Health: See your doctor and make sure you're up-to-date with jabs and stuff.  The first time I went I needed to sort out tetanus, typhoid, hepatitis A and polio.  Get these out of the way at least a month or two before you leave.  Instead of getting a Gamma Globulin jab for Hepatitis A which is good for 3 months, you can get a 10-year jab called Havrex.  Don't forget to ask about whether you need malaria tablets.  You probably won't need them if you're sticking to larger towns and tourist areas, but if you're planning to stay in more remote places, especially on the Burmese and Cambodian borders, you need to take proper advice.  Take plenty of mosquito repellant anyway, because the best advice is not to get bitten.  In London, you can also get good health advice and all the jabs you need (at a price) from Trailfinders (020 7938 3939), Flightbookers (020 7757 2444) on Tottenham Court Road, or the British Airways travel shop in Regent Street.

 

Visa: For stays of up to 30 days, the immigration officer at Bangkok Airport will give visitors from most western countries a visa when they arrive at the airport.  If you want to stay longer than 30 days, you'll need to apply for a 60 day Tourist Visa from a Thai Embassy or Consulate in your home country.  In London, the Embassy is located at 29 Queen's Gate.  For a small fee, organisations like Trailfinders can arrange a Visa for you, so you don't have to make the trips in person.

 

Money: Thailand can be as cheap or expensive as you make it.  If you want to waste $200 a day eating and sleeping in 5-star air-conditioned limbo, it can be arranged.  On the other hand, I've met people out there who have budgeted for 300B a day including all travel, accommodation and meals.  You can pay about 350B-600B a night for small, clean, comfortable hotels, usually with a hot and cold shower and a TV.  The TV isn't vital, as most small hotels only screen Thai programmes - you can choose between (i) endless Thai soap operas; (ii) squawking transvestite game-show hosts; or (iii) Chinese historical dramas with kung-fu and lots of flying through the air.  For food, if you're happy with regular Thai meals, you can get a breakfast of noodle soup or fried rice for less than 40B, and then figure on another 300B-500B per day on snacks, transportation and an evening splurge on fresh sea bass, or something equally exotic.  Beer is heavily taxed, and therefore relatively pricey, and the amount you'll have to pay varies directly with the number of tourists in town.  I've paid as much as 65B for a small Singha Beer in Phuket, and as little as 45B for a large one in more out of the way places.  You can buy other Thai beers (Chang and Leo) in supermarkets for under 40B a pint.  You can do your own beer maths.  I used to take a mix of cash and sterling travellers' cheques, but using cash machines (ATM's) to draw money straight out of UK banks or credit card accounts is now really easy.  Check with your own bank.  My card has these symbols on the back.

 

Flights: I've travelled to Thailand on all manner of airlines, from the sublime (Quantas) to the ridiculous (Tarom Romanian in 1989, when the Romanians were busy arresting and shooting Nicolae and Eleni Ceausescu). I've paid as little as £360 and as much as £650, and the two factors involved are when you go and which airline you go with. If you pick the high season (December/January), or if you want to fly non-stop on a top class airline, you'll pay at the top end of the range. Sometimes there are good deals on a non-stop Taiwanese EVA Airways flight, but if you're on a more limited budget, you may have to settle for a flight which stops on the way. Try to pick one with a short stopover, (two hours or less), like Finnair, Lufthansa or Kuwait Airways. Trust me when I tell you that 5 hours in Bucharest Airport in Romania at 5 degrees below zero at 3am is not the best start to a tropical holiday.  Whoever you choose to fly with, in the UK the best way of getting your hands on a ticket is to get your details and credit card together and ring up Trailfinders (020 7938 3939) or Flightbookers (020 7757 2468). You can also check on prices and buy your tickets online at Flightbookers web-based service, ebookers.

 

Insurance: It's usually a good idea to get yourself insured for your trip. Both Trailfinders and Flightbookers can arrange a policy, and I've used both, but I usually sign up with Columbus (020 7375 0011), because they're a bit cheaper, and probably just as good. They do an annual multi-trip policy which is handy if you're travelling more than once a year. I've had to make a couple of small claims in the last 10 years, once when I slipped on some rocks by a waterfall and damaged my camera, and another time in Phuket when my beach bungalow was burgled. If you spot a Thai chap in oversized walking boots listening to the Stone Roses on an ancient Walkman, say hello from me.

 

Accommodation: You don't really need to pre-book any accommodation EXCEPT for the first and last night or two in Bangkok at either end of the holiday. This is just because you won't want the hassle of finding a place - possibly late at night - when you're tired and hungry after 18 sleepless hours in transit. It's better to just fall into a taxi, safe in the knowledge that your bed is all booked and paid for. Bangkok is also the exception to the 350B-600B a night hotel guide, and as long as it's only for a few nights, you might not mind paying for a bit of luxury. Trailfinders have a special arrangement with a number of pretty swanky places, and I usually ask them to book me into the Amari Boulevard Hotel, on Sukhumwit Road, Soi 5 for about 1,600B a night. It's only half an hour to the airport (outside of the rush hour) and it's pretty central, so there's plenty to do and see if you don't fancy the amusing drinks prices in the lobby bar. Flightbookers have the same kind of arrangements with other hotels, like the Bel Aire Princess. It's easy to find places to stay in most towns and resorts in Thailand, so you don't need to book. The one exception would be Chiang Mai during the Thai New Year (Songkhran) festival around 13th April. This is when Thais go on holiday, and Chiang Mai is a very popular destination. See the section on Places for details.

February's good, because the Christmas rush is over, the rains stopped a couple of months ago, and it's another 2 months before the hottest part of the year. Having said that, I've never had a holiday spoilt by the weather, and over the years, I've been in January, February, March, July, August, September, November and December. If you're fussy, most of central, eastern and northern Thailand has three seasons:

 

	Cool Season - November to February - there's very little rain, and it's hot most of the time, especially down south, but it can get a bit chilly up north in the mountains at night;
	Hot Season - March to May - hot all the time with increasing temperatures and humidity throughout the period, with increasing thunderstorms into June;
	Rainy Season - June to October - still hot, but with regular cloudbursts and thunderstorms, and some frequent, heavy periods of prolonged rain - this period is the least predictable, and there's always some town or other under 1.5m of water on the TV news.

 

In the south, there isn't really a cool season - temperatures rarely drop below about 24 degrees celcius. And the rains can continue into November and December.

 

If you really get stuck with some bad weather, the best advice is to jump on a plane to the other end of the Kingdom, or the other side of the peninsula. If it's cold up north, head down south; if you're too hot down south, head for the mountains up north; if it's raining in the Gulf, try the Andaman coast instead, and vice versa.

 

Click here for Yahoo's weather forecast.