SamSpade

Sorry, when I'm travelling I make all of my calls over Whatsapp/Line & will use my Thai or UK number if I need to make an actual call. Here's the Airolo packages that include Calls/SMS which I think is of more use for Guys who are looking to maintain a US mobile number wherever they are... https://www.airalo.com/help/using-managing-esims/ZSEEHBT5HW6F/what-is-discover-global-esim/IEF5FXBUXGVU?srsltid=AfmBOop8klDQKZC4jo_C5ab52cTgCabjR3m1lqR40Xmn0F8CPxcqHgjh Thanks for the recommendation of https://www.localphone.com am planning a trip to Taiwan & Korea if my UK trip falls through so will check them out. For anybody who's interested, I'm just back from a 4 week trip to Malaysia and used a 1 Month Maxis Pre-Paid (Bought at Penang Airport, 45MYR for unlimited data), couldn't fault it & IIRC this did include Calls & SMS.

It's nothing like normal... Qatar Airways scheduled flight operations remain temporarily suspended due to the closure of Qatari airspace. Qatar Airways will resume operations once the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority announces the safe full reopening of Qatari airspace by the relevant authorities. Following temporary authorisation from the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority confirming limited operating corridors, Qatar Airways intends to operate the following flight schedule in the coming days to support passengers who have been affected by the current disruption, and to help them reunite with family and friends as quickly and safely as possible. Flights departing from Doha (DOH): 10-Mar: Cairo (CAI), London Heathrow (LHR), Jeddah (JED), Manila (MNL), Kochi (COK), Muscat (MCT), Istanbul (IST), Mumbai (BOM), Delhi (DEL), Nairobi (NBO), Islamabad (ISB), Madrid (MAD), Frankfurt (FRA), Colombo (CMB), Milan (MXP), Moscow (SVO). 11-Mar: Cairo (CAI), Toronto (YYZ), Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), London Heathrow (LHR), Paris (CDG), Madrid (MAD), Rome (FCO), Delhi (DEL), Jeddah (JED), Muscat (MCT), Hong Kong (HKG), Seoul (ICN), Bangkok (BKK), Kuala Lumpur (KUL), Melbourne (MEL). Flights arriving to Doha (DOH): 10-Mar: Seoul (ICN), Moscow (SVO), London Heathrow (LHR), Delhi (DEL), Madrid (MAD), Islamabad (ISB), Beijing (PKX), Perth (PER), Nairobi (NBO), Istanbul (IST). 11-Mar: Cairo (CAI), London Heathrow (LHR), Jeddah (JED), Manila (MNL), Kochi (COK), Muscat (MCT), Istanbul (IST), Mumbai (BOM), Delhi (DEL), Nairobi (NBO), Islamabad (ISB), Madrid (MAD), Frankfurt (FRA), Colombo (CMB), Milan (MXP), Moscow (SVO). 12-Mar: Cairo (CAI), Toronto (YYZ), Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), London Heathrow (LHR), Paris (CDG), Madrid (MAD), Rome (FCO), Delhi (DEL), Jeddah (JED), Muscat (MCT), Hong Kong (HKG), Seoul (ICN), Bangkok (BKK), Kuala Lumpur (KUL), Melbourne (MEL).

Easy enough to Install Thai on your Macbook... https://www.thaipod101.com/blog/2020/10/16/how-to-type-in-thai/#:~:text=3%2D%20Mac%20(OS%20X%20and%20higher)%20*,select%20%E2%80%9CThai%2C%E2%80%9D%20and%20add%20the%20%E2%80%9CThai%E2%80%9D%20keyboard. Then buy a "Skin" to put on your keyboard so your Thai Friend can Type in Thai, e.g. This one is 94THB... ตัวอักษรไทยซิลิโคนแป้นพิมพ์ปกคลุมผิวสำหรับ 2021 MacBook P...WOLDONE. เหมาะสำหรับแล็ปท็อป macbook เท่านั้น. โปรดตรวจสอบรหัสรุ่นก่อนสั่งซื้อจะพิมพ์ที่ด้านหลัง. ผลิตภัณฑ์นี้สามารถป้องกันฝุ่นเข้าสู่แป้นพิมพ์ได้อย่างมีประสิทธิภาพและยืดอายุการใช้งานของแป้นพิมพ์. ทำค

I tried to check but it seems that the option to pay via interest free installments only comes up on the Payment page (and I don't have 125K for the Laptop that I'd selected to go that far :) ). Curious about your Barclays situation as I'm in the same situation but haven't told them that I left the UK 19 years ago (I'd assumed they knew this as it was them that sent me to work in Singapore for the first 6 of those years!). As you have a Barclays Debit Card, do you have an international account with them & if so how much are the fees? I've tried everywhere (apart from Barclays themselves, that's my next plan when I'm in the UK) to try to find out whether I can use my Barclays Stockbrokers account in lieu of the £100K deposit you need to avoid the fees. Thx

The cop already had control (he had him by the neck & the guy was compliant at this point), maybe he said or did something that we can't catch from the video so the officer did have reasonable cause to subdue him, but from that video alone it looked to me like unnecessary "Afters".

