CygnusX1

I actually live in VT5 for my less than 180 days in Thailand each year (though I certainly don’t rent the place out while I’m not there, way too much hassle, and I don’t need the money). Short term rentals don’t bother me at all, and some of the younger Russian ladies provide a bit of colour to the swimming pool area in high season!). I rented VT5 short term before buying there, and I’m pretty sure that there was no change in my behaviour as I changed from a despised, delinquent Airbnb renter to an exalted owner.

Jomtien beach is very long. I prefer the northern end towards Dongtan beach and the water park, as the beach further south feels pretty isolated, though many might disagree. I’ve stayed at the 4 star ‘Jomtien Palm Beach’ hotel, which has a great pool. Avalon Beach and Welcome World resorts look good, though I’ve not stayed in them. View Talay 5 and 7 are apartment blocks near the beach, avoiding having to cross busy Thappraya road. There’s a large amount of road construction at the moment, just south of the above places. Jan 2025 is of course peak high season, so some places could be booked out.

No, afraid Citibank sold their Thai operation to UOB, so no Citibank ATM’s in Thailand any more. Same ATM’s still in Asoke, just operated by UOB now. As to whether the exchange rate is OK when using your Citibank card there, you’d have to check the exchange rates your particular Citibank account uses when withdrawing cash from overseas ATM’s, and whether there are any surcharges. I used to have a Citibank account in Australia before they sold their operation to an Australian bank, and their rates were very fair. Used to love the Citibank Asoke branch, as I didn’t even need to pay the 220 baht fixed charge levied by just about all Thai banks when using an overseas card. One thing you have to take great care with is to never accept the conversion to your local currency that many ATM’s ‘helpfully’ offer you. This is known as ‘dynamic currency conversion’, and is an outrageous rip-off. Take your time at each step of the transaction, reading everything carefully, as if you feel rushed, it’s easy to fall into the dynamic currency conversion option by mistake. Even some supermarkets try it on, if paying by card, always insist on paying in Thai baht if given the option of paying in your local currency.

I have to take an antihistamine travel sickness pill on long bus trips on winding roads, and find them so effective at inducing sleep that I fall asleep when I absolutely don’t want to, such as on a super scenic trip along the Croatian coastline. Also agree on the dry mouth and hangover. I never use these pills on aircraft, as I don’t get airsick, and I almost never manage to get any sleep on long haul flights. I prefer it that way, as I find that if I get extremely tired, I can then go to bed at the right time for my destination, and have a very long sleep, after which I have zero jet lag.

A percentage increase such as this means very little if the absolute number of accidents isn’t specified. For instance, if the increase was from 500 to 730, it’s alarming, but if the increase was from a very low base of 10 to 15, it could just be statistical variation. The 105% increase in casualties might well have been the result of a single tragic accident.

I must be missing something here - wouldn’t that make these locks worthless?

Note that Germany has reopened power stations burning lignite, or brown coal, the fuel that produces the most carbon dioxide, as a result of that country’s successful campaign by anti nuclear green activists to shut down Germany’s nuclear power plants.

Gold star for Melbourne, I’ll resist the temptation to make the obvious joke.

Took me 95 minutes to get through immigration arriving at Sydney airport, with its 100% electronic system, a couple of months back. Hope Thailand’s not going to introduce anything like that.

I’m guessing English is not the OP’s native language. Other clues in his use of words, eg ‘there are very little folk’ and ‘not to me’ instead of not for me. If that is the case, good news that there already are some Russian babes, even before high season really starts, as I’m heading there next week.

Outcast for being unmarried, or for having a place in Thailand? I find it hard to imagine having a kid, bit like trying to imagine being a bullfighter or a ballet dancer, it’s so far out. Men on a good income can afford to be married and also have an interesting life with heaps of travel, but if I’d been married, on my very modest income, I’d have had to spend every spare cent of it on a 3 bedroom house in an ugly Australian suburb, and would have missed out on all the fantastic experiences I’ve enjoyed in my travels throughout the world.

When I was employed, I’d have at least one big overseas trip every year, taking leave on half pay to extend the holiday. Given that I was the lowest paid employee in the office, there was speculation as to how I could fund such a lifestyle, but the reason of course was that I was the only one who was unmarried. Now retired, I split my time between my maximum 179 days in Thailand and Australia, but can still afford 3 months in Europe each year. In purchasing a property in Thailand, I’ve made the second most expensive mistake you can make in that country, but have so far managed to avoid making the most expensive mistake.

Yep, seems to do the job just fine. I used to think front loading machines were just a European thing for tiny apartments, but apparently they’re now ubiquitous.

Amazing that the humble washing machine now comes with a motherboard, just like my gaming PC. My Philips automatic washer at my place in Australia is still going strong after 42 years, never serviced, never needed repairs.

