Video Credit: Rides 4 Kickz
In this episode Rides 4 Kickz talks about his tips and advice for moving to Thailand. He receives many requests for this and instead of responding to each one individually, he decided to dedicate an episode about moving to Thailand.
Some People are beginning to return now to Thailand as a path for a tourist visa has been established for some nations. For months now, we hear sad stories of those who had planned to move only to have their plans postponed. Right now the messages are changing in tune by the day and people are making plans to return so hopefully my tips and advice may be pertinent to some. This is not a path for normal tourism but rather for people who have been planning a long term stay for work, retirement or other reasons but have been locked out. Enjoy the Ride!
Other tips for Americans
As an avid traveler, there's two things I would do instead of bringing your home currency to exchange. In the US, you can open a Charles Schwab checking account and use the debit card to withdraw local currency at the atm in the airport. There is no foreign transaction fee nor atm fee.
The visa/MC exchange rate is always better than the rates of the local money exchange counters. The next step is to get a Bank of America or Capital One Travel Reward credit card. These credit cards don't charge a foreign transaction fee and also give you points on every purchase you make. If the local merchant asks if you want to get charged in local currency or USD, always choose local currency as the local bank's exchange rate is always worse than visa/MC's exchange rate.
The only thing you need to remember to do is go online or call customer service before going on a trip to notify them that your card will be used at whatever country you're visiting, so it doesn't trigger a fraud alert when used there. Informational video, I particularly liked the renting/leasing tips you mentioned. Cheers! Alex
I'll tell you something that you will almost never hear. Check on the price of a health care policy and check as if you are over sixty years old. Ask the hard questions. Tell them you to cover over 3 million baht and if you have any health conditions. Make sure you tell them upfront about it. I don't think I would have even consider retiring anywhere in asia. If I would have looked into a head of time. Orangeguy
Speaking of driving on the left...I found it applies even when you’re walking. What I mean by that is, if you’re walking along a road and getting ready to cross a side street to keep walking, it takes a minute to get used to watching for cars coming from the opposite direction. A few times, on my first trip, I had a close call with a car that was coming from a direction I hadn’t expected. Also, Thais will sometimes drive on the wrong side of the street. This is Thailand! I love it. But worth watching for. Dan J
Video Credit: It's Thai things Important to know about visa documents
Depending on your age and financial circumstances visas such as the Non Immigrant O-A based on retirement are available through many embassies. This gives you an initial 12 months and if the borders do open even for Asian travel during that 12 months you can extend it for up to another 12 months for free. If you are coming from Australia, bring vegemite in large quantities. Yes you can buy it here but it is seriously expensive. Larger sized shirts and shorts are easily purchased second hand very cheap. Luckily I don't need them any more as the lifestyle here is extremely healthy and you can quickly lower your sizes. Brett Allan
On my visits to Thailand, I usually rent a 125cc motorscooter. Not too fast. Not too slow. When riding the scooter, I always wear either a red glove on my left hand or a set of red bracelets on my left wrist. This is to remind me constantly to drive on the left side. I also put a set of red wrist bands on the left handlebar and a set of red wrist bands on the mirror to provide me additional reminders. After a week or two, it starts coming naturally, but I still use my visual reminders for my whole trip. James Sonrisa
