Mike Teavee

Ahh <deleted> it then, we might as well just go to the Maldives... I'm joking (well semi, as I'm looking at flights to Male as I type ???? ) Honestly appreciate your input, I'm figuring If I can get UK Gov to give her a visa to visit the UK the EU will be a lot easier & if not I can think of a lot worse places to be stuck (Just seeing @sandyf BM name reminds me of my best mate in Glasgow & how beautiful Scotland & the (Cumbrian) Lakes are) so if we don't get a Schengen Visa, it wouldn't be the end of the world. I'll use an agent to get her UK visa (I hate paperwork) which should hopefully help & maybe the trip to the Maldives (+ Siem Reap when my mum & dad get here) will help in her favour ????

@sandyfThanks again for taking the time to share you thoughts & advice, I can see you've been through this process more than most so I really appreciate you taking the time to help a 1st timer out ???? I am clear now, get the UK Visa first & then look at getting the Schengen Visa...

Again... I'm Pro-Choice, if she had decided that she wanted to abort the baby I would have done my upmost to try to talk her out of it (would have probably married her) but at the end of the day, it's her body, her choice. Edit: Yes, I believe that every man should be responsible for helping to raise their child, I'm old fashioned like that I guess...

Been there, have the T-Shirt & the baseball cap & the simple answer is yes I would rather support my child in that scenario than have her abort him (Again, I'm not Pro-Abortion, I'm Pro-Choice). I split up with her before we knew she was pregnant, had to do a DNA test (her solicitor) when he was a couple of weeks old & paid child support until he was 18 & left education. She got married a few months after he was born, has had a couple of kids since & the last time I saw her (shortly before the lad's 18 birthday) she was happy. I'm gutted I missed out on his life BUT I consider the man who raised him to be his real father, I'm just a biological accident...

I agree the song has nothing to do with abortion per se, but it has everything to do with a poor family being forced to have a baby that they know they can't afford & the societal impact when that kid grows up. NB I'm not pro-abortion & would do my best to try to talk anybody out of getting one, but I am Pro-Choice. Please don't reply with "What about the choice of the unborn/undeveloped fetus", arguments like that can be taken to the extreme (Reductio Absurdum) as if you've ever had a w4nk, <deleted> or used a condom when having sex, you've denied the chance of your sperm to grow into a baby & every time a girl has a period, she's denied the rights of her unfertalised egg to grow into a baby. Should we ban hand shandy's & periods next PS: I agree, easily one of (if not the) best song from Elvis

It's been a long time since I've even thought of an Elvis song (shame as I was a big fan before he died, was 11 at the time) but this one springs to mind when I read your post & think about the impact this ruling will have on the poorer American families...

My thoughts exactly... This added to the insane decision to extend gun carrying laws in NY has me scratching my head & the only answer I can come up with is America really is turning into an Idiocracy https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/ My home country (UK) is no better so I don't mean this as a slight to our American cousins...

Lol, a mate of mine almost ended up in a fight with a waiter in New York as he refused to pay a tip. The waiter was just obnoxious & my mate had lived there for a few years so knew the score but it was still something that you don't normally see in a restaurant I've since learnt that "Servers" in the US are taxed on the assumption that they will receive a certain percentage of every bill as a tip so by not tipping them you're costing them money (in this case the <deleted> deserved it).

Thanks for this... We have travelled (Bali & Singapore and will be visiting Siem Reap when my parents visit in November) so she has a couple of stamps in her passport & she used to work at Central Mall so has a few years employment history but I asked her to give this up when I retired in Feb 2020 so we could go travel. The Plan was always for her to go back to work once we'd finished travelling but Covid meant there's not much demand for a girl selling make-up (Irony being she has a degree in IT & me, an Ex-IT Director at one of the UK's top 5 Banks, doesn't) She spent longer working as a Nanny (off book to pay her way through Uni) for her family who's moving to Germany which is why she has such a strong bond to the 2 kids hence since we've learnt they're relocating she's really keen to go visit. Thanks again for all the advice shared here, it's made it much clearer for me what I need to do & I really feel confident now that I can get her a visa to visit the UK (Have family there who will support the application) & once we get that it will make it easier for us to get a Schengen visa to visit her family.

