No matter how many times you read Lonely Planet (LP) or online guides to “getting there”, wherever, it never quite turns out the way described.  I wanted a quick exit out of Bangkok and was told one of the easiest was Somet Island.  So I consulted Lonely Planet, online and printed form, as well as several other online guides.  I wrote it all down carefully.  Each mode of transportation, each stop or transfer.  I had it all pictured in my mind.  A short walk to Skytrain (light rail) several stops and I was at the Eastern Bus terminal.  Not real clear where the bus station was after the skytrain stop but that was OK and then sure enough there was a ticket window for bus to Rayong. Only eight other passengers.  Smooth sailing.  They nicely distributed cups of sealed and cold water and later a small hand wipe.  I was able to follow our trip using my I phone GIS.  That was cool in that blah modern tech way.  I'm being told where I am from a satellite?  When we arrived somewhere.  Bus stops.  Driver just says something like "end."  It was pouring warm rain and I was immediately beseeched by taxis and tuk tuks.  I selected the woman probably in her late thirties who had a small child.  Ferry to Somet.  Oh yes. 27km.  300bht.  No problem.  Well I guess.  Although I'm pretty sure old LP said just get off the bus and walk to ferry terminal or to 7/11.  Huh?  But I did get the right pier.  Well kind of.  You never go unnoticed.  Probably 20 people noted my arrival, along with others coming from various directions and different modes of transportation.  You want ferry.  Where you go? I told her name of resort. It won't leave until 3pm (It was noon).  Speed boat instead.  (OK LP warned about this but without memorizing the book or pulling it out I couldn't remember what).  1800 bht if you....what followed the "if you..." was...well I don't know because then she said but 1200bht.  OK?  OK, what?  Well I know 1200 is better than 1800.  As soon as I said OK it launched her. A woman behind a counter got out paper work.  A tuk tuk drive was put on alert.  I was handed a ticket. Wait here ten minutes (it also always was 10 minutes where ever I went even if it turned out to be 5 (less likely) or 45 minutes).  Tuk Tuk motioned to me to hop in, after the first women hands over a small wad of bhts.  A wired-in side car.  Okedoky.  We go about a mile to a row of I suppose travel agents.  A women says, where you go.  Name of resort again.  She flips an album open to photos of my resort.  That's nice.  Of course I've already seen www photos of the place I'm going from the lobby to displays of lunch, so many that it feels like I've already been there.  No I tell her I already am booked there.  She turns to someone and says something in Thai that was probably something like, Dude's already booked.  She motions me to sit down.  ten minutes.  She hands tuk tuk number one a small wad of bhts.  He leaves.  Eight minutes later another Tuk Tuk arrives.  Get in.  And we go back the same direction I just came from.  To a terminal with name of my Resort and big words: speed boat.  I hand over my paper work.  And you guessed it.  Sit.  Ten minutes.   The rest is smooth.  Although no clue about when I'm suppose to get out as we land several  places on the island. 

Here's something else LP might warn people about.  OK guys when you arrive at some of these resort islands the boat lands on a beach.  You know.  Not a dock, but a beach you know with waves and soft sand.  And, you're wearing what?  And carrying what?  Its why I don't take my good laptop computer with me.  I'm a writer and that is the tool of my trade after-all.  Figuring it wouldn't take much to trip and take a plunge.  Coming back from the island there were two German couples, probably my age.  I'm half their size.  I have my backpack and a tiny carry on kind of side bag.  they've got suitcases made out of lead.  Three of them make the dive on to the boat.  One kind of misses and gets soaked up to his waist.  One suitcase lands in the water but is quickly retrieved.  yeah, I know, ah the hardship. 

When Old Christopher Columbus or whoever landed after months on the Atlantic they kissed the beach and then continued picking lice from their head and wiped blood from their blistered lips.   But, hey, I've been working on a novel for 2 years and its on my computer.  If I had taken my "real computer" and taken a dump.  Yes, I have a backup and not all is lost.  But, still unlike the speedboat tender we don't all in our home towns jump on and off boats in the surf.

While we're on the topic of transportation, I'd like to know what the advantage of a mini-van rather than a public bus is?  In this instance, a 180 km road trip, the public bus was much preferable.  For many reasons.  First of all, it would seem the minivan is a more flexible timeline, right?  The public bus has a rigid schedule and the minivan makes up its own.  To your advantage, right?  Not really.  The van held ten people.  I was the first passenger.  We had to stop 7 times to get the additional people.  Of course it makes sense financially.  A full van means more revenue.   And each time we stopped was unpredictable.  Sometimes there was a person waiting; they jumped on and off we went.  In another, we waited for 20 minutes for two Europeans who as it turns out weren't going to Bangkok, but what the heck it was on the way.   We also picked up what looked like 50 pounds of pretzels and later dropped them off.  And, the driver had something to eat at another stop while having what seemed like an important personal conversation with two men.   But, here's the other things about minivans.  They are intimate.  I had to listen to the European conversation.  After-all the woman's knees and shoulders were brushing against mine.  So I had my iPod plugged in the whole way.  And then there's the view.  I had a tiny corner of one window to look out.  Couldn't see up front where we were going because the seats are high and if I looked to my left I'd be staring into the other people's personal space.  On the bus you are above the average height of vehicles and there are more windows.  Lastly, maybe a small point, but I think the buses just went right on through toll booths, the minivan has to queue up each time.

But, still Lonely Planet guides are for the most part amazing guides.  Its comforting to have the pages of accommodations to check out and all that.  Its just you can't rely on their word alone.