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

[apetryxx]

What kind of moron packs up a young family, moves to a foreign county hoping for a dead end job, has no rainy day funds to protect his family and then cries “woe is me” when things predictably go to hell. No sympathy from me on this self induced misery but feel badly for the children of this irresponsible couple.

[Thongkorn]

Just shows you the Attitude of today's parents, My parents always put the children first, Even if it ment they did without

[CharlieH]

Keep it civil please.

 

7) You will respect fellow members and post in a civil manner. No personal attacks, hateful or insulting towards other members, (flaming) Stalking of members on either the forum or via PM will not be allowed.
 

[Mak25]

5 hours ago, banglay said:

Do you actually believe all the figures coming out from Thailand ???  they do not add up .. Chinese Year (25th January 20)  over 500.000 Chinese Tourists came to Thailand in that week with unrestricted access and  with a large proportion of that figure coming from the Wuhan province ...

Wuhan is not a province. Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province.

[Spock]

7 hours 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?

Must be a <deleted> car and a dump of a house in a distressed area. Or else they spend like there's no tomorrow.

[Bert got kinky]

2 minutes ago, Spock said:

Must be a <deleted> car and a dump of a house in a distressed area. Or else they spend like there's no tomorrow.

Or else they spend like there's no tomorrow.

Maybe they are living on Australian corn fed rib eye steak. ????

[Muzzique]

39 minutes ago, Basil B said:

They are living a dream... Unfortunately dreams turn into nightmares, my advice is get back to blighty while you can.

 

Found the following information on repatriation flights.

 

There are still seats available with Condor from Phuket or Bangkok at €99 one way on direct flights to Frankfurt. This price does not go up. They are primarily for Germans but Brits and EU citizens are welcome too providing there are seats.

 

Most of these direct flights are running half empty now so there should be plenty of room. From there you just need to take a flight back to the UK . Book online directly with Condor Airways. 

 

I think there are only 4 or 5 flights from each destination left now between the 3-9 April after that the German repatriation flights will stop. If they want to go home now is the last chance to do it.

 

Judging by their original level stupidity in coming they will probably elect to stay which is even more stupid.

[Muzzique]

11 minutes ago, smudger1951 said:

People make mistakes but throughout the process of selling your home, car and possessions, was there no pause for reflection. ?Normally two heads are better than one. 

Not if the combined IQ only adds up to 20

[Katipo]

There are so many people hurting from this, Thais and foreigners, it really does break my heart. 3 months ago, no one could have seen it coming. ????

[marko kok prong]

Look having read through the posts here there is a lot of guessing going on and some factual mistakes.

1 They are on koh phangan,an island so no way will it be 40c,like upper or central Thailand,sea breezes ect.

2 where was it said by them they needed a pool,if they are near the beach they don't.

3 you can eat thai food cheaply,surely there must be a big c or something on the island,tesco,or some such where they can buy bread,milk ect.

4 They should be worrying less about covid than Dengue fever ,the island is riddled with it,i got it there back in my backpacking days,it floored me for a week,and was a young fit guy then.

5 a lot of conjecture about their financial situation as nothing was mentioned in the original article all these calculations of house prices in devon,if they had a mortgage ect,are meaningless. 

Regardless of this i still think it was a very silly thing to do period.

[herwin1234]

from the online article:

 

"Lauren claims the locals have helped them massively: “We have got a little house on the beach, purely because the local people have been so amazing."

 

Amazing Thailand. The locals helping stranded foreigners.  No "what a bloody dumb people let them sort it out themselves", just a kind hand helping them. NO FELLOW FARANG HELPING THEM NOT EVEN THEIR OWN BLOODY FAMILY.

 

Think about that, before posting next time again  insulting remarks like "Thai ppl are idiots and liars, etc". ONE THAI IS MORE HELPFUL THAN ALL FARANG COMBINED.

 

 

 

[Kerryd]

Sigh.
The article clearly states they arrived on 2 March.

It clearly states that, some time ago, they sold their house and car in England and were travelling "around the world" (no mention of where, how or for how long). It seems they didn't have much money to begin with as they planned on financing their travels (in part at least) through him teaching diving and her teaching English.

