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[tinfoilhat]

After 15 years in Thailand, a great  ex-wife, a daughter, a cat, good friends, a lovely house in bangkok, and another at the beach --my only question is: where exactly is home?

Edited by tinfoilhat, Yesterday, 03:47 .

[crazydrummerpauly]

tinfoilhat, on Yesterday, 03:40 , said:

After 15 years in Thailand, a great  ex-wife, a daughter, a cat, good friends, a lovely house in bangkok, and another at the beach --my only question is: where exactly is home?

Yep - 'where exactly is home?' - know that one - but i guess as long as there's contentment on hand where one is, it's not the important question it is when gloom and stress about being 'home' sets in.  Happy to see you have a 'great ex-wife' !  Not so many can say that :-)

[crazydrummerpauly]

smokie36, on Yesterday, 03:22 , said:

Op is talking bollocks. If he sends me a PM I can direct him to a place he can get a room for £150 a week.

Why on earth you'd think i would PM anyone who starts a post with such an offensive comment is beyond me.

[thaibeachlovers]

crazydrummerpauly, on 2012-05-24 16:14:12, said:

BigJohnnyBKK, on 2012-05-24 15:51:35, said:

Yes, after a dozen years here I've become a third world person, returning to upper east side Manhattan my jaw is constantly dropping, would never consider buying anything at all until I got my income back up above USD 100K and even then would think twice about "luxuries" like eating out.

Regarding hotels specifically, the tourism industry here has vastly overbuilt for demand (IMO decades' worth of growth), so over there a lot more people that can afford the rate are chasing much fewer rooms. Not to mention the vastly lower cost structures here, labour is a huge component.

Yep - really hit the nail on the head with that: "luxuries like eating out"...and in the uk it's a 'luxury' event even for poor quality food, which really rubs it in.

I can safely say that I never "ate out" in London, unless it was Macs or the Chinese all you can eat buffet for 4 quid, and I was on an above average wage. The top earners must be on some huge salary for my pittance to have been above average. Yes, if I hadn't wanted to save, or travel I could have afforded it, but what would have been the point?
As for accomodation, I joined the NHS just to be able to afford to live in London ( they provided subsidised housing ), and not a 1 1/2 hour journey from work.

It's ironic that in LOS, Macs is more expensive than a meal in a Thai restaurant!

Edited by thaibeachlovers, Yesterday, 17:07 .

[smokie36]

crazydrummerpauly, on Yesterday, 14:37 , said:

smokie36, on Yesterday, 03:22 , said:

Op is talking bollocks. If he sends me a PM I can direct him to a place he can get a room for £150 a week.

Why on earth you'd think i would PM anyone who starts a post with such an offensive comment is beyond me.

My apologies.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

thaibeachlovers, on Yesterday, 17:06 , said:

It's ironic that in LOS, Macs is more expensive than a meal in a Thai restaurant!

How is that ironic? All the western fast food places are expensive for Thais, that only the wealthy say 20% would consider paying for themselves.

Anywhere in the world the local food is always cheaper than exotic imported foreign food.

[bkksale23]

Go to one of those sites where people swap their homes for holidays. If you have a nice home here, there are plenty of people in the UK that would like to come here on holiday without paying for accomodation. Win Win situation - screw the greedy overpriced hotels

[crazydrummerpauly]

smokie36, on Yesterday, 17:09 , said:

crazydrummerpauly, on Yesterday, 14:37 , said:

smokie36, on Yesterday, 03:22 , said:

Op is talking bollocks. If he sends me a PM I can direct him to a place he can get a room for £150 a week.

Why on earth you'd think i would PM anyone who starts a post with such an offensive comment is beyond me.

My apologies.

No probs - actually, even if it was 'b-----ks', i'm glad i posted the topic because it led to really practical links to Gumtree and RoomForTravellers, which as you say does mean that a furnished place with all mod cons and telecoms included can be got for even less than £150 a week - much less in some areas. This has opened up genuinely hopeful avenues for me, and that practical input to a problem, is a big part of the value of TV for me. Cheers.

[farang000999]

the only reason to leave thailand is if you are making the sacrifice to raise a child in the west under the notion that they will be better off, or perhaps, if you win a large lottery. it really takes substantially more money to live the same life style in the West and then it begs the question why you would not still want to live in Thailand and pass down the extra savings. when people make comparisons they will often compare bangkok to a suburban us city. compare bkk to nyc or la...

oh hey, for 10m baht you can get this nice 1100ft2 shack falling apart in one of the worst areas for gang violence! LA baby!

[Nignoy]

I think everyone should be made aware of a little trick played by Travel lodges in surrey and hampshire,coming from aus we booked and paid for accomodation with travel lodge 6 weeks in advance, on their book early 29 pounds a night scheme, first week all was well, move on to booked accomodation at travel lodge guildford, shock horror!! our paid bookings were invalid because of Ascot week starting the following day, the room prices were quadrupled which was an added  500pounds to our hotel bill for the week,  no amount of reasoning would be listened to, it seems the motels are franchised and individual motels are allowed to change bookings and increase prices  as they deem fit!!nearest travel lodge vacancy at our price was in exeter, which is really good when you are attending a conference in Godalming!!As compensation we were offered 2 free nights at atravel lodge in warrington,who the fxxx wants to visit warrington!!

[simon43]

I agree with the OP about the price of hotels in the UK.  Last time I went back to visit (bout 5 years ago), I was so shocked at the price of the hotels that I slept in my hire-car!

