I plan to live in Thailand for the rest of my life. If, for some reason, I couldn't live here any longer, my next choice would be back in the USA, specifically in Alaska, on one of the islands that make up the Aleutian Islands, the curved chain of islands located south of Alaska, extending downwards and westward towards Russia. I'd build a cabin there as long as I could get water and electricity, and had access to supplies in a small town near the cabin site. 

I would like to live on a deserted island with a dozen Thai girls.  

4 minutes ago, Look Chang said:

I would like to live on a deserted island with a dozen Thai girls.  

Good luck, you should make reality tv, and entertain the world

42 minutes ago, khunPer said:

Still Thailand for me...😉

Dubai, no way; Monte Carlo, too hot in summer and too small; too hot is the same for southern France, which is also too cold in the winter, but food and Provence wine is nice; Hawaii is not me; and same for numerous other areas. Even I like Mediterrenan a lot, it's too hot in the summer and Carribean islands have too hight tropical strom risk, even they have an exciting history.

I'll stick to my tropical paradise island in the Thailand Gulf with "all year summer", never too cold and never too hot... – not to forget the amazing party-nightlife...

All countries above is to expensive to risk you savings if not very wealthy compared to the average here at AN. Normal retirees do not have 3 million in assets to use for their last 20-30 years. 

Would like to spend a year or two in Taiwan, then head back to Australia for my sunset years. Must admit that am somewhat concerned that the Australia I would be returning will be too different to what I left sixteen years ago to feel sufficiently at ease.

On 7/7/2025 at 10:50 PM, SoCal1990 said:

if money, visas, and logistics weren’t issues

If money was not an issue, I would never move out of the US. 

On 08/07/2025 at 04:26, Cameroni said:

 

Zurigo ha troppi immigrati, il parco di Zurigo è pieno di africani.

 

Dubai ha troppi arabi.

 

Monte Carlo ha troppi personaggi super ricchi.

 

Il sud della Francia è troppo francese.

 

Hawaii, credo, ma è troppo lontano.

 

Nessuno dei posti fa appello. L'unica alternativa alla Thailandia sarebbe Singapore o Bali, anche se ora sembra che sia andata in discesa. Ma anche con quelli, preferirei ancora la Thailandia.

 

And in Thailand there are too many Thais

I miss wearing my jeans, jean jacket, leather jacket, and even some of my sweaters. 

I miss seasons. 

Apart from winter. But even short bouts of winter going skiing would be fun. 

Not sure I want to stay in perpetually hot weather forever and ever all year round. 

 

 

On 7/7/2025 at 6:43 PM, KannikaP said:

Not this BS again.

In the Thai month in which you spent Bht 1000, what do you spend it on. 

 

Ha-ha. Not Baht. I was speaking of USD. USD $1,000 per month. 

Real freedom! LOL There isn't even basic democracy here! There is not even health care compared to Europe. The

"freedoms" that Americans, & Europeans, & Russians enjoy here ALL come with a price; that price being the lack of freedom for most Thai people that includes criticism of certain peoples and their family. 

With a basic daily wage of 400 baht most people here are impoverished in.a way that most "farang" could not even imagine. FOUR HUNDRED BAHT A DAY!

Only foreigners with rose coloured spectacles think that Thailand is a " free" country.

The police and army have the @/hor/£y to m@££ m#/@£!r people with /!£pun/£/. And they do so every few decades or so. 

After the coup around 2014  eveything went downhill and hasn't recovered since.  Bangkok is testimony to this. The 

" fun taps" were turned off then in Bangkok.  Only Pattaya survived the coup.

The rest of Thailand is poor and grim. I  wish it wasn't.  I have been all around Thailand; poverty is their freedom. Their  smiles cover their problems. 

It is an impossible question.  The reason is this:

 

What counts most is the people you know in the place where you live.  I.e. the relations you have in your everyday life.  Both good, bad, and indifferent.

 

You know what you have,and what you expect to have in the near future barring the unpredictable and unforeseen.

 

But how can you know what you would experience if you moved to another place, however much it might seem appealing when judged from the narratives of others?

