All right, guys. Change of plans.
But first, let me back up and give you some perspective on how I think about life.
I’ve roughly sketched out the rest of my life, from now until I die (hopefully, in my early 80s). I have a basic idea of what I’d like to be getting into during each decade of my life. My internal monologue refers to them as “phases”. They’re like seasons to me.
So I have plans.
However, while I do plan, I’m also very amenable to changes. I’ve never been afraid of changes. Going in a different direction, even suddenly, doesn’t bother or scare me.
Life is dynamic. It’s not some kind of fixed construct. Things ebb and flow.
Anyway, enough of that.
Let’s get down to business.
The Next Phase Of My Life
The next phase of my life has already been sketched out.
A major aspect of it involves using Thailand as my “base” for most of the year, which will offer me an awesome springboard for international travel.
I shared the enthusiasm for this idea when I wrote about what I was most looking forward to in 2019. This phase stems from what I think is the ultimate snowbird solution.
I’ll try to quickly lay out my vision.
I’d like to live in Thailand for around nine months per year.
Precisely when it’s least enjoyable to live here is precisely when it’s most enjoyable to live in quite a few other places around the world. That’s because the spring and summer here in Thailand can be very hot and wet. It is a tropical place, after all.
So the long-term plan is to spend a few months during that time somewhere else.
In my opinion, the best way to go about this is to pick one place and settle there for 2-3 months. It’s an exaggerated version of slow travel.
I’d like to pick a new place every year and essentially “live” there for a bit.
Prague one year. Budapest the next. Then maybe Barcelona. Wherever looks appealing at that time.
I don’t personally like the idea of travel in the conventional sense, where you go somewhere for a week or two and visit touristy sites. I don’t see that as authentic or even fun. It’s stressful. And it doesn’t give you any idea about what a place is actually like. To each their own, but I’m not a fan of what most people call “travel”.
However, I do quite like the idea of having Thailand as a home for most of the year, then spending time in a new “home” each year.
It’s kind of the best of both worlds. You gain the new experiences that travel offers, but you largely lose the drawbacks of conventional travel: rushing around, high costs in a short time period, and missing out on the true fabric of a place.
Spending a longer period of time in one place stretches out and reduces the costs (airfare, accommodation, etc.) and stress. And it offers a much richer and more rewarding experience.
I’m Not Ready For This Next Phase
As exciting as this next phase is, I’m not yet ready for it.
I’m guilty of trying to rush this.
Primarily, it’s a logistical problem. Also, I’m overlooking where I’m at and leapfrogging things a bit.
Regarding the latter, there’s so much here in Thailand I haven’t yet seen. Bouncing around to other countries is a really neat idea, but I think it makes sense to do more domestic exploring and really cross off those places before jumping ahead.
Regarding the former, it will be easier, logistically speaking, to get into this a few years from now.
I don’t want to execute this plan without someone being there to enjoy it with me. A big part of the enjoyment for me would be to share in these experiences with someone I love. Unless my significant other can do it with me, I’m not interested in it at all.
Oh is currently in a period of transition herself. She likes her job, but she’d like to work less and/or do something that’s more flexible. So we’re running through some ideas. Meanwhile, she’s building a little home-based business that could give her some options down the road.
Another logistical headwind is the fact that she owns a house. It’s an adorable cottage about 20 minutes away from the city center.
She’s been largely sold on a lot of the concepts I believe in, and she finds value in the lifestyle I propose and currently live. I’m the embodiment of everything I write about and believe in. And she gets it.
Well, I’ve been a vocal advocate of renting accommodation. While I would never pressure her to do anything she doesn’t want to do, she agrees with me about a house being something that makes life unnecessarily limited and difficult. She’s now trying to get rid of said house.
In addition to these issues, I’m not on the best visa for international travel. My ED visa is fantastic for living in Thailand full time, which is why I have it. But it’s not all that great for leaving the country for extended periods of time. There are better visa options in that department, which is a bridge I’ll cross when I get to it.
