Companions forum

yes it's very premature, as most people only look a few weeks or months before -

My reply is a realistic one... based on over 30 yrs of travel experience, I'm going to SEA on Jan.1st - it will be my 4th visit. Planning in advance for me is 3- 4 months - for others it is less... for some it is more - thinking they can see all of SEA in 2 weeks! I'm sorry, but if you don't want opinions don't ask for them!

I'm sure lots of people are willing to help and/or travel with you, but they'll only be put off my such an aggressive reaction to honest advice. Besides, altml is probably right. Most people plan their trips a few months before leaving. I've had my tickets for months but I'm only doing the serious planning now. I'm leaving in five weeks...

Anyway, I hope you have a great trip and that you find some good friends for company!

Well it's certainly pretty early to be companion hunting. That's more than a full year away, so nobody is going to have a firm enough idea of where they will go this early out. But not too early to start thinking about some aspects of the trip:

1. Just a thought, because you are not me, but I do not like traveling with other people. Why rope in "companions" who, in this case, are people you don't even know? If you travel on your own you get to decide where you are going and when you are going there. No one elses desires need be accomodated. You also get to decide when and where you are going to eat and so forth. You have a lot more independence.
2. If you have a traveling companion from which you come from the same cultural orientation and have a common language background, you are far less likely to spend much time with indigenous people. Like everyone, you'll gravitate to the person where communication is easiest and you are already familiar.

I would advocate looking at REALLY getting off the beaten path. A lot of backpackers think they are getting off the beaten path when they avoid Pattaya, Phuket and Koh Samui... but there are many places in Thailand which don't have amazing sites and so forth but are genuine and interesting for their human aspects. I've said here before on travelfish, but when I've been going to Saimun for over ten years now, and the last four I go there every month because I have a house there - I have never, ever - not once - seen a single tourist. There are places to go here where you will experience Thailand in a way that almost no one does. If you want to.