GinBoy2

Fraid so. You will fall into this category

Thing is, once you get away from the coasts and into the heartland things change dramatically. You may not have a beach on your doorstep, but equally you're not destined to live in a hellhole. I work with retired folks living on their SS and a part time job, living comfortable middle class lives, hardly the tale of destitution that seems to be peddled in this thread. But if you want to live on next to nothing with no health insurance or support, I guess Cambodia is in your immediate future

If you are trying to criticize me. I speak fluent Thai, Lao, Mandarin as well as my native English and Spanish

Yep you're right, as as much as some don't want to hear it, back in the day we dealt with those sky high interest rates on mortgages, just like folks deal with sky high rents. But you deal with it, you save what you can, and over the decades you end up secure. I come from a very poor immigrant farm worker family in the CA Central Valley. I know what poverty looks like. Happiest day of my life was when I bought my parents their house, giving them security in their final days. That didn't happen by chance, but because my parents taught me to study, get a good job...and Save!

Good point. Back to my 'free lunch' thing. Yeah, I did everything I could to save through my working life, so at the end I could be secure in retirement. I've seen multiple housing booms and busts through my life. Sky high mortgage rates back in the 70's. But we all dealt with them and got through it. Trouble is time has kinda run out to correct for all of this. It very much akin to why you change your saving portfolio away from stocks to bonds as you get older, simply because you don't have the time left to recover if stocks take a dump.

You are missing a fundamental point Society assumes that you have lived in that society for most of your life and built up enough assets to pay for housing in retirement Nobody gets a free lunch in life, and the way you make it sound is that some destitute returning expat should in some way be entitled to a rock bottom rental. That's just not how life works I'm afraid to say

Website seems to work for me, giving you three options

Well this like a can of worms, and I agree everyone's personal situation is different. I spent decades outside the US, but I disagree about the culture changing so much. We live a middle class suburban life which is totally recognizable to one from the 70's when I became an adult. Support structures. I'll bet a good percentage of expats have kids in the US from previous marriages. All my kids, two American daughters and my Thai son live here. I think for most of us parents are probably long gone, but your kids are here. As for income, social security can be an issue. Unlike some European countries, it pays out according to what you paid in. So if you didn't pay in so much, you'll get less out. The same is true if you decide to take it early at 62. Then again for income there is always the option to supplement your SS by taking a part time job, an option which in Thailand for example is not possible. Take a trip to any Walmart, Sam's Club, Costco, all the greeters are senior's. So you're right repatriation to the US may not be for everyone, but as I've said before a lot of that depends on the choices folks have made in the past several decades

I think, and of course I don't know, but there probably is a decent case of burnt bridges going on. The money has run out, surviving on minimalistic street food, family back home not talking, I can see that scenario

I work for Delta Airlines, and as of last week at least you will not be able to transit AMS without vaccination. I'm not at work until Thursday so can't check the current requirements, but on Friday I checked in a passenger with transit through AMS to BER and that was the rule

So let's get real. There are a few Credit Unions that will still allow Expat accounts for now. But the writing is on the wall. Most financial institutions are moving to 2 factor authentication, Thank You Bin Laden for exposing the holes in the financial system for moving money for nefarious purposes! So options are limited. A real brick and mortar address is becoming the norm. Phone access the same. VOIP's aren't cutting it, the banks software always detects it. Get the cheapest plan you can from a US provider that supports WiFi calling to satisfy the SMS code thing

You may be outta luck on this one. I work for Delta and we work our United contract too, and for sure neither accept any pets in cabin on International routes. Secondly, even if you find an airline that accepts them, they would have to be in a carrier that could fit underneath the seat in front of you. No animal other than a support animal can be loose in the cabin A 15lb dog is pretty chunky, and that's a long way to be stuffed under a seat

I love San Diego, lived there for years in Mission Valley, my youngest daughter still lives there. I'd love to move back, but OMG, the traffic! I'm not sure I could deal with that anymore. We were there last year and as much as my wife loved the place, the traffic was a definite No No

Folks have been protesting about housing prices, gas prices, food prices for as long as I remember. The only difference is now social media and a 24 hour news cycle need something to sensationalize and drive 'likes' and create clickbate. ......Oh and lets not forget, social security has been going bankrupt for at least the past 40 years!

