May 1,2,3, why those dates?
Many years ago it took me 2 hours to get through immigration at Swampy.
Fastest ever was at D M, earlier 2,000's, plane to taxi in 11 minutes!
Just wait until there are protests as we are seeing in Spain and other places. I saw recently that the ratio of vistors to residents in Phuket is 118:1.
I suspect that in years to come totally visa free entry could become a thing of the past. Reducing overtourism and denying entry to undesirables being an upshot of it.
Patong has long been pretty much the same thing as Pattaya, Soi Cowboy-on-the-beach, such places attract the dregs from all over the world (some good people there too).
In years to come, and when and if tourist numbers become excessive, I could see Thailand starting to require an e-visa before travel for most countries. In the UK we have the DBS system to help filter out crims/undesirables.
A recent figure suggests that the ratio of tourists to residents in Phuket is 118:1.
Looking back I would've probably chosen to live in Jomtien rather that Pattaya.
In my 20 years in Bangkok I lived within a 20 minute walk of Soi Cowboy and Nana Plaza, but in the last 5 years I hardly ever visited, no longer interested in that stuff.
Rather like Pattaya, such places attract trashy people from all over the world. How do I know, I have been there often, but in my later years in Thailand I didn't.
I lived in Bangkok from 1998-2018, and Thailand will always be a very special place for me. But the only time of year that I didn't want to be there was Songkhran week! IMHO, a real pain in the ***.