THAILAND: Free Visa on Arrival till April 2020 |Visa Documentation| Tourist 4G SIM | Part 1
Flight Ticket:
Booking flight ticket from India to Thailand price depends on when we book it. Booking in advance could be economical. We booked the ticket in Feb,19 and travelling schedule was of May,19. Recommend, if you are not short of time, reach Kolkata and book a flight from there it will be in just INR 7500 t0 8000 with return.
We booked from Delhi via Kolkata, it costed us 18000. I had to do it because my sister wanted to carry lots of clothes, so we wanted an option with 25 kg weight limit also, she was having a tight schedule, so we suppose to save time.
Hotel Booking:
These days I prefer to use Booking.com App. We booked a Hostel named "Rest Inn" with private room for 3 of us. 450 INR per person per night. After that, we booked a hotel in Pattaya in INR 1200 on triple sharing basis.
We also experimented with another hostel at an isolated city known as "Hua Hin" and paid only 500 Bath for each again having a private room with AC. BTW, All the accommodation were AC.
How to get Currency converted:
Option 1.
Basis on the information shared by a youtuber, I left a request on a website and they contacted me for the currency conversion. It was the economical option, until my brother visited Paul Merchants office in the neighborhood.
Option 2. Below is the rate difference:
a. Online they were charging 15 paise on each Bhat, SO total was 1 Bath = 2.18 (That day currency rate) + 15 Paisa = 2.33 INR
b. At Paul Merchant I paid for 1 bath = 2.18 + .7 paisa = 2.25 INR Basis on this experience of mine, I suggest Paul Merchants, they are almost in all the cities and all the neighborhood.
Only thing is, online I was getting an option of home delivery and here I had to visit this place with my passport and PAN card.
VISA Process:
We carried printouts of below mentioned documents - 1. Passport
2. Print out of Flight Return Ticket
3. Print out of Hotel Booking for first destination
4. 10,000 Bath Time Taken in VISA Process: Because whole flight came and stood up at the Visa Counter, so it was crowded and had a long ques. It took us 2 to 3 hours to complete the process.
Step by Step process of getting VISA:
1. Reach on the counter and find Visa on Arrival Form (Need not to carry along, few of the tourists, downloaded the form from internet and were carrying the printout)
2. Fill the form with minimum simplest information like name, Age, Date of Birth, Address on passport, Hotel Address, Time from and to etc.
3. Attach the copy of the documents mentioned
1. Flight Ticket prints
2. Hotel Booking print
3. Also, in the flight at Kolkata, you will get Departure Card from the flight staff itself, fill it and attached it too.
4. Submit these documents along with passport at the Visa Counter as per your turn
5. They will ask you to show the money, show it and keep it back in your pocket.
6. You will get a token, on submission of these documents
7. Take it and go inside, sit and wait for the announcement for your token number
8. Collect your Stamped Passport at the counter after submitting the token
9. Reach at "Immigration" counter
10. Show them your passport and hand over them "Departure Card" which you received in the flight. Ensure its filled
11. They will tear off one part and hand over second to you
12. Keep it safe, you need to show it to the flight counter, to get your return boarding pass while returning.
We got the VISA and now we were at the Baggage line, our bags were already there. We picked and started planning the journey further.
Mobile SIM Cards:
To access the google map, book cab and to see the metro route, we required internet access. For that only option was to buy a SIM Card. I made up my mind to buy AIS Sim card, as I saw on a YouTube channel. When I reached there and being from the telecom sector, I realized that AIS is like BSNL in India. Customer un-friendly plans.
AIS SIM CARD
1. MRP - 299 bhat,
50 Bhat Talk time,
1 Mbps speed on a 4G SIM with unlimited Data Access.
2. True Choice SIM -
MRP - 299 bath -
100 Bath Talk time,
8 days validity
3 GB Data
3. D-Tech SIM Card
MRP - 299 Bhat,
35 Bath Talk time,
8 days validity with 8.5 GB Data.
I bought Data win and was happy. It has good network and service in major cities of Thailand, not sure about interiors. This way we became ready to step inside the city Bangkok.