Lastly, we have visa considerations for Oh. The Thai passport is not as robust as an American passport for seeing the world. She’ll need pre-arranged visas for most of the places we’d like to visit. Most of the embassies in Thailand for these various countries are located in Bangkok. We’ll thus have to spend more time in Bangkok.
Bangkok’s central location and airports would also make this plan far easier and cheaper to execute on a regular basis. So it might make sense to move to Bangkok in a few years, once we’re ready for this next phase.
Domestic Travel
With all of this in mind, I’ll be spending the next few years engaging in domestic travel. At the most, I’ll visit some very close cities outside Thailand – like Singapore – in a more conventional sense. Logistically, this is all much more sensible and pragmatic.
Refocusing in this manner is awesome. I have a lot more clarity on where I’d like to be over the next few years, which will perfectly set me up for when I turn 40 and ready myself for the next phase.
These are 10 places I’m particularly interested in seeing over the next few years:
- Pattaya
- Koh Samet
- Koh Larn
- Hua Hin
- Phuket
- Chiang Rai
- Koh Phangan
- Krabi
- Koh Chang
- Koh Lanta
I also want to and plan to spend a lot more time in Bangkok. I’ve only scratched the surface there. It’s such a massive place. Specifically, I want to stay in an outer neighborhood and “live” there for stretches, using that as a base to go on city-wide jaunts. That’ll give me a better idea about whether or not I could enjoyably live there down the road.
Conclusion
I just wanted to take some time today to update everyone on where things are at, and where things are going, here in Thailand.
I’m very excited about that next phase. But I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. I’m still relatively new to Thailand, and there’s so much more to see and concentrate on in this beautiful country that I’m lucky enough to live in.
Just to clear up what changed between late 2018 and now, the Bangkok trip actually crystallized this next phase for me. I loved that BKK trip. But I felt rushed. A week wasn’t long enough, even in a city that’s located in the same country. As such, I realized that I can’t yet properly execute this next phase as I envision it. There are simply too many limitations right now.
Of course, I’ll go over any and all of these travels as they come up. I use social media to share pictures, experiences, and personal updates on my FIRE lifestyle in Thailand, so make sure to follow me on Twitter and Facebook.
What do you think? This change of plans sounds pragmatic? Do you plan out your life in phases? Why or why not?
Thanks for reading.
P.S. If you’re interested in becoming financially free, which could allow you to live anywhere, check out some phenomenal resources I personally used on my way to becoming financially free at 33!
Sounds great! I was a bit worried when I saw the title, but I love your plan and would like to do something similar in the future once my manage to automate my wife’s business a bit more 🙂
Look forward to hearing about your trips!
Ben,
Sounds like we’re going down a similar track in the future. Exciting stuff. 🙂
I’m enjoying everything I’m getting into right now, but I’ll also welcome that next phase with open arms (when the time comes).
Cheers!
Hi Jason!
I like your idea, good luck! I’m Spanish and I can tell you that Barcelona is an expensive city. Eating out everyday is something that nobody can afford.
Prague, on the other hand, is very cheap, I love it 😁
Both cities are full of tourists.
I can keep talking about European cities, but I don’t want to be annoying 😁
Regards!
Javi
Javi,
It’ll be super fun to explore some places down the road. I have a basket of cities that I can see myself visiting. The local COL won’t matter that much to me because I won’t be living in any of these places for a particularly long period of time. The COL for my “home base” will matter much more. Plus, compounding almost guarantees that I’ll be in an even better financial position down the road. That said, I always like a good value. 🙂
Thanks for dropping by!
Best wishes.
Hi Jason! I live in Stockholm, Sweden. Last year I traveled to nine different countries by train. I can highly recommend it. You get to see so much of the world in short time. I saw cities like Copenhagen, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Paris, Lyon, Milano, Venice, Vienna, Prague and Berlin (+ passing a whole lot of smaller cities). It doesn’t have to be too expensive as long as you plan your route and place of staying beforehand. For this Booking.com was a great tool.
