First things first – you need to book the airline and hotel, and for this Club Hombre was invaluable. The choices became clear to me rather quickly, either buy a business class ticket or try EVA Air’s Deluxe Class. Economy was simply not an option I would entertain on such a long flight. Now I have bought several tickets (and was always satisfied) on www.skyauction.com and they listed several business class options for Asia, some going to Bangkok, but most going to Hong Kong. Skyauction.com is a site that sells airline tickets, vacation packages, etc. Their deal is they buy from the airlines/hotels and sell them at “auction” to the public. I’ve gotten incredible deals to Cancun and Las Vegas. The key is to “follow” auctions for several weeks because I saw the winning bid for business class from New York to Bangkok fluctuate from $1400 to $2200 for the same ticket. I wish in hindsight I pulled the trigger on the $1400 ticket (that didn’t include $89 in taxes – always read the fine print with sky auction, sometimes the taxes are a lot more) because I never saw a winning bid lower than $1800 after that. One thing also to remember is sometimes you don’t get frequent flier miles. While following the auctions, I kept reading good things about EVA and really liked their flight schedule. I could wait no longer and booked on EVA for $985 including taxes.

Next to book was the hotel. To me the choice was obvious after reading all the reviews on several boards – The Omni Tower. I was also planning a couple of days in Pattaya, so I booked two nights at The Residence Garden. I would not be disappointed by my choices.

Next was the passport, my current one expired in September. Rather than risking governmental inefficiencies and mailing it in, I waited until two weeks before my departure and got an appointment with the Passport Agency on Hudson Street in New York. (If you have a ticket that shows you are leaving in two weeks or under they will process your passport the same day for an expedited fee of $60). My appointment was for 8:00am, I got there @ 7:45 and left at 8:15. 30 minutes in and out. My passport was ready @ 11:00am same day, and I could send a messenger from my office to pick it up.

Finally, I made an appointment with my doctor. I wanted any shots that might be helpful and I wanted to discuss Viagra (which I had never used). He gave me shots for Typhoid, Malaria, Tetanus and Hepatitis A. He asked if I wanted the shot for Hepatitis B and explained that it was a series of three shots over 6 months. I told him I was leaving in 2 weeks, so I’ll pass. He said I really didn’t need it unless I was going to have sexual contact over there. I took this as an opportunity to segue into Viagra and told him that I planned to experience all there was to experience in Thailand. As he wrote out the prescription for Viagra, he told me to be safe but to have a good time. He also gave me a prescription for sleeping pills (for the flight) and Cipro which he said is a very effective antibiotic if I got ill and couldn’t get medical attention while away. I’ve always been up front when dealing with medical personnel and was glad I was straight with him. I felt great leaving his office.

During this time I was reading reports on Club Hombre the whole time, gathering up info, even trying to come up with a schedule (that would later not even closely be followed). I committed several reports to memory, printed out many reports and info and put them in a binder (which I brought along and it made an invaluable reference tool).

I counted down the days and finally I packed (one carry-on bag), wrapped things up at the office and made my way to Newark Airport.