How is life for 3 ex-Expats who have returned to UK?

[webfact]

How is life for 3 ex-Expats who have returned to UK?

By Dan Cheeseman

 

 

Chances are for many working expats that at some stage they will return back to their domestic countries, some via their own choosing and others just a shift  in market conditions giving them no alternative.

 

Thailand has long been lauded by expats as the lifestyle choice, so I was keen to find out how three former Pattaya working expats have adjusted to returning back to the UK.

 

What do you miss about Thailand?

 

Keith: “Obviously the weather is the main thing, the sun rising and setting at the same time almost all year round. I miss not having the opportunity of taking short breaks when not at work to some beautiful islands with a couple of hours drive from my home, I miss the great friends and acquaintances I made in the 15 years I was there, I miss my dog a lot, I miss the friendliness in my village, I always had neighbours, all be it expats, that I could socialise with at almost any hour of any day of the week! I miss waking up on a day off, taking my dog for a walk in the sun, then taking my daughter for a dip in pool. I miss the sense of relaxation and the lack of tardiness of Thailand, it was laughable “Thai Time”, I don’t really miss the food, my Mrs makes Thai food everyday if I choose to indulge.”

 

Razza: “This is a difficult one as there are so many things i miss but if I’m honest the biggest things is the people, I mean the close friends I made over the 10 or so years. And of course the days/nights out all the lads used to have. Those days unfortunately will probably never be repeated. Obviously playing and rehearsing with the guys in the band, the weather and the laid back life. Never seemed to rush about as far as work went. And not spending so many nights in doors like you do back in the UK. Always something to do over there, even on a mid week night. “

 

Matt: “I miss the sun, the bars, beaches and markets.”

 

Was moving back to the UK an easy transition?

 

Razza: “It was stressful ! But once my Thai wife got her settlement Visa it all seemed to go OK. I’m just on with her settlement extension at the moment. Again a little be stressful but I’m sure it will all go to plan, they just need lots of paperwork and not forgetting another 2,800 quid. 1,000 (37k baht) for the NHS, 1,000 for the extension…robbing b*stards… and 800 to fast track the decision which is also ridiculous if you ask me.

 

Matt: “After being in Thailand for 12 years it was a bit of a shock coming back to the UK but things have been pretty easy and straight forward. It is a different way of life you get use to out there but to be honest I think it’s better over here for my situation with one 8 year old child and another one due in November for the education alone it was the best option.

 

Full story: https://danaboutthailand.com/2019/09/11/how-is-life-for-3-ex-expats-who-have-returned-to-uk/

 

-- DAN ABOUT THAILAND 2019-2019-09-11

[BobBKK]

No one misses the girls? wow! that's the main reason most come here but I guess most have taken there's back with them (good luck with that!).

[sammieuk1]

The real conundrum of course will be if you have to leave your family here after being financially forced out only to meet with them being financially forced out of there with even more draconian laws and you just end up being a what's app daddy. like I suppose many will be thinking about right now with a peanut for pounds and fixed income????

[Andrew65]

I moved back to the UK last year after 20 years in Thailand.

 

I miss friends and the weather.

 

One nice thing is supermarkets and how cheap stuff is there compared with Thailand (cheese for £2.50 a pound for example!). In UK supermarkets if you substitute pennies for Baht it's not far out. My deoderant's £1.58 in the UK or 179 Baht in Thailand

 

Car insurance was outrageous for the first year, £1500, dropped to £550 this year. Last year the one insurance company even refused cover cos I'd lived outside the UK for more than 5 years.

 

Glad I never waited until the money ran out until I did it, would've been a nightmare going back with little or no money.

[WhatupThailand]

Maybe you should have gone back as an Illegal immigrant, that way you would get free house,

big government check monthly, and a free pass for anything else you need.

BUT you have to have a beard.....

[roo860]

Maybe you should have gone back as an Illegal immigrant, that way you would get free house,
big government check monthly, and a free pass for anything else you need.
BUT you have to have a beard.....

Please supply evidence.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[RichardColeman]

I lived in Thailand for 3 years, living off the income from renting out my house. When my tenant turned out to be a drug trafficking hippie unemployed rat bag, I was forced to leave my wife and child to come back, get the house back, repair all the damage , repaint the entire house and find a new tenant (who after working for him and his company for a few days I trust 100%).

 

I think the issues of return to the Uk are really 'do you have enough money, somewhere to live' and can you send your family some money if you have family stuck in Thailand. I'm lucky now, I own my own home and in the past month I took an early 55 year pension, so all being well I am set up better now.

