jetjock

The best way for now is to live here, I knew that allready. But now as I read, not much working future there in Thailand.

So I'll stick with here to stay for now, I hope she will like it here . She will comes visit in a few months here. So when it's very cold! Actually winter, so have to see!

The Thai food is not a problem, local one nearby. She's half chinese by the way. But she said to me, she's not so difficult with the food and can eat anything. Well have to see that for myself offcourse!

I was thinking about build up steady future here, and buy a second house in Thailand. So 50/50 like allready said here.

So we can change some time, so she can see back Thailand more then enough.

This is me.

You are making the right choice. It's the sensible choice. At your age, you cannot afford to gamble so much. You need to start building up some finances for your future. I know it seems crazy at 22, but if you really want to have a good future in Thailand, you have to start thinking of providing a pension in the future so you can retire to Thailand and have a comfortable life.

Oh BTW, don't believe your gf. She will want Thai food. I know that every Saturday at some point I will be driving to the local Thai shop to stock up for the week!

Charlie is spot on about everything including the Thai food You look like a really nice young man so it is nice to hear that you are trying to make some good choices and seem to have worked out a sensible plan. Hopefully your gf will have no problem getting a visa and will be able to make it over by Christmas. Keep us posted as to how everything works out. Best of luck to you

My wife got a schengen visa about 2 months ago so the process we went through may be slightly informativel in helping you figure out how to go about it. My wife has a Thai passport (also a US green card) so we went to the Austrian embassy here in the US (normally it is best to you apply at the embassy of the country where you plan to visit although you can also apply to the embassy of the country that is point of entry). Some of the items that they required were evidence of her reservation for airline tickets showing exact dates into and out of the country. They also required confirmed reservations for the dates that she planned to be in that particular country (Austria in her case) and just a tentative itinerary of her travel in the other schengen countries. We went into the embassy in person and everything went very smoothly and she was mailed the schengen visa about one week later.

I cannot say if anything would be different since your friend will be handling it in Thailand or what her chances are of getting a shengen visa but I am sure other members of the forum are much more experienced with this than I am and will be very helpful on filling you in with the details. Good luck........

I know this might be a bit pathetic, but what are the chances this is genuine? I will probably know more in December when I return.

I think it would be a bit pathetic to believe that the chances are much more than slim. Man meets beautiful hooker with heart of gold and lives happily every after may happen in movies like 'Pretty Woman' but it is far less of an occurence in every day reality. I did not say it never does not happen because it obviously does, especially in Thailand, however I think that does not change the odds of a good long term outcome with a girl working as a lady of the evening being very slender at best.

You are in the proverbial 'between a rock and a hard place' and unfortunately there are not many good alternatives. In my opinion, you are too young to give up your financial future by moving to Thailand. The only way that you will be able to find out if she will be happy in the Netherlands is by getting her a tourist visa and having her spend some time over there. As I see it, the real question is whether she will be able to find long term happiness by adapting to the culture and climate of the Netherlands.

As for the culture, if your gf is well educated and can become fluent in your language then assimilation into your country will usually not that difficult. If not, then it can create a problem as the usual alternative is that in their search for friendship, Thais then tend to gravitate to the small and very limited Thai subcultures that exist in most countries. My Thai wife is well educated and as fluent in English as I am, so she had no problem totally assimilating into the American business and social culture and is extremely happy with her new social network and her many new friends . As for weather, I agree that Thais seem to like the warmer weather climates. My wife has been touring Europe for the past 6 weeks and although she is really enjoying all the beauty and culture, she has told me that she would not want to live in Northern Europe because it was too cool ( she even said the weather was bad in Italy and it is only September ! ) and she is now looking forward to getting back to the warm California and Hawaii weather. She is now heading to the Greek Islands where hopefully she will find some hot weather!

In other words despite the many possible probable road blocks to finding happiness, by bringing your gf over to the Netherlands on a tourist visa for a few months, you may be able to get a much better idea what the probability is that she will be happy living in the Netherlands on a long term basis. In my humble opinion, if it doesn't work out then the best alternative for you will most likely be to just continue in an long distance relationship. Good luck---

Garmin

May as well put in several forums..

some suggestions include:

"Street Talkin Dude" forum: for those who love to use "cool" () slang terms like "yo man, khao San Road is bitchin'....

