Just completed the 10/31 Thailand tour that was a great tour until time to return home. It took nearly two days to get home and it was the worst travel experience ever!!! The trip home was a killer and the reason I will never travel with smarTours again unless these two questions below are answered to my satisfaction: This is the travel breakdown: 19 hours - flight time for our three legs to get home 14 hours - sitting in airports 5 hours - sitting at Empress Hotel NEARLY TWO DAYS including a drive from LAX to Las Vegas..... 1. The last day, we checked out of the hotel at noon but did not start return home till 5pm, or five hours later. Why could we not check out mid-morning and immediately start the return trip home from Chiang Mai and fly to Beijing? It makes no sense to sit in the hotel for 5 hours, fly south Bangkok only to back track to Beijing!!! Why was the flight necessary? This step kills nearly 10 hours and adds another flight to the trip home!!!!! 2. Sitting in the Beijing airport for 8 hours were the longest and worst part of the trip. This is the longest lay-over ever and must be improved. The airport was cold (they don't turn on heat till end of Nov.), uncomfortable, few good restaurants, no good resting places and wi-fi did not work. Does it make any sense to sit in a airport for 8 hours to you? If you have a contact person regarding these issues, please provide name and phone number and would love to talk with that person. Looking forward to a plausible explanation for this travel plan of two days to get home. If I knew the return trip was that long/bad, I would not have booked. This return process is horrible and must be improved. On the positive side, great tour and Nok was a great tour guide...... THANKS - Roy Oxenrider