I doubt it but am sure that he would sue the Officer/PD for assult and (on the basis of the little video evidence we've seen) win, irrespective of his earlier actions.

I'm assuming the laptop is >30K so could you not take the interest free installment plan? Failing that could you not use a friend to pay for it and give them the money over a number of installments. I don't see why Lenovo wouldn't accept your Barclays Debit card but wouldn't use it personally as their charges are high (I would use my Revolut account as I already have THB in there so wouldn't incur any additional charges).

Whilst I agree that they should throw the book at him (Though I'm reminded of the incident with the 2 Kiwis who not only viciously assaulted a Police officer but got hold of his gun & got away with a slap on the wrist https://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/easy/2829461/duo-who-assaulted-phuket-officer-back-in-new-zealand ). The point I am trying to make is the officer had full control of the guy (who seemed to have calmed down & realised he'd f'd up by then), & (IMHO) the choke hold wasn't necessary, it's a police officers job to use reasonable force at all times & IMHO at that stage the choke hold wasn't reasonable force, it could have killed the guy. Anyways, seems I'm in a small minority of people who see it this way so will leave it for others to disagree with me.

Yep, for the RR bus to Pattaya North, always go to the 1st booth on the right hand side as you're walking in, it will probably be the only booth that isn't shouting for your attention.

Sounds good, I'm trying to do <180 days in Thailand this year (Have done 2 weeks in Maldives for my 60th Birthday & 4 weeks in Penang, we loved it) so am looking for other options of places to visit. My Thai partner loved Penang (even she had to admit the food is awesome there & is happy to go back) but doesn't want to do Cambodia (her words... "War") or Philippines (Have a Filipna Ex-Ms) so PQ for 4 weeks sounds great to me. Can I please ask for recommendations to stay... IIRC when I last looked into it "Long Beach" came bacck as a recommendation but if you were staying there for 4 weeks where would you suggest?

I was going to say, once you've been to HCM, Hanoi & Da Nang how many places do you need to get through before you get to PQ? Is there a list of their more visitable places before I book my next trip to VN?

TBH I always felt like Jomtien was a bit "Lower Class" than other areas in Pattaya (Not going to get into a debate about Pattaya City itself). I'd heard stories of old men with their younger "Partners" but didn't understand them until me & GF went Condo hunting in Pratumnak/Jomtien & took a walk down Dantang beach & decided it wasn't for us. To each his own, but we've decided we'd rather not live there. I do love the night market's though but even these won't convince GF to move there. I grew up on a council estate in the UK so it's all good with me.

As I undertand if from my Time working in Singapore (which has the same "Calendar" Tax year as Thailand Vs UK's 6th April - 5th April Tax year) they will use a 2/3rds (i.e 8 Months Vs 4 months) calculation to work out your tax credit. No experience of this in Thailand but I have also heard Expat Thailand saying something similar in their videos when it comes to calculating a "Split Year" tax credit.

Not trying to defend the UK guy in anyway as he was a complete idiot for getting into that situation with a Thai Police officer (especially one that was bigger than him!) but he had surrended before the Thai police man decided he was going to choke him out. There was no need for that.

In a Taxi to Central Festival (Pattaya) this afternoon and as we passed Beach Road I mentioned to GF that we'd missed the Weekend Music Festival (We've been in Penang for 4 weeks, great place) and the Driver said that it was very quiet this weekend as "Many Foreigners not Travelling because of the War". I don't know how right he is but did see a couple of YT videos & the festival did not seem as busy as other ones we've attended.

I used Airalo in the Maldives, couldn't fault the service & was reasonably cheap (IIRC it was $40 for 30 days & 20GB, which the GF also used via hotspot for her data)... PAYG so no monthly payments required. Quick Google and they have... Africa Regional eSIM: Covers multiple countries, with options often starting around $19-$24 for varying data amounts. Middle East: Popular 30-day options include 3GB, 5GB, 10GB, or 20GB, with prices ranging from roughly $20 to over $50 USD depending on the data amount.

The vast majority of Expats in Pattaya don't live in or frequent these places (look at how many of these incidents are in East Pattaya, Pratumnak or Wongamat) & some/most of us only venture into town to do shopping or to catch one of the many Beach festivals, we certainly don't hang around Walking Street/Beach Road at 5am. People who think this happens all over Pattaya likely think that Pattaya consists of Walking Street, Soi 6, LK Metro & are probably the same people who think that Bangkok consists of Nana, Cowboy, Patpong or the whole of the Philippines is the same as Angeles City. Quite sad really, but hey ho, their loss if they'd rather live in Chiang Mai I'm not going to complain about that.

