Loved this series. I am retiring this year (48) with my already retired husband (57), We have been lucky enough to travel exensively in our working life, but always with the time limit and the niggling voice in the back of my mind about work and always being "on call". Your trip to Thailand has inspired us both to start planning our first big (unlimited and mindful) travel adenture one month after I leave work. If I can recommend one thing to you both ... plan to travel to Argentina for your next big adventure. Its a great place in the UK winter and such a wide variety of lanscapes, cultures and adventures. You wont regret it!!
You are the second person this week to recommend Argentina - another place we had never really thought about before! The bucket list just keeps growing 😂 We will definitely have a good look and do a bit of research as one of the other places on our list is Costa Rica at some point. All the best for 2025 and your retirement and travel plans x
@@earlyretirementwanderlust depending on safety situation would recommend Ecuador, Bolivia Peru ( Inca, Amazon and Andes) and Mexico Guatemala Honduras ( Maya volcanoes Caribbean snorkeling) in our winter
these video's are great. My husband and my self are looking at doing a similar trip to Thailand, we have do Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao over a 2.5 week holiday. My fav was Koh Tao. for your next adventure, you should try Bali, it is like a second home to me, if you go you should go to, Sanur, Nusa Lembongan, Candidasa, Legian, and the Gili Island (they are amazing for Snorkling/scuba diving
We really enjoyed Koh Tao - one of our other favourite islands was Koh Lipe. Bali is on the list for sure at some point - thanks for the tips - we will have a look 🏝️
Hi been going to Thai for 27yrs so impressed by your vlogs, smashed it out of the park. Your a great match for each other and very open and entertaining, so pleased you enjoyed the land of smiles, 🙏🙏
Currently in Thailand know and we come out this time most years . First point chase or revolut for changing cash up you will get as good if not slightly better than changing cash . Secondly trim them rucksacks down !! We started with that size gradually getting smaller and now both travel with 30 ltr rucksacks they will do us for 3 months . This makes the moving so much easier. Great video's though keep them coming.( From 2 54 year olds )
The first thing we did was swap bank accounts when we got back! To be fair it was laziness on our part that we have not done it before now 😂 I found my rucksack Ok (Jackie) but definitely packed too much footwear - Richards is big but was never full! Have a great trip - where are your go to and favourite places when you visit Thailand? Thanks for watching x
Thanks - I find it really interesting looking back at costings - it showed how affordable Thailand is compared to other long haul destinations such as the USA. It really was a trip of a life time - but we do hope to go go again at some point x
Have really enjoyed your Thai trip videos! And for someone who has been to Thailand a few times I've found the accommodation reviews excellent. Interesting to hear some of your first time experiences over there; even with all the research in advance there were still a few surprises!
We found accommodation reviews on You Tube really handy when we were looking for places - you get to see more clearly what you will be going to. We loved Thailand and are sure we will return again at some point!
Have enjoyed watching your journey and brought back great memories of our first trip to South East Asia (Chiang Mai). We had similar feelings about Thailand and when we arrived in Bangkok Airport it seemed completely different to anything we had ever experienced on our travels. Everything seemed so much cheaper than the UK. Also, our big challenge was determining how much cash to take. Since then we've been to Bali which was amazing (culture/scenery/beaches and value for money (which would appeal to a Yorkshireman!!). Looking forward to watching future adventures.
Chiang Mai is one place that we really want to go to on our next trip and Chiang Rai. We have changed banks since coming home to one that doesn't charge any fees for using your card abroad which should help with our future travels and the amount of cash we take. Bali does look lovely - we did some research when we were deciding where to go this year.
