Luxury Southeast Asia Vacation Review: Sri Lanka, Thailand, Colombo, Sigiriya, Phuket Cave Kayaking, Ayutthaya Wats Tours

I would urge whomever booked the hotels to look for convenience, rather than just looking for  a 4-star or 5-star etc. - at least for us.  Two examples: in Bangkok, even though our itinerary said that we would be able to get off our flight and shower before our tour, we were unable to due to time restrictions and traffic.  And so, after leaving our hotel at 4 AM, upon arrival in Bangkok, I was forced to change into clothes in the middle of the city in a van so that we may continue our tour! This was NOT well planned.  We then went to see the Grand Palace, and a few other places, but then spent over 2 hours in traffic after this to get to our hotel which was much further East than anything we had planned to do.  We didn't reach or hotel until 8pm.  There had been no plans for lunch (which we had to ask to stop for) and it was 10 hours later than we had anticipated being to our hotel.  The next day was scheduled to go out of town, so there was no point in booking a hotel in the middle of the city when one right next to the Palace would have been more convenient, saved time, and saved my a headache from lack of food. Second example, a hotel in a more interesting and convenient location in Colombo would have made our free days more convenient. That said, this was ok as we were able to beat traffic with a tuk tuk.