It’s beginning to look like I won’t be back to Thailand for another 12 months at least. I was just getting used to 2 trips a year. If I find another location opens up earlier I might just start going there.
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Thank you for posting it.
Not a chance that I will enjoy the experience! Probably fine to those who are returning home from aboard.
It’s incredibly quiet here, but I will say the diving is excellent right now. This should be a great diving year in the Andaman sea.
All in all, there is no where else I would rather be in the world right now. We all wear masks around the city, not so much in the country. Everything is pretty much open, just no tourists, very surreal.
There is a huge difference between staying at home voluntarily and NOT allowed to go out at all!If I get the opportunity, I am seriously considering going to Koh Lanta or maybe Phuket for 2-3 months in December-February timeframe. Find a guesthouse with good internet connectivity, do my sysadmin stuff during the week, dive on off days...
There is a huge difference between staying at home voluntarily and NOT allowed to go out at all!
Two weeks of solitary confinement is not my cup of tea.
Good luck if you do make the trip.
There is a huge difference between staying at home voluntarily and NOT allowed to go out at all!
Two weeks of solitary confinement is not my cup of tea.
What we see as the major deterrent to some form of normal, is the entry permission from the Thai Embassy in the home country and the inability to use scheduled commercial airlines. The few people I know that have done this to return here say this very difficult, the rules are many, expensive, strict and lacks any ability for you to plan.
Been there, done that too. I was actually in US for work in late March (and diving in the Philippines immediately prior to that), so when I came back home, I had to quarantine for two weeks - and towards the end of those two weeks, I started coughing and felt a bit short of breath. Called my HMO, they referred me to Magen David Adom, who sent a guy to collect a swab and told me to wait. So I waited. And waited. And waited. Ended up waiting three extra weeks for a total of almost five weeks of quarantine before they concluded that they lost the test and I'm free to go outside.
There's this, offering to deal with most of the paperwork for you: STV Visa-Thailand Longstay Company - but they want 10,000 baht + 7% VAT for it.
Very few people have the medical insurance they require, it must be zero deductible for COVID testing and any related sickness. So, you will most likely need an expensive rider that waves certain deductibles, all this must be presented to the Embassy prior to getting approval to depart the country.