I’ve just bet $500 with Australia’s TAB on a Harris win, odds of 2.4 were too good to pass up. Would be almost worth losing $500 to enjoy seeing the woke leftists having conniptions after a Trump victory though. However, talk of Trump withdrawing support for Ukraine and threatening a tariff war would be enough to make me an extremely reluctant supporter of Harris, though I think both candidates are frightful.

Quick web search shows cheapest 6 inch subway (plain ham) is $8 in Australia. From memory, couple of weeks ago I was paying around 110 baht or $4.90 at Jomtien subway (today's ex rate 22.3), but cheaper if you get the sub of the day. Nearest I'll get to real Thai food. Of course, as others have already pointed out, Thailand is hugely cheaper for the things that really count, such as housing and services. I paid $270 in Oz for an electrician to change a light switch, 2 minute job (he gave me a $30 discount as I'm retired). Paid 120 baht, or $5.40, for a lady in Pattaya to fix the soles of my sandals, over an hour's work, and my apologies to some here, I tipped her 80 baht.

A practice known as "dogging" according to my nephew. However, I don't think even he would have imagined in his wildest dreams anyone doing it to an ambulance, in any country.

I don’t think Thailand’s leading the way to a cashless society. I still have to sign my name at some supermarkets when paying by credit card, and Bangkok’s still full of ATM machines, including some fancy looking new ones. Australia’s far ahead. Thought I’d buy an ice cream at the little kiosk staffed by a couple of kids at Coogee beach, and was happy I had some cash in small notes, as they surely wouldn’t take plastic. To my astonishment, they would only take plastic, which I fortunately had, as I wasn’t swimming, just on a long walk. But when I do swim at a beach anywhere in the world, I never have plastic or my phone with me, as having those stolen while I was in the water would be a catastrophe, but losing $10 or $20 in cash is trivial.

So the $345 is for 3 months. Cheaper than I thought it would be. Delicate question, you’re not aged in your twenties or thirties?

That’s bad news for me, was hoping to have 6 months free insurance until I turned 70 (when the medical part of the free travel insurance stops). It always did seem to be too good to be true. ANZ hasn’t sent me anything yet, and their website still states 6 months.

4 MyEgo - Thanks once again for your help. Great to know that the 2 year rule shouldn’t apply to me. I’m back in Australia next week, so if I have any issues I will consider contacting Centrelink Tasmania - somewhat bizarre they apparently are the only helpful branch in Australia! I’m well aware of the deeming rules that apply to financial assets. I also think that my Thai condo wouldn’t be classed as a financial asset since it’s property I don’t derive income from, and so would only be included in the assets test. I’ll lose most of any pension I do succeed in getting through the income test rather than the assets test, so any over valuation by Centrelink of the Thai condo based on the assumption it would have appreciated in value at the same rate as Sydney property wouldn’t matter.

Thanks so much for that, you’ve set my mind at rest, and convinced me to undergo the no doubt lengthy and complicated process of applying for the OAP. As a bonus, I don’t spend all of my 8 months overseas in Thailand, but spend nearly 3 months in Europe each year (just shy of the annoying 90 day limit of the Schengen zone). I realise I have to be in Australia when applying. As for the question of whether someone in my rather comfortable financial position should get the OAP, that’s another topic for discussion!

I’m forced to maintain a residence (I believe ‘domicile’ is the technical term) in Australia so I can keep my tax residency status while spending 8 months or so overseas each year. I suppose I could just sell my flat and rent a place for the 4 months I’m in Australia, but changing address every year would look more than a little iffy to the tax office, and renting the same place for the whole year would end up nearly as expensive as keeping my flat, with all the disadvantages of renting. If my flat was in Bondi, no doubt I could profitably rent it out short term while I’m not in Australia, but since it’s in a place no tourist would want to visit, I could only really do that for 12 month periods, as well as having to spend tens of thousands to bring it up to a condition suitable for renting out. To bring this back on topic, I’m about to apply for the OAP. Apologies if this has been already covered in the past 215 pages, but does anyone know if my 8 month absences each year would prevent me from getting the pension? There’s a lot of talk about the 2 years spent in Australia to qualify, hope I wouldn’t have to suspend much of my travel for that period of time.

There have been recent stories in the media about people being denied boarding on a flight due to some microscopic level of damage to their passport. It’s safest to treat your passport with great care, and carry it about and handle it as little as possible.

No, afraid I have no advice for those guys. If I did know of a way around it, I’d have been living in Thailand full time for the last six years myself. Instead, I’m forced to permanently lock up a large amount of money in my flat in Australia, along with paying thousands each year in council tax, body corporate fees, fixed charges for electricity and water, air fares between Sydney and Bangkok. I do save on health insurance that I would have had to purchase were I living in Thailand full time.