Family relocated to Thailand a week before coronavirus closed down the island - now they’re homeless and without work

“We don’t want to come back to the UK because we have nothing there now. We gave up everything"

 

By Tianna Corbin

 

Lauren Edwards and husband Greg Wiseman

 

A dive-obsessed family relocated to Thailand a week before coronavirus chaos closed down the island - now they’re homeless and without work.

 

Lauren Edwards immigrated to Koh Phangan with husband Greg Wiseman, 45, and their two boys Ifor, three, and Gryff, one, on March 2nd.

 

Having worked on the island as dive instructors in 2015, the pair thought they knew what island life would involve.

 

But three days after Greg started his job as a dive instructor, all the island’s businesses closed due to coronavirus.

 

Lauren, 29, said: “It’s kind of Chinese whispers at the moment - it’s hard to get reliable information so we are on a beach and kind of in a little bubble at the moment, and trying to think of what to do next.”

 

Full story: https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/family-relocated-thailand-week-before-4003587

 

-- Devon Live 2020 04-01

I see a gofundme coming...

Other than him appearing to be working or trying to work without the correct visa and WP I do not see their problem. They just sold their car and house in Devon so will be sitting with millions of baht in the bank. They should just enjoy the next few months of holiday in Phangan and when the world returns to normal decide what to do. They are in a much better position than 99% of the rest of us.

My heart bleeds.

Completely irresponsible parents. Moving to a foreign country with their two young children during a PANDEMIC and seemingly working illegally. Then advertising in the world media they are working ILLEGALLY.  (Read the article in the link, the mother says she’s now teaching English online and they have renewed their visas for 30 days, which indicates tourist visas).

Sorry things didn't work out for you but surly you must have had a plan B before coming here for emergencies and expats, tourists and thai's are having problems bigger than yours at the mo.Do they know it's also illegal to teach online without a W.P.

They sound like a couple of carefree backpackers. I guess they forgot about the kiddies! 

20 minutes ago, Youlike said:

I see a gofundme coming...

or a smart BMW in front of their door

These kind of stories highlight the stark absurdities of different situations people find themselves nowadays, on a one hand a couple who are 'trapped' in paradise and on the other millions of others knot knowing where their next dollar to survive on will come from...

I am saving my sympathy for all the hungry elephants in Thailand.

1 minute ago, OneeyedJohn said:

I am saving my sympathy for all the hungry elephants in Thailand.

Agree, they came here when there were already very serious Covid 19 problems, infections, large scale death in many countries (China and Italy just 2 examples. Idiots.

 

Hope there more serious and focused re protecting their 2 sons.

Sounds like dumber and dumber to me,,come looking for work in thailand with no correct visa just when high season is finishing,,,,,,fly out of Uk in the middle of a pandemic ignoring government advice not to travel,,,ignore government warnings 2 weeks ago that if you want to leave thailand make plans now,,,,,,, I could go on and on????????????????.

Fleeing the 'nanny state' and now looking for nanny to bail them out....too funny

I vaguely remember dad had a saying for dumb Rs's like them "Ships for brains" or something like that.

They sold their house and car, but in 2-3 months they won't have money anymore?

Weren't many travel warnings issued in February already, but they still decided to fly in March?

33 minutes ago, RandolphGB said:

Completely irresponsible parents. Moving to a foreign country with their two young children during a PANDEMIC and seemingly working illegally. Then advertising in the world media they are working ILLEGALLY.  (Read the article in the link, the mother says she’s now teaching English online and they have renewed their visas for 30 days, which indicates tourist visas).

Yes, and his name is Greg WISEMAN... Hard to believe. 

Homeless? The lockdown started a month ago. What kinda parents move to Thailand with literally no savings? A cheap guesthouse can run a few 100 baht a night and they dont have that? They have noone to blame but themselves.

37 minutes ago, Yinn said:

857,299 have corona.

42,114 dead because of corona.

100 million business close because corona.

2 billion loose the job. 

 

Why this story news now? 

Are they famous?

It's in Devon Live. That is not exactly a major news corporation....unless you live in Torquay!

Poor guy.

“And then we think ‘what happens after all of this, what happens in 30 days or if we’re stuck here for two or three months.’ “We’ll have no money left by that point.”

 

So let me get this straight.

 

They sold their home in Essex and their car. So that's 250,000 GBP plus 10000 GP, minimum given the UK's absurd house prices. Okay subtract their existing mortgage, so that's maybe 25,000 GBP left. Less travel costs, leaves 20,000 GBP

 

But they can only survive on 20,000 for four months? Could happen, I suppose, villa with pool and expat shopping can add up.

 

Poor family. What will they do?

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Lauren Edwards immigrated to Koh Phangan with husband Greg Wiseman, 45, and their two boys Ifor, three, and Gryff, one, on March 2nd

???????????? Comedy Gold on the appropriate day 555.  This has to be a joke.  Right!!!