I have really enjoyed watching your travels around Thailand! I look forward to watching more of your adventures (with and without Nelson) and the good advice you both give. Wishing you health & happiness in 2025. x
Thank you - we are really excited to be getting back out in Nelson in the French Alps - we have only had one small trip to the lakes since September. Thanks for watching our videos 😊 Happy New Year x
Thank you so much for this, it’s given us some idea as to costs and what to expect , our trip will also be 42 days , this is a very interesting video. Have a lovely New Year and here’s to travel in 2025 🎉
We were really pleasantly surprised at the totals, particularly the eating out budget. We didn't go for any lavish expensive meals apart from at the Marriott which was unavoidable and eating mainly Thai meals kept the costs down. Safe travels x
Loved your Thailand adventure. Your vlogs are very informative and entertaining. Anywhere we plan to go, I'd definitely check if you've been as your opinions and what you look for in places are similar to ours, so I'd trust your judgement. Thanks.
Thanks for this. We try to be as honest as possible and always try to give some details in our videos that help other people in their planning. If you hadn't realised, we absolutely loved Thailand!👍
Currently sitting in a storm in the Scottish highlands in our camper wishing we were back in Thailand.😆 Great series enjoyed it. We are off to Vietnam in February so not long now if we survive this Scottish weather 🤔
Hope you are all braced and ready for the snow storm that is supposed to be on its way on NY Eve 😬 At least you might get nice snow - all we have predicted in the Dales is very wet and windy weather! We loved the guaranteed heat in Thailand in November - especially when we could see how cold and miserable it was in the UK - so have a great warm February exploring Vietnam x
Enjoyed your video good tips we done 5 weeks last January we stopped all over thialand this year going for 7 weeks taking in Hong Kong Singapore Malaysia and the islands at thialand on our way up to Bangkok for flights home thanks for your tips
Thanks for the summary. Very helpful. We use a Hawaii wifi and pop a Sim in that. It gives us secure wifi and is the size of a credit card. We also use Chase Card and Monzo when abroad with no charge. We've used it in America, Egypt and Europe. It also gives 1% cashback. We plan to use your recommendations and visit Thailand in Jan 26, so thanks again for the info.
The first thing we did when we got back was swap bank accounts which we have been meaning to do for years! I will have a look at the Hawaii wifi - it could be a solution for us - thanks for the tip!
Love your channel, it’s my favourite watch and this series on Thailand has been fab! We are hoping to go there next year and wondering how you got on with the mosquitoes? Any recommendations and advice would be much appreciated as my husband is total bug bait too like Richard 🫣
Thanks for this Ali- glad that you are finding what we do of use. You will love Thailand- it is like nothing else we have experienced! The best solution was the pink bug juice cheaply available in 7-Eleven for about 80TB (£2). They do a spray which is really popular, but we preferred the lotion as it was easier to apply, non-greasy and even had a moisturising feel. Both products were amazing. We even bought surplus to bring home it was that good! Never really a problem! Even I survived unscathed. There is also a great tin of bite salve that all the locals use to sooth the odd bite. I used it and it was really good when I occasionally forgot to bug-juice up. Hope this helps? Have a great trip👍 R
We used Starling as our adult children have used them for a few years with no problems. The sign up process and customer service so far was amazingly good. Fingers crossed when we use them for the first time in Europe in the French Alps.👍
Very helpful! Our Asia trip will be in September 25, flights booked, into KL and out of BK. I'll think of the itinerary more next year but it's so important, as you said, getting a balance and staying somewhere long enough to relax and enjoy an area and not rushiing/travelling too much but also seeing different parts of a country. Tricky! Your daily spending if very useful and I agree with deducting your usual spending at home for the same period you were away after all we need to eat at home or on holiday. Out of interest how do you spend money when you travel in Europe if you weren't aware of fees charged by banks?