Bombmattan,
Hey, that’s great. I’m glad to hear that you followed that path and enjoyed it! 🙂
For me, that’s not really optimal. I spent a good chunk of the article laying out why I wouldn’t be interested in something like that. But to each their own, as always.
Cheers!
Hi Jason,
the last year was my first one to be financial free. I used it to visit some places in Europe I didn´t know very well. I know Barcelona for example quite well, love this city, but it is truly expensive and there are many tourists like a commenter wrote above. On the other side Spain is a beautiful country and there is much to discover. Budapest was really nice last year and it was my first time in this city. But these travels are for me like for you going to Singapore, China, Java or whatever is easy to reach from Thailand. I think it is a good plan to start first visiting the surroundings and get experience with travelling and the possibilities you can do at these places.
If I will be further with my experiences I will start travelling for example 2 or 3 or even 6 months in a region, looking for all interesting places. For example I like mountains and so visiting the Carpatians and the cities in this region woukld be a nice idea for me. I never did that in such a long time frame and I hope I will like it. I made only a 7 day tour from the north alps to Meran one time. This was a good experience, but may be the Carpatians will be too long. On the other side I can stay longer in a city if I want to rest a bit longer.
You are living in a very interesting region with a lot of very nice places which you can reach quiet easy. I only was in Thailand (I liked it very much) and in India (very interesting, but there are so many people that you need your time to deal with it). On the other side a nice country with a lot to see, but not very convenient. Thailand is easier to handle for Western people.
I think it is a good plan to start things in the speed you feel good with. Everything else you only get in stress and the chance is high to dislike it. If you want to discover in the first steps Thailand and the surroundings and this will fit best for you, then just do it. From my perspective I know a lot from Europe, but there are still a lot of places I´m interested to visit and where I never was. I think this would be enough for the rest of my live, if I want to see everything what could be a nice idea. So no need to go further, but I will do this as well. You can´t see everything.
Regards Oliver
Oliver,
Absolutely. I made an error here. I was mentally jumping ahead to that next phase without fully appreciating the location of my newfound home. I can hop over to, say, Singapore or Da Nang very easily. Although I still wouldn’t like going to either place (or any place) for only a few days, there’s a great opportunity for me to progress and speed up as limitations cede.
Meanwhile, I’m very excited to spend more of my current resources exploring the rest of Thailand. It’s a big country with a lot to see and do. I think the timing will work out pretty well, as I suspect I’ll be ready to move forward with that next phase just about the time I’ve seen much of Thailand. 🙂
Thanks for adding that!
Best regards.
Great post, I’ll be watching. Yup we love Europe. That could take up a lifetime. Rent a car. Travel at your own pace. Or take the trains. Paris down to the French and Italian Riviera(s). And then through Italy and Germany and Austria and Switzerland and Belgium. Then don’t forget Great Britain. And then come to my Canada. Enjoy.
Dale,
I’ve got a nice basket of cities that I definitely want to check out. All in due time. Budapest or Prague will probably be first up – sometime around 2022. Spending 2-3 months in either city (eventually both) would be awesome. What an experience. I’ll slowly make my way around the world. Have plenty of time. And I imagine every trip away will give me renewed appreciation for coming back “home” to Thailand, unless I end up living in some other place.
Canada is great, too. Haven’t seen much of it. Vancouver, in particular, interests me. But that would be way down the list for me, personally.
Best wishes!
Your girlfriends house looks lovely. Care to say how much she is selling it for?😊
Colin,
Ha! I don’t think she’d appreciate me broadcasting that. Needless to say, you can get a lot of house here for very little money. 🙂
Cheers!
Very interesting. Looks like a lot of travel on the cards for you in the years coming up. Keep up the great work and I’m sure all of us are looking forward to seeing your travels.