From the opening line with "immigrated" instead of migrated, it's just absolutely tosh.

 

Some great one liners, "Chinese whispers" 555 try Chinese sneezes, more like it.  We feel like we re "living in a bubble" - No sh** Sherlock?!?! No way is this beauts name WISEman and the son Ifor, 3 = I for free...... Lol

 

Some research might not have gone a miss, prior to jumping off a cliff edge, hey?

 

47 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Other than him appearing to be working or trying to work without the correct visa and WP I do not see their problem. They just sold their car and house in Devon so will be sitting with millions of baht in the bank. They should just enjoy the next few months of holiday in Phangan and when the world returns to normal decide what to do. They are in a much better position than 99% of the rest of us.

 

50 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

 

This post is deliberate misinformation. There is no mention of Mr. Wiseman NOT having the correct visa and WP in the OP or link. The house and car that was sold in Devon, what mortgages or loans were outstanding? To conclude they are sitting on millions of baht is misleading.

15 minutes ago, jackdd said:

They sold their house and car, but in 2-3 months they won't have money anymore?

Weren't many travel warnings issued in February already, but they still decided to fly in March?

One would think they made a smart move to sell their house before the unemployment skyrockets and the house values plunge. However with all the money printing it may go the other way and they may end with some wallpaper to use. Who knows...

7 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

 

This post is deliberate misinformation. There is no mention of Mr. Wiseman NOT having the correct visa and WP in the OP or link. The house and car that was sold in Devon, what mortgages or loans were outstanding? To conclude they are sitting on millions of baht is misleading.

Other than them saying they came here intending to do some dive work but are now teaching English online for 8-10 usd per day there is also this -

quote from original article in Devonlive

 

"The pair have been able to extend their visas, they claim thanks to a letter from the British Embassy that asks for british citizens to be allowed to stay an extra 30 days."

 

Considering your aggressive and accusatory reply, you will no doubt be able to easily explain what visa they are on, why it expired after a month, how they can be both doing dive related work and teaching english on the same WP.

 

As for how much cash they have, had they been in a negative equity situation they would hardly have come on  lengthy round the world trip with 2 young kids. Sometimes you must read between the lines and apply some of your own common sense. 

From the linked article..

"The pair have been able to extend their visas, they claim thanks to a letter from the British Embassy that asks for british citizens to be allowed to stay an extra 30 days.

However this came with a £500 price tag"

 

So they paid 20,000 baht to have a 30 day extension !!! 

April Fools article for sure ????

a right pair of plonkers.

But hey, who am I to judge..

Remember when we came over here to live ,the wife and i arranged a school for our boy and a home ,before we even brought him over,some people just are stupid and dont plan ahead ,we spent months doing it .andwe had my wifes family here where we could stay if we wanted.

1 hour ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Other than him appearing to be working or trying to work without the correct visa and WP I do not see their problem. They just sold their car and house in Devon so will be sitting with millions of baht in the bank. They should just enjoy the next few months of holiday in Phangan and when the world returns to normal decide what to do. They are in a much better position than 99% of the rest of us.

after reading the whole article I'm not sure you have that quite right 

 

2 Adults 2 very young children - no were near any sort of retirement age 

 

I think what they did was quite careless and not thought through - what they are dreaming of doesn't exist in Thailand - maybe they were impressed with the simple island life but Thailand is far from simple when you consider all the red tape they will face concerning visa's etc, I hope they can get out of Thailand before spending their limited nest egg - it won't last long here with four of them 

 

There are much better options for them to consider - Thailand isn't one of them

2 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Other than them saying they came here intending to do some dive work but are now teaching English online for 8-10 usd per day there is also this -

quote from original article in Devonlive

 

"The pair have been able to extend their visas, they claim thanks to a letter from the British Embassy that asks for british citizens to be allowed to stay an extra 30 days."

 

Considering your aggressive and accusatory reply, you will no doubt be able to easily explain what visa they are on, why it expired after a month, how they can be both doing dive related work and teaching english on the same WP.

 

As for how much cash they have, had they been in a negative equity situation they would hardly have come on  lengthy round the world trip with 2 young kids. Sometimes you must read between the lines and apply some of your own common sense. 

You want me to do the work you should have done before posting? I have no idea what their visa status is, and neither do you. Likewise, you have no idea what their true financial position is. You just posted wild speculation.

My tone to you is aggressive because you posted similar misinformation during the Australian bushfires, claiming over 90% of them were caused by arsonists, a statement completely debunked by authorities on the spot - not some right-wing rag in the USA whose views you embrace with fervour.

If you don't like being called out on BS, either stop posting, or get used to it.

 

The ones I feel sorry for are the two children, the less than responsible parents are old enough to fend for themselves.

Perhaps they are hoping a "special case for assitance" or the good folk of Devon will assist them. 

This appearing in the papers will possibly see them residing in a deprtation centre if they have really run out of funds.

Where were they living when they arrived? 

Poor financial planning