Thailand Honeymoon

[SumDay]

In the High Cost of Weddings thread I stated that DS#2 will be getting married in Chicago next year.

I'm SO pleased THEY are paying for the entire wedding. Her parents can't afford to help, and the couple have been saving and are being pretty sensible about their expenses.

IF there is a rehearsal dinner, it will be for eight people - we can swing that with no problem.

I asked them where they planned to honeymoon and he said they probably wouldn't have one immediately until they could save up more. God love 'em both.

So, DH and I decided their honeymoon would be our gift to them, and they were very grateful. They want to go to Thailand for 7-10 days. I hear it's a very reasonable place to visit, but getting there will probably be the biggest part of the expense.

So, any ballpark ideas for what we should gift for 7-10 days in Thailand?

 

[braumeister]

I don't know the answer, but the son of a good friend got married 5 or 6 years ago and went to Vietnam and Thailand for their honeymoon, a week in each country. Still talking about it -- they had a fantastic time.

 

[Freedom56]

Depends on the itinerary. I would budget $200 per day for hotel, food, transportation and activities for the two. They can live very well on that budget. Airfare depends on your departure airport and class of service. We spent two weeks in Thailand back in December 2009. I was there on business and my wife came along. It cost me $2950 at that time for a single return non-refundable business class (Laurel Class) on EVA Air from LAX to Bangkok via Taipei. Economy tickets are less. I would budget for at least a premium economy ticket since it's a very long flight. EVA Air and Royal Thai airways have good deals. It was a very nice place to visit and the food was fantastic.

 

[NgineER]

You can get around and do fun things very inexpensively there, $200/day would be excellent. Sounds like they are frugal and wise about heir money. Splurging on business class would make their trip even more special.

 

[zinger1457]

Would agree with the above, the flight costs could be the big costs. I've seen economy seats from the West Coast on EVA and China Airlines for $700 RT each, Business Class seats will likely cost around $5000 RT each. Premium economy might be a good middle ground, probably around $1700 RT each.

 

[Souschef]

IMO, as beautiful as Thailand is, you can honeymoon in Hawaii without the longer trip. DW's son got married in a small but beautiful ceremony. DW and I each put up 5K toward the wedding, and also paid for her other son to attend.
I have attached the story of the wedding and honeymoon. It was great!

 

[Scuba]

Thailand will feel much more exotic than Hawaii, and as sensible as they’re being about costs, I’d fund the trip to Thailand. I’ll bet they’d be excited to have premium economy seats. So very roughly if air is $3,500 to $4K and they stay for 10 days at $200/day, that’s $6K total. Depending on how generous you want to be, maybe make it $7,500 and let them decide whether they want to spend on more comfortable airline seats or splurge more once they get there.

 

[Freedom56]

Thailand will feel much more exotic than Hawaii, and as sensible as they’re being about costs, I’d fund the trip to Thailand. I’ll bet they’d be excited to have premium economy seats. So very roughly if air is $3,500 to $4K and they stay for 10 days at $200/day, that’s $6K total. Depending on how generous you want to be, maybe make it $7,500 and let them decide whether they want to spend on more comfortable airline seats or splurge more once they get there.

I agree. Hawaii is a nice (Kauai was our favorite Island), but Thailand has much more to offer. The foot and back massages were great. The food was fantastic. It's pretty safe also. I was with our customers during the day and my wife visited places by herself. She took the sky train on her own. Two of our engineers who were assigned to work there for 6 months, liked it so much that they decided to stay there. Our customers hired them. They and others in our company did some idiotic things like posting photos and videos of themselves partying with beautiful Thai women on their Facebook page. Their wives didn't find it that funny.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I went to Thailand for a week and it was a big mistake to travel so far for so short a time. It took 23 hours each way. We never got over the jet lag. I would only go that far again if I had at least 2 weeks minimum. I was young when I went and jet lag still was a major problem.

 

[brett]

$200. day is fine but there are also some very expensive resorts. Really depends on how you travel.

We went to Thailand for a winter vacation five years ago. Since then we have spent four of five winters in Thailand and Vietnam.

It is a long way to go for a week. Plus, we avoid places like Phuket and Koh Samui. Our flights to Bangkok have always arrived late at night. We really loose most of the next day trying to catch up, get over the long flight.

We go for 6-8 weeks. We would not consider flying that distance for a week long vacation.

 

[ivinsfan]

I would just suggest you borrow a solution from our other wedding thread. Talk it over with your DW decide together the amount you would be comfortable gifting.

You don't have to give them enough to cover business class seats or the cost of a high end resort. Do a little research and pick a number that would cover a nice place to stay, some spending money and an economy priced seat. Let the bride and groom decide how much they want to spend on upgrades or if they want to choose another location.