I have been using 12Go to book travel all around the world, and during my recent trip island-hopping the Trang Islands in Thailand, I found them to not only have similar or better prices than what I was quoted locally, but also to be responsive, reliable and extremely timely with their transfers. One transfer experience that stuck with in particular was the transfer from Koh Ngai to Koh Libong. I had booked the “ferry” transfer on 12Go from Koh Ngai to Koh Libong. The ticket just said “ferry transfer” so I was under the impression I would just be on a boat – however the reality was actually quite different. It was one of those experiences where I actually enjoyed the travel menagerie that followed, and I thought I would share the experience in case others might want to know what they’re getting into if they also want to book this transfer. Foreshadowing – I ended up at my destination 1 hour ahead of schedule.
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The owner of my guesthouse on Koh Ngai asked me where I was headed to after Koh Ngai, and I told her Koh Libong. She told me it was going to be a boat, car, boat transfer – and offered to book it for me. Since I already purchased my “ferry transfer” with 12Go, I told her I did not need tickets anymore. Nonetheless, this planted the seed of doubt in my head about whether my “ferry transfer” with 12Go was actually just a ferry transfer. Just in case, I checked around locally and the transfer prices I got between the two islands was actually higher than what I got on 12Go. 400 Baht to get from Koh Ngai to Pak Meng Pier, then another 400 Baht to take a car from Pak Meng pier to Hat Chao Pier, then another 100 Baht to take the ferry between Hat Chao Pier and Ban Prao Pier on Koh Libong, plus whatever it costs to get local transportation from Ban Prao Pier to Koh Libong. The all-in price of 850 with 12Go seemed to save me a lot of hassle and transfers are guaranteed on 12Go, so in the event it was in fact a multi-leg journey, if one leg was missed, I would get assistance getting an alternate transfer at no extra cost; and it seems like it’s just one boat? (Hint: it was definitely not just one boat). Note: this pricing is from December 2025 – the war in the Middle East breaking out in February 2026, has since driven prices up significantly, as Thailand was particularly hard hit by the ensuing global fuel crisis. This transfer that cost me just shy of $30USD in December 2025 now costs closer to $40USD at time of the writing of this post.
When booking the ticket on 12Go I was asked to input my pick-up hotel and drop-off hotel in the booking. “Surely, they’re not going to boat up to my hotel on Koh Ngai and pick me up from the beach” I thought – but there wasn’t a meeting location for the pick-up so I sent a WhatsApp message to the travel provider along with a screenshot of my ticket, and they told me that I would be picked up and dropped off at my origin and destination hotels. “Ok… that seems like suspiciously red carpet service for transferring me between remote islands in Asia for less than $30USD… but alright… I’ll play along.. if it all falls through I’ll just get a refund from my credit card and book the speedboat later in the day,” I reasoned.
So the day arrives, and right on time; a long-tail boat arrives at my resort. I’m already suspicious that the so called “ferry transfer” is not just going to be one boat as another tourist got on the boat with me said he was going to Pak Meng Pier, but my hotel insisted that this was the correct boat for me to take… so I got on. I figured if the transfer falls apart somehow, at least at Pak Meng Pier I’d likely be able to find a transfer just about anywhere among the Trang Islands.
After a lovely 45 minute longtail boat ride with just 4 other passengers, we land at Pak Meng Pier. As soon as I get off, there’s already a representative from the travel company who’s checking my onward details on his phone – and confirms the destination hotel name I input when I first made my booking. He then takes me and the other traveler from my hotel to a rather fancy air-conditioned SUV and we’re off. The other traveler is going to Trang Town, and I’m going to Hat Chao Pier, so at some point we’re both wondering how this is going to work out as we’re not really going in the same direction.
Our driver takes us South along the coast of Trang until we get to Khuan Tung Ku Pier, where I was fully expecting to get off and get on a boat, but this stop was just was to drop the other traveller off, as he would be joining other travellers coming off boats from Koh Mook towards Trang Town. A representative from the transit company meets with our car and asks if he can take a photo of me to send to the tuk-tuk driver who was going to take me to my hotel. “Tuk-tuk? No where in the ticket did it say ‘tuk-tuk’ but ok… I’ll keep playing along…” We continue on in the car until we get to Hat Yao Pier, the driver actually drives me onto the concrete pier, purchases my ferry ticket, and I get onboard what appears to be the local chicken ferry – any space not taken up by a person is packed to the brim with goods and cargo. I look at my map, and figure, it’s a very short distance to the island at this point – it’s not going to be a long ride – and I managed to get a nice “window seat” so I didn’t feel claustrophobic.
The local ferry ride between Hat Yao Pier and Banphrao Pier on Koh Libong took about half an hour. As we approached Koh Libong, I could not help but marvel at how incredibly smooth this apparently 4-part journey has been. At each change up, zero time was lost – someone was there to meet me and hustle me onboard the next mode of transport as soon as I got off the last mode of transport.
“Maybe my luck might run out” I thought, as Banphrao Pier – Koh Libong’s main port – pulls into view and it looks like chaos. Even with a photo – how is the tuk-tuk driver going to find me? Then as the boat is docking, I see a tuk-tuk driver – sitting in a tuk-tuk right on the dock next to where the boat is landing. He sees me in the boat, checks his phone, and then we nod towards each other. “AMAZING”! I thought. I have had coffee rendez-vous with friends in the city where I actually live, where things have not been this smooth, and here I am transferring from boat to car to chicken-ferry to tuk-tuk among remote islands of Thailand and everything has been absolutely butter smooth. As I crawl past all the cargo on the boat and get onto the dock, the tuk-tuk driver has already put my backpack onto his vehicle and then quickly shows me a piece of paper with my name and destination hotel on it. I nod that it’s me and off we go!
The surprise tuk-tuk ride was really was the icing on the cake. We whizzed past fields, jungle landscapes and villages, even monkeys on the side of the road. Nothing like a tuk-tuk ride in rural SE Asia… we were at my destination hotel in 15 minutes. I arrived an hour ahead of schedule, and had a fantastic adventure along the way. So would I recommend this transfer? Absolutely! Perhaps if you have a lot of luggage or are traveling with children, this transfer might not be great; but if you’re traveling relatively light (backpack + daypack) I would say book this, save half the money over the speedboat and enjoy the ride! Just know that (unless they change things on 12Go), the ticket is going to say “ferry transfer” but in reality is actually a boat+car+ferry+tuk-tuk transfer. Although now that I put it all in writing perhaps they just say “ferry transfer” simply not to scare people away… to be honest, had I seen it written out as boat+car+ferry+tuk-tuk, I probably would have opted for the speedboat… but then I would have missed out on this cool adventure