"How far can i go without showing pink bits avatars" forum: for those guys who think its really cool to have pics of women showing with various body parts half hanging out. (Oh yes, it really does makes you seem like a stud. Believe it. Handsum man )

"Fat, feminazi, ugly Western woman forum": where all us army boot wearing heffers can go talk about chocolate, buzz cuts, and our lonely single lives.

Any others?

(im sure we should have something which includes retired gents getting upset about their 20 year old gfs running off with all their loot or something too.)

Good idea eek except for the "Fat feminazi..." forum as it might become too big and powerful !

Although TV does have special interest forums for gays and women, perhaps it should also have a special forum for the 'Androgenous' which seems to be better fit catagory fit for quite a few members on the forum. Perhaps an 'Androgenous forum' would better accomodate those male members that try to masquerade as females by using feminine screen names or by using female avatars or have been neutered or have suffered from testosteone depletion somewhere along the way which has resulted in them thinking like a girly-man.

yer i am so excitedi cant wait

alot of people think i am wired at home ! i am from chster in england and i am 20 yrs old she is 24 and i have been with her now 4 about 3 years. alot of people even in thailand thought it was wired because i am so young, but the main thing is were both happy !!!!!

i just cant wait 14th oct cant come any quicker lol !!!

It is nice to see someone so excited and happy. It is nice to hear from a young man with a slightly older woman rather than all the cradle robbers like myself here on TV. Have fun in Chiang Mai and best wishes to both you and your girlfriend.

i notice the beautiful thai girls dont go for farangs!

You obviously are not very good at noticing !

I first joined a health club 52 years ago and I have worked out regularly ever since so it has become so much of an integral part of my lifestyle that I would no more consider not doing it than I would consider not brushing my teeth. Do I enjoy pumping iron or cardio-- hel_l no! --I hate it after 50 years but I continue to do it because of its results results which are that I look great and feel less than half my age and it allows me remain quicker, stronger, and have more endurance in the many heavy duty sports I participate in every day. It is no problem to be a real hard body even in your sixties as long as you are willing to pay the price of working out regularly. I am always traveling around the world, yet I always seem to be able to find a gym for a quick workout. When I am in Bangkok, I usually work out at California Fitness which IMO has good equipment, nice eye candy, but really shifty management.

There is not such thing as love. Never was and never will. Many people mistake passion / lust with love. I have learnt my lesson with women. Same as the women who have been betrayed by their husbands and boyfriends and are happy to be single. Nowadays one can only trust one's own mother and father,no one else.

For the past 60+ years, I have been living the most amazing love affair with life and all the wonderful women and people that I have met along the way. As I read the reincarnation of this old thread, it is a real downer to read that there is no such thing as true love or trust. I guess I must be living in fantasy land, but in my humble opinion, I have found that there is a lot of true love and trust out there but you must be capable and ready to give it in order to receive it and it is true that the more you give, the more you will receive.

Maigo6, is this you and the misses?

If it is him at least he is better looking than his avatar !

I did not meet my Thai wife at a university but met her in a place that to many people might have a more unsavory reputation to some people than even a go-go bar. I met her at the 'McDonald's Restaurant' in MBK ! I went in there to get a quick burger and while sitting down overheard her and her girlfriend speaking English. I started chatting with them and later found out that the reason her English was so good was because she had a Master's Degree in Science in the English speaking International Program at Mahidol University. The rest is all history now that we have been married for 3 of the best years of my life. I do however think that she is the smart one and I am the dumb <deleted> in my house because she is currently off touring Europe for six weeks while I am stuck here at home here in the US working my arse off doing some remodeling construction instead if having a good time. When she gets back however we will be off to Thailand together for a few of the nice weather months there. I believe that there really are a lot of " happily ever after" stories in Thailand.

Airlines were once a great source of national pride for countries

IMHO it will be another sad day if Alitalia goes under.

Do you believe that airlines should be state property rather than independent commercial entities? Is every small or large country running a state-owned airline necessarily a good thing?

In answer to your question, absolutely not. I think that deregulation of the airline industry in the late 70's brought about many good changes in the industry but unfortunately as time has passed, we are beginning to find that it also brought about some bad changes that are now slowly strangling the industry. IMO the total deregulation has gone too far and we need regain a little more control and regulation of the industry in order to preserve safety, comfort, and pricing for the traveling public. The way it is currently going, as the airlines go under and the competition is less, eventually there will be many fewer airlines to choose from and the airlines will have much more ability to price gouge on the less popular routes as there will be many more one horse towns or towns with no service at all. It is just my humble opinion but interestingly, many of the CEO's that I have recently heard interviewed that were once for total deregulation are also now realizing that a little more regulation would be better for the industry and the traveling public.

