Are the re-pats you know happier in the home country...

[dunroaming]

I think we all probably spend too much time wondering about greener grass.  As the world changes and it is now changing at one hell of a rate, I suspect the grass will take on a different hue and our wish list may change with it.

[Kwasaki]

On 12/1/2021 at 6:31 PM, freedomnow said:

Yes, got put through the wringer last one year with UK trades.

Learn DIY if I ever move back to UK permanently....

 

Out-and-out thieves every last one of them....make more than white collar pro's these days...filthy dugs.

I thought the problem was UK govt made illegal for you to mess with electrics, gas,  and water in your home it had to be a qualified tradesmen.

Has that been done away with.? 

[zzaa09]

20 hours ago, dunroaming said:

I think we all probably spend too much time wondering about greener grass.  As the world changes and it is now changing at one hell of a rate, I suspect the grass will take on a different hue and our wish list may change with it.

Yet, as you'll find - the same miserable sods will be similarly miserable at the greener pastures as well. 

Has little, or nothing, to do with location and environment - but everything to do with the individuals character and disposition.

[SAFETY FIRST]

On 12/2/2021 at 9:12 PM, dunroaming said:

I think we all probably spend too much time wondering about greener grass.  As the world changes and it is now changing at one hell of a rate, I suspect the grass will take on a different hue and our wish list may change with it.

Yep, totally agree.
Some people are born miserable, always moaning, whinging, whining.
I reckon a number of the negative comments on this forum are coming from these people, some are the re-pats from Thailand, still miserable after leaving this beautiful country

[BritManToo]

20 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

I thought the problem was UK govt made illegal for you to mess with electrics, gas,  and water in your home it had to be a qualified tradesmen.

Has that been done away with.? 

I always did my own ......... after all who is to know?

[Kwasaki]

10 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I always did my own ......... after all who is to know?

So did I but had mates in the trades to check it. 

From memory it seems a silly idea because as you said who would know.

You could say you can't find the bill or remember who did the work if something went wrong and the gas and electric inspectors checked.

[peter zwart]

On 12/1/2021 at 4:09 PM, JingerBen said:

The US that I grew up in doesn't exist anymore.

   There is nothing to go back to.

Exactly. Same for me about The Netherlands. In the 70s-80s and a part of the 90s it was a excellent country to live in. Now..........I dont even want the be found dead overthere. Doesnt Thailand have things that makes you wonder??? Yes but at least youve got your freedom here (besides many more good things)

[BritManToo]

Just now, Kwasaki said:

So did I but had mates in the trades to check it. 

From memory it seems a silly idea because as you said who would know.

You could say you can't find the bill or remember who did the work if something went wrong and the gas and electric inspectors checked.

It was like that when I bought the house ....... is the easiest.

Worked for unauthorised extensions as well.

[peter zwart]

On 12/2/2021 at 6:13 AM, cyril sneer said:

UK leaving Europe has made it more appealing

 

I've heard a lot of the immigrants have already left

Its the best decision the UK could maken. The free and good life in Europe is done.

[Fat is a type of crazy]

I know a guy who did the trips to Thailand for years infatuated with Thai ladies. Kept working in Australia and bought a house. He moved there at 48 alone with an exciting but low paying job. He then sold his house in Australia and spent a fair bit of what was left. Had a ball but moved back to Australia at 54 in 2019 to get a better paying job. Covid happened  and he has had to live through lockdowns in a small apartment. He wishes he never left Thailand.  

I look at him and see he had a good six years in Thailand at a good age to have fun. But there is a big financial downside too and he seems a bit lost. So make of that what you will.  

[BritManToo]

2 minutes ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

I look at him and see he had a good six years in Thailand at a good age to have fun. But there is a big financial downside too and he seems a bit lost. So make of that what you will.

Yeah, life sucks when you HAVE to work for a living.

[1FinickyOne]

7 hours ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

who did the trips to Thailand for years infatuated with Thai ladies.

inFATuated...

 

also a type of crazy? - - 

 

Since there is no particularly sane path through life, then everything is a type of crazy... 