 

To return to the uk on just a basic state pension, no house and no relatives would be considerably harder. I'd love to hear how those people are doing. On my initial return (before access to early pension), I had to claim benefits, and I can safely say that if you are returning to benefits you are going to be severely in debt and on the streets before long - they are just not liveable now.

 

Next week, I hand over my house again to my new tenant, I fly out to see my wife and kid who I have not seen for 10 months.

 

The only thing I miss about Thailand is the wife and kid - the rest I'm not bothered about and I'd rather they came to the Uk than stay there.

 

That said, if I was a single guy returning to the UK, I'd miss the girls - just don;t tell the wife 

 

[mstevens]

2 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

To return to the uk on just a basic state pension, no house and no relatives would be considerably harder. I'd love to hear how those people are doing.

 

I'm sorry, but how on earth did someone get themselves in to such a position? Essentially broke in retirement and living in another country strikes me as utter madness!

[Denim]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

“Obviously the weather is the main thing,

 

Not if you were previously living in Pattaya.

[sirineou]

 

3 hours ago, WhatupThailand said:

Maybe you should have gone back as an Illegal immigrant, that way you would get free house,

big government check monthly, and a free pass for anything else you need.

BUT you have to have a beard.....

After reading this I am jumping on the next plane to the UK, and overstaying my visa.

Not very familiar with the place, where should I get my free house? cost of living is not a problem because of my big government check, so anywhere is good , but something near the beach would be nice,  Is the Free Pass good for public transportation also , or should I get a car?

[Scot123]

I returned to the UK 5 months ago with my family after living in Thailand for 9 years. We are all loving being back. We could have remained in Thailand as had enough of an income however the decision to move back was mostly due to immigration attitude and uncertainty what tomorrow might bring (having 6 police vehicles turn up at my house full of police did not help). Last October I started comparing prices and found UK was far cheaper for us. I hated driving in Thailand and now am enjoying driving. The quality of the food is far better here and I do not need to worry about slowly being poisoned and I'm even eating fish here. Utility bills were worrying me but at the moment I'm only paying £50 a month. I don't drive a 3lt suv so my costs are half what I was paying. So happy to be home. Obviously we miss friends and the sun but we have had far more barbecues here than in Thai (dengue twice kind of makes you think twice). Love Thailand shame what they have done to her since 2006. We will go there for holidays only. Oh clothes are cheaper here than Thailand it's unbelievable. 

Edited September 11, 2019 by Scot123

[Lacessit]

15 minutes ago, mstevens said:

 

I'm sorry, but how on earth did someone get themselves in to such a position? Essentially broke in retirement and living in another country strikes me as utter madness!

Many people make bad choices in their lives. Others are unfortunate, either through ill-health or loss of relevance in their chosen field of employment. That's what Western safety nets are for.

If you think we're badly off, try living on the Thai age pension - 500 baht/month, rising to a munificent 800 baht/month if one gets to 80 yo.

[rtco]

32 minutes ago, mstevens said:

 

I'm sorry, but how on earth did someone get themselves in to such a position? Essentially broke in retirement and living in another country strikes me as utter madness!

I wasn't broke when I moved here. I had a good pension that a so called reputable Financial Adviser suggested I invest in a secure Australian Fund which, after 2-years, went bust and was found to be a Ponzi Scheme + the Financial Adviser was found to be operating illegally here. Still fighting for some kind of recompense after 6-years. So not "utter madness" as you call it but a victim of circumstance. We all have different stories so don't generalise.

Edited September 11, 2019 by rtco
Added additional context

[Scot123]

25 minutes ago, mstevens said:

 

I'm sorry, but how on earth did someone get themselves in to such a position? Essentially broke in retirement and living in another country strikes me as utter madness!

It's not hard when prices in Thailand keep going up contrary to what the government keep saying, the baht keeps rising against all foreign currencies, immigration rules keep changing on a whim (having to donate over £22,000 for 6 months to a Thai bank every year and donate over £11,000 to the bank as long as you live there) and always having the cloud above you that upsetting the wrong person can if lucky see you in prison but if unlucky not see you at all. Many many more reasons.... 

[BritManToo]

3 hours ago, Andrew65 said:

Glad I never waited until the money ran out until I did it, would've been a nightmare going back with little or no money.

I'm hoping to avoid that by being dead before I run out of money.

