Have had a few experiences with unexpected problems on holidays. Worst was the USA back in the 80's. Had cash, and credit card, also cheque book. No mobile phones back then. Got talked into buying something expensive, used credit card and a couple of days later it stopped working. US bank would not accept a UK cheque for buying dollars. Had to eke out our USA cash for the next 5 days until our return flight. Managed it with a bit of help from a USA pen friend. Arrived at airport, spent the last 2 dollars on a snack for daughter and boarded with 13 cents left. One hour later, plane had problem and landed in Maine! Was stuck there overnight and had to beg Nappies for daughter. Was i glad to arrive back in the UK. Next was in France. Needed petrol early evening on way to holiday home, pulled into petrol station to find it closed. So were the next 3..... had to wait for French person to come to use a card only pump. and paid him in Francs. Finally was caught up in the 2009 Suvarnabhumi airport shut down, Got stuck for an extra week. Fortunately i had ATM cards and just me to worry about. So, things can happen which you didn't expect. When i moved here in 2010 I planned carefully. Researched online for 2 years. Been made redundant, so had capital. I still took my work pension early, maintained 3 different UK bank accounts, so 3 ATM cards, credit card and internet banking. There were still occasional problems but always one card/bank app that worked. Those who come to work in Thailand, particularly self employed are in a much more difficult position. Many of them find that making a living in Thailand is not easy, over the last 16 years most of those self employed expats i met didn't last long. Most returned to their home countries, but one chap i knew was collecting stuff to recycle for a while and then disappeared. No safety net in Thailand.
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