 

 

[zzaa09]

Overthinking most every aspect of life - unnecessarily. 

Most be a cultural genetic code thing.

[HAPPYNUFF]

Guys forget,,,or else dont wont to know,, when you come here relatively young, on your  2 week or 3 month visa,  jump from bar stool to bar stool, chase, or rather get chased by  young sexy females,   its great ,they think,,,I could live  here, what a great way  to live,,  then they age,  they get  to damn old to even climb on a bar stool,    they get called  "papa"  by the bar girls, gone are the days when they were "hunsum man", and the penny drops, living here full time is not the same as being a  short time tourist  and they just dont or wont adapt,  thats when  the moaning starts.     I was  in the first category once, now Im  an expat here, and a lot older, luckily I managed to adapt, I   arent completely happy here, but as my monicker  said, happyennuf, I still  wish for a decent wine at a reasonable price though!!!.

[GinBoy2]

Where we lived I ended up as the 2nd to last man standing.

 

All but one of my farang friends called it quits, and all of us had been 10+ year veterans.

 

Now I along with most still love Thailand, some of us have houses there and after all this cra$$op ends will go back for vacations.

 

But the non scientific poll among my ex Thai buddies it is that, great place to visit, not so much to live full time.

 

We are now scattered across the globe from Sweden, USA, UK and beyond.

 

We flew down to Dallas earlier this year to see our old Swedish friend who was visiting his sister.

 

Now, Lars is a horndog. Love the guy to death, but I understand where he is coming from.

 

He works on the principle that it's better now to spend a few months of horndogging a year, but live a 'normal' life in Sweden than his previous 100% Thai life.

 

The only buddy I have left there is Torsten, and he sunk every penny he had into building a resort and couldn't leave even if he wanted too.

 

Generally I'd say everyone of my Thai buddies that left seem to like their new lives, or should be said, resumed lives. Thailand may just have been an extended vacation!

 

On a personal note, yeah i am happier living full time back home, and is often the case my wife is happier living here than she was in Thailand, plus Momma Bear wanted to be closer to our son who had already moved to the US

 

So I dunno, it's really personality and situational dependant

Edited December 5, 2021 by GinBoy2

[ChristianBlessing]

After 18 years of expat life in three countries, I retired full-time to my affordable, bohemian town in the mountains and don't regret it a bit. I can find the best of what that expat life offered in a 3-4 month holiday abroad, while continuing to enjoy the best of what my home country offers to its citizens the rest of the year. There have certainly been changes for the worse here at home, but there have been just as many changes for the better, and the latter is where I spend my attention. 

[Meat Pie 47]

On 12/4/2021 at 6:27 AM, SAFETY FIRST said:

Yep, totally agree.
Some people are born miserable, always moaning, whinging, whining.
I reckon a number of the negative comments on this forum are coming from these people, some are the re-pats from Thailand, still miserable after leaving this beautiful country

I am not agreeing with you read my post I posted earlier

[RichardColeman]

Think this rather depends on where you live.

 

My UK house is in a lovely village in Bucks along the river Thames. A beautiful and scenic town. Do I think it better than Thailand ? 100% Do I miss it when living in Thailand 100%, would I rather live there with the thai family ? 100%.

 

However, due to renting my house out, I am now stuck in a Blackpool bed and breakfast for 22 months, pending a hopeful return in January. Is it better than Thailand ? No flipping way, will I miss it ? Nope, would I rather live here than Thailand ? Nope.

 

I really do not like living in Thailand and if I could bring the family to my home town tomorrow I would do it. In the future it will happen, but own personal family circumstances means just accepting I have to live there for a while longer

 

 

 

 

[GinBoy2]

2 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Think this rather depends on where you live.

 

My UK house is in a lovely village in Bucks along the river Thames. A beautiful and scenic town. Do I think it better than Thailand ? 100% Do I miss it when living in Thailand 100%, would I rather live there with the thai family ? 100%.

