It's a strange and wonderful land Thailand.
You might very well find your first Thailand experience is dealing with a wicked heat wave with the fan whirring away all night and lots of ice cool drinks to keep you refreshed and comfortable...
Of course, everyone's first experience of Thailand will be different.
But there's some things you can do to make your Thailand vacation (or journey) remarkable and one to be remembered as special forever...
The first thing it doesn't hurt to have handy is either a small Thai language guide book and perhaps a sprinkling of basic Thai knowledge under your belt, so you can at least say your 'pleases and thankyous,' and communicate where you're from (and where you're headed) too.
Believe me, it goes a long way to easing the language barriers.
Next up is to have an adventure.
A real adventure - one where you go wherever you feel inclined at the time - just jump on any bus, boat, underground railway or skytrain - and see where it takes you (within reason of course!) As crazy as it seems, it's a lot of fun and you'll get to see the real Thailand faster than any pushed-for-time group tour! When you go adventuring like this, take your guide book, a small map and have a few Thai language phrases or words swimming around your head and be prepared to use them.
But even without those you'll still be OK - the Thais will enjoy helping you out anyway! So jump into the unknown and get lost in Thailand - not only will you love the adventure, but the memory will live with you forever!