It seems pretty clear that their intent was to go to Thailand when their funds got low and then he would work as a diving instructor (yes, that is an occupation open to foreigners).

They were on that island because he had worked for a diving company there before (5 years ago), one which apparently was willing to employ him again.
They claimed they knew "what island life would involve" yet it appears from their own statements that they were not here on the proper visas and did not have work permits.

They claim they were able to "extend their Visas". They hadn't even been in the country a month by that point. However, as most TV members know - there is a lot of confusion over what a "Visa" actually is. 
But, if they had actual Work Visas and Permits, they would not have needed to extend them less than 4 weeks after arriving. And, if they had those and they were cancelled because of the business closing - they would - not - have - been - able - to - extend - them at all. 

And if they had Tourist Visas they would not have needed to extend them less than 4 weeks after arriving either.

But most tourists who arrive with a "30 Day Stamp" call that a "Visa" as they don't know any different and that is the common terminology. 
Because of the terminology, it could be that they asked about "extending their Visas" and not about extending their 30 Day stamps. The £500 may have been the cost to go to the Embassy to get the letter (which they may not have even needed).

So they were travelling around (somewhere) while the virus was shutting down flights and countries around the world and instead of returning home to the UK, decided to come to Thailand.
Also note - they are not broke.
"Now we’re not sure what it’s going to bring - if we use all the money that we had put by then we will just have to come home."
"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.”

They also note that after 3 weeks (so sometime last week) they had decided that it would be best for them to return to the UK. Except that they'd sold everything (and apparently spent almost all the money).

One thing I noted when I read the (whole) article.
It is written as though they are in the UK but are trying to make it sound like they are still in Thailand. 
Like when they say "come back to the UK" instead of "go back to the UK".

And no - the story is far too lame and no where near "whacky" enough to be some kind of April Fools joke (and the original article is dated 31 Mar in any event).

I suspect this is one of those "sell your vacation stories for cash" articles. Usually those stories have more drama to them (more drama = more money) than this one has.

I was surprised that there wasn't a GoFundMe link included with the article.  

 

[HashBrownHarry]

33 minutes ago, apetryxx said:

What kind of moron packs up a young family, moves to a foreign county hoping for a dead end job, has no rainy day funds to protect his family and then cries “woe is me” when things predictably go to hell. No sympathy from me on this self induced misery but feel badly for the children of this irresponsible couple.

You'd be surprised by the amount of people that have no 'rainy day funds', for most normal working class people very unlikely.

[2long]

FOURTEEN PAGES for what was either a non-story or an April Fool's! ????????

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, Logosone said:

This is not an Asian, this is a French butcher of my utmost confidence. We're simpatico. He slips me a ribeye for free maybe. I don't know why it was only 360, but I got two for that price. The meat was labelled "corn fed Australian beef". There is no way this French gentleman would lie to me. 

ROFL. Beef in Australia is not corn fed, it's grass fed. That's what those giant cattle stations in the Kimberley and Northern Territory are all about. Corn is what they give cattle in Kansas feedlots. Last time I looked, Australia grew wheat when the drought was not visiting.

While I can appreciate you have a good relationship with your butcher, and you are lucky to get low prices from him, the thought that what you are buying may be deliberately mislabelled to deceive both you and him has not occurred to you?

[Logosone]

4 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

ROFL. Beef in Australia is not corn fed, it's grass fed. That's what those giant cattle stations in the Kimberley and Northern Territory are all about. Corn is what they give cattle in Kansas feedlots. Last time I looked, Australia grew wheat when the drought was not visiting.

While I can appreciate you have a good relationship with your butcher, and you are lucky to get low prices from him, the thought that what you are buying may be deliberately mislabelled to deceive both you and him has not occurred to you?

LOL, You didn't know there's corn fed Australian beef? There is. They have corn fed and grass fed beef.

 

Here's a pic of grain fed beef on sale at Big C ????

 

https://www.bigc.co.th/australian-grain-fed-beef-ribeye-per-kg.html

 

He's French. A total above board butcher, he'd never lie about his meat. 

 

 

[Lacessit]

5 minutes ago, 2long said:

FOURTEEN PAGES for what was either a non-story or an April Fool's! ????????