 

However, due to renting my house out, I am now stuck in a Blackpool bed and breakfast for 22 months, pending a hopeful return in January. Is it better than Thailand ? No flipping way, will I miss it ? Nope, would I rather live here than Thailand ? Nope.

 

I really do not like living in Thailand and if I could bring the family to my home town tomorrow I would do it. In the future it will happen, but own personal family circumstances means just accepting I have to live there for a while longer

 

 

 

 

Well my advice would be get the ball rolling.

I don't know specifically about UK immigration, but in general spousal immigration takes time.

 

If you are stuck in the UK, and your real home is rented, take this 'down' time to figure out immigration stuff for your Thai family

[thaibeachlovers]

On 12/5/2021 at 2:36 PM, HAPPYNUFF said:

Guys forget,,,or else dont wont to know,, when you come here relatively young, on your  2 week or 3 month visa,  jump from bar stool to bar stool, chase, or rather get chased by  young sexy females,   its great ,they think,,,I could live  here, what a great way  to live,,  then they age,  they get  to damn old to even climb on a bar stool,    they get called  "papa"  by the bar girls, gone are the days when they were "hunsum man", and the penny drops, living here full time is not the same as being a  short time tourist  and they just dont or wont adapt,  thats when  the moaning starts.     I was  in the first category once, now Im  an expat here, and a lot older, luckily I managed to adapt, I   arent completely happy here, but as my monicker  said, happyennuf, I still  wish for a decent wine at a reasonable price though!!!.

Even without a BG in my bed every night I never wanted to leave LOS. Saddest day of my life when I walked onto that plane for the very last time.

[GinBoy2]

20 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Think this rather depends on where you live.

 

My UK house is in a lovely village in Bucks along the river Thames. A beautiful and scenic town. Do I think it better than Thailand ? 100% Do I miss it when living in Thailand 100%, would I rather live there with the thai family ? 100%.

 

However, due to renting my house out, I am now stuck in a Blackpool bed and breakfast for 22 months, pending a hopeful return in January. Is it better than Thailand ? No flipping way, will I miss it ? Nope, would I rather live here than Thailand ? Nope.

 

I really do not like living in Thailand and if I could bring the family to my home town tomorrow I would do it. In the future it will happen, but own personal family circumstances means just accepting I have to live there for a while longer

 

 

 

 

I think many of us have a love/hate relationship with Thailand.

 

It's one of those bright shiny things which are very alluring for the first few years, then by the end the shininess has kinda dulled.

 

I met my wife in Singapore when we worked at the same company. She told me when I wanted to move to Thailand I'd be bored with it within 10 years. She got it right by 11 months!

 

I don't regret our move to Thailand, I've regretted a lot more things in my life.

 

I still love the place, although I think I do love it more now as a place to visit, rather than to live

[mstevens]

I moved back to New Zealand after many years in Thailand. I went to Thailand in the first place seeking adventure and to try something different and had a fantastic time. But as the years rolled by I found myself missing a lot of things about home, especially as I was not really a bar guy and preferred time in my apartment than out with friends who liked late nights out. After 10 years in Thailand, I found that when I went home to NZ on holiday I didn't want to return to Thailand. A few years later I moved back to NZ.

 

New Zealand has changed in many ways. These days it's a very expensive country to live if you do not own your own house. Fortunately, I do. It's also not an exciting country and at times it may even feel a bit boring. But pretty much everything works as it should, the healthcare system is available to all, the air is clean and the weather is generally pleasant year-round.

 

For someone like me who likes the quiet life, peace and quiet, and who enjoys simply pleasures like visiting farmers markets for interesting, high-quality food (which I often find is much cheaper in NZ than Thailand), New Zealand is the right choice for me. So all in all, consider this "repat" happy to have moved back home.

 

FWIW, talking to friends who have also returned, those of us who call Australia and NZ home are generally happy so long as we own our own home. If one didn't own their own home, this part of the world is VERY expensive and that could have a major bearing on A) one's decision to move back home or not and B) whether they would be truly happy or not. Paying $500 - $600 per week for a crappy rental would not make for happy life.

