GinBoy2

This was one of those moments I feel my age. I loved Starsky & Hutch, but every day we seem to lose another one of those icons of 70's TV. RIP David, a lot of us loved you

I've in several countries over my lifetime, but I never stopped reading, listening, watching US news outlets. And I might add something that still hangs on by a thread local newspapers for the home town news

Well thats a good point. I think for many of us as we age sex becomes less important, and just having someone to share life with becomes more important. Not saying me and MrsG don't go at it it like rabbits when we do, but it's most definitely not the defining aspect of our life together. Been together a long time, had our kids and now grandkids, so we're just kinda comfortable being around each other. Alone in the house as the kids are gone, happiness can be just hanging out, watching stupid Thai TV, laughing when someone farts, and just the familiarity of another human

Well I think all in all you have made the lives of three people better. Your stepdaughters have clearly thrived thanks to a good education, and you wife clearly has fully embraced her life in Europe Best any of us can say is that our life on earth was a plus to those around us

Yeah it actually worked out great for everyone. This year we all got together in Denver where my eldest daughter and Thai son live. Aunts and uncles, nephews and nieces. Added to the party this year, my youngest daughter and her new son, Thai son and his new daughter, then both my cousins adopted daughters both with twins, plus all the associated significant others. Life sometimes does actually work out for the best

Just for once as vile as Tate is, in this instance I actually agreed with him. I almost hate myself for saying that!

I watched a BBC documentary 10-15 years ago about the same thing. It's hardly new, but somehow it's less 'vile' than the story of men marrying much younger women in Thailand. As I recall in the documentary I watched, pretty much as soon as the guy was in the UK he was outta that relationship, if there ever really was one! Not uncommon with Thai women who marry a Western man, but I suspect much more common in the older woman younger man scenario

Anecdotally in a non scientific study, we've had a surge in COVID illness at work over the past month or two. I'd kinda forgotten about it than all of a sudden a bunch of folks started getting sick, all COVID. Nobody hospitalized, so that's good. I think we all just need to recognize that where we used to get an annual flu shot, you now get an annual flu+COVID shot. As for masks in hospitals. They are a seething hot mess of viruses and bacteria, wearing a mask won't kill you, catching one of those viruses just might!

My cousin actually did this. He'd been unlucky in love as we say, but he was in his late 40's had always wanted kids but at his age he didn't want to be the elderly dad taking kids to soccer games. He ended up meeting a woman in Mexico with kids, I think they were 10 and 11 at the time, and bingo he had his instant family. Obviously there are differences, we're hispanic everybody spoke Spanish and the cultures are the same, but it can work. 15 years have passed and they call him Dad and he is their Dad, don't think they have ever had any contact with their biological Dad or want to

Well support of family members is fairly common in asian cultures. My wife is a bit of an odd duck, after both her parents died young she and her siblings were farmed out to relatives. She considers herself the lucky one as she got to live with her aunt and uncle in Chicago and got educated in the US, with ultimately a great job and career. Her other four siblings, not so much. So unlike, I would suggest most Western societies she has always sent money, from even before I met her, to support brother sisters, and her Grandma who didn't have the breaks she had. Don't always knock the asian tradition of looking after family, if as they always say 'Im Lucky'

I was just thinking about that last sentence. Now all my kids both US and Thai are grown up and in their 20/30's. When we lived in Thailand I missed my girls terribly. When my Thai son told us he wasn't returning to Thailand after graduating college in the US, my wife cried for a week and it was the catalyst for our move to the US. Now with grandkids that all looks like a smart move. So don't write off those family ties they can be powerful emotions, especially as you get older

Thats slightly different. A K-1 is a single entry visa approved in the home country, the woman enters the US then marriage happens within 90 days, but then you still need to apply for immigrant status

On item 2, if you are applying for a US greencard, makes no difference to USCIS if you were married in the US or Thailand, so long as it's a legal marriage. One thing I would say, 'if' you think getting married in the US then apply for a change of status for your wife while in the US is a simple route, don't even think about it. USCIS views that very badly because they see it as trying to circumvent the normal immigration process