[BritManToo]

8 minutes ago, rtco said:

I wasn't broke when I moved here. I had a good pension that a so called reputable Financial Adviser suggested I invest in a secure Australian Fund which, after 2-years, went bust and was found to be a Ponzi Scheme + the Financial Adviser was found to be operating illegally here. Still fighting for some kind of recompense after 6-years. So not "utter madness" as you call it but a victim of circumstance. We all have different stories so don't generalise.

They got me too,

I got 3,000 pounds back this year, out of 40,000 pounds.

Made me quite happy as I wasn't expecting anything at all.

[madmen]

3 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

renting out my house. When my tenant turned out to be a drug trafficking hippie unemployed rat bag, I was forced to leave my wife and child to come back, get the house back, repair all the damage

its called landlord insurance, cheap enough and your fully covered for <deleted> tenant's

[rtco]

Just now, BritManToo said:

They got me too,

I got 3,000 pounds back this year, out of 40,000 pounds.

Made me quite happy as I wasn't expecting anything at all.

I wish ... not seen anything yet

[madmen]

17 minutes ago, Scot123 said:

having to donate over £22,000 for 6 months to a Thai bank every year and donate over £11,000

Yes because it was much better leaving it in the UK and watch it fall off a cliff

[joecoolfrog]

12 minutes ago, madmen said:

Yes because it was much better leaving it in the UK and watch it fall off a cliff

Inflation is minimal in the UK so in domestic terms Sterling has not lost any value.

[Scot123]

25 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I'm hoping to avoid that by being dead before I run out of money.

Well I hope you have plenty of money because balcony skydiving lessons can be arranged. 

[madmen]

4 minutes ago, joecoolfrog said:

Inflation is minimal in the UK so in domestic terms Sterling has not lost any value.

Sure but I replied to a post about leaving it in a Thai bank living in Thailand as an expat.

 

obviously a pound is a pound in the UK

[joecoolfrog]

1 minute ago, madmen said:

Sure but I replied to a post about leaving it in a Thai bank living in Thailand as an expat.

 

obviously a pound is a pound in the UK

 

2 minutes ago, madmen said:

Sure but I replied to a post about leaving it in a Thai bank living in Thailand as an expat.

 

obviously a pound is a pound in the UK

Your post still makes no sense.

If he left the money in the UK ( as you suggested ) it wouldn't have fallen off a cliff would it !

[JonnyF]

I went back for a couple of weeks recently.

 

Things I liked.

 

Cooler weather, in the low 20's mostly (I went back in summer)

Driving was much more relaxing, people drive quick but generally know how to drive (compared to LOS)

Seeing old mates

Pubs and pub gardens

Great cheap food

Prices, my mate's 2019 BMW330e was a tad over 1.5 Million Baht

Reasonably priced golf where you don't lose half your body weight in sweat

Long evenings

Clean air, being able to walk places without getting hit by cars, chased by dogs or choking on fumes

 

Things I didn't like.

 

Chavs everywhere

People seemed pretty miserable

Not much eye candy

 

I used to worry about going back, but given recent developments here I wouldn't be concerned about going back for a year or two. After that the long winter might start getting to me.

 

 

 

 

[sanemax]

17 hours ago, BobBKK said:

No one misses the girls? wow! that's the main reason most come here but I guess most have taken there's back with them (good luck with that!).

Could be many/most people do not go to Thailand for females , females exist in every Country in the World 

[sanemax]

12 hours ago, joecoolfrog said:

Inflation is minimal in the UK so in domestic terms Sterling has not lost any value.

interest rate are down by the zero mark and general prices have risen by quite a lot more than zero

[joecoolfrog]

14 minutes ago, sanemax said:

interest rate are down by the zero mark and general prices have risen by quite a lot more than zero

Yes you are correct , though wage increases are currently above inflation and more than balance the books.

In technical terms though yes I should have said Sterling has lost a little value , certainly not fallen off a cliff though.

[Tropposurfer]

Do I smell the horrible odour of white jingoistic racism ?

[madmen]

57 minutes ago, joecoolfrog said:

 

Your post still makes no sense.

If he left the money in the UK ( as you suggested ) it wouldn't have fallen off a cliff would it !

If he was drawing down an income to use in Thailand whilst LIVING in Thailand from a UK Bank

 

What don't you get? His income is getting smashed!!

Edited September 11, 2019 by madmen

[rumak]

1 hour ago, madmen said:

Sure but I replied to a post about leaving it in a Thai bank living in Thailand as an expat.

 

obviously a pound is a pound in the UK

i would say that those Brits that put a lot of their money here within the last ten years were

actually baht wise and pound foolish.    Of course it was just luck...... but so are many things