GinBoy2

Well that's the problem, nobody knows the real number, and it would indeed be a brave journalist who tried to uncover the real number. Express train to re-education camp! Even in normal times they report something like 1% unemployment, which doesn't take a rocket scientist to know is laughable. Take a look in any village in Isaan and I'd wager 30% are unemployed, or underemployed at best. So here we are and probably the majority of the fallout from this worked in the gray sector, never on the books. So how you count those hundreds of thousands I just don't know

Well that's the problem. So much of Thailand's economy is is the grey sector, trying to figure out the true employment devastation is hard to fathom. For every airline counter agent that has lost their job, there is probably 200 massage/bargirl/food stall worker that is currently back up north on the farm

And then there is the slight problem of actually getting into Thailand. I work for an airline (Delta) and they don't run like buses, you can't throw in an extra flight like you would a bus. Equipment and crews are planned 12-16 weeks in advance based on projected loads. So look at flight schedules and that's basically the total capacity until the end of the year, which might be the most realistic maximum number of incoming tourists. Damn that seems so simple to figure out! Unless of course we're banking on the overland Chinese market, who are banned from travel until the end of 2022, the Indians, or the overland trekkers from Europe, and the swimmers from the Americas!

That was one of the best posts of the year, certainly made me laugh. But on the serious side, yeah those places may be the stereotypical podunk back of beyond, but if push comes to shove, you can live there at low cost, if that's the answer to the OP 'can you afford to repatriate'

So before anyone blasts me as some Thai hater. I love the country for all it's absurdities, corruption et al. But we haven't been back in 2 years because of covid, and my Thai wife, who never wanted us to move from Singapore to Thailand in the first place is becoming less and less interested in our original plan of snowbirding to our Thai house. So I'm left contemplating what do we do? We have a great house there, but what's the point of hanging on to an asset which lets face it, is worth a fraction of the cost it took to build it, ot just cut and run, hotels are cheap when we do finally go back for a vacation

Hmm, that's really good question and I did, as I'm sure you did, a google search and nothing on the Government told you anything. This might be one to fund the google voice account and call the 'help' line

With the amount of stuff you describe you are between a rock and a hard place. Thats way too little for any shipping company, usually they sell space on half a container minimum. So then you are back to the usual suspects, split it down and sent it by mail, Fedex, DHL etc

Well I agree with @VocalNealtake it out for a ride, get some dirt on the wheels. Don't ship it in the original box, go but a bike case. Then 'if' you got stopped you'd be on slightly firmer grounds arguing that it wasn't new. Also, since I work for an airline, the bike case is a helluva lot better protection for that pricy bike than having it chucked about by the rampers in a cardboard box

Can't think of any other reason to get an ITIN other than for 1040 filing Many of us have or do do it. Saved a bunch on my taxes having the married allowance before we moved to the US and my wife got an SSN

Not quite sure I understand your point. Immigrants, and my wife is one in the US enjoy all the benefits of a citizen pretty much, up to the point that they can't vote. A 'long stay tourist' in Thailand on a yearly extension of a non immigrant visa has exactly the same rights, as well a tourist which is basically nothing. I'm unclear who you were directing the 'superiority' comment too. Farangs in Thailand or the Thais themselves?

Well we've been around and around on this one, how old is this thread again??? The only bulletproof way to maintain a US number and importantly to receive text messages from financial institutions is to get the cheapest US carrier plan that supports WiFi calling, with a phone that also supports it. They are all getting really savvy about detecting VPN server farms and the rest, so the VOIP solution if they do work, it's only a matter of time until they catch up and block them

That's the fundamental issue. In Thailand 'expats' aren't ever anything more than long stay tourists, with the same rights, or lack of than any joe smo that flies in for a two week vacation, regardless of whether you are married to a Thai, have kids, own a condo or whatever. Now we all moan and whine about immigration in home countries, but in reality you pay the fees, file the paperwork and your wife gets residency, after which she in all cases looks just like any citizen of said country, just can't vote. My wife has now been a permanent resident in the US for 3 years, and last weekend we filed the paperwork for her to become a citizen, because she's married to me. That's just not a scenario that's going to play out in Thailand!

Yeah the lack of traffic here is a real plus. As much as we'd like to move to Colorado and be closer to the kids, cost and just the general peaceful living here kinda clouds our decision.