Cut us some slack, OK? Many of us are cooped up, bored and don't have the normal outlets of exercise and chasing tail, can't go to a bar. This is the only entertainment left for some.

[elliss]

8 hours ago, Curt1591 said:

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

 

        Living the dream ,  and wakening up to the nightmare .

        Nothing new in Land of smiles ..

 

[banglay]

34 minutes ago, Mak25 said:

Wuhan is not a province. Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province.

My sincere apologies .. I used Wuhan because it is the  agreed City and epicenter that cultivated and nurtured this nasty virus . But thank you for bring it to my attention and correcting me.. I again apologies for making such a stupid school boy  error it obviously perplexed you so much you had to response  .

????

[Logosone]

It's still very disappointing.

[hotchilli]

8 hours ago, soalbundy said:

or a smart BMW in front of their door

They haven't got a door... or much else, kinda feel sorry for the kids... 

[mrfill]

1 hour ago, OneeyedJohn said:

That's a very nice map.

I used to do roughly that journey every week to Plymouth from, wait....where the heck is Ramsgate and Broadstairs ??

They're still in exactly the same place that they have always been. Have you not seen a map before?

[Basil B]

One thing for sure when this is over tourists will return and some will want to dive or learn to dive.

 

But there will be fewer with less spending money, Dive centres will be fighting to survive, with so many expat diving instructors who have been in Thailand decades fighting to stay employed and remain in Thailand I do not see any chance for new kids on the block unless they are willing to work for free.

[SoSoCNX]

I just hope they have Medical Insurance for the children. As for the parents, just ,,,,,,,,

[Lacessit]

2 minutes ago, Logosone said:

LOL, You didn't know there's corn fed Australian beef? There is. They have corn fed and grass fed beef.

 

Here's a pic of grain fed beef on sale at Big C ????

 

https://www.bigc.co.th/australian-grain-fed-beef-ribeye-per-kg.html

 

He's French. A total above board butcher, he'd never lie about his meat. 

 

 

So you are changing the description from corn fed to grain fed. I can accept oats are grown in Oz for that purpose, because I once helped a farmer crop 15,000 acres of them. However, grain fed is a tiny minority against what is grass fed IF you can believe the labelling.

Enjoy your steaks, and thanks for a good laugh. As they used to say to me in America, you're not from around here, are you?

[bartolo57]

Thailand under the virus an easy mistake to make - but Kho Tao what were they thinking. Almost text book stupid. 

[dogfish180]

Twatpackers!

[britanicus]

1 minute ago, bartolo57 said:

Thailand under the virus an easy mistake to make - but Kho Tao what were they thinking. Almost text book stupid. 

I thought it was Koh Phangan, but where ever they are Devon would be far superior in every department.

[spidermike007]

Very hard to feel a great deal of sympathy for a couple who sold their home in the UK, and likely moved over here with a substantial amount of money in the bank. There are hundreds of millions in India, and other nations, that made $2 to $10 a day prior to this economic shutdown, and were living hand to mouth, owning nothing, and having no money in savings, no retirement plan, no pension, and no safety net. Now, what will they do to survive?

 

This shutdown may end up causing ten to fifty times the number of people to starve to death, than are taken out by the virus. And we are talking about young and healthy people, not older people who have lived rich lives. 

[Logosone]

4 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

So you are changing the description from corn fed to grain fed. I can accept oats are grown in Oz for that purpose, because I once helped a farmer crop 15,000 acres of them. However, grain fed is a tiny minority against what is grass fed IF you can believe the labelling.

Enjoy your steaks, and thanks for a good laugh. As they used to say to me in America, you're not from around here, are you?

 

 

It was labelled as corn fed beef from Australia! 

 

Pretty much every third Australian cow eats grains, even grassfed ones. 

 

I looked it up.

 

No, I'm not Australian. But your beef and lamb is not bad. I would prefer Italian, Argentinian, German or Irish, but they don't sell that here. 

 

Australia allows the use of hormones, so it is qualitatively inferior to European beef. But of course, Thailand buys Australian because it's closer, so not much that can be done about it really.