A couple years ago, Joan and I did a travel presentation for our upcoming tours. At the end, someone came up to Joan and lamented, “I wish I had gone on one of Tom’s trips back when they were cheaper”. Well this December, I’m offering the chance to take one of those budget trips.
In part, my budget tours were cheaper because that was ten years ago. They were also cheaper because we stayed in hostels. What I heard from the people who took those trips is that they’d be willing to pay a little extra to have better meals and accommodations. So while I can still share with you how to get the most for your budget, the trips I lead now have more comforts than they did originally.
The trip I’m planning in December is one I’d originally put together right before Covid. With travel back to normal, I’m again ready to host a trip to Thailand and Laos. This is a proof of concept tour so it’s your chance to save some money by joining a maiden voyage with all its imperfections. Of course, those imperfections are the stories we all tell!
The tour will focus more on culture than beaches, but you can add a couple days on either end of the trip to enjoy one of Thailand’s lovely islands. Once everyone arrives in Bangkok, we’ll immediately head north to explore Thailand’s original capital, Ayutthaya. It’s a chance to enjoy temples similar to Angkor Wat but on a much less overwhelming scale. The temples in the city were built by the Khmer people who built the temples at Angkor Wat, and it’s certainly more enjoyable to experience these temples without the hordes of tour buses.
From there will head north to Thailand’s cultural capital, Chiang Mai. We’ll visit temples, night markets, and even take a cooking class that begins with identifying Thai produce at a farmers market. Not too far away is the town of Chiang Rai with its unusual Black, White, and Blue temples. After spending a night on the Thai border, we’ll cross to Laos for a two day luxury trip down the Mekong river.
This is a lovely way to enjoy the landscape and culture of a country that is all about taking life slowly. While most people take the packed 100 person boats that allow very little room for movement, we’ll be on a comfortable boat with no more than 35 people and plenty of different seating areas. Another highlight of our slow boat company is that they have their own luxury lodge where we will spend the night along our two day cruise.
On the second day of the cruise, we will stop into a Lao village to see how locals spend their lives. In the evening, we pull into Luang Prabang for the next three days. This town preserves the best of French culture from their days of occupation. That means flaky croissants and excellent coffee at a street side table. Explore the well preserved colonial architecture as you walk to the night market to stock up on locally made crafts.
Luang Prabang is filled with activities. On our itinerary is a chance to learn weaving along the Mekong River with indigenous people. We’ll also spend a couple hours learning to plant and harvest rice. This will probably be the best photo opportunity of the trip with you being pulled along knee deep in mud behind a water buffalo. To clean up afterwards, we’ll head to a nearby waterfall.
Once we’ve taken in all Luang Prabang has to offer, we’ll hop on the high speed train to Vang Vieng, where life comes to an abrupt standstill. Vang Vieng is the place that taught me how to just be in the moment. From the patio of our luxury hotel, we look out over the karst mountains projecting from the Lao countryside. While it is possible to do activities here, they are also relaxing.
Choose from taking a hot air balloon ride over the valley or floating down river on an innertube. On my last visit to Laos, I floated to one of the riverside restaurants and pulled up my innertube to have lunch before continuing my float down the river.
From Vang Vieng, we head to the capital of Laos. It’s probably the least impressive city in Laos, but it does have a vibrant night market and food scene which we’ll enjoy before heading back to Bangkok the next day.
You can choose to head home at that point or extend your visit to explore Bangkok. Head out on your own to explore the city’s major tourist destinations, or join me for a behind the scenes Bangkok tour where we’ll cycle through Bangkok’s green island and use the canal boats to avoid Bangkok’s dense traffic.
At the end, you’ll leave with experiences you’ll remember and share for a lifetime. You’ll also be part of that tour that someday people will be lamenting they’d gone on.