BHL,
A lot of very, very, very slow travel. 🙂
Appreciate the support!!
Best regards.
I’m with you on staying in a location for more than a week or two, unless it is just a quick getaway holiday. I live in Canada 6 months a year and Puerto Vallarta the other 6, and it took me travelling to dozens of cities throughout Europe, the US, Costa Rica, Nicaragua & Panama before settling in PV. I love it here but being honest with myself, I didn’t really stay in many of those locations long enough to get a feel of what it would be like to live there, and treated it like a visit, not a destination. I somewhat regret that, because in hindsight, there were a few other cities I could see myself living in as well. I know people who recently came to one of the all inclusive resorts here, ate only to the resort restaurants & basically spent their week sitting by the pool talking to other American & Canadian visitors, and then thought they had experienced Mexico. They might well have stayed home by their pool, bought a case of Corona & ordered Chipotle. You seem to be a free spirit, not afraid of change and Thailand may or may not be your final destination, but you won’t know until you test the waters, will you.
Brian,
I totally hear you. Just visiting a resort and chatting with other people from your country is not authentic. I mean, if that’s what you want, go for it. There’s a service for everyone. But that’s not actually experiencing anything of note or authenticity. It reminds me of the backpackers and digital nomads who come to Thailand (or anywhere, for that matter), set up shop in farang ghettos with other farangs, hang out with Westerners only, eat Western food, and then leave thinking they “did” Thailand.
Maybe you would have loved somewhere else had you done it differently. Maybe not. As it sits, that’s a pretty good situation to be in. If I had to stay in North America only, I don’t think I’d be too unhappy with that kind of setup. 🙂
Cheers!
I’ve never enjoyed the rushed, touristy, expensive travel experience. The long stay method has much more appeal. Until Oh is ready…you can always take ole Freddy with you. I only like you, but I do love your blog.
Just a thought from left field here: Could/would Oh obtain US citizenship with its more robust passport? Obviously not a decision to be taken lightly.
Freddy,
Ha! I appreciate that offer. I’ll keep it mind. 😂
I don’t know of any realistic path to US citizenship for Oh, outside of us getting married (which isn’t going to happen). Her passport isn’t some kind of major obstacle. It’s just something where there are extra logistics to consider when traveling. Specifically, we’ll have to get pre-approved visas to most of the places we’d be looking at going. And that would almost always require visits to Bangkok. So it might make sense to move to Bangkok down the road. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Best regards!
Fantastic plan Jason. My wife and I contemplate doing something similar in the near future. Really getting to immerse in the local setting and culture seems like the best way to approach it, especially when you have the flexibility to do so.
Jason,
Thanks for the support!
Yeah, I’m looking forward to doing it this way. I think it’s the most advantageous way to approach travel, if one has the opportunity. Meanwhile, I’m very excited about seeing more of Thailand. I don’t want to overlook the diverse places in this amazing country I’m lucky enough to live in. We’re already talking about a trip later this year. Probably Pattaya and some of the nearby islands. 🙂
Best wishes!
So are you sticking around for burning season?
We loved Singapore but it wasn’t cheap, at least the way we did it.
Shane,
The burning season doesn’t bother me.
I’d be looking for us to leave Thailand for 2-3 months, starting sometime around late spring. May through July sounds good, but we’ll have to see how things shake out. I’m not overly concerned about it right now. The burning season would be over by the time we’d leave, if we’re even still living in Chiang Mai at that point.
Cheers.
Jason, you’re such an inspiration. A real example of how the life should be lived. Loved your plan. When our children grow up, we plan to travel as well. Maybe not to Asia, but to Latin America and Caribbean. Rent a place for 2-3 months, then move somewhere else. Everything will be covered by our dividends. And when we’re not in town we can rent our condo.
German,
Thank you for the kind words. Really appreciate that. 🙂
I’m doing my best to show FIRE in motion here. This is real-life stuff, in real-time. The journey to FIRE was amazing and interesting, but the rest of life after achieving FIRE is so much more amazing and interesting to me.
