Klong Prao Resort, Klong Prao Beach, Koh Chang.

This is a clean, quiet resort with excellent staff and really good food for the money spent. The resort is located right on the quiet north end of the Klong Prao Beach, so you can sometime have the beach alone. The staff was professional in all aspects.  
And the large breakfast buffet in the "Lagoon" are just as good as the promotion photos illustrates. The Lunch and Dinner restaurant on the beach is also excellent with lots of good international and Thai food. The food is well presented, delicious and fairly priced for a resort of this class.
The pool was clean all the time we stayed there. The pool bar down in the pool served a range of alcohol and non-alcohol drinks suitable for all ages of life. One end of the pool had a large portion with very shallow depth well suitable for the smallest children.   
The room was very large and clean and my request I sent in advance was followed up, which is the first time for me in Thailand. Excellent costumer service! The sleep quality is superb since there is no noisy nightlife in that area. Which lead to that the guests are mainly families with children and mature couples that want to relax on the beach with no annoying disco in the neighborhood.And also for the first time in Thailand I felt I got more than I paid for. The large room we got, had also a stunning view on the beach and the sunset. All photos, except from number 3 and 4 is shot from our balcony on the 2nd floor.

If you want to stay here or another place on the island of Koh Chang, please feel free to click here: http://goo.gl/K2G17f

We will definitive go back here on our next trip for sure.

Sandaholms Resturang & Camping.

Normally when thinking of travel, we are thinking of some exotic and tropical destination. But sometimes you just don't have the time to do just that. That is the time for me to pack my car with a sleeping bag, cameras and camera bag! And I drive to my neighbor country Sweden or Denmark. But this time I did drive to Årjäng (700 Kilometers) which is located in Värmland County in the western part of  Sweden. 

15 minutes from the town there is a small and nice camping site on the shore line of Lake Järnsjön (Lake Iron). It is named Sandaholms Resturang & Camping and is situated on the property of the old railway station. The railway is gone, but the old water tower is still there in it's original design. There is huge areas of forest where it is a lot of wild life and you could see some moose if you where lucky. There is smaller boats and canoes for rent also for those interesting in fishing.

The Dutch couple running the camping is awesome people and go out of their way for you to be comfortable. You can rent small cabins or Villa Campers with 2/3 Br, 1 Tb and a fully functional kitchen or just rent a spot for your tent, auto camper or caravan. The site is also very clean and I have not spotted any liter spread around either. There's electricity and water available for those with tents or caravans and there's shower rooms, washing machines and dryers and more to use for cheap also.

Below is a video from Sandaholms Resturant & Camping from the beach.

The area and the lake is stunning targets for beautiful landscape and wildlife photography. And I have shot some beautiful sunset photos from their beach. The camping area is very quiet and is a place to wind down close to nature without actually camping out in the wilderness. Here is the best of two worlds when you can live comfortable while enjoy the wild nature. Because it is not everyone of us that are fitted to live like Bear Gryll...

But anyway, this is a camping I can recommend of all my heart!

Click here  if you are going to stay overnight in Årjäng or other places in Sweden!

And Click HERE if you want to know more about this camping site!

How To Find The Cheapest Airfare.

Everybody that travel want to get the cheapest travel cost as possible in order to use more money on comfort as upgrading to a better hotel, better food, spa and so on. A recent and large study find when to save the most money on your flight, whether it is a business or vacation trip.

The study have checked almost 8 billion flight fares at the 100 most popular routes globally for the last year, and the findings are simply surprising. The findings is in fact stunningly simple! They found that there are just 3 simple steps to achieve the cheapest tickets for your next vacation.

1: When to make the booking?

The airfare is statistical cheapest 53 days before departure. And you can save about 30% in average on your ticket. You can of course save more on less popular routes if there are competition in the air. However, if you book the day before departure you will pay the most expensive airfare.

2: Which day to fly?

If you plan to fly on a Tuesday, the airfare is cheapest. If you choose to travel on a Saturday you will pay the highest price for your airfare. The study show almost 15% saving in average if you choose to take off a Tuesday. But 30 -40 % saving is possible with some planning.

3: What time of the day do you want to fly?

It is a fact that it is cheapest to fly in the evening and most expensive in the afternoon when all the Business passengers want to get home. You can also get cheap airfare if you travel very early (5-7 AM) in the morning. The findings say almost 10% saving very early or very late departure time, but I have personally experienced a whopping 50% and more savings by take off before 6 AM!

The findings are interesting. But be aware of seasonal change in the airfare when you plan your trip. If you have the freedom to choose when to book, when to travel and you do some simple research on the biggest travel sites on the internet, you WILL save a lot of money on your next vacation. Good luck in your search!

And please let me know if you have some other tip for cheaper airfare.

Aonang Tropical Resort, Krabi, Thailand.

Our stay at Aonang Tropical Resort was a very pleasant stay. Not big, not fancy, but clean with lush tropical vegetation, quiet yet centrally located resort with only a few minutes walk to the Aonang Beach. The rooms are quite nice with aircon, cabinet, toilet and hot shower.  And top that with an excellent staff and manager that have the costumers need in focus.  The bar was okay and they do not play laud music, so your children will sleep well at any time of the day. The Swedish manager Pelle is extremely helpful with any question about your stay in Krabi and beyond. The pool was cleaned properly up to 3 times a day to get rid of falling leaves. That's very rare in this price range in Thailand! The pool is not big or too deep and are more suitable for relaxing on the bench in the water for adults and the round kiddy pool is a safe and great place to let your kids play. If we ever go back to Krabi, I will not look for any other places to stay. Location is great, the price is great and the manager and his staff is great! This is OUR home when in Krabi!