 

Moreover, both places and personal circumstances change.  If I were to return to the UK, would I find the same place I knew when last there for more than a few days, 33 years ago?  Or even on my last visit of a week's duration, 10 years ago?

 

Best to test the water before jumping in.

I've Always liked the look of Bora Bora,Looks like Paradise on Earth,But.....Is It ??

Anywhere in Europe, there’s just so much to see and do. As an Australian, I’d need several million dollars for a long term visa though.

1 hour ago, Blueman1 said:

I've Always liked the look of Bora Bora,Looks like Paradise on Earth,But.....Is It ??

I stayed in a (relatively) cheap hotel on the main island, rather than on one of the spectacularly expensive resorts on an outlying island. I thought the place was a little run down, and poorer looking than I’d expected. I’d be driven insane with boredom if I had to stay there for a long time. World’s most beautiful airport though. Preferred Moorea.

On 7/7/2025 at 10:50 PM, SoCal1990 said:

I’ve been wondering: if one could pick anywhere else in the world to live, places like Dubai, Zürich, Monte Carlo, the south of France, Hawaii, you name it, anywhere you might dream about, would you actually leave Thailand?

 

My guess is that most people wouldn’t. It’s not just about the lower cost of living that people stay here. Thailand has plenty of flaws, plus visa issues, banking and taxation challenges, but it also has something most Western countries lost long ago: real freedom. Here, you can live your life without anyone constantly telling you what to do, who to be, or how to act. There’s no pressure to fit in, you can get almost anything you need, and as long as you don’t cause trouble, nobody really cares what you do.

 

Yes, it’s far from perfect. The heat and pollution can be a big challenge at times, but for many, Thailand still offers the easiest lifestyle out there. One where you can do your own thing, stay off the radar, and avoid the suffocating rules now creeping deeper into other parts of the world.

 

So if money, visas, and logistics weren’t issues, would you leave Thailand for somewhere else? Or is this your last stop and still the last chance for the kind of freedom you can’t buy in the West anymore?

Instead of asking other people what they would do, try thinking for your self. you never know, you might find it a new idea!?

On 7/8/2025 at 1:33 AM, mogandave said:

 

 

If my wife would go for it, I would buy a Zyklon and go back on the road.

I know what Zyklon is but what is a Zyklon in this context?

6 hours ago, WDSmart said:

I plan to live in Thailand for the rest of my life. If, for some reason, I couldn't live here any longer, my next choice would be back in the USA, specifically in Alaska, on one of the islands that make up the Aleutian Islands, the curved chain of islands located south of Alaska, extending downwards and westward towards Russia. I'd build a cabin there as long as I could get water and electricity, and had access to supplies in a small town near the cabin site. 

I expect to live out my days here too... the Aleutians have a certain lonely romance to them, but for me

 

I want to go back to my little grass shack in Kealakekua, Hawaii

4 hours ago, save the frogs said:

I miss seasons. 

Beatniks are out to make it rich... 

On 7/8/2025 at 7:33 AM, mogandave said:

I’d stay here, unless my wife and kids wanted to relocate to the US, in which case I would buy a place in Point Loma and live six months of the year on a long range boat in a deck level stateroom. 

 

If my wife would go for it, I would buy a Zyklon and go back on the road.

Your wife and kids might move to El Salvador. 

 

On 7/8/2025 at 2:27 AM, KhunBENQ said:

One place only?

Summer somewhere in northern Italy at one of the big lakes. Is George Clooney's villa still on sale 😁

Northern winter on the southern hemisphere. Brazil?

George has moved to the South of France where I Live. I’m happy, just under 5 months in Thailand and the rest comfortably at home. Great free healthcare and delicious food. 

On 7/8/2025 at 5:42 AM, fredwiggy said:

No, and Texas

Spain would be my choice, great weather, good healthcare, great food, nice people, most speak English, but easy to learn the language.  But my wife’s family lives in Thailand and they are very well connected.  So at my age 74 and wife 78 probably not a good idea.  But we visit often and have made friends there.

On 7/8/2025 at 8:35 AM, John Drake said:

1a. Thailand

1b. Hawaii

 

Thailand gets the nod because I can walk safely (except for crossing the roads) and easily to most everything I need immediately within 1km to 4km. Easy to get a taxi off the street, too. And my neighbors leave me alone, and I don't have politics thrown in my face 24/7. Medical care is good. I have an inner ear problem whose medications cannot all be acquired in the US.