Surely that (and everything else in this thread) is only true if your Wise account is located in Thailand and therefore you are remitting money to Thailand by simply putting money into the account... I.e. UK BANK ---> Wise account located in Thailand = Money remitted to Thailand. If your Wise account is not located in Thailand then I don't see how that could be true. I.e. UK BANK ---> Wise account located in UK = No remittance to Thailand. Edit: Having read the neobanque.ch post above it seems clear that Wise is turning it's Thailand located accounts into psuedo Thai Bank Accounts which explains the auto conversion to THB & the fact that the money is considered remitted. This may change as they refine their Non-THB currency products in Thailand but personally I would avoid using them for transferring money to Thailand unless I was comfortable with effectively having it directly paid into a Thai "Bank Account" (i.e. not bothered about FX rates or tax impacts).

What date was your original flight with Qatar? I'm due to fly BKK-DOH-MAN on the 28th March so still in limbo at the moment. I live in Thailand so it's not urgent that I get to the UK, I would like to get there as soon as possible but I don't want to lose the £2K I've already paid by booking alternative flights until they confirm I can get a refund.

The Roong Reunag buses from Ekkami & Moh Chit only go to North Pattaya Bus Station, if you want Jomtien you need to go to the Airport. https://rrcticket.com/customer/ticket/SelectRoute/Next?orig=BKK&_=0.9505880135543081 If you don't want to go to the Airport & don't want to do the short hop from North Pattaya Bus Station to Jomtien (If you know what you're doing it's more effiient to get out when it stops on Sukhumvit road & get a Bolt from there) then you should look at the Mini Vans from Ekkami or Moh Chit depending on which ones easier for you. I do recall Ekkami having a number of desks selling Van tickets to Jomtien but have always travelled to North Pattaya so can't comment on cost or quality.

Your "Plan" wouldn't work unless you booked flights from Penang to the UK via Chennai or had an Indian Visa so you could pass through Indian immigration and check-in for your next flight. I'm hearing Vietnam are still flying to the UK so maybe a cheap flight there followed by a flight to the UK.

Interesting... so for you, grinding on & getting to a bigger number is more important than enjoying the time you have left while you can? When you get older (& wiser) you'll realise that making the most out of life whilst you're able to is more important than the number of candles on your final birthday cake. As you said, you might get hit by a bus tomorrow so get busy living life rather than worrying about when it's going to end.

Have flown with Qatar many times & can usually score a Business class round trip for about this price max 110K. For approx. the same price I've flown Eva & Gulf Air which are great airlines, I used to fly Finnair a lot but since the war in Ukraine started their BKK-HEL flights miss their 1 connecting flight to MAN so it can take > 30 hours!!! Also used to fly Turkish/Emirates a lot but nowadays you're looking at >130K, too rich for my blood.

I would suggest an even more important question is how many more healthy years do you expect to live? In the UK the latest statistics from ONS says the average healthy life expectancy is < 61 years. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies/bulletins/healthstatelifeexpectanciesuk/between2011to2013and2022to2024 I've just hit 60 so according to them have about 6 months left to enjoy myself before my health starts to decline to the point where I can no longer enjoy myself as much as I could in my 50s :( Enjoy it whilst you can & to that point, (sorry I don't want to thread <deleted> but I can't find the thread where the topic about being able to spend your money in retirement came up) A couple of video/books for guys that have the "Problem" of spending money in retirement... I know it sounds trite but there are a lot of guys (me included) who struggle to move from saving to spending & are not living their best life with the limited time they have left because they're afraid to spend money enjoying the time they do have left.

A UK pensioner who's paid their full National Insurance (35 years for some, more complicated for others, I've paid 38 years & am told I need to pay another year to get the maximum State Pension in 7 years time), you normally wouldn't be expected to pay any further National Insurance (You can pay it if you're feeling charitable, but it gets you nothing). Whilst NI is not covering 100% of NHS costs, it goes a long way to funding it & somebody living in the UK wouldn't be expected to pay anthing other than this, people not living in the UK can/will lose access to NHS even if they're fully paid up, it's not what you've paid, it's where you live. I paid a the highest rate you could pay in NI from the age of 28-41 (+ bought 7 years backdated contributions & did voluntary contributions for 6 years after that) & can look forward to being charged 1.5x what any non-Brit would be charged if I needed treatment on the NHS. Don't get me started on the "Benefits In Kind" tax I paid for a company provided BUPA policy, never used & never needed the NHS but had to pay even more tax because it was part of my package.