Definitely days long gone

I lived in Mission Valley but worked in Rancho Bernardo, so had a reverse commute. As I crossed the hill on I-15 past Miramar I'd see 8 lanes of practically stationary traffic headed south into the city. Don't miss that for a second. I miss lots of other things about San Diego, the beaches, the food, the weather, but definitely not the traffic

Hmm, traffic don't miss any of that. I lived in San Diego for years, where when you looked at Google maps the traffic algorithm would show red when traffic was backed up for 10 miles. Here in Rapid City, 5 cars stopped at a red light is enough to generate a red on google traffic maps! No, i'm happy with South Dakota traffic 'backup's'

Thing is I could live in The Springs, Boulder, parts of Denver, Breck, Vail, all of them fantastic places. it's just could I justify the price? We live in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Driving distance to Denver, equally stunning landscape at a fraction of the price. Every time we go to Boulder my wife and I have this battle over whether we should move there. It's fabulous, but 4x expensive from where we live

Not sure about that. My daughter lives in City Park and our son lives in RINO. They would both like to buy something in City Park, but it's super expensive. My son and his girlfriend are ready to start a family, so they wanna move out of the apartment world of RINO. Fort Collins ain't cheap, but equally it's not Denver, or worst still Boulder, which I must admit, I've contemplated cashing out my rentals and buying something there. Fort Collins is turning into a Denver commute hub. Yep it's getting pricey, but we were looking at what they could afford for a young family, better than Denver, and you suck it up and do the I-25 commute. After that you're pushing it up to Cheyenne, which is very affordable but a commute too far for most into Denver. But as a retiree, Cheyanne ain't a bad choice either

Let's put this into some sort of perspective The red hot markets tend to be where job growth is going through the roof, Coastal California, NE Coast, Denver, NW, TX etc. But for a retiree you aren't looking for somewhere with hot job possibilities. That's where the likes of Wyoming come into play. As I mentioned earlier a guy from this group moved to Wyoming, Gillette to be precise. The average house price is $278K, so obviously there are homes way below that, in a smallish city, but pretty nice with an airport and decent infrastructure. So you really can't have a one brush approach to this. It's a little but like saying all of Thailand looks like the downtown Sukhumvit housing market!

I know nothing about the Seattle market, but Denver I do. My eldest daughter and my Thai son both live there. My son and his girlfriend have been trying to buy something for months and it's damn hard. They are down to the point where they are thinking about moving up to Fort Collins just to be able to start somewhere

Well maybe this is a ship that has sailed for many, but maybe a lesson for the newbies. Never ever burn bridges with home. At the end of the day you are nothing but a long stay tourist in Thailand with little to no rights. Make a good life for yourself in Thailand but always have a backup plan if things go south. I'll never understood those who sell up everything at home and go all in. Keep your house in the US, rent it out that'll give you the income to survive in Thailand and it's the ultimate bolthole if things go tits up, which lets face it is not uncommon for aging expats

I think you nailed that. In terms of 'things to do'. My God, Spain boring, I don't think so. Comparing what 'things to do' are available in Spain versus Thailand it doesn't even compare. Now if you mean 'can I have sex with women a third of my age for money' as things to do, well of course Thailand will win hands down. I'm an Hispanic American and I've been to Spain many times over my lifetime, and I can tell you I have never once been bored, whereas living in Thailand for over a decade, yep I've been bored!

In general in most asian languages the use of surname or forename is pretty fluid. I think most of us have experienced the fact that even in the likes of English speaking Singapore you will be greeted, in my case as 'Mr Peter'

You make mountains outta molehills. We have two homes one in Thailand one in the USA, neither in some crime infested hellhole which you like to imply. All I was trying say, in response to the OP was that, Yes housing has gone through the roof, but in a huge country there are still places, maybe not ideal, but affordable where you can live a decent life at low cost. There is a member on here who recently moved back to WY who I'm in contact with. Decent place, very cheap and he's happy. You don't need to hate one to love the other. I like both our homes but for different reasons, but the idea that it's impossible to return to the US under any circumstances, I'd dispute that.

If you just need a place to live, there are thousands of small towns that you can live really cheaply. It may be a one horse town, but i'll be pretty much crime free ( let's excuse running the one stop sign in town) and generally folks are just down to earth. Now maybe you won't have a Starbucks, but there will be a bar, general store and equally you aren't going to get shot by some gangbanger