On a whim, I went ahead and bought a ticket for the Flyertalk Chicago Seminar DO on October 16th and 17th. There are 437 registrants coming from all over the world for two days of seminars on getting better at our hobby of earning hotel points, airline miles, and rental car credits.

I’ve been a collector for some years but am starting to realize that I’m just scratching the surface when it comes to truly understanding the best way to maximize our opportunities.

It was amazing how fast it all came together online with a lot of people volunteering a lot of hours for the details. I’m really looking forward to meeting some of my fellow addicts and also learning more, but most of all it’s a chance to put a name with a face.

Thailand Trip Day 1 – flight cancellations
Thailand Trip Day 2
Thailand Trip Day 3
Thailand Trip Day 4
Thailand Day 5 Island Hopper Excursion
Thailand Day 6 – Rain
Thailand Trip Day 7 – the local market
Thailand Trip Day 8
Thailand Trip Day 9 – Jim Thompson shop, Temples, and Gulati
Thailand Trip Day 10 – A Chill Day and going to the movies
Thailand Trip Day 11 – home in first class

Day 9 started off with heading to the Executive Lounge to check out the breakfast selection. This was no continental breakfast – it was instead a full spread including fresh baked bread, pastries, cookies, made to order omelets, waffles, pancakes, fresh juices, dumplings, broths, and Thai and Chinese food. The staff gave top notch service.

We headed out to see the palace and the temples. We took a water taxi to the Grand Palace. There is just so much history with these temples and palaces. They were all very ornate with lots of tourists viewing them.

We then fell for the oldest trick in the book. Even though we had read up on Lonely Planet about it – we still fell for it.

As we were searching for one of the temples, we were approached by someone asking if we needed some help finding the temple. We told him of the temple we were trying to find and he informed us that unfortunately that temple was closed until 3 pm. We were devastated. He informed us that we could take a tuk-tuk to another temple in the meantime as it is very cheap and that person would bring us back at 3 pm.

That sounded like a great idea at the time and so we hoped into a tuk-tuk and sped off to see some other temples. We arrived at the first temple and viewed it for a while. We got back in the tuk-tuk and the gentleman said that he was going to take us over to jewelry store to see some of the great gems that they had for sale. We finally realized that we had been taken. We arrived at the jewelry store and looked around quickly and then asked the driver to take us back to the temple which was supposed to be closed. He said that he couldn’t yet and that he wanted to take us to another shop to look around. We started to get really angry and told him that we didn’t want to see any other shops and wanted to go back. He kept insisting that we go to one more shop. I am so mad that we just walked away from him down the street to catch another cab.

This incident was the only downer of the whole trip. When we got back to the temple, several other people tried to inform us that it was closed. We just ignored them and when into the temple.

After an afternoon visiting temples and palaces, we headed back to the JW Marriott and went to a clothing shop recommended to us by a good friend. The shop is called Gulati. If you’ve ever been to Bangkok, clothing shops are at every corner of every street. I was always skeptical of how the quality would be. We therefore relied on a personal recommendation for Gulati. Gulati’s is run by Jesse and Victor Gulati who have made suits and shirts for former US President’s Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr. I walked in to the shop and was met with rows and rows of different fabrics. Jesse Gulati came over and asked what I was looking for. I told him I was looking for some nice dress shirts. He beckoned for someone to come over and measure me and after 30 minutes I had picked out material for 6 hand made shirts at $25 a piece. Jesse informed me that they would be done in 24 hours and delivered to the JW Marriott.

If you are traveling in Bangkok and are looking for a quality tailor, I can highly recommend Gulati. I have been very pleased with the quality and price of these tailored shirts. They also keep all of their clients measurements on file so return trips go very quickly for additional clothing.

We then decided to head to the Siam Paragon by way of the skytrain which was very clean and fast moving. We had dinner there and went to the Jim Thompson silk store for some amazing clothes and designs.

This offer does not appear to be targeted.

Download the American Airlines toolbar on this page, and perform at least 1 toolbar search and or make 1 toolbar purchase with a participating toolbar retailer before June 30, 2010 to earn the 500 mile bonus. Bonus miles will post to your AAdvantage account within 8 to 10 weeks after the promotion end date. You will only earn the 500 mile toolbar download bonus the first time you download the toolbar.

Thailand Trip Day 1 – flight cancellations
Thailand Trip Day 2
Thailand Trip Day 3
Thailand Trip Day 4
Thailand Day 5 Island Hopper Excursion
Thailand Day 6 – Rain
Thailand Trip Day 7 – the local market
Thailand Trip Day 8
Thailand Trip Day 9 – Jim Thompson shop, Temples, and Gulati
Thailand Trip Day 10 – A Chill Day and going to the movies
Thailand Trip Day 11 – home in first class

We had just a little bit of time before it was time to head to the airport to head to Bangkok where we would be staying at the JW Marriott on points. This also was my last month with Gold status from Marriott, so we were fortunate to have planned this trip during this month.

