What do we give up to be an expat

[GuestHouse]

Here I am, once again back in Blighty waiting for my next posting, but in the meantime enjoying some fabulous English summer weather - and when the weather is good in England its as good as anywhere on the planet... perhaps better.

I'm enjoying picnics, real ale down the pub, swimming in the river, time with friends and family, gardening, Radio 4, Sunday lunch, and my hobbies, cycling (down quiet country roads - and clean air), out on the morning hack - horse riding in across the fields in the morning mist, sitting in the under a tree in the garden reading a book (minus the sweating and the insects) and all the casual social interactions with friends and people I grew up with.

Its a full life.

And an awful lot to give up.

Its not the material things, most can be had anywhere in the world (though getting good real ale is a tad difficult outside of England) - rather its all the social interactions. I'm a fluent Thai speaker, most of my friends in Thailand are Thais but its just not the same as friendships with people I grew up with.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy myself where ever I am, particularly in Thailand, but its not like being at home.

[uptheos]

"I'm enjoying picnics, real ale down the pub, swimming in the river, time with friends and family, gardening, Radio 4, Sunday lunch, and my hobbies, cycling (down quiet country roads - and clean air), out on the morning hack - horse riding in across the fields in the morning mist, sitting in the under a tree in the garden reading a book (minus the sweating and the insects) and all the casual social interactions with friends and people I grew up"

Absolutely idyllic and why would you give it up?

Unfortunately, I would bet that the majority of ex pats would have to move back to a less idyllic place.

[Chittychangchang]

Not sure about the radio 4!

If your in Thailand for the GF then bring here over for the complete package, on second thoughts don't!

Keep the idyllic life idyllic.

I concur the U.K is the best place in the world right now and it's set to continue for the considerable future.

Thailand is o.k for holidays or winter retirement months, but all year round?

CCC

[Morakot]

Radio 4

You don't need to give this up in Thailand.

[up-country_sinclair]

What do we give up to be an expat?

With increasing frequency, my sanity.

But overall, I'm more than happy with my decision to live here.

Edited July 18, 2013 by up-country_sinclair

[Nana Cowboy]

I gave up loneliness and boredom but I'm not from the UK

[Sharp]

Radio 4

Nuff said

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

[Morakot]

Not sure about the radio 4!

Some of the listeners call it The Wireless.

Edited July 18, 2013 by Morakot

[Issangeorge]

I can go back to my family cottage on a beautiful lake and sit on the dock with my sisters and BILs and all my nieces and nephews and their children and if it is a nice day (sunny and high 20s) a) it is still too cold for me, and it can be very nice, but get boring quickly, and c) how many days do we get like that? Not many. No thank you very much a week is long enough, after that I'm ready to come home to my family here and my mates here who I have something in common with. My home is here now. Canada has great memories and it's nice to reminisce, but all my old friends have their lives and I have mine and even if I lived in Canada we probably wouldn't get together very often. Where as here I get together with my mates at least once a week.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 6 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[AnotherOneAmerican]

I gave up the right to sleep with old women.

I also gave up the right to get my car stuck in snow drifts and skid on ice.

Edited July 18, 2013 by AnotherOneAmerican

[Chittychangchang]

Not sure about the radio 4!

Some of the listeners call it The Wireless.

Fair play to GH!

He's admitted he listens to Radio 4, not many would do that!

Desert Island discs and a Terry Wogan fan perhaps???

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/278ec2f9

Give me some banging Kiss FM any day,lol.

CCC

[Morakot]

Radio 4

Nuff said

Did you check out their afternoon play: Capitan Cantankerous

Edited July 18, 2013 by Morakot

[Morakot]

Fair play to GH!

He's admitted he listens to Radio 4, not many would do that!

Sorry CCC I am totally surprised now. I didn't know that there are so many secret radio listeners. I better come out know and admit that everyday while cruising down Rangsit Highway I listen to the Shipping Forecast on Radio 4.

[Chittychangchang]

Fair play to GH!

He's admitted he listens to Radio 4, not many would do that!

Sorry CCC I am totally surprised now. I didn't know that there are so many secret radio listeners. I better come out know and admit that everyday while cruising down Rangsit Highway I listen to the Shipping Forecast on Radio 4.

The shipping forecast can be very informative in the rainy season when Bangkok is flooded.

Is your wireless a "wind up" type or have you upgraded to electric yet?

CCC

[HardenedSoul]

Seriously envious, GH.

God, how I'd love to be blasting up and down the A40 with the top down and the tunes up at 3am on balmy summer nights . . . until I remember the Gatso cameras waiting to slap me with a speeding fine, paying £1.30+ for a litre of petrol, paying a tenner a day to drive in my beloved Notting Hill and a legion of traffic wardens dying to write me a ticket the minute I want to park up.

That ale sounds great . . . until darkness draws in and the local boozer's bathed in blue lights from the ambulance and the cop cars responding to a call about a teenager withhalf her face hanging off after a serious assault with a beer glass.