Sounds like you have a great trip planned - we really enjoyed exploring Bangkok which as a huge surprise tour as we are not city people. There were some places that you only need a couple of nights but we did enjoy having 8 nights in Koh Lake just to have that time to chill out and relax - but as you say it is a hard balance as you want to see as much as you can after travelling so far to get there. When we are in Europe we take Euros and put money onto a post office travel card that you don't get any charges on which normally gives us a pretty good exchange rate - but the Thai exchange rate was rubbish on it. We have swapped banks since coming home to one that does not have charges abroad so will try that out when we are in the Alps in January x
No we haven't been to New Zealand yet. We want to go in a few years time when we will have our teachers pension as an income and maybe less ties at home so we can stay out for a much longer period of time exploring - it looks our perfect kind of environment with the mountains and scenery. Thanks for watching x
If you don’t mind me asking what was your solution to avoid banking charges on using a card abroad, did you find a provider to avoid the charges. Also, would using a VPN avoid some of the charges occurring in the first place?
We decided to go with Starling bank which is what our 2 children use and have never had any issues - we will see how that goes! We are not very tech savvy so don't really understand the VPN thing but my guess is it would have helped with the charges we got on booking.com - it may be why we didn't notice similar charges when we were in the US as we were using our EE sims? Hopefully we will be sorted from now on 🤞
Another interesting cost would be the cost of a “rest day” hence accommodation and food in addition to staying home hence a few extra weeks away but doing the same in country travel and activities…. Thailand seems to have been ideal choice of cost and safety/ civilisation etc. Hard to find outside SE Asia??
Thailand was a great choice for all those reasons - cheap and we felt completely safe at all times. When we travel in SE Asia again we would definitely stay in places for longer and slow down just living the simple life out there - which would cut costs a little too x
Great review of your travel adventures, brilliant system for analysing the costs. Hope you've had a lovely Christmas. Looking forward to seeing you in Nelson on your skiing trip. Happy New Year 🎉❤ xxx
Thanks Janet - it was really interesting looking at the cost breakdown - it made us realise how affordable SE Asia is as a destination once you have paid the costs of the flights. We are really excited to get back out travelling in Nelson in the New Year - the snowy Alps are waiting for us ⛷️ 🏔️ 🚠
Don’t know if I missed it on your spending breakdown but I am assuming you took out travel insurance. If you don’t mind me asking I’m curious to know how much it costs for an extended trip like yours.
We take out an annual policy - last year with direct line that gave us 42 days cover per trip and 21 days for skiing which was about £300 for both of us including USA travel but we had to swap this year as we were in Europe for 44 days and Thailand for 49 so we went with Trailfinders annual policy. This gave us 90 days cover per trip and 28 days of annual ski cover - I think it was £329
Hi Paul- the sms text comes through to your UK number- which is why you need to pop your UK sim back in the phone to receive it. It was really frustrating. We think that an e-sim would not have this problem, as the e-sim runs alongside your UK SIM card that stays in your phone. I hope this makes sense? Have a good one👍
Not really as we take cash and use a post office travel card that we preload so it has never really highlighted how rubbish our bank is - lesson learnt and solved hopefully 😬
Loved this series. I am retiring this year (48) with my already retired husband (57), We have been lucky enough to travel exensively in our working life, but always with the time limit and the niggling voice in the back of my mind about work and always being "on call". Your trip to Thailand has inspired us both to start planning our first big (unlimited and mindful) travel adenture one month after I leave work. If I can recommend one thing to you both ... plan to travel to Argentina for your next big adventure. Its a great place in the UK winter and such a wide variety of lanscapes, cultures and adventures. You wont regret it!!
You are the second person this week to recommend Argentina - another place we had never really thought about before! The bucket list just keeps growing 😂 We will definitely have a good look and do a bit of research as one of the other places on our list is Costa Rica at some point. All the best for 2025 and your retirement and travel plans x
@@earlyretirementwanderlust depending on safety situation would recommend Ecuador, Bolivia Peru ( Inca, Amazon and Andes) and Mexico Guatemala Honduras ( Maya volcanoes Caribbean snorkeling) in our winter
these video's are great. My husband and my self are looking at doing a similar trip to Thailand, we have do Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao over a 2.5 week holiday. My fav was Koh Tao. for your next adventure, you should try Bali, it is like a second home to me, if you go you should go to, Sanur, Nusa Lembongan, Candidasa, Legian, and the Gili Island (they are amazing for Snorkling/scuba diving
We really enjoyed Koh Tao - one of our other favourite islands was Koh Lipe. Bali is on the list for sure at some point - thanks for the tips - we will have a look 🏝️
Hi been going to Thai for 27yrs so impressed by your vlogs, smashed it out of the park. Your a great match for each other and very open and entertaining, so pleased you enjoyed the land of smiles, 🙏🙏
Wow thank you - we really enjoyed our trip - it is a beautiful country and just so different from anything we have experienced before x
Super info. Thinking of doing this so its been a great help.
