How much did you pay for a holiday to Thailand or similar?

[PumpkinZulu]

Just nutting a few things out. DH and I have never been on a proper holiday. We'd love to go with DD before bubs arrives. We'd like to go somewhere beachy, family friendly and cheapish, so Thailand, Bali etc. my Internet is terrible right now otherwise I'd be looking at prices myself. We'd want to go for around 7 days, nothing fancy room wise but in a family friendly resort. Around how much did you pay all up for a holiday like this, including food, spending, flights etc?

[Phteven]

Can't remember but Yay!!! Thailand is awesome.
DS2 still talks about the elephant he met.

[Melbournemumma]

Thailand is quite a long flight so keep that in mind. We did Fiji a few years ago for our honeymoon and that was $5000 all up in a pretty fancy room, but they had cheaper rooms too. Flight was short so that was helpful. We are going to the Gold Coast in September as that was cheap. If you want to PM me dates I'll have a look for you. I'm at work and pretty bored Would love to help research a holiday

[PumpkinZulu]

$5000 would be our absolute max all up. We were thinking early September or late August. DD will be about 25 months. Good point on the flight length, plus I'm deathly scared of flying (which I'll need to get over cos I'm not letting that stop me!). Oooh didn't even think about Fiji!

[LuluHB]

We did Club Med on Bintan Island September 2010 and it was fantastic - definitely much better for everyone choosing a resort that specifically caters for kids. We got one of their deals, which they seem to have frequently - just check their website. Kids under 4 stay free in a connecting room. I think we paid about $1800 for 6 days, which includes absolutely everything including some alcohol. Flights were FF points so can't help with that. It would be a long flight for you guys from east coast, so maybe look at their Queensland resort.

Fiji is great too, and they seem to have a lot of kid friendly resorts. We stayed for our honeymoon at an adults only resort so can't help with specifics.

ETA: just did a quick search on Club Med. 7 nights for the three of you, all inclusive (kids club extra) for first week of September will cost:
Thailand $2,418
Bintan (technically Indonesia but you take the ferry from Singapore) $3,260
Bali $2,840

Can't find the Qld one so maybe renos or something.

You can get flights through CM for about $2,000 but probably better deals out there

HTH

[Melbournemumma]

You could definately do Fiji or Vanuatu for that. our $5000 was in a beachfront spa room so dearest room, but it included all of our meals as well.

[Phteven]

From memory up to October is the wet/monsoon season in Thailand.
It's still lovely but expect rain.

[sangie]

You could easily do Thailand, Fiji, Vanuatu for that money. We went to Bali in March and spent half that amount for 4 of us for 8 nights (and we stayed in a 2 bed apartment in a 4.5 star resort).
Queenland has some lovely spots if you are worried about flying for too long!

[LuluHB]

You could easily do Thailand, Fiji, Vanuatu for that money. We went to Bali in March and spent half that amount for 4 of us for 8 nights (and we stayed in a 2 bed apartment in a 4.5 star resort).
Queenland has some lovely spots if you are worried about flying for too long!

where did you go again lovely?

[Miss_Dee]

Queensland Club Med is no longer. Only a very recent thing though.

DF and I spent 5 days in Singapore and 11 in Bali. Cost us about $10,000 all up but that included quite a bit of spending money and 'sightseeing' stuff, as well as tickets to the Singapore GP so could definitely be done cheaper.

If you head to Bali I'd recommend somewhere other than Kuta. I only spent 6 hours there before our flight home but hated every second of it. We stayed in Ubud up in the mountains, but there's plenty of other beachy places in Bali that are gorgeous.

[Sopdet]

Wherever you go a couple of things to take into consideration.

1. travel insurance & what they cover since you're pregnant
2. airline restrictions on pregnant women flying
3. is your DH prepared to have Miss I sitting on his lap the whole time since you'll have belly

[Lenny]

When are you thinking PZ? Dd isn't 2 yet is she?
I was chatting to a friend about it the other day and she raves about Fiji. Very child friendly and safe with reasonable prices. Apparently.
You can get pregnancy travel cover, but if you went into labour and birthed abroad, this new little person is not covered by insurance so your hospital stay would be covered - but not theirs.

[Novella]

We had a lovely trip to Fiji last year for a friends wedding, very relaxed! Most of the resorts seemed very family friendly. We stayed in a five star resort where the wedding was held but there was a lot of nice, cheaper accommodation available. We stayed on Denaru so were able to access supermarkets which helped save $$ I went on a cruise to Vanuatu a few years ago and that was another very relaxed easy going holiday destination, although I would never do a cruise with young kids a flying holiday would be great

As the others have said beware of pregnancy and travel insurance costs and that vaccinations recommended for travellers in those areas may not be suitable when pregnant. We didn't get vaccinated after speaking to a health travel service and touch wood were fine.

We also stayed at Paradise resort on the gold coast a couple of years ago which was very family friendly, although not as layer back as Fiji or Vanuatu.

When we travel now I try and find accommodation with all or some meals included or somewhere with facilities that you can make your own meals, like holiday apartments etc as it can save a stack of money

Have a wonderful holiday, and passports with babies photos in them are super cute!

[Lenny]

Look, as much as I love NZ, it's not really the tropical holiday island we all need in winter.
Perhaps you were more thinking of the white powdery stuff, Onyx.

[Artechim]

By September you would most likely strike warm enough weather up in the far north - beyond Auckland. There are some stunning beaches around, and you can hire a bach off websites like book a bach which can work out pretty cheap.

Worth looking into, since you can get el cheapo flights.

[SeppyM]

I went with my best friend a couple of years ago around mid November for 10 nights. We went with Malaysian airlines and stayed in the Novotel and probably spent about $5000 on airfares, travel insurance, accom, an overnight stay on phi phi island, all the touristy things ie: elephant rides etc, food and shopping. My advice to you is make sure you barter!!! You can get things so much cheaper, and the locals expect it. Hope u get to go, it'll be great!!

[PumpkinZulu]

Wow thanks guys! And thanks MM for doing that for me!

DD will be 15 months so no probs with airfare. Fiji is sounding good. Honestly, we're not looking for a cultural experience, just to hang around by the beach or pool, buy cheap nick nacs and have a nice time. I have a valid passport but DH needs his renewed and DD needs one. I'd be around 24-25 weeks, so regardless of where I am, going into labour would be a disaster. I'm not worried I will though, and I think we'll be able to find an insurance to cover me.

We may or may not be receiving a little bit of money in the next month or two, and if we do then we'd love to get away as the 3 of us before Kiefey gets here and just relax. We'll see. It's exciting thinking about it all though!

[xXHopeXx]

Thought this might interest you PZ?

(sorry if Im not supposed to post the link here)


Sent from the land of "iSomethings" so forgive me for any spelking misstaks