GinBoy2

Well this is yet another one of those surveys that are just bubblegum fluff. Sort the list by volume, and apparently Russia is way ahead with 6M, double the next closest of Canada with 3M. Then comes China with another 3M, incredible since, entry requirements for anyone into China are really hard, let alone starving students plus literally nobody has been allowed into the country for the last 2 years. So I'm concluding this is a work of fiction, someone trying trying to sell a little copy in these troubled times

What's the saying I've heard about Southern FL; Everyone drives according to the rules....just it's the rules of where they came from

I often wonder how many 90 Day Fiancé visas' actually pan out? I've only ever personally known one guy that did it. Now he's a terrible judge of character at the best of times, and as a two week millionaire got hooked up with some bargirl a half his age, and I don't need to explain how that long distance relationship went, but Western Union figured highly!! She lasted 2 weeks before he packed her off home. Never been back to Thailand since!

I work for Delta, and try to be patient with the airline employees. It's torture with the ever changing requirements. I've had international passengers to the same destination have the requirements change within hours, causing totally chaos. My worst was yesterday. I was checking in two passengers to St Lucia. It was baffling confusing. After 2 hours on the phone with our help desk, them desperately trying to copy documents and upload them we finally got it done, but only after they had missed their original flight and had to be rebooked. For them at least I managed to get them to Atlanta in time to get their original flight to St Lucia, but not a good use of anyone's time or stress level. So please don't take out all your anger on the airline staff, we're just trying our best to interpret the rules so you don't get denied entry to wherever it is you're going

I think you are right the CO always assumes that the applicant intends to remain in the US, and it's up to them to convince the CO otherwise. The trouble is, he/she is probably right. We live in South Dakota, not exactly a immigrant magnet, yet even here in the Thai community we know 4 ladies who fall into the, came here on a student/tourist/temp work visa and never left. We are just about to sponsor my wife's niece to come to the US to do a Masters degree, and I wonder if the CO when reviewing those applicants thinks the same

Water going off in BKK might be a rarity. But for most of us who live anywhere but Bangkok, you get use to water mysteriously getting shut off for hours or days at a time. Storage tanks are the only way to go, plus add a pump since if you ever expect water pressure to ever be more than a trickle, dream on!

Well we've been around and around on this one for years. Tourist visas for single Thai women are notoriously hard. The dirty rotten truth, often forgotten, is that the US is home to the largest Thai expat population, many of which come here on tourist or temporary work visas then never leave. That very fact colors the CO's thinking when he/she is presented with an applicant. I wish I knew what the triggers are, but none of us do for sure. Years ago my wife, then long time gf applied for a tourist visa to visit my daughter who had just had a baby. We're close in age, professional woman, letter from company granting leave, property, money in bank. I thought we checked all the boxes. Denied of course! I rationalized it, that the CO thinking was that when we got to the US we'd marry then try to do an adjustment of status to bypass the normal immigrant process. So no real constructive advice, since none of us really can advise, but many of us can appreciate the frustration.

I had no idea who this woman was until all of this surfaced. But it's curious to me, a woman with multiple passports decided to hole up in New Hampshire. It's almost incredulous that she thought money and status could protect her. Epstein took the cowards way out, obviously knowing this time the game was up. Maxwell on the other hand figured than money and status could get her through it, bad bet! I've often despaired about the US justice system, but for once it redeemed itself, and money, status influence didn't win the day. This manipulating woman, who groomed young vulnerable girls to a peodophile will never see the light of day again, and that's a good thing

I've never had any issues with the US Embassy. They have provided me with services i've needed, Passports, notarizing documents, and my wifes CR-1 application etc. Now I think many people seem to feel that the embassy is there to bail them out when they act like dicks, or run outta money and can't get home. You f***ck up and they will offer consular support but you are at the end of the day are responsible for your own actions, the embassy isn't a charity and most certainly isn't a travel agency

Tourist visas for Thai women are at the end of the day a bit of a cr**p shoot. Years ago we applied for my wife, all I wanted to do was visit my daughter who had just had a baby. My wife, professional job, money in bank, letter from employer granting her leave, thought we'd checked all the boxes, of course denied. Of course several years later we applied for an immigrant visa, nothing had changed and it sailed through. I never attempt to explain the rules or criteria for tourist visas, because I don't think those 'rules' obey any logic

