PadPrikKhing

I'm planning on coming over in early October, but I still haven't made a decision on heath insurance. I'm kind of in the dark about the market... I've talked to someone at Cigna and could easily get theirs, but it seems rather expensive at around $258/month with a $750 deductible (my age is 60). Is it possible there's a good alternative insurer I'm not aware of yet, where the coverage is about as good and as trustworthy, for significantly less? Do any of you folks have an idea for a competitive company? I definitely want one who will pay providers directly as Cigna does. I may be hoping for something impossible here... I don't know (hence the rookie asking the seasoned expats here). Thanks.

I've gotten over the books thing... finally. Working on getting over the kitchen stuff and other things except the music production gear.

Thanks, I guess one big mistake was thinking that I could ship the things over and then they'd wait on hold in customs (if necessary, timing-wise) until I acheived the "retired" status, then I would go pick them up, having a retirement status. But apparently what counts is what your visa status is on the day that the stuff arrives...? Whether I have that right or not, I have come to my senses about shipping heavy stuff like books and kitchen stuff. Now I'm looking at just shipping the vital (music related) things—only about 4 items—via UPS or similar.

Thanks, yeah that is the conclusion I've come to. Not worth it. But regarding the shipping of musical gear, there are a couple things I'm going to bring on the flight... two guitars, but there are other things that wouldn't be practical to do that way. One of them is a synthesizer with only a soft bag, so for that one I plan to try to wrap it all up in cardboard real well and do my best to protect it and ship it. I hope it will make it. Other things in this category are a small tube guitar amp, which is the same thing... I just have to double-box it and protect it as much as possible; a box that will contain cables, cords, peripherals, etc. That kind of stuff. It's way too much in total to bring it all on the plane, so I'll have to ship it. I think I'm going to ship it to a friend as "gifts," and if the duty is expensive, so be it. I have to have those things. I hope Thai Customs at least knows to calculate the duty based on the actual/realistic value of used things, and not just look them up online and see what they cost new. Instruments and amps etc. are like cars, they can often lose a big % of their value once they're used (there are exceptions like old and rare instruments of couse, but mine aren't that). So since my stuff is used, I would hope that the duty fees can't spin out of control for a couple of pieces of gear and a box of cables.

Thanks. The info about books and bugs makes it even clearer that I shouldn't bring them. I hadn't even thought about that. I was thinking of bringing them for mostly sentimental reasons, i.e. they've been with me a long time and it would make me feel "at home" to have them. But that's a silly reason in the face of the realities. My thoughts about bringing the kitchen gear were more about that they're high quality pots and pans (some of them), and I have a whole bunch of the smaller things, everything from corkscrews to gummy bear molds to whisks to cheese graters, etc. A huge drawer full accumulated over many years. Just every kind of thing you'd find in a kitchen, which would take years to replace, but I'm not going to worry about replacing them. Many never get used, and it's more about that feeling of having them all "just in case." But in this context, they're not "wealth" anymore, they're dead weight and they're complicating things. With regard to the kinds of things you mentioned like juicers and pressure cookers, I don't have any of those kinds of appliances to send so that wasn't going to be a problem. Honestly, it's starting to become more about the hassle than the money... this is turning into a massive hassle, and that deters me too.

Yep, I agree. I see that guy in that thread had the same problem but on a much bigger scale. It's simply not worth the hassle, as was expressed in that thread. Thanks.

Nope, not going back and forth at all. I'm doing this in one go. I do not have the retirement visa yet, or any visa. I'm coming in visa-exempt, then will get a visa agent, then do the Non-O to Non-O retirement extension route. Talking about it in this thread has helped me see how absurd it would have been if I'd paid a bunch of extra money to bring those other things. This is such a big move for me that it's been difficult to get out of my own head about it and see some of the common sense aspects.

Thanks bud.

Yes, they failed to mention that I think. I knew prices would be more, but I didn't realize it would be an enormous increase. Still, I was kind of resolved to pay the money, if it was going to happen the way I thought it would. But without knowing what they will charge for duty, it's too risky. This is all good though, it's making me fully realize that I have to get rid of nearly everything. I was still hanging on to that idea that I could bring some of the things that wouldn't be vital or practical, but nope. It's not worth it to have 100 books I like to see in the shelf but never really read anymore and a bunch of kitchen stuff that would be great to have over there but can be replaced when I get there.

