Things to Think About

Are you planning to move to Thailand soon?

Do you have any experience in Thailand other than 1 holiday?

Here are some things to think about before you move:

1. Bangkok – Can you handle the crushing traffic and constant air pollution? Can you spend the rest of your life in a box size, high rise condo (possibly prone to earthquakes)? High cost of western food. High class malls with high class prices. High entertainment costs. scammers.
2. Pattaya – Crushing traffic during numerous annual festivals. Box size high rise condo’s. Large entertainment district with bar-girls and free-lancers all over beach road. Over-priced western restaurants.
3. Chiang Mai – Growing traffic issues. Field burning season for 2 to 3 months makes the air unbreathable. Need a car to get around efficiently.
4. Phuket – Over-run with Russians and other tourists. Growing traffic problems. High season is total chaos. Police cracking down on illegal foreigners running businesses. Traffic cops out to issue tickets to foreign motorbike drivers. Higher costs for rest, food, entertainment. Over tourism in the high season.
5. Islands – Higher costs for everything. You will always be looked at as a tourist the rest of your life. Same location can get stale and old (after you have seen everything once). Some locations you may not be able to have a car and have to pay to get around.

Here are some other things that are not location dependent:

International School Tuition – Costs can be US $30,000+ per student per year.

Health Insurance – May or may not cover existing conditions. Costs after age 65 continue to grow. Costs after age 70+ outrageous.

Language issues.

Hard, if not almost impossible to find a job that you can support yourself on.

Business failure rates for foreigners are astronomical. Most fail within a year.

Pets – Plan to bring a pet? New law starting January 2026 requires all pets to be microchipped in Thailand and the amount of pets you can own is dependent on the square footage of your residence.

Costs increasing and will continue to increase over the years.

AI technology may make jobs and other things obsolete in the future.

Baht currency exchange, PS? There is NO guaranteed exchange rate. Look at the history of the exchange rates the past 50 years.

The ever changing rules and regulations.

An uncertain economy.

Before you think about moving, it is best you understand and try to mitigate any of these issues that affect you.