That's one way of looking at it... Maybe another way is that I have the cash with no barriers to withdrawal (not like I need to sell anything) if I need it... is that the same as having cash? I don't know about you but I decided before I retired (for the 1st time at 40) that I'd rather not have mortgage interest to pay so once I'd payed the house off I could either close my account (credit line) & pay a couple of £100s for somebody to hold my deeds... or I could keep an excess of £500 in my account & they pay me £0.16p every month for the privilege of holding my deeds. Yeah... I guess that really means that I don't have any cash... Edit What really makes me laugh is I haven't lived in the UK for 15 years so why on earth would I keep any money there that I didn't have to have.

Thanks for highlighting this, I hadn't even considered it as she has no intention of living in Germany but I can see how an officer could come to that conclusion so best to avoid (I also note the points made about a rejection stamp in her passport making any future visa requests even more difficult). I think it's quite clear now that I need to focus on getting her a UK Visa (something I can/do have a lot of input into) & once she has this apply for a Schengen visa to visit EU from the UK. Thanks again for all of the input guys, I really appreciate it.

Always had you down as a triple-bagger ???? Joke: have just finished a bag of Haribo licorice, not a patch on Bertie's Allsorts

Why does it bother you if people choose to wear a mask? In Asia, pre-covid you would often see people on public transport wearing a mask (mainly out of curtesy if they had a cold/flu but it was much more widespread during things like the SARS outbreak) even though there were no laws forcing them to do so.

Thanks @sandyf I've more or less settled on the plan of getting her Schengen visa on the grounds of visiting her family (Plan is to make the trip next May so they'll have been there approx. 8 months by then & will provide invites, confirmation that they'll support her stay etc...) with me proving additional support but from the sounds of it, there is very little support I can offer as a Non-EU citizen. If we do have problems getting her visa from the German embassy then plan B would be to look to get it at the French embassy but it sounds like I might need a Plan C! Also, it looks like we'll be scrapping (at least one of) the France/Italy legs in favor of a trip to the UK, (obviously I will need to arrange for a separate visa), would a Schengen visa allow multi-entry into the EU (e.g. Germany - UK - France) or would I need to do the EU legs of the trip in one go (e.g. Germany/France/Italy - UK)

Monday will be my 3rd trip to Bangkok this month (normally go twice a month) so the 3x2,000 THB (1,000 each way) saving is not to be sniffed at. GF prefers the bus over taxis as she feels safer & we always get of at Udom Suk BTS station to avoid the traffic on Sukhumvit Road. Going to/coming from the Airport we now use Nam’s taxi (1,000 THB including tolls) but that’s once or twice every few months.

How much do KeyVisa charge for UK Passport renewal? Looking for the larger (more pages) one as I only ever need to change mine because it gets full.

This is a list of the labs that are accredited to do COVID tests... https://service.dmsc.moph.go.th/labscovid19/indexen.php Sort it on Type (You're looking for Government if you want to avoid paying a premium price) & Province. The Chonburi ones start at the bottom of page 7 & from what I can see, Pattaya City Hospital would be your closest one as the rest seem to be north of Pattaya (Pattayarak, the one in Naklua, would be the next closest for you). Getting to Pattayarak is quite easy as the Fish Market is at the end of the Naklua Baht Bus route, though I appreciate it will probably be 3 buses for you coming from Jomtien (1 change at the School in Pattaya & another change at Dolphin Roundabout).