Well I've been thinking about this subject for months now, and believe me I've thought a lot about the idea of storing it here, but it makes little sense. That would be very expensive to do. I'm in California and storage spots are like $150/month for the smallest ones. So I'd be paying like $1800 a year just to have that stuff sitting here while I decide what to do with it. That's out of the question. So you're right, I'm in the process of coming to terms with the fact that to start a new chapter in Thailand I need to let go of most things I have here and I do think that in truth it will be refreshing. I have to go back to the drawing board, as it were. I need to get over the fact that I need to just dump 90-95% of my things. That's hard to do with a 30-year book collection and 20 years of accumulated kitchen stuff. I've already given away a 300+ disc, 30-year CD collection (but not before ripping them all to lossless digital form!). But it's becoming increasingly clear that this is what I have to do. But I have to figure out a way to get my vital stuff over. I'm hoping it will cost a reasonable amount of money and not a ridiculous amount to ship. I'm talking about at minimum a keyboard (a Roland synthesizer), a couple of boxes of studio peripherals like cables, cords, a couple of microphones, etc. I was going to ship my two guitars as well, but I think I could bring those on the plane as checked luggage even though that's going to be nerve-wracking.

I don't need my things to get there first... I just need them to be there and ready when I finally get my 1-year extension granted. When exactly the things show up in Thailand is up to the shipping company and sea conditions I guess. I have no control over that. I just know I would need to ship them from here before I leave. They say it takes 9 to 10 weeks to get there, a timeline that sort of aligns with how long it would take me to enter visa-exempt, and then get the Non-O and then finally the Non-O 1-year retirement extension. I am so confused.

I guess it was a misunderstanding, sorry. I interpreted your reply as being flippant, as if you hadn't really read my post or didn't care to consider what I was saying. I'm stressed out right now because I'm trying to figure out the reality of things from information I'm getting online, which is always tough to do where Thailand is concerned. "Old pots and pans" was a hyperbolic way of saying I have a lot of kitchen stuff that I did want to bring as long as I was going to ship a pallet. But now I'm beginning to see I'm not going to able to ship a pallet because the conditions for doing that are turning out to be very different from what I thought based on things I've read. In fact here on this very forum I've read where guys said that they brought over whole shipping containers with all their furnitiure, motorcycles, all kinds of stuff and only paid about $2000. I'm being told that for just one pallet it will cost me $3000+ and all it would be is about 14 boxes... no furniture, appliances, nothing like that. I guess I can just dump my kitchen stuff, all my books, and things like that. It'll be painful, but I'm willing to do it. But I do have some very important things to bring over, music-related, and it's not anywhere near a pallet load. And if I'm not going to use a mover/shipper type outfit I need to start over again to find out how I actually would ship those things over and how much duty they're going to hit me with.

Moderator... can we delete this thread please? I can already tell it was mistake to post it. I'm not going to get any help from it.

I'm trying to set up shipping my possessions over to Thailand for a retirement stay, and I explained more than once to the California-based international mover/shipper company that I've been talking to that it's for retirement. Yet the first email that comes to me from their affiliated agent in Thailand tells me that for my things to be duty-exempt, I need to have a work permit and come in on a B visa. What is going on? I have read multiple times that if you come for retirement, a single shipment of your stuff can be duty-exempt. I am planning to come in visa-exempt, and then get a Non-O, then get the Non-O extension for retirement, so I have no idea why the Thai agent is talking work permits and B visas. Can anyone tell me what the deal is? It's starting to seem like the only way I can get over there is to abandon all my possessions and just fly there with one or two bags. But I can't do that because I have some vital things that I need over there for my music production... a keyboard (synthesizer), two guitars, bags containing cables, microphones, etc. I was hoping to ship other things in addition like all my kitchen gear, books, tools, etc. I could abandon those things if I have to, but there's no way can I do that with the music stuff. Could I please get some help in figuring out what is up with this? What happened to what I read about possessions being duty-exempt for those coming over for retirement? One problem is that I have no idea how much duty I would be charged on a pallet of my stuff if it were non-exempt for duty. Obviously it would be beyond stupid if I ended up surprised by having to pay like $5,000 duty on a bunch of old books and pots and pans and my other stuff on top of paying $3,200 for the shipping itself. Thanks in advance for any help