The education system is somewhat lacking and Thailand is the centre of the universe so no need to know............anything

Don't tell American kids that Thailand is the centre of the universe as most of them would not even have a clue that Thailand is on this planet. In fact, my guess is that most American kids could not even show you where Europe is on a map. Sad but true for both Thailand and the US.

Regarding Soi Cowboy, I can see it now.........

"Hey, honey, let's take the kids to Soi Cowboy. Must be like the Western movies."

I think you are right as I hear that you can get some real hard riding in there and occasionally might even come across a real bucking bronco !

I don't know how you folks feel, but I personally feel a great deal of sadness when I think of the demise of so many of the once really great airlines of the world like Pan American, TWA, Sabena, etc. that eventually went bankrupt. Airlines were once a great source of national pride for countries but are now reduced to nothing but a corporate balance sheet for a form of transportation that due to cutthroat competition, high oil prices, and constant labor management bickering has gradually been been adapting a cattle car mentality in an attempt to survive. It will be even sadder for the passengers as eventually fewer airlines due to less competition will be able to control the market and pricing. IMHO it will be another sad day if Alitalia goes under.

Only cowards strike back at women. Real men duck and run for cover.

I would agree with all of Andrew's suggestions and give him credit for getting The Times to publish it to promote his book.

I am so dam_n good looking that it would be almost criminal to cover up my charming handsome face with a beard !! The one time I did grow a beard and mustache, everyone told me I looked like a Mexican bandito. I think my wife would now disown me if I grew one again.

Excellent advice Jetjock. I've had bags lost before too.

In addition to all of the above, always put tags INSIDE of your bag. If your outer tag gets torn off / disappears, your bag will eventually end up in lost baggage somewhere. These lost baggage centers hold bags for 30 days and inventory all inner contents for identification purposes. If you have included a tag inside of your bag it will be returned.

I use those sticky mailing labels and stick them on the inside of my bag and also on a few items inside to be sure.

Aloha

Mahalo for adding that WorldwideALOHA as I forgot to mention it. I keep color copies of my passport and my drivers license instead of tags inside all of my suitcases which not only can serve as identification for a lost bag if the airlines have to open it but can also help me out if I ever lose my actual passport or drivers lic. when I am traveling.

Bambina..Sorry to hear that the airline lost your checked bag. I worked for the airlines for over 35 years and have had checked bags lost several times. Usually the probem involves being routed to the wrong place so they eventually turn up albeit several days late. In most cases the airline eventually finds the misrouted bags and they are returned within a few days however in your case it appears that it has been over 10 days since it was lost which unfortunately is not a very good sign. Hopefully you will be lucky and they will eventually find your bag.

Some of the things that I do as an experienced traveler to try to cut down on my incidence of losing my bags is to make sure that tags they put on the bags have the correct routing and also to mark my suitcases with extremely distinctive marking so no one accidentally picks mine up at baggage claim. I have at least 4 separate baggage ID tags with my name, address, etc. on each suitcase just in case one accidentally falls off. Most importantly, I try to get to baggage claim before the bags arrive so that I can watch them come out the chute and pick up my bag before anyone else accidentally or purposely walks off with my bag.

Hope you have fun over there going to school. My Thai wife is currently traveling throughout Europe with four of her Thai friends that are finishing up their doctorates at universities in England and Austria. She is having a wonderful time traveling to all the different countries over there as I am sure you will have once you get settled in and hopefully get your bag back. Good luck.

Just another reminder why it is not smart to do drugs or drink to excess

Sergio, please be a troll and prove that no one on TV can be that naive !

In my modest British opinion there are far too many silly american expressions used here... such as "chilling out".... what a ridiculous expression!! But worst of all, in my modest opinion, is the (incorrect) usage of the expression "enjoy". If I´m not mistaken, the verb "to enjoy" requires an object...i.e. you enjoy something. It is incorrect to wish that someone "enjoy". Any other opinions on this totally insignificant topic?????

I think that you will find the the phrase "Enjoy" is mainly used by women or men who are of a more feminine persuasion. I have never heard it used by manly or macho guys. I enjoy many of the slang expressions I hear on TV but think the Brits and Aussies have us Yanks by a long shot on using colorful expressions. I have to give credit to the Aussies for having the best and most unique slang.