F**king cold though - middle of winter

[crazydrummerpauly]

Nignoy, on Today, 07:45 , said:

I think everyone should be made aware of a little trick played by Travel lodges in surrey and hampshire,coming from aus we booked and paid for accomodation with travel lodge 6 weeks in advance, on their book early 29 pounds a night scheme, first week all was well, move on to booked accomodation at travel lodge guildford, shock horror!! our paid bookings were invalid because of Ascot week starting the following day, the room prices were quadrupled which was an added  500pounds to our hotel bill for the week,  no amount of reasoning would be listened to, it seems the motels are franchised and individual motels are allowed to change bookings and increase prices  as they deem fit!!nearest travel lodge vacancy at our price was in exeter, which is really good when you are attending a conference in Godalming!!As compensation we were offered 2 free nights at atravel lodge in warrington,who the fxxx wants to visit warrington!!

Wooah - tricky gits.  I've stayed in the Godalming 'premier inn' - converted Victorian house - all very pretty but no radiator in the big bathroom so bloody freezing for the 6+ months of the brit winter !  Just a note to warn folks about the online booking for TravelLodge - using a Visa card, i was processed through to the 'Verified by Visa' page, but it never loaded - got fed up waiting - so i deleted the page, opened a new browser and booked using a different card - then got 2 emails telling me i had 2 rooms booked at the same place, same night. The first booking had gone through without the verification stage. I Googled this and found hundreds of similar stories. It took a phone call and some emails to get a refund for one of the bookings.  If a booking seems to have failed online - my advice, just wait a while to see if it actually went through !  Your story of the £29 scheme being trashed to suit them - is that a breach of contract or is it covered somewhere deep in their small print ?

[crazydrummerpauly]

BigJohnnyBKK, on Yesterday, 18:29 , said:

thaibeachlovers, on Yesterday, 17:06 , said:

It's ironic that in LOS, Macs is more expensive than a meal in a Thai restaurant!

How is that ironic? All the western fast food places are expensive for Thais, that only the wealthy say 20% would consider paying for themselves.

Anywhere in the world the local food is always cheaper than exotic imported foreign food.

I guess thaibeachlovers was thinking the price differential is ironic if one views Big Mac, Colonel K., Pizza Express and so on, as 'Junk Food' - i.e., inferior to local Thai food.

[exeter]

Once you have moved and got used to the way of the World in Thailand its a terrific shock to go home and see what the cost of things are, even makes you think about going back at all!
I am lucky I still have a place in the UK but if I had to look at a Hotel, I would try for a monthly rate and knock them down, there is no free  money here, they should be glad of having one room full for a month, how they are surviving I dont know but just remember they have fixed costs whether you stay there or not, so I think you will have the whip hand, it will depend how flexible the local management can be, good luck.
Would I consider moving back permanently? No way, far to expensive, you can do virtually nothing without cost and taxes interferring, better off to stay in Thailand, I know it has some irritating aspects, the rubbish dumping and the driving but somehow I think I will learn to live with those.

Edited by exeter, Today, 13:18 .

[seasia]

I can understand the OP`s points.

I`m heading back to the UK for a short visit later this year and although I`ll likely be staying with friends, might also stay in a hotel or 2.

I`ve not yet looked all that closely but the prices do( naturally I guess) seem high compared to what is obtainable here in Thailand.

[crazydrummerpauly]

seasia, on 20 minutes ago, said:

I can understand the OP`s points.

I`m heading back to the UK for a short visit later this year and although I`ll likely be staying with friends, might also stay in a hotel or 2.

I`ve not yet looked all that closely but the prices do( naturally I guess) seem high compared to what is obtainable here in Thailand.

Most people know this, but just in case you've not come across it - you can sometimes book room at TravelLodge for only £29 a night if you can do the booking way ahead - at least 2 or 3 months.  The other option is to search Gumtree and RoomsForTravellers for short-term lets in other peoples' flats or houses. I'm certainly looking at those options.  Good luck!

[robblok]

tinfoilhat, on Yesterday, 03:40 , said:

After 15 years in Thailand, a great  ex-wife, a daughter, a cat, good friends, a lovely house in bangkok, and another at the beach --my only question is: where exactly is home?

For me home is here, when i went back last time to my parents it did not feel like home anymore.

[Nignoy]

crazydrummerpauly, on 14 minutes ago, said:

seasia, on 20 minutes ago, said:

I can understand the OP`s points.

I`m heading back to the UK for a short visit later this year and although I`ll likely be staying with friends, might also stay in a hotel or 2.

I`ve not yet looked all that closely but the prices do( naturally I guess) seem high compared to what is obtainable here in Thailand.

Most people know this, but just in case you've not come across it - you can sometimes book room at TravelLodge for only £29 a night if you can do the booking way ahead - at least 2 or 3 months.  The other option is to search Gumtree and RoomsForTravellers for short-term lets in other peoples' flats or houses. I'm certainly looking at those options.  Good luck!

asin my previous thread, we booked and paid in advance,on travel lodges 29 quid a night deal, on arrival to find the confirmation in letter not email was cancelled, but the same rooms were offered to us at quadruple the price,we are still waiting for travel lodge guildford to reimburse us!!their head office did offer us 2 free nights in warrington, how is the overseas visitor supposed to book in advance confidently??its even more difficult than booking an Automatic car with Sixt Carhire!!