 Want to go to Krabi or Phi Phi Islands now?

Book your hotel in Krabi here!

Next time I will write about how to get there.

Car Rental In Thailand.

Car rental in Thailand is not for the inexperienced driver. You will have to drive defensively and keep your distance from other vehicles carefully. Thailand offers inviting beaches and is a host of tons of cultural attractions all over the Kingdom. Bear in mind that they drive on the left side in Thailand and you should never drive when it's dark. And what is most important, the Thai drivers are very pragmatic drivers.

By that, I mean they do not always follow the words in the traffic laws. If you have physical space on your left side and a driver in the opposite direction want to pass the car in front of him, he will pass and expect you to give him necessary space to do so with a smile. And you never see a finger or fist up or hear any horn honking except for tuktuk or taxis that want a possible costumers attention. If you see e finger of fist up or hear a frenetic horn honking, the driver are most likely to be from USA or Europe...

To rent a car in Thailand, the driver must be at least 21 years (minimum age may vary depending Car Category you choose). The driver must have held their license for at least one year. For drivers under 25 are additional fees paid directly to the car rental when picking up the car. An international driving license is recommended in addition to your own driving license. In Thailand it is mandatory with seat belt in both the front and rear seats, even though the locals don't seems to care. I recommend that all children under 135 cm sitting in the back seat, sits on a child cushion or a special safety child seat if they are less than 3 -4 years old.

Be aware of if you have to give the car rental your passport or other documents as a deposit, just go away so you will avoid being scammed for huge amount of money in fake claims.. The serious ones, like Avis, Budget and other international rentals will only have a copy of your driving license, International driving license and passport. And they will only claim 5.000-10.000 Bath in deductible if any damage have occurred. They will also be able to help you, even with a replacement car if you have an accident.

General speed limits are 50 Km/h in cities, towns and villages, 90 Km/h on highways and 100-120 on motorways with separated driving lanes. But remember, this is just GENERAL rules. Local rules and limits occur all over Thailand like other countries. And the road signs are not always easy to spot. So use your eyes and preferably let your front seat passenger help you spot the road signs while you concentrate on the traffic.

Traffic signs are usually both in Thai and in English but don't expect easy navigation in and out of the cities. It is not allowed to use mobile phones while driving. And again, I will recommend that your focus is on the road all the time and drive defensively and watch out for users of the road and surroundings. You should try to avoid driving at night because of the drunk drivers and other ones without lights on their vehicle.

In and around the larger cities there are many gas stations. Most of them do not take credit cards so bring cash. In the smaller places there are mostly this gasoline bottle stations, but it is starting to pop up more ordinary gasoline stations in remote places also. So plan your route well. There are also popping up a lot of large gasoline stations along the roads near the cities with 7-11, restaurants, rest rooms, car wash and so on to suit travelers by car. This is also normally a safe place to stay if you want to sleep in your car for a few hours.

Some of the motorways in and around Bangkok are toll roads. And it is planned several toll roads in the future several places. They are not expensive and gives normally a smoother ride trough the city.

Because of the large number of vehicles in Thailand it is also difficult to find a parking space in the larger cities. I would use hotel's parking, shopping mall parking or even parking in addition to markets or maybe a monitored private parking. Never leave valuables in the car in Bangkok. Personally, I never drive in Bangkok due to dense traffic and the fact that other means of transportation is cheap and plentiful.

Insurance regulations vary from country to country. In all rental prices there should be included fire and liability insurance. When renting in Thailand also includes accident insurance and theft insurance in all prices. You can read more about the details of insurance policies from your preferred rental shop.

Some important remarks:

When you rent a car in Thailand it is normally not allowed to take the vehicle abroad. It is normally not allowed to put a rental car on a ferry. Always ask specifically if your rental company allow you to use the rental car on a ferry, like the ferry to Koh Chang.

One Way Rentals within the country is allowed between certain locations and additional fees will apply. International one way rentals (between countries) are normally not allowed.

See more here 

If you have some remarks or advice about renting a car in Thailand, feel free to make a comment below.

Here is an activity that kids will enjoy, just half an hour north of Pattaya in Thailand. In Siracha Tiger Zoo you can watch the crocodile show, before going in the restaurant and eat a delicious crocodile dish. As with most other animals there, including tigers, they are grown up with people and other animals since they were born. So they usually don't mind us as long as we don't harass them. After the show the toughest of us can sit on the backs of the largest (laziest) crocodile and take photos, which was the highlight of my experience.
You can also see children who walk tiger cubs, tigers breastfeed piglets and pigs breastfeeding tiger cubs and rabbit pups sleeping and playing with tiger cubs and so on. Really sweet and the kids just love it! The animals seems well-groomed and well-fed.

Family Friendly Pattaya?

Most people connect Pattaya with seedy activity like the bars and bargirls in Walking Street. But Pattaya have much more to offer a family on vacation, even if it is scattered around. Mimosa Fun Park is one of the family friendly places where you can bring your children and even grandma. The buildings is held in an old European style with ice bar, fashion shop, restaurants like the German one, a scene with family friendly shows in the evenings and more. And not to forget the great hairdresser just a few doors away from the park. There is a mini van stop just a few steps away from the entrance.

Here are a short video from a Mimosa Fun Park evening show.