As the saying goes... Dogs have owners, Cats have staff!

Well that's kinda universal. Almost all women consider whatever task you are doing as being totally f$$$cked up, and you get the roll of the eyes, and they end up doing exactly what you were doing in the first place

Well you won't get many 'likes' from that post! I'm 5 years older than my Thai wife, and I'd have to say the wide age difference of many I've seen can be a little disturbing. But I've been slammed enough on here for those views, so each to their own, but head back to farangland and I guarantee it'll raise eyebrows

Maybe I'm just a little simplistic, stupid, old fashioned or whatever it might be characterized as. But I've never been particularly interested in casual sex, I can satisfy myself, and God Bless porn for that! But have always wanted someone to just be with me, talk to, sleep with, just kinda hang out with, without it being a different body in my bed every night. I've been pretty lucky with both my wives that they did all those things for me. At this point in my life both my ex and Thai wife tick all the boxes, well with the exception of my ex and sex! But you get my gist

I think both my American & Thai wife are quite similar, both feisty bitches able to give as good as they get. Now I'm a bit of an outlier here in as much as my American marriage failed on pretty good terms, to the point where I talk to my ex every week, we even all go on vacations together. I think my two wives enjoy bitching together about my multiple flaws. I simply go to the bar with my ex wife's boyfriend and shoot the sh&&&t It's a weird old world, but in truth we're all pretty much the same

So to add some gas on to the flames, as one uppity American ex colonist. Who's gonna pay for it? Is the Queen gonna sell off a few trinkets, or are all the 'subjects' have a few of their tax $(pounds) siphoned off to pay for your 'randy andy'

The US in general with regards to living has hardly changing my lifetime. We'll not go the politics route, but living standards have in anything improved for the vast majority So, of course you can repatriate, many of us have, although we still have our home in Thailand. Yes, housing is on a surge right now, but all three of my/our kids now have just bought homes, so nothing is impossible. I have fully admitted, I always kept a home in the US, since it's the ultimate bolt hole to be in your own country. No, we don't live in some crime ridden Hell Hole, we just live normal middle class suburban lives, which I think would be recognisable to most Americans of our generation Got to admit healthcare figured in to the equation for us, amongst many others. I saw the writing on the wall for my Cigna insurance rates, and NO I wasn't going to resort to the local Government hospital if push came to shove So you don't need to live in downtown Detroit to find somewhere it's affordable to live, but again a lot depends on choices you made many many years ago how this pans out

Please don't blame the airline staff. I work for Delta, and when we check folks in the requirements are mind boggling confusing, and they change constantly. I was checking in a lady in the other day, and literally the screen changed as I was processing her. She was a transit passenger through Amsterdam, and there transit rules just ramped up

I'm not sure any long haul vacation travel will ever be the same again. Thing is, many folks have discovered vacation destinations closer to home, less cumbersome in terms of restrictions, and they like it. My wife is Thai, we own a house in Thailand but for the past two years haven't been back, just because she can't be bothered to deal with the requirements. The other thing, I think, is that folks have also re-discovered the fact that vacation resorts closer to home, just tend to be better, cleaner, and overall better value Mexico is a great example. The resorts are 'sanitized' in as much as they aren't really Mexico, you are just in a low cost version of Florida. Cancun is a great example. Travel up and down the strip, then you cross the little bridge and you are in real Mexico. Don't get me wrong, I've lived in Thailand a long time, but if I was travelling from North America or Europe, don't think it would be in my top 10 vacation destinations

A great tall tale, and con artist; Mischa and the Wolves

Should somebody be on the phone to Beijing about this plan? Last time I heard they have no plans to open travel for their citizens to anywhere. So Thai-China bubble might be in the minds of someone in Bangkok, but don't think it's on anyones mind in Beijing