GinBoy2

Now Gentlemen, maybe I'm playing with semantics. But in my mind there is a huge difference between Boredom and Unhappiness. I was bored for sure, but I wasn't 'unhappy' verge of cutting my wrists! Boredom creeps up on you and you at some point go, 'I just need more than this' But again, one size does not fit all, we're human, and different strokes for different folks

Well I don't think it's just Pattaya that gets boring. I retired early at 55, but after the initial honeymoon period I realized I was bored stupid in Khon Kaen. I'm not a bar fly, don't golf, the beach has limited appeal, and I wanted to go back to work, which as we all know is pretty much impossible in Thailand My boredom and my wife's stagnant career possibilities is what prompted our move to the US. Curiously now our annual trip back to our Thai home, seems a lot more exotic and exciting

You made some bad insurance choices. We have a 2023 and a 2006 Subaru Foresters. Full coverage max limits, $500 deductible we pay $117 a month with Progressive

That is actually true. Go up North, Yreka, or South, Salton Sea are cheap as examples. But none of the 'cheap' CA options ever appealed to me, and they are to be honest a little sketchy. What I went for was affordable, but where I could live, and I know it's a cliche, the American Dream middle class lifestyle. Now I get my ocean on our annual vacation to Thailand, and trips to the Grandbaby in San Diego

So assuming the OP is real, which nowadays in AN I question. Work cost me my first marriage, I stupidly put it before everything. Missed God knows how many kids soccer games, recitals. Still love my ex, probably count her as my best friend, we talk every week. With my Thai wife, and retirement gig I finally got it, better later than never I guess. The job is never is never worth wreaking the home life

I think it's mainly because of the Brit heavy makeup of this forum thats distorts the data

Too many variables for any of us to make a real opinion. But FL, really? That will drain you real fast! I'm a Californian, but I'm not dumb and recognized, albeit I love the State, culture, scenery, that was never going to be an option for retirement. Back after college I'd come to South Dakota as a contractor for Rockwell on B1 bombers, and when I wanted a tax free State I bought a house in Rapid City while I was living full time in Asia. I miss the ocean for sure, but I love the outdoors of the Black Hills, close enough to Denver, and I can live very comfortably on $5k

There are a ton of them. But I used Americas Mailbox for years. I got scans of the mail and could decide what got shredded and was was forwarded to me. https://americasmailbox.com/

Curiously in the US we do it slightly differently. We don't have benefit the culture you have in the UK, so young men and women find the idea of enlisting in the military rather appealing, not bad income, good benefits and free housing. Beats living in some dead beat job flipping burgers. I'm a bleeding heart liberal, but from what I read about welfare in in the UK it's insane. "My mental health is so fragile I can't work, I need a handout". Give me a break, guys came back from WW2 after experiencing total horrors and went back to work

Curiously it's actually cheaper than you think, or I thought. I always thought it would be ridiculous. Now I can't can't comment on an international repatriation, never done one But last year I accepted an HR (Human Remains in airline jargon) being sent domestically, to Atlanta I think I recall, but the air freight charge was $450!. No idea how much the casket and undertaker costs, but definitely cheaper than I thought. Maybe the airlines take pity on the dead

Tourist visa's for Thai females are a total crap shoot. My then girlfriend, hi tech job, US college graduate, we owned a home I was working in Taiwan at the time but commuting back. And, we're not talking some young gal. my now wife is, and was at the time, a middle aged women Just wanted to go visit my daughter who had just had a baby. Of course it was denied. Several years later nothing materially changed, except we had actually got legally married for the green card, and it sailed though Looking back on it, I think since my wife had grown up as a teenager with her Uncle in Chicago after her parents died she was more likely to disappear, which of course was nonsense, but I get the CO's paranoia

The sad part of this, no 18 yo female is sexually 'interested' in a 40+ yo male, thats just not how nature works. She see's him as an ATM and he is getting his ego stroked

Working in the airline industry we go through a bunch of training, and dealing with transporting corpses is one of them. They can only be loaded in the aft cargo bin, and cargo straps criss crossed to keep the box in place. Due to the stress on takeoff is why we load them head up to stop the embalming fluid pooling in their head

The family do. It's because at takeoff if the head is facing back the embalming fluid flows into the head which disfigures the corpse

I always roll my eyes when it comes to repatriating corpses. I work for United Airlines/Delta Airlines in Rapid City. During and after the Sturgis motorcycle rally we'll ship out 10 to 15 during the two weeks of the rally. We call it the 'Rally Tally' I've always wondered why folks don't fly here get their loved ones cremated and fly home with an urn And btw they are a pain in the ass to process and load onto aircraft. For anyone contemplating this, we load them head forward, to stop embalming fluid concentrating in their head!

I'm going with cats too. They will love you, on their terms, but low maintenance unlike dogs

So this is getting off topic, but here goes. I grew up as a kid of farm workers in the CA Central Valley. Drive down I-5 and you'll see a ton of uber right wing stuff about immigration. The irony is that the same folks paying for all that stuff are the ones employing illegal immigrants to works in their fields. My parents were legal but I'd say half of the other people they worked with were illegal, all paid by I'm sure fully paid up GOP members!

Yeah that's tough When we moved to the US it twice poverty or $30K in savings Thankfully we passed the theshold

TG business class 747 had that weird configuration of the galley parallel to the right window. I never booked any seat on the right side

Some of this agree with. The gift thing, totally on board with, but it's little different in the West when you go visit you take a bottle of wine or the like. I've never liked holding hand and certainly not kissing in public, so that for me is a given I supported my parents in their old age, but maybe an Hispanic thing not totally Asian. Food ditto Gik thing. Well pretty sure my wife would chop off my balls in my sleep if I even thought about it!

Sometimes I wonder about the reading and comprehension skills of posters on here. Read and you will see it's an Airbus. So that rules out Boeing and Airbus, best you be checking out flights on a Chinese COMAC aircraft. Good Luck with that

Thats exactly what it looks like. In the real world we'd be covering it with kitty litter, then shoveling it up and disposed as toxic waste, but TiT, go figure! Enjoy the water you drink, and the sea you swim in....

I love use of the word 'apron' it's a blast from the past Today we use the word 'ramp' pretty universally across the world, but apron still sounds good.

Now I work for an airline, and I've seen my fair share of hydraulic leaks, but they tend to be 'drips', that is a total failure, never seen that much fluid on the ramp ever. Since this was an Airbus, given the currents sanctions, good luck in getting the AOG parts to fix it! That birdie might be spending a few years in Phuket. Turn it into a themed restaurant maybe?

Apart from the stupid picture of the wrong aircraft, I love the fact that they stored them in Suvarnabhumi. Retired aircraft still have value, and there is a reason airlines pay to store them in the dry deserts of California, Spain and Australia. Corrosion, one of the reasons the A340-500's stored at Don Mueang were totally worthless was they were corroded to cr**p in a hot humid environment. That might not be fair since the A340-500's were never going to parted out since the planes themselves were worthless, but you get the gist