Really too many questions to give any practical advice. The age difference isn't terrible, so that's a plus. Is she looking to you as a way to get to the UK? Kids. Well how old are they? Speak any English? Little kids, well I've known a bunch of guys that have taken that on, and basically to all intents became their Dad Teenagers, especially boys can be a minefield, especially if their is no common language So go for your vacation, tread carefully but try to figure out at least the questions I would have, and don't just get overwhelmed by the situation, which for men can make us lose any common sense!

It was TG794 BKK-LAX TG795 LAX-BKK

The problem with all of this is the travel time. Basically it's going to take 24 hours in the air. Even when there was a direct TG flight from LAX to BKK which I used to take it was 18 hours. So 2 days of your vacation from North America is spent in a damn airplane So you need to be pretty motivated to travel that far when a similar or better beach vacation in Mexico, Hawaii or the Caribbean is less than 10 hours away, and in timezone at the worst 5 hours

I totally get that. I really don't need anything more than I have, I've travelled the world seen a lot. Now I'm pretty happy just being at home. Terribly boring for some I know, but having probably spent more nights in in a hotel bed than my own, now just being in my own bed at night is more than enough

Colds are the same wherever you live, never noticed any difference wherever I've lived, Thailand, US, China, Taiwan, Singapore all the same snotty and disgusting Of course I'm a man so I do suffer from man flu, ie a cold, but I think I've had real flu twice in my life and that was not fun

Sorry that's tough at your age. Hope 2024 is a little kinder to you

On a hopefully cheery note When you get through all the BS paperwork it'll be done. No 90 day reports, no annual renewals, for all intents and purposes she will look just like you, without the vote of course We did this several years ago for the US, and it's pretty standard for all Western countries to have you jump through flaming hoops of paperwork. But once it's done it done and you just lead a normal life Good Luck

As obnoxious as this is, it's hardly a new thing. From the countless pyramid schemes, and probably more like for like Andrew Tate programs for getting laid, just add this to the list!

I don't think it's weird, and I also think it might be a lot more common than reading this forum might suggest. I also think there is a sizable quiet population who aren't the 60 something with the 20 something and look like a normal married couple in the West. Me and MrsG have discussed what happens as we enter our twilight years, none of us know when we will depart, but for all of us it's an inevitability. Our kids, both American and Thai are now in their 20/30's and would never expect anything from us, but if I(we) can leave them something I'd say my work is done

No is the simple answer. The kids will inherit a condo each, which generate my retirement income today. My wife, if she outlives me (we're only a few years apart so who knows) will get our house, plus whatever is in the bank and my survivor social security benefits. We live pretty comfortably, don't see any need to liquidate assets for a total end of it all blow out!

Actually I'm going to agree and disagree about United's US lounges. They appear to have woke up and smelt the roses. They have been abysmal in the past. But we just flew back home from San Diego through Denver, and both almost rivaled the best. The Denver one in the B concourse just gutted and rebuilt. It actually has a kitchen, and gone are the rather sad stack of instant noodles and stale sandwiches, the hot food was actually good. The rebuild was, so the blurb goes was to give it a Colorado log cabin feel, and it actually does look and feel pretty good. To compare it to the TG lounge in BKK, way better. Still not Emirates but hey, one step at a time

Well obviously one size doesn't fit all. But, my wife feels that out of all her siblings, she was the one that got the break and went to live in the US with her aunt & uncle, which unlocked education and job opportunities that her siblings didn't get with the other relatives in Thailand and she does owe a debt. This is nothing to do with me, she was supporting family long before she met me. She earns good money working for the DoD, and you could almost think of it as a tithe that she sends home every month. She's now in her 50's and has been doing this every month since she got her first job after graduating college in Chicago. You might find this corny but it's who she is, and I gotta admire her for it, damn helluva strong tough woman