Thanks Michael- glad that it was of some use👍
Currently in Thailand know and we come out this time most years . First point chase or revolut for changing cash up you will get as good if not slightly better than changing cash . Secondly trim them rucksacks down !! We started with that size gradually getting smaller and now both travel with 30 ltr rucksacks they will do us for 3 months . This makes the moving so much easier. Great video's though keep them coming.( From 2 54 year olds )
The first thing we did was swap bank accounts when we got back! To be fair it was laziness on our part that we have not done it before now 😂 I found my rucksack Ok (Jackie) but definitely packed too much footwear - Richards is big but was never full! Have a great trip - where are your go to and favourite places when you visit Thailand? Thanks for watching x
Excellent video! 👍😁☀️ I particularly love the detailed costings 👍☀️ Trip of a lifetime I'm sure 👍☺️☀️☀️☀️
Thanks - I find it really interesting looking back at costings - it showed how affordable Thailand is compared to other long haul destinations such as the USA. It really was a trip of a life time - but we do hope to go go again at some point x
I too loved the series and thought the wrap-up was very well done. Happy New Year!
Thanks Keith- happy New Year to you too. 👍
Thanks guys. Comprehensive as always.
Thanks Alan- much appreciated👍
Most phones now can have 2 sims at the same time, something to check!
Yes we are both on old iPhones but when we upgrade at some point in the future that would be a great help!
Have really enjoyed your Thai trip videos! And for someone who has been to Thailand a few times I've found the accommodation reviews excellent. Interesting to hear some of your first time experiences over there; even with all the research in advance there were still a few surprises!
We found accommodation reviews on You Tube really handy when we were looking for places - you get to see more clearly what you will be going to. We loved Thailand and are sure we will return again at some point!
Have enjoyed watching your journey and brought back great memories of our first trip to South East Asia (Chiang Mai). We had similar feelings about Thailand and when we arrived in Bangkok Airport it seemed completely different to anything we had ever experienced on our travels. Everything seemed so much cheaper than the UK. Also, our big challenge was determining how much cash to take. Since then we've been to Bali which was amazing (culture/scenery/beaches and value for money (which would appeal to a Yorkshireman!!). Looking forward to watching future adventures.
Chiang Mai is one place that we really want to go to on our next trip and Chiang Rai. We have changed banks since coming home to one that doesn't charge any fees for using your card abroad which should help with our future travels and the amount of cash we take. Bali does look lovely - we did some research when we were deciding where to go this year.
I have really enjoyed watching your travels around Thailand! I look forward to watching more of your adventures (with and without Nelson) and the good advice you both give. Wishing you health & happiness in 2025. x
Thank you - we are really excited to be getting back out in Nelson in the French Alps - we have only had one small trip to the lakes since September. Thanks for watching our videos 😊 Happy New Year x
Excellent information,well presented.
Thank you!
Thank you so much for this, it’s given us some idea as to costs and what to expect , our trip will also be 42 days , this is a very interesting video. Have a lovely New Year and here’s to travel in 2025 🎉
We were really pleasantly surprised at the totals, particularly the eating out budget. We didn't go for any lavish expensive meals apart from at the Marriott which was unavoidable and eating mainly Thai meals kept the costs down. Safe travels x
Happy 2025, and glad the trip was such a good experience. Now from the tropics to snow! Thanks for an informative video.