I don’t know where you live but I can’t find any place safe to walk in Thailand. Walking paths have aggressive motorists on them, sidewalks are the same, even in a pedestrian walkway with lights you can get killed by a speeding driver.  In my own condo complex I can get hit easily by cars racing to get out of the garage.  Treadmill walking is the only place safe for me.

All the nonsense that followed the "restatement of tax rules" caused me to consider options that might leave me in Thailand for less than 182 days.

 

Whilst I could start, literally, with a clean sheet of paper it became apparent that I needed to decide where I wanted to call "home". Not necessarily as easy as it sounds, with multiple locations available, but I am the wrong side of 60 to be changing a place of domicile. It became logical, and easier, to consider Thailand as home. 

 

Confident that the tax situation will not adversely affect me, the 180 day limit became less relevant and the exercise became more about where would I like to divide my time. Simplistically, that would be 3 months in Spain, 1 month UK, 1 month Vietnam and 7 months Thailand.

21 hours ago, KhunLA said:

I used to work for the airlines, 4 actually.  Last one, 13 yrs prior to retiring here.  Excellent, and FC damn near free, and wouldn't even take a flight if couldn't sit in FC. Talk about a snob in the making. Always by-passed security, though pre 9/11, so not that much of an inconvenience then anyway.

 

Flew back as a regular customer in economy 2003 & 2006, after 9/11 of course, and just thought to myself, no holiday is worth this. 3+3 hrs for security, then crammed in a sardine cans.

 

Last of the trips coming back home to TH, and the flights got screwed.   They upgraded me to FC all the way, and rerouted me through EU instead of usually JP conx or LAX/BKK.  

 

3 trips in economy ... never again.   Fine in country, as took a few, but only 1-1.5 hrs flights, though still 2 ish hr check ins.  Almost 4 hrs for less the 3 hrs in air ... WTF.

Most of my contracts in O&G industry provided bus class air.The ones that didn't I instructed to upgrade me and take the difference from my salary. No more economy flights for me except domestic. I somehow managed to get upgraded to 1st a couple times.Snobbish but nice. 

On 7/8/2025 at 8:16 AM, Felton Jarvis said:

I would not spend one extra day here if I could live anywhere else. Most of us are here because it's

cost-effective. If I could live in Norway or Denmark for the same money, I would move tomorrow.

 

Tell me you are 'stuck' here 🙂

Probably Hawaii, Thailand cool season.

 

I'm getting too old to bounce continents every few months. Travel is just a total hassle anymore

22 hours ago, sungod said:

 

Tell me you are 'stuck' here 🙂

NOT "stuck" but Laos and Cambodia have problems that Thailand doesn't even though they are cheaper. I can go back to the USA anytime I please but I have no family there and costs are too high to live on a retirement income. The term "stuck" implies that there are no options.  There ARE options but they are worse than Thailand.

2 hours ago, Felton Jarvis said:

NOT "stuck" but Laos and Cambodia have problems that Thailand doesn't even though they are cheaper. I can go back to the USA anytime I please but I have no family there and costs are too high to live on a retirement income. The term "stuck" implies that there are no options.  There ARE options but they are worse than Thailand.

All in all life is good then!

 

Many dont have the opportunity such as you have for improving their lives. 

On 7/10/2025 at 9:18 AM, pchansmorn said:

I don’t know where you live but I can’t find any place safe to walk in Thailand. Walking paths have aggressive motorists on them, sidewalks are the same, even in a pedestrian walkway with lights you can get killed by a speeding driver.  In my own condo complex I can get hit easily by cars racing to get out of the garage.  Treadmill walking is the only place safe for me.

Not to mention the probability of seriously injuring yourself from a fall on the sidewalks in Thailand. There does not seem to be a truly level surface for walking anywhere in the country.

On 7/9/2025 at 9:00 PM, Geoff914 said:

I know what Zyklon is but what is a Zyklon in this context?

Obviously, he wants to open up a gas chamber.