In the morning, we stayed on the Phuket resort and stayed at one of pools after our breakfast at the Executive Lounge. Eating at the executive lounge was truly a treat. It was a full breakfast each morning and at night they had appetizers that could have easily been dinner as well. The staff was top notch. I would definitely return to this property.

We headed to the airport flying on Thai Airlines to Bangkok. We took a cab to the JW Marriott property. It is in an amazing location in the city. This hotel is one of the most luxurious hotels that I have stayed at. Everything is top class. We went to the check in desk and we had been upgraded to the Executive Floor with access to the Executive Lounge.

Our room was on the 8th floor with a fantastic view of Bangkok.

We went down to the pastry shop on the bottom floor of the JW and had some of the most delicious pastries I have ever tasted. In the elevator, they had a sign saying that there was 7 executive chefs working at the JW Marriott. It was apparent with the quality and taste of the selections.

Thailand Trip Day 1 – flight cancellations
Thailand Trip Day 2
Thailand Trip Day 3
Thailand Trip Day 4
Thailand Day 5 Island Hopper Excursion
Thailand Day 6 – Rain
Thailand Trip Day 7 – the local market
Thailand Trip Day 8
Thailand Trip Day 9 – Jim Thompson shop, Temples, and Gulati
Thailand Trip Day 10 – A Chill Day and going to the movies
Thailand Trip Day 11 – home in first class

Day 7 was pretty much the same schedule as Day 6. Breakfast at the Executive Lounge, and then hanging out at the pool for the rest of the day.

That night we decided to venture out to one of the local markets. I was stunned as to how much variety there was and also some of the exotic food that was available.

We met a lady from Finland who lived in Phuket for half the year and in Istanbul for the other half as a guide for Scandinavian tourists. How cool of a job is that?

The entire market was pretty crammed with shops. We found our son a Lionel Messi FC Barcelona jersey for very cheap.

Another observation that we had of the open air market was the seemingly unsanitary food handling conditions going on there. As much as we wanted to taste the local fare, the thought of being doubled over back at the hotel made us pass on sampling.

After spending about an hour and a half out there, it had begun very hot. As we were walking around, there was a lady there that had a wooden barrel filled with water and ice and bottled sodas. I bought a bottled Sprite and I’m unsure if it was the heat or how cold it was, but it was the best soda I had ever tasted. It was at the point where it had started to have ice crystals a little bit.

Since returning to the US, I have tried to find a bottled Sprite to try and recreate the absolute bliss but it has proven to be an impossible task.

Thailand Trip Day 1 – flight cancellations
Thailand Trip Day 2
Thailand Trip Day 3
Thailand Trip Day 4
Thailand Day 5 Island Hopper Excursion
Thailand Day 6 – Rain
Thailand Trip Day 7 – the local market
Thailand Trip Day 8
Thailand Trip Day 9 – Jim Thompson shop, Temples, and Gulati
Thailand Trip Day 10 – A Chill Day and going to the movies
Thailand Trip Day 11 – home in first class

It was bound to happen. You can’t visit Thailand without having at least one torrential downpour.

Day 6 started out with the rain just pouring down. Luckily I had already booked my two hour Thai massage at Salidara the day before, so while it rained I was in relaxation bliss.

When I was finished, the rain had subsided and we headed out to one of the enormous pools.

For dinner that night, we headed our to a restaurant right on Patong Beach called Sala Bua Restaurant. It had a great ambiance where we were able to watch a beautiful sunset.

After dinner was over, we hoped into a tuk tuk and head over to one of the shopping centers called Jungceylon.

Become a fan of Priceline on Facebook and they will give you a $35 coupon if they get up to 100,000 fans prior to Memorial Day.

I still don’t understand why companies feel that having a bunch of fans on Facebook is important, but we all may as well take advantage of it while it’s popular.

KLM is offering one set of free luggage tags per household. You can even upload your own photos or use one of the pre selected photos from KLM.

There are only 25,000 luggage tags left at the time of this post so make sure and hurry and order your free tags.

Enter to win 25000 Delta Skymiles from Fiji Water.

No purchase is necessary though they do try to upsell you on additional Skymiles for signing up for their automatic purchase program.

The contest ends May 23, 2010.

I just received a letter from Starwood offering complimentary elite Gold Status in their program.

This means more than likely that this is a targeted promotion, but it’s worth a shot for you to try.

Simply enter in your Delta Skymiles number at this link.