Carrying money in Thailand- Cash or prepaid card ?

It is one of the common questions that pops in our mind. You probably would have read and heard so many pickpocket experiences which you yourself may or may not face. When we were at Thailand we never came across any such experiences (thankfully!). We indeed felt as safe as our native country, but, you will never know.

We did follow some basic rules like 

• keeping wallet in the front pocket
• keeping most of the money in the hotel safe and carrying only the required amount
• ladies may avoid carrying big handbags
• finally, if you are carrying a backpack which contains your camera its advisable to wear it on the front side

Foreign exchange rates for Thai baht are better when you exchange them in your country. There are many ways to do that.

What we did

                         

We booked through www.bookmyforex.com, who delivered the foreign exchange right at our doorstep, within 2-3 days of placing the order. We took both cash and a Forex card with a 60-40 split, but looking back, the card was pretty much useless, and we had to withdraw most of the money from the Forex card through an ATM, against a fee of 200 baht. 

Foreign exchange in Thailand

Exchange rates available at the Airport are usually high so it's advisable not to use facilities there unless one is in dire need of local currency. Super Rich outlets are available in the major BTS stations but we found the the rates were pretty high and also, they might refuse to accept some currencies.

Using a Debit Card

                       

We inquired at some counters at the Don Mueng airport (on our way from bangkok to Krabi) for the exchange rate and found them pretty high. For example, if the exchange rate was 1 THB for 1.9 INR, these counters were charging 2.5 INR for 1 THB. Hence we decided to withdraw money from the ATM using our international debit card. It turned out to be a wise decision as exchange rate was close to our expectation and only 200 THB were charged as the transaction cost. 

Using a Credit card

Do not have any personal experience to share; all the travel websites warned against high Exchange rates as well as higher interest rates and transaction rates for using credit cards. As a result, we stayed away from using credit cards, and frankly, didn't see a need for it as well.

What do you need before visiting Thailand?

Thailand is a very beautiful and an economical place for budget travelers. There are some major cost that we need to look into before even stepping inside the country.

The Airfare Cost:

For any abroad travel airfare is the major cost.

India -Bangkok - India:

we planned pretty late and had to cough up approximately 26000 INR, for two, to and from Kolkata, on Indigo Airlines (6E75 and 6E77, to exact). The airfare costs to Thailand are comparatively cheaper from Kolkata and Chennai; while on the higher side from Bengaluru, Mumbai, etc. If we had booked at least 2 months in advance, we could have got the tickets at around 22-23k.

Bangkok- Krabi- Bangkok:

We also needed to book tickets from Bangkok to Krabi and return. This cost us approximately 9000 INR. Here we could have easily saved around 2000 INR if we booked the tickets just one day earlier. The airlines was Air Asia, which gave us a nasty surprise. Will touch upon this later.

Suggestions:

you  can register in skyscanner  and book when there is a fall in price.

Check  tickets 2 to 3 months prior in  Air Asia, Indigo or Tigerair which often provides cheap airfare.

Accommodations:

Once it was confirmed that we are indeed going to Thailand, the next thing was naturally to search for accommodations and book in advance so as to avoid the hassles of searching in a new country after getting down from the plane. For hotels, we went through several websites like www.agoda.com, www.booking.co.in , www.expedia.co.in and a few others. All of these websites will show some kind of discounts all the time (not sure if they are actually discounts), but the more important stuffs were the hotel reviews by real travellers, which help a lot in deciding. So after shortlisting a few, we booked the following hotels:

·          Bangkok:  Hotel Hope land Executive Residence (2 nights @4700 INR) (excluding 1000 BHT refundable deposit)
Krabi: Krabi River Hotel (1 night @1200 INR)
 Koh Phi Phi: Viking Nature Resort (2 nights @6400 INR)

Suggestions:

Please read as many reviews as possible in tripadvisor or any other trusted sites before booking the hotel.

Visa:

The last things that needed to be done before going on tour was the Visa and Foreign exchange. Now many people prefer to go for a Visa on Arrival; but we decided to do it from India so as to save time in Bangkok (and boy was this a good decision!). Getting the tourist Visa for Thailand is pretty straight forward; you need to prepare your documents as per the www.vfs-global.com website and submit it at one of their offices. We submitted the documents at the Chennai office. The entire process took around 2 hours and at a cost of 2000 INR per person, and an additional cost of 350 INR if you want the passports to be couriered back. Hence, total cost for two was 4700 INR.

Once all these major costs are booked then its mostly food and transport cost which can vary according to your budget and mode of preferences.