Koh Lanta and Kao Tao on are opposite sides of the mainland and quite far from eachother. If that is your definite planned route, I would say Koh Lanta to Krabi Airport, fly to Koh Samui and then take the ferry from Samui to Koh Tao.

Koh Chang is my favorite. I have never been to Samet but figure since it is much easier and quicker to get to, there must be a good amount of bleedover of "undesireables" from Pattaya :) Anyway, last time I flew into the airport in Trat which is only a few minutes from the ferry to Koh Chang. It saved a lot of time and agony in that minibus. I actually connected from the states. Flew from LAX to BKK, cleared immigration, grabbed my bags and checked in with Bangkok Airways and flew over. It made for quite a marathon trip but that spending half a night in BKK only to return back to the airport in the morning isn't pleasant either. I also would recommend savind up all your nights in BKK in the end. You can do your shopping and not have to lug that stuff all over Thailand with you.

atheris you shouldnt judge a place on how close it is to Pattaya,Most who do go to Samet from Pattaya stay up the cheap end!

Koh samet is a national park that is a favorite short trip destanation for Thai,s, so quite often the beach is full of a mix of western and Thai tourists alike.

Plenty of backpackers turn up on Samet after only hearing about Samet from other backpackers. So there is usually a good mix of nationalities with not too many Germans getting up at 4am to claim all the beach chairs.

Didnt go this year so not sure about the Russian presence on Samet these days but they may have started to take over Samet as well.

Den

They are certainly in Pattaya in a big way, the Russians that is.

Places are always better where there is a good mix.

We fancy koh Chang next time would have gone this time but were bothered about the weather in May.

Jackie

__________________
Kiss
God laughs at people who make plans.

Thanks for all the info everybody.

I'm thinking that I may try to incorporate both places - Koh Chang and Koh Tao. Not sure how I'll manage it but I'm sure I could wrangle something.

Atheris, as for flying - I'm not sure I'll do it that way. There must be a way to do it overland. We did Phi Phi to Koh Samui which are opposite sides and that only took a few hours which consisted of 2 ferry rides and a bus ride and the experience was quite good fun and we got to meet people along the way which is part of the whole experience - in my opinion anyway.

Anybody have any ideas how I could incorporate the two places - Koh Chang and Koh Lanta with the itinerary I listed previously in this thread? After reading what everybody had to say I was thinking that I don't want to miss out on seeing either place! I was actually thinking that I could even try a night in Pattaya - I figure that seeing as Jax managed to go there then so could I and it would perhaps make for yet another experience? I imagine one night would be ennough though! : )

__________________
I still believe in paradise. But now at least I know it’s not some place you can look for. Because it’s not where you go … its how you feel for a moment in your life. If you find that moment … it lasts forever.

Getting from PP/Krabi to Samui/Phangan/Tao is no big deal, as you already know, it's not a long distance and the scenery is outstanding. But coming from the South (Lanta or Tao) to Samet or Chang will require going through BKK (unless you want to fly to U-Tapao) From BKK you can take the bus I mentioned earlier or go via Pattaya. I've looked at some of your photos and it seems you gals enjoy your R&R so I suggest you drop in on Pattaya, you'll be pleasantly surprised, it really is a fun place. From Pattaya you can arrange a minivan to Chang (usually you go with the border-run people heading for Cambodia) or Samet, which isn't too far away.

__________________
You're only young once, but you can stay immature forever.

Yep, you're right - we do love the r&r! We love meeting people and experiencing different places too, not to mention the actual travelling part and especially the ferry rides. So far, it will be just me doing all of this leg of the trip - I'm meeting up with the friends for the full moon party so should be interesting!!!

Your info is very helpful!!!! Thank you so much. May take your advice on all of it and I may need to pick your brain more! : )

Thanks again.

__________________
I still believe in paradise. But now at least I know it’s not some place you can look for. Because it’s not where you go … its how you feel for a moment in your life. If you find that moment … it lasts forever.