Bangkok at nightThis week I’m in Bangkok on a business trip. I’m supposed to keep travel costs low now in the fourth quarter to help the company make its numbers. But I found that the economy class flight on Thai Airways was $1277 round trip, and the “premium economy” was only about $250 more, so I think that’s really worth it.

If you haven’t flown premium economy on an international flight before, what you get is considerably wider seats with more leg room, and the seats recline more, which is useful if you plan to sleep on the 17 hour flight between New York and Bangkok. Premium economy also gets you more and better food, and a lot more selections of movies and music on a personal video screen embedded into the back of the seat in front of you. Because premium economy is a bit more expensive, and requires more frequent flier miles to book a seat, you also tend to get fewer families traveling with screaming babies and toddlers kicking your seat.

Thai Airways is also part of the Star Alliance, which includes United, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines, Swiss, Lufthansa, and others. So if you are a registered frequent flier on any of these, points you earn on Thai will be added to your total. Since I usually fly British Air, part of the One World alliance, points earned on Thai Airways aren’t that useful to me. But the price was right, and Thai Airways had one of the only nonstop flights.

The time difference between Bangkok and New York (11 hours) is a weird mind trip. (Check out the World Clock for a great calculator.) The three meals on the plane were served at odd times, and it seemed to be the same meal (lunch) over and over again. I plan to call home every morning around 7 am, which is 8 pm the night before in New York. Since we landed yesterday at 4 pm (local time) my poor body is struggling to adjust, too. I’ve been getting sleepy and hungry kind of randomly, and then 10 minutes later it passes.

So using a helpful currency converter, I’ve learned the U.S. dollar is worth exactly 37.52 Thai Baht today. Not sure exactly what that means yet, though. My little attempts at research have shown that it’s easy to eat and live cheaply here, which is why it’s such a great tourist destination, but it’s also clear that Western things can cost a lot more here than local items. For example, grilled chicken and sticky rice from a street vendor will cost about 20 Thai Baht, or about 53 cents. But a Western style meal (pasta or burger with a coke) will cost between $4 and $8 at a touristy restaurant. Still not bad, right?

So today is my first full day in Thailand. The conference I’m here to attend doesn’t start until tomorrow, so I will wander around Bangkok today and report back on my dollars and cents for you tomorrow.