Only 40 degrees difference in temperature from Thailand to the Alps this week!!
Loved your Thailand adventure. Your vlogs are very informative and entertaining. Anywhere we plan to go, I'd definitely check if you've been as your opinions and what you look for in places are similar to ours, so I'd trust your judgement. Thanks.
Thanks for this. We try to be as honest as possible and always try to give some details in our videos that help other people in their planning.
If you hadn't realised, we absolutely loved Thailand!👍
Currently sitting in a storm in the Scottish highlands in our camper wishing we were back in Thailand.😆
Great series enjoyed it.
We are off to Vietnam in February so not long now if we survive this Scottish weather 🤔
Hope you are all braced and ready for the snow storm that is supposed to be on its way on NY Eve 😬 At least you might get nice snow - all we have predicted in the Dales is very wet and windy weather!
We loved the guaranteed heat in Thailand in November - especially when we could see how cold and miserable it was in the UK - so have a great warm February exploring Vietnam x
Enjoyed your video good tips we done 5 weeks last January we stopped all over thialand this year going for 7 weeks taking in Hong Kong Singapore Malaysia and the islands at thialand on our way up to Bangkok for flights home thanks for your tips
Thanks - sounds like you have a fab trip planned - Singapore is one my bucket list for next time as a stopover for a few days x
Thanks for the summary. Very helpful. We use a Hawaii wifi and pop a Sim in that. It gives us secure wifi and is the size of a credit card. We also use Chase Card and Monzo when abroad with no charge. We've used it in America, Egypt and Europe. It also gives 1% cashback. We plan to use your recommendations and visit Thailand in Jan 26, so thanks again for the info.
The first thing we did when we got back was swap bank accounts which we have been meaning to do for years! I will have a look at the Hawaii wifi - it could be a solution for us - thanks for the tip!
Great Video!! 😊
Many thanks. Have a good one👍
Love your channel, it’s my favourite watch and this series on Thailand has been fab! We are hoping to go there next year and wondering how you got on with the mosquitoes? Any recommendations and advice would be much appreciated as my husband is total bug bait too like Richard 🫣
Thanks for this Ali- glad that you are finding what we do of use. You will love Thailand- it is like nothing else we have experienced! The best solution was the pink bug juice cheaply available in 7-Eleven for about 80TB (£2). They do a spray which is really popular, but we preferred the lotion as it was easier to apply, non-greasy and even had a moisturising feel. Both products were amazing. We even bought surplus to bring home it was that good! Never really a problem! Even I survived unscathed.
There is also a great tin of bite salve that all the locals use to sooth the odd bite. I used it and it was really good when I occasionally forgot to bug-juice up.
Hope this helps? Have a great trip👍 R
@
Thanks so much for that info, Richard, much appreciated, we’ll look out for that lotion when we go! 😊
Great video as always and thanks for all the info. Which bank did you switch to, for the lower/zero bank charges? Thanks
We used Starling as our adult children have used them for a few years with no problems. The sign up process and customer service so far was amazingly good. Fingers crossed when we use them for the first time in Europe in the French Alps.👍
Very helpful! Our Asia trip will be in September 25, flights booked, into KL and out of BK. I'll think of the itinerary more next year but it's so important, as you said, getting a balance and staying somewhere long enough to relax and enjoy an area and not rushiing/travelling too much but also seeing different parts of a country. Tricky! Your daily spending if very useful and I agree with deducting your usual spending at home for the same period you were away after all we need to eat at home or on holiday. Out of interest how do you spend money when you travel in Europe if you weren't aware of fees charged by banks?
Sounds like you have a great trip planned - we really enjoyed exploring Bangkok which as a huge surprise tour as we are not city people. There were some places that you only need a couple of nights but we did enjoy having 8 nights in Koh Lake just to have that time to chill out and relax - but as you say it is a hard balance as you want to see as much as you can after travelling so far to get there.