I used 'dropped' to mean all 8 are available to watch

I'm sorry, regardless of whether this woman makes a TikTock living out outta this stuff it's stupid. Who in their corn fed mind gets on a long haul flight to any tin pot third world country without knowing the risks that rules will change on a dime, and you risk either deportation or your two week vacation holed up somewhere in quarantine. No sympathy sorry to say

All 8 episodes dropped on iPlayer. Fabulous enjoyed it so much, well worth the time to watch

Watching 'Around the World in 80 Days' Two episodes on BBC iPlayer and just starting on PBS Rather different interpretation of Phileas Fogg than the book I read many years ago. A man rather filled with doubt, but anxious to see how it develops, the outcome of course we all know.

One wonders if his mysterious ailment of unable to sweat has suddenly resolved itself!

My New Year's Resolution is to stop reading this forum. .....Dammit that's been the same resolution for the past 10 years!

Well, you will never stamp out prostitution, history teaches us that since if child support was the sole answer prostitution in the west wouldn't exist. But for the Maidens of Isaan under education, lack of opportunity, and the culture of 'if I have his baby he love me more more more' does not help. I remember the first time I ever went to Pattaya with my wife and at that time young son. I was horrified by the fact I was seen as prime meat, even with my wife and kid by my side. My wife the pragmatist that she is said; "they are probably just trying to make enough money to send home for the family" Now my wife is an odd duck. She comes from a very poor family in Isaan, but when her parents died she and her 4 siblings were farmed out to family members. She was the lucky one and ended up with an uncle in Chicago. Went to school and University there and has had a successful life. Two of her sisters, not so much. Both ended up in the early motherhood trap, one went into the 'entertainment' biz to feed her kids, the other succumbed to AIDS. Her brother with little education slipped into the usual day job lifestyle living hand to mouth. The last sister has flitted between men in Bangkok, but that isaan stigma always haunts them. To this this day my wife sends money home every month to help out. Now she's not doing it through prostitution but in the minds of those women that do it's the same motivation

Well having read the full article, I hope there was a little more meat on the bones at the actual presentation. That could could have all been written in 10 minutes on the back of a cocktail napkin!

I stand corrected too. I work for Delta and always believed it was only Notice to Airmen. I searched our internal Deltanet and lo and behold, there it was. That being I'd never ever heard Notice to Air Missions until this. Live and Learn.

Agreed on the definition of NOTAM. These things just go into the system for airline check in procedures. When we check in any International passenger nowadays the system forces us through a checklist based on a countries COVID requirements. Now we always did it to ensure correct entry requirements for visas etc, this just adds to the list of sh**t we check before the pax gets a boarding pass. As for BA. This is a business decision. Airlines aren't a charity. They operate on wafer thin margins at the best of times and if the loading, especially premium traffic on International flights isn't there it just doesn't make financial sense. Even domestic flights come and go based on future demand forecasts, and a few disgruntled expats and sexpats wanting to go to BKK does not a profitable business model make!

Far and away my fav is National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. Lost count how many times I must have watched it, but still gives me belly laughs even though I probably know the entire dialogue. My wife rolls her eyes and calls me her 'man child' for liking this stuff, but who cares, she's just married to me!

Yeah I would agree these are 3' 6" gauge, so will need a new wheel sets. Why does the very thought of SRT changing wheel sets worry me? Oh yeah something to do with their inability to keep trains on the rails!

Well be careful with comparisons. The majority of US commuter rail is electrified. But the majority of long distance rail in the US is freight and that is always diesel powered. Now you can argue the pros and cons of that but the US is #3 in the world for transporting goods by rail. So it may not be electrified, but I'd argue that is much better than most Europeans and the UK who rely on trucking the majority of freight

Doesn't change much just looking at overall crime. Only notable difference is that DC creeps in. Otherwise the same usual suspects and not a one of them bleeding liberal States! https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/crime-rate-by-state

How come then that the three highest murder rates per 100K in the US are, in order; Louissina Alabama Mississippi None of which as I seem to recall are bleeding heart blue liberal States. Oh and lets not forget those bleeding heart States of Vermont & New Hampshire, who both are the bottom of the murder rate table of shame! The trouble when you buy into 'thruthyism' is that real truth tends to blow it out of the water https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/murder-rate-by-state