Sounds like an awesome plan there. It’s all about living life on your terms. That’s the whole point of FIRE. Great job with a plan that takes advantage of it!
Best regards.
Hello Jason
That sounds like great plan …. as regards living in Thailand for 9 months per year … I am sure you have seen the frenzy of vlogs about how Thai Gov are enforcing a more stricter policy for all visa .. some with money really in the Thai bank or more limited stays on tourist visa ….. 9 months it seems …. plus I presume you cannot be on an ED visa forever ( I may be wrong there) plus I would be concerned for OH …. as a non EU citizen .. I believe it is next to impossible for her to get visa ( even as tourist) for these countries …. even if for short 30 days stays …. I have seen reports where EU citizens cannot even het their spouses a visa to visit EU. Just wondering have to done any research as to the difficulty or non difficulty for Oh to visit these countries? and also are you monitoring the ever changing Thai Visa rules which may necessitate you actually moving to more friendly expat destinations such as Vietnam.
Thank u in advance as you plan sounds so good if it is workable in practice for you and your partner.
James,
The visa situation is greatly exaggerated here, as are most things in life. People like to exaggerate and create drama. I’ve found the visa situation here to be quite appealing, overall. The vast majority of countries, worldwide, would be much more difficult in this department.
Speaking of which, the difficulty level regarding Oh visiting some of these places will vary. Depends somewhat on the country in question. I think we’ll be OK for the most part, as long as she has the right situation here in Thailand (some money in the bank, no criminal record, a local job and life to return to, etc.). It’s far from impossible, though, as I’ve met a few people now who have their Thai girlfriends travel with them. As always, they should be a good candidate for tourism. While the US gets (unfairly) a bad rep around the immigration stuff, the truth is that most countries don’t want and won’t allow people streaming in willy nilly. You have to have your ducks in a row.
Cheers!
thank you Jason .. great to hear that positive news … I guess we in west tend to be negative while other countries live and enjoy life and are generally positive and it usually works out for them … I smile when I see here in the USA on the financial sites where all the talk is about 401 K and making enough to retire and then these great people win the game and no sooner are they retired than they start to post and worry about long term care insurance …. there is just no end to the pressure they place themselves under .. instead of enjoying life like you do .. I applaud you and thank you for the inspiration. James
Your plan is great. Have you planned a child? There will be a big change in plan if you have a child in the future.
DFSI,
Thanks. I’m excited for that next phase in my life. Meanwhile, I’m still very much enjoying the last few years of this phase. 🙂
I had a vasectomy done years ago. I won’t be having any children, ever.
Best regards.
Domestic travel sounds reasonable. You can throw in some other nearby countries too. China and Japan are great countries to visit. We have almost the same plan for about 10 years from now. We’ll live in Thailand for 6 months and visit other Asian countries the rest of the time.
There is so much to explore in that part of the world.
You can always go live in Budapest later and explore Eastern Europe in depth.
Joe,
Definitely. We’re just going to focus on domestic travel for the next few years, which is exciting. I’m obviously totally in love with Thailand, so it’ll be nice to have a more robust familiarity with the entire country. 🙂
Just about the time I feel like I have a good handle on Thailand, we’ll probably be logistically ready to engage in the next phase.
Your plan sounds awesome. 6/6 like that would be great. I’m sure you’ll enjoy that when the time comes.
Best wishes.
Sounds like a nice plan.
For a little bit of a shorter travel, what about Vietnam ?
Friends have been on an extended 1/2 World Trip all over Asia and Australia and being asked what they liked best, their straight answer was Vietnam..
Regarding visa restrictions for the EU I don´t see bigger problems. I think there are things getting mixed up. Because of the refugee crisis and millions of people flooding in (often without passports at all….), governments slowly begin to take action and at least control the forward immigration of relatives (wifes, familiy etc.).