Edited December 6, 2021 by mstevens

[thaibeachlovers]

56 minutes ago, mstevens said:

FWIW, talking to friends who have also returned, those of us who call Australia and NZ home are generally happy so long as we own our own home. If one didn't own their own home, this part of the world is VERY expensive and that could have a major bearing on A) one's decision to move back home or not and B) whether they would be truly happy or not. Paying $500 - $600 per week for a crappy rental would not make for happy life.

True, and if one is trying to live on a pension ( without savings ) life is a living nightmare. I never thought I'd ever see NZ where people had to live in a car or if they are lucky, a friend's garage.

[BritManToo]

5 hours ago, mstevens said:

New Zealand has changed in many ways. These days it's a very expensive country to live if you do not own your own house. Fortunately, I do. It's also not an exciting country and at times it may even feel a bit boring. But pretty much everything works as it should, the healthcare system is available to all, the air is clean and the weather is generally pleasant year-round.

I really don't understand why house prices are so high in essentially an empty country (NZ and OZ).

The world has gone mad with artificial housing shortages caused by governments that prevent their populations from building new homes.

 

[BritManToo]

9 hours ago, GinBoy2 said:

I think many of us have a love/hate relationship with Thailand.

I don't particularly love or hate any country.

But I do appreciate living in a country where my pension is sufficient to have a comfortable life.

There being so many younger and available women is just the cherry on top.

 

I'd be seriously struggling to survive back in the UK.

[MarcelV]

I haven't been back to my home country since May 2019 and can barely imagine anything I'd like more than to visit my family and friends.

However, returning there to live? No thanks. I'm happy to live and work in LOS and have my home, partner and job here.

[GinBoy2]

18 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I don't particularly love or hate any country.

But I do appreciate living in a country where my pension is sufficient to have a comfortable life.

There being so many younger and available women is just the cherry on top.

 

I'd be seriously struggling to survive back in the UK.

I hear ya.

 

For me, and think most of my farang friends who re-patriated, it wasn't cost that was the driver.

 

I just got irritated with the place.

 

Now i'm a happily married man, so the availability of young willing sexual partners doesn't bother me.

 

But it was just the nonsense.

The power going off at the first clap of thunder, turning the water off for half a day, 90 day reports, photocopying a gizzilion copies of my passport, coffee money at police checkpoints, internet randomly going down.

 

It just wore me down
What's kinda cute to begin with,  after 10+ years just gets old, and maybe the older I get my tolerance for that <deleted> gets somewhat less

Edited December 7, 2021 by GinBoy2

[BritManToo]

1 minute ago, GinBoy2 said:

But it was just the nonsense.

The power going off at the first clap of thunder, turning the water off for half a day, 90 day reports, photocopying a gizzilion copies of my passport, coffee money at police checkpoints, internet randomly going down.

That's true,

I solved the power problems by getting a battery backup for my entertainment room.

Water went off last Thursday for most of the afternoon, I could get a tank, but the problem is not that bad.

My internet (3BB) has always been very reliable.

[actonion]

On 12/1/2021 at 5:49 PM, stigar said:

I live 6 months a year in thailand..thats enough for me.Thats let me keep my benefits in my country.

I meet some foreigners who moved permantly to thailand,and many of them regrets the day they need help from their embassy in Bangkok.If u dont pay tax to ur country of origin dont expect they will help u.

I pay UK  tax through my  Pensions, but i get  zero help  from the Embassy  or NHS

[GinBoy2]

18 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

That's true,

I solved the power problems by getting a battery backup for my entertainment room.

Water went off last Thursday for most of the afternoon, I could get a tank, but the problem is not that bad.

My internet (3BB) has always been very reliable.

I also think it depends 'how' you want to live

 

Now I know guys who are fine with the isaan tin shack, eating from the roadside stalls. Not quite my style.

 

Me, and my friends didn't quite fit that mold, we all lived a Western life, and that's when the cost equation gets really fuzzy, at least in recent years

 

A cost of living that's questionable verses home, plus the nonsense that is Thailand, then you get into questionable territory

Edited December 7, 2021 by GinBoy2