Those social interactions are wonderful . . . until you realise that, bar your nearest and dearest, most folks have sweet FA to say that doesn't revolve around Big Brother, some gormless, surgically-enhanced celebrity skank, the latest smartphone or the knuckle-dragging antics of an overpaid tool in an EPL football shirt.

[Beetlejuice]

The level of pleasures we get out of living in our own countries, depends in which areas we live and how much of a quality life we can afford. For example the comparisons between living at a cottage in the green lands out in the country somewhere and a council flat in South London.

In answer to the question; What do we give up to be an expat? If pertaining to Thailand, than we give up our closest family and friends and also our statutory rights that we enjoy and take for granted in our home countries and all the benefits of being an actual citizen rather than a farang long term glorified tourist.

[StreetCowboy]

Fair play to GH!

He's admitted he listens to Radio 4, not many would do that!

Sorry CCC I am totally surprised now. I didn't know that there are so many secret radio listeners. I better come out know and admit that everyday while cruising down Rangsit Highway I listen to the Shipping Forecast on Radio 4. alt=whistling.gif>

I feel really left out when I'm listening to the cricket on the internet, and they say "Now Radio Four listeners break for the shipping forecast", but I'm stuck with the cricket...

[StreetCowboy]

Last time I was back I had a lovely pub lunch down by the river with my dear old mother, watching the birds. There were children digging in a hole on the other side of the river, under the tutelage of a university friend of mine with a bizarre sense of humour, who got on very well with my mother when I introduced them.

Of course, being June, it was slightly parky-to-baltic; brisk, indeed, but the natives were all appropriately dressed. and I had my jacket with me.

I do sometimes muse about moving back to the Old Country; or at least moving the clan back...

SC

[Bof]

Let's face it, most guys stay here for the cheap sex . Nothing else .

[Scottythai]

I gave up my right to pay 42% Tax

I gave up my right to date fat chicks

I gave up my right to feel winter 8 months a year

I gave up my right to seeing my dog

Only one mattered!

[Morakot]

Fair play to GH!

He's admitted he listens to Radio 4, not many would do that!

Sorry CCC I am totally surprised now. I didn't know that there are so many secret radio listeners. I better come out know and admit that everyday while cruising down Rangsit Highway I listen to the Shipping Forecast on Radio 4. alt=whistling.gif>

I feel really left out when I'm listening to the cricket on the internet, and they say "Now Radio Four listeners break for the shipping forecast", but I'm stuck with the cricket...

Ahh the pleasures and pains of a LW listener... now the truth is that a few nifty little scripts together with a mature piece of software on a server at home can synchronise your on-board computer over wifi as you pull in your driveway. Then you can listen to the beeb programme of your choice on your next journey. To avoid any disappointment, it should be pointed out the Shipping Forecast does not actually forecast any movements of ships.

[StreetCowboy]

Fair play to GH!

He's admitted he listens to Radio 4, not many would do that!

Sorry CCC I am totally surprised now. I didn't know that there are so many secret radio listeners. I better come out know and admit that everyday while cruising down Rangsit Highway I listen to the Shipping Forecast on Radio 4. alt=whistling.gif>

I feel really left out when I'm listening to the cricket on the internet, and they say "Now Radio Four listeners break for the shipping forecast", but I'm stuck with the cricket...

Ahh the pleasures and pains of a LW listener... now the truth is that a few nifty little scripts together with a mature piece of software on a server at home can synchronise your on-board computer over wifi as you pull in your driveway. Then you can listen to the beeb programme of your choice on your next journey. To avoid any disappointment, it should be pointed out the Shipping Forecast does not actually forecast any movements of ships. alt=facepalm.gif width=24 height=18>

All that technology, but you still can't avoid double posts. I have the same problem when I'm trying to park

[Morakot]

And now for something else:

The Ashes: England v Australia – live!

Andy Bull (morning and evening) and Rob Bagchi (afternoon)

Thursday 18 July 2013 16.02 BST

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/jul/18/the-ashes-england-australia-live-report

[StreetCowboy]

If you can be bothered searching on the internet you can get the same experience here, albeit somewhat later at night.

Now shinty - that's not so easy....

[Morakot]

Fair enough.

[lemoncake]

I gave up the right to sleep with old women.

I also gave up the right to get my car stuck in snow drifts and skid on ice.

seems you also gave up all your morals, though possibly you may not have had any to start with

[Riverman63]

But this is the first summer in UK since 2005. Most of the time you will be spending indoors watching rain hit the windows in 19c highs

[StreetCowboy]

"I have said it three times, so it must be true" said the Bellman.

I read about my friends on Facebook, and they have have much more interesting lives than I, with their hobbies, and sports, and all sorts of stuff. Though, I suppose, few of them will have been to such a thrilling game of rugby as the Singapore Malaysia game at MBPJ Stadium a couple of months back.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

I gave up the right to sleep with old women.

I also gave up the right to get my car stuck in snow drifts and skid on ice.

seems you also gave up all your morals, though possibly you may not have had any to start with

If sleeping with old women (or men) floats your boat, good on yer.

More to do with sexual preferences than morality IMHO.

[sustento]

"What do we give up to be an expat"

Nothing at all. Being an expat isn't compulsory.