But since you won´t just appear in a rubber boat in Italy and without passwort, there should be no problems for you.
SC,
Vietnam is OK. I was just over in Saigon last month. I think Thailand exceeds Vietnam in pretty much every measure across the board, however.
We’ve already looked into the visas for Oh. There’s some rigmarole involved because of her Thai passport, but I don’t think it’s anything insurmountable. The US would be particularly tough, but I don’t currently have any desire to go there.
Cheers!
Hi Jason,
Sounds like a plan..
Also mean no offence to anyone who loves this place but would
say keep neighbor Cambodia as far from that list of yours as possible.
No idea what Angelina Jolie is thinking when she chooses to
spend time here, it’s ok to see the temples as a tourist but after
a few days I’m more than ready to leave.
The currency is USD which I initially thought was really cool for budgeting
purposes but man it’s so damn expensive for everything. I love those
chicken flavor nuts you get for 30 baht at Central or Topps but they’re
$3 here. As for coke, you’re looking at $7.50 for a small six pack versus
our 25 baht for a 1.5L bottle back in Thailand.
Can’t wait to get back to Thailand in a few days for another month, just
not Bangkok for me personally as I’ve begun to just really not like the
place. Felt dirty and sweaty all the time, the pollution is too much and
people are getting way too rude and aggressive (screaming on the water
taxis) towards farang. It’s really changed in the past 5 years, like I say just
my opinion though but hope to never return there in this lifetime.
Regards,
DN
DN,
I looked at Cambodia (as well as everywhere else in SE Asia, and the rest of the world) before deciding on Thailand. It’s not for me, but it’s great to see that they’re recovering after the brutal Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge.
Bangkok is hot, but so is Chiang Mai. I wouldn’t say the climate is really all that different. I’ve been in BKK in different seasons. It’s warmer there than here, but it’s not extremely significant. I think Thailand (and SE Asia in general) isn’t the best place to come for anyone who gets hot and sweaty/uncomfortable quickly. I personally quite like heat, but I also understand it’s not for everyone.
Cheers!
Was reading it’s the PM2.5 and PM10 fine pollution particulates that causes you to feel, just kinda dirty like your pores are blocked and need to shower 3 x a day.. They combine with the sweat.
You don’t get it where we lived in Phuket, down there the PM readings are a lot lower than CM, BKK and Pattaya.
Actually thinking about skipping Pattaya and heading back to Phi Phi if it’s the same problem.
Regards,
DN
since started my plan to retire on my 50th ( that would be in 5yrs and 4mts) 2years ago, when i found the ER community, Jacob, JD, yours, Jim and of course Pete. I started mapping and planning my life to be and its like what you are describing above. I am already travelling but its a bit restricted due to work, I love my work but I think I love the freedom to not to work more, and I’m thinking it would be nice to just be able to leave anytime I want. I already travel 1 to 2 times in 6 to 8wks a year but still it feels constricted because it depends when I can get my annual leave approved and I feel because I live down under that it cost a lot of money and time to get to places from here. So I started researching where could I based myself to access cheap flights and how much bare minimum of money I need to live on to be able to give me the lifestyle that i would like to lead. I found that I need to have 18K to 26K a year that this number would be more of value kind of lifestyle living for me. Although i haven’t tried it yet. at the moment I am still living in twice as much as the amount I mentioned but thats because of the mortgage and body corporate management fee that i am paying every week. so hopefully i will be able to try it in 2 years time, but for the meantime I can’t wait for this coming June as my daughter and I will be in Paris, Italy, Greece and Spain. thank you for your thoughtful analysis of life and living it to the fullest, more power to you and to your future plan. from cominghome2024
cominghome,
Thanks for sharing. And thank you for the kind words of support. 🙂
More power to you and yours for your future plans, too. If I can help and inspire others, I consider it a life worth living. We should all be free to live life as we wish to. It sounds like you’re inching closer to your own dreams, which is great. Keep it up!
Best regards.