to keep checking on you guys, sure its gonna be really entertaining!!!

All the best,

JW
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richard
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by richard »

^^ Did the same. Looking forward to your updates
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by Big Boy »

Out of interest, will you be including a costs breakdown as you progress on your journey? I think that would be useful for people thinking of following in your footsteps.
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by barrys »

Mr.VS has started a blog for anyone who's interested. You can follow our trip on henryandlinda.weebly.com (no www). Lift off is next Saturday - so I'm starting to panic just a little[/quote]


Have a great adventure, you two - look forward to reading about it :D
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by Big Boy »

Vital Spark wrote:Mr.VS has started a blog for anyone who's interested. You can follow our trip on henryandlinda.weebly.com (no www). Lift off is next Saturday - so I'm starting to panic just a little

Have a great adventure, you two - look forward to reading about it :D[/quote]
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richard
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by richard »

If your both still feeling adventuresome when you arrive in the UK why not consider coming back by boat?
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by caller »

Yup, got the blog added to my favourites and enjoyed reading what's there so far. Looking forward to more! Good luck with the trip. :thumb:

Will the blog provide a facility for others to respond?
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by Vital Spark »

In answer to some questions:

Big Boy: We've certainly got the costings written down, and we'll post them as and when we can.

Richard: The idea of coming back by boat does not fill me with joy. We're flying back with Oman Air (via Muscat).

Caller: The blog will be 'read only'. A lot of our students will be following the trip, and we don't want to spend half the holiday replying to their (interesting) questions.

Once we get to the UK, it's still a pretty hectic holiday as Mr.VS's family is spread around a bit. We'll spend the first 14 days recovering in Suffolk at my mum's house (my family are all in that area). Then it's a train up to Edinburgh to stay with Mr.VS's mother in Lanarkshire, a drive to his sister's in Perthshire, another drive to his other sister in Northumberland, and then a flight down to Devon where his brother lives. The UK part of the trip is about 4 weeks.

I think we'll need a bit of a holiday after all that travelling... :wink:

VS
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by Chromeman »

I wish you both a great and exciting and interesting trip! Looking forward to follow you on your blog.
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by moja »

Wishing you all the luck in the world!! Enjoy you time both on the road and in the UK; I will be following your blog.
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by margaretcarnes »

I'll be following your blog as well VS - all the best to you both and bon voyage.
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