For a few years, I have been fascinated by Thailand. I have to admit, it may have had something to do with watching 'The Beach' for the first time. There was somthing so alluring about it. After meeting some great gals in my first year of university, we decided we wanted to go away together, out of europe.

 

As this was going to be my first trip out of europe away from my family, I wanted it to be somewhere that I knew tourists were always welcomed. Thailand is slated more how many tourists go there and how likely it is to meet someone you know, despite being on the other side of the world. However, this was almost appealing to me, as I knew many students or people on their gap years, chose to do Thailand as their first backpacking trip. Luckily, all four of us agreed that Thailand was perfect. Not only because of the safety but also because of the price and because we are students (broke), price and budget was obviously going to play a huge part when planning our trip. 

 

So the day our student loans came in, we went straight to STA Travel to book our tickets. We managed to get the last four seats on the flight from London Heathrow to Bangkok, 28/07/13 flying with Eva Air. We paid £874 each. In hindsight, I think we may have slightly been ripped off. We were drawn to STA Travel because of the benefits for students, however I think if we had not been so excited and hasty, and done some research and comparison online, we probably could have got a much better deal. What I will say if anyone does book with STA, is that they will try and lure you to pay for all these extortionate tours for when you arrive at your destination. The tours do sound amazing when you read them - Floating markets, tiger temples, elephant sancturys, temple hopping etc. However these range from £50 - £350. When you are in Thailand, you can do the EXACT same tours for a fraction of the price. For the Floating Markets and Tiger Temples STA were asking for £275, however we booked ours in Bangkok for £13!