When we are in Europe we take Euros and put money onto a post office travel card that you don't get any charges on which normally gives us a pretty good exchange rate - but the Thai exchange rate was rubbish on it. We have swapped banks since coming home to one that does not have charges abroad so will try that out when we are in the Alps in January x
The haggling reminds me of the scene in The Life of Brian. :)
I felt like we WERE in a scene from life of Brian 😂
Great video as always. Was your daily budget of £107 per person? And if so did this include the flights from England to Thailand and back?
Hi Anna- the daily cost was for the two of us, and includes the flights and all additional costs. 👍
Try Malaysia next time, great food and accommodation, interesting history and they speak English win win.
Thanks Christine, we heard so many good things about Malaysia from fellow travellers on the road. It's on the bucket list👍
I have watched the whole series great content Have you been to New Zealand? I have had about four months in total there over several trips
No we haven't been to New Zealand yet. We want to go in a few years time when we will have our teachers pension as an income and maybe less ties at home so we can stay out for a much longer period of time exploring - it looks our perfect kind of environment with the mountains and scenery. Thanks for watching x
If you don’t mind me asking what was your solution to avoid banking charges on using a card abroad, did you find a provider to avoid the charges. Also, would using a VPN avoid some of the charges occurring in the first place?
We decided to go with Starling bank which is what our 2 children use and have never had any issues - we will see how that goes!
We are not very tech savvy so don't really understand the VPN thing but my guess is it would have helped with the charges we got on booking.com - it may be why we didn't notice similar charges when we were in the US as we were using our EE sims? Hopefully we will be sorted from now on 🤞
Cyprus is handy when you're struggling with the schengen numbers. Plenty of walking there if you want it.
Richard has been looking into that - thanks for the tip 😊
Another interesting cost would be the cost of a “rest day” hence accommodation and food in addition to staying home hence a few extra weeks away but doing the same in country travel and activities…. Thailand seems to have been ideal choice of cost and safety/ civilisation etc. Hard to find outside SE Asia??
Thailand was a great choice for all those reasons - cheap and we felt completely safe at all times. When we travel in SE Asia again we would definitely stay in places for longer and slow down just living the simple life out there - which would cut costs a little too x
Great review of your travel adventures, brilliant system for analysing the costs. Hope you've had a lovely Christmas. Looking forward to seeing you in Nelson on your skiing trip. Happy New Year 🎉❤ xxx
Thanks Janet - it was really interesting looking at the cost breakdown - it made us realise how affordable SE Asia is as a destination once you have paid the costs of the flights. We are really excited to get back out travelling in Nelson in the New Year - the snowy Alps are waiting for us ⛷️ 🏔️ 🚠
Don’t know if I missed it on your spending breakdown but I am assuming you took out travel insurance. If you don’t mind me asking I’m curious to know how much it costs for an extended trip like yours.
We take out an annual policy - last year with direct line that gave us 42 days cover per trip and 21 days for skiing which was about £300 for both of us including USA travel but we had to swap this year as we were in Europe for 44 days and Thailand for 49 so we went with Trailfinders annual policy. This gave us 90 days cover per trip and 28 days of annual ski cover - I think it was £329
@ that doesn’t sound too bad to me.
if you need to get sms texts for credit card transactions what to you need to do, i dont want local sim as number willbe different wont it? tia
Hi Paul- the sms text comes through to your UK number- which is why you need to pop your UK sim back in the phone to receive it. It was really frustrating. We think that an e-sim would not have this problem, as the e-sim runs alongside your UK SIM card that stays in your phone.
I hope this makes sense?
Have a good one👍
Easy to get a credit and debit card from banks that don’t charge when abroad. I’ve used Nationwide for many years.
First thing we did when we got back from Thailand was to swap bank accounts 😊
Have you never had the same problem with bank and card fees in Europe in the past?
Not really as we take cash and use a post office travel card that we preload so it has never really highlighted how rubbish our bank is - lesson learnt and solved hopefully 😬
clochards