I know they do them at the health center behind Naklua Fish market & seem to recall a PCR test there was around 1,500 THB so I would expect an ATK to be around 400ish. Update: Have managed to find a Youtube video & it's 350 THB... YT video is here [NB Video is in Hindu but does show what the building is like & the price per screenshot below]

This topic reminds me of the scene from Reservoir Dogs... Funny tipping story happened to me yesterday... I always tip the Bolt driver 20 THB + whatever satang to round it up so I gets 90 THB ready for a 67 THB fare. GF sees me get 2x20s & a 50 ready, takes it from me & when we got home, gives him 100 THB. I pointed out that I was already tipping him approx. 33% of the fare & she'd now increased it to 50%, her reply was that gas was expensive now & if I will buy drink for a lady then I can tip the driver an extra 10 THB... Can't really argue with that ????

Lol, I only mentioned my finances as I figure I would need to be able to show a certain amount of cash in my bank in the UK & at the moment I have <£1,000 which I'm guessing won't be enough. The fact that I have a large amount of cash available to me is because my mortgage is an "Offset" mortgage, whereby any money you have in your account is offset against what you owe on the house, so if I were to take £20,000 & put it into my "Real" bank account to show for a visa, I'm basically borrowing £20,000 against my mortgage (and will need to pay mortgage interest on it).

Speaking from experience on my UK trip in March (where hardly anybody wore a mask anywhere), it really does feel weird not wearing a mask when you're walking down the street. Will still keep a couple in my pocket though, just in case.

I'm sure this has been asked & answered before (if so can somebody please share a link & hopefully the Mods can close this thread). In a nutshell I'm British & would like to take my Thai GF to Europe (1 to visit her family in Germany but also to take her to see Paris & Rome, it's been a couple of decades since I've visited either so these are more for me than her) but I have no idea, as a Brit, what's required following Brexit. Scenario is... I'm Early Retired (56) with no active/provable income but do have tax returns that show approx. £18,000 pa of passive income pa. Have very little cash in the bank in the UK but do have an "Open Plan" mortgage which means I technically have a 6 figure (GBP) sum there which is offsetting what I owe on my mortgage, I can easily carve off 60% of this into my normal bank accounts if I needed to do to support a visa application but obviously I don't want to do this as it will mean me paying mortgage interest on the money I take out. My GF (36) has employment history from when she worked in a Mall but since I retired here (Feb 2020) & asked her to give up her job (the plan was we would go travel then she would get a new job) she hasn't worked... She does have approx. 750K THB in the bank & a house/land (not sure if it's in her name or her mums) + evidence of regular income going into her account (I make sure to xfer at least 8K every month into her account since she stopped working). I have around 6 months to plan this so can arrange for cash to be in my UK account if I need to & would be grateful if anybody could share details/experiences of what's required to get a Schengen visa (supported by a Non-EU citizen, in particular a Brit) to take a Thai girl on a trip to Europe. Edit: It took me typing that out to think of a couple of other options... Would it be easier for her family in Germany to support her visa (they are only moving there this year, she is very close to them hence the topic has come up... Hubby is Dutch, wife is Thai with a Dutch(EU)/Thai passport,2 kids also have dual citizenship) Is there an easier EU country to apply for a Schengen visa to than Germany (as mentioned planning to visit France/Italy as well so can do these 1st but a pre-holiday trip to Spain/Portugal wouldn't be unwelcomed).

True but if you're flying Business class it means using the none-fast track channel... I have heard they'll skip you to the front of the queue if you do your re-entry permit at the airport but I don't know how true this. I hate queueing for anything, especially when I'm travelling long distance so get my re-entry permit before I go (Hand everything over to Agent + 1,500 THB, get everything back the next day - 1,500 THB but + a single re-entry permit). Edit: OP I'm sure you can easily get the Re-Entry Permit yourself tomorrow (Friday) or as @DrJack54has advised, do it at the airport on the way out.., Just please note that you'll need to go through the none-fasttrack channel for the re-entry permit desk, it is well sign posted...

Could be worse, he could be an indicator installer at BMW....

You could get the Waze App for your mobile & monitor the route in advance at the same time you're planning to travel to see what the traffic is typically like. Apple Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/waze-navigation-live-traffic/id323229106 Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.waze&hl=en_AU&gl=US