00:06Portugal we are in Bangkok Thailand
00:09right now and we are trying to answer a
00:13question should we move to Thailand
00:18should we start the next phase of our
00:20journey when son and Malia are off to
00:23college and Christina and I truly have
00:27location Independence should we live in
00:32Thailand and Portugal spend 6 months
00:35here SP spend 6 months there this is a
00:39question that we're trying to answer on
00:41this trip because if you've been keeping
00:45up with our journey if you've been
00:47following us from the be beginning you
00:49should know that Thailand was actually
00:52one of the locations that we considered
00:54retiring early to but in the end chose
00:57Portugal and so on today's video as I
01:00walk around Bangkok as I walk
01:03around the neighborhood that we're in I
01:06want to talk to you guys about some of
01:08the reasons why we're considering moving
01:12to Thailand so the first reason has to
01:15be the people of Thailand if you've ever
01:19been to Thailand one of the things that
01:21you've probably experienced are the
01:24smiles here the warmth of the people the
01:27welcomeness the energy just the overall
01:30positive attitude that Thai folks give
01:34off it's really hard to explain if you
01:37if you've never been here but one of the
01:39saying about Thailand is that Thailand
01:42is is known as the land of smiles and it
01:45really is a place that you can walk
01:47around all day and feel this positive
01:50energy from the people so that for for
01:53us has been the most exceptional thing
01:55that we have experienced since coming
01:57back and every time that we've come here
02:00it's just that positive warmth
02:04reason is the cost of
02:07living now I'm sure it's no mystery that
02:10Thailand is a very affordable place to
02:13live your money can go a very long way
02:17and so you can come here and you can
02:19live very comfortably in a city like
02:22Bangkok from anywhere from $1,000 to
02:25$2,500 a month from what we've seen from
02:29the budgets that we've developed from
02:30the people that we've talked to that
02:32live here they are living very very
02:34comfortably on those types of
02:36budgets and I give you an example of
02:38what I mean let's use our cell phones
02:42for example each one of us got a cell
02:45phone for a month we got a plan our
02:48plans for each phone was about
02:51$7 for 30 days for the month $7 for your
02:56cell phone plan that includes unlimited
02:58data unlimited talk time time all the
03:00stuff all the texts everything for $7
03:04us I mean it's things like this there
03:06are so many other examples of
03:09affordability from apartments that are
03:11$400 $500 luxury apartments that are a
03:16th000 I mean it's amazing what you can
03:19get for your dollar here in Thailand and
03:21so this affordability brings me to the
03:24next reason and it's housing in Bangkok
03:27for example a major city that has so
03:29much going on on you can find a rental
03:33you can buy for amazing prices
03:38and it's not just that things are
03:41affordable but it's also that there are
03:43a lot more choices of housing here I
03:46mean you can choose to stay in a luxury
03:48highrise in Bangkok or some sort of
03:51villa in puket or kosam mui or one of
03:53the islands your choices are truly
03:56endless and at various ranges with
04:00state-of-the-art old more traditional
04:02the thing is you have Choice here and
04:05you have housing choice that is
04:07Affordable and you can't say that about
04:09a lot of places in the world but you can
04:11definitely say that about Bangkok and
04:14Thailand the next thing has to be the
04:18Leisure and activities that you can get
04:19involved in here I mean you can spend
04:22your day at the pool relaxing in the Sun
04:25or you can go to a a club or do an event
04:29you know because Bangkok in particular
04:31is a major city a lot of things happen
04:34here and so there's always something you
04:37in okay the next big thing has to be
04:41care now you know the healthc care in
04:43Portugal is amazing and so if we're
04:45going to choose another location to live
04:47in we have to have access to the same
04:50quality of Health Care that we're
04:52accustomed to that we have in Portugal
04:55now I haven't been to the hospital as
04:57many times here as I have been in in
05:00Portugal for exams but I have spoken to
05:03a lot of people that have been living
05:04here that have that have visited the
05:07hospitals and from what I've heard these
05:10hospitals are like valet Services you go
05:14into them the facilities are
05:16state-of-the-art people are literally
05:18waiting on you hand and foot like you're
05:20at a resort but this is a hospital I
05:23mean imagine that imagine going to a
05:25hospital and having people treat you
05:30being serviced at a resort I can't even
05:32I can't even begin to Fathom that that's
05:35the case here in in Thailand and in
05:37Bangkok when you go to a hospital you go
05:40to the private hospitals you pay a
05:42premium to go to these hospitals which
05:44really isn't that expensive relatively
05:46speaking and you get tremendous service
05:49we had a friend that just recently went
05:51to a chiropractor here and he said he
05:55had four professionals working on him at
06:00trying to figure out what his issues
06:02were with his Rehabilitation and he just
06:05was like the service was
06:07outstanding and you hear that all the
06:09time and so that is that is really
06:12appealing to Christina and I especially
06:14as we get up in age and it's more
06:16important to stay on top of our health
06:18to be in countries that provide Stellar
06:22Care the next thing is education now so
06:26and Malia they're out of school and it's
06:28not as much of a a factor for us but the
06:33resources that are here the the schools
06:36that are available the international
06:37schools the education for your children
06:40and even for us as adults is also
06:42Stellar Christine and I can do
06:44continuous continuous education in so
06:47many areas we can do language schools we
06:50can do physical education we can we can
06:53do intellectual stuff to you know in
06:55areas that interest us because we have
06:57the time and Leisure to dig deep into
07:00those areas there are so many
07:01universities here so many programs that
07:03we could participate in you know
07:06Thailand was one of the first countries
07:08that I that I visited when I was a young
07:11adult in fact I studied abroad here and
07:13I studied at tasat University not too
07:16far from where we're at here and tasad
07:19had amazing facilities a lot of
07:23resources and so that says a lot about
07:26about Bangkok and about Thailand land
07:29and is so appealing to
07:32us the next thing is
07:36food now you know we love to eat we love
07:40to go to nice restaurants we love nice
07:46and this is some of the best food in the
07:49world in fact today we took a a cooking
07:52class uh where we learned to cook four
07:55different tide dishes we went as a
07:57family the food was amazing
07:59and you just get ingredients here that
08:01you can't get anywhere else in the world
08:04the ingredients are so healthy they're
08:07wholesome uh they're so just nourishing
08:12my next Point what was I going to talk
08:16transportation I was going to talk about
08:19Transportation being such an amazing
08:22thing here in Thailand and in
08:25Bangkok because of where Thailand is
08:27situated in the world
08:30we have international transportation
08:33that is is really great my father lives
08:36in in Tokyo so going from Thailand to
08:40Tokyo is a lot easier than going from
08:42Portugal to Tokyo so I should be able to
08:44see my dad a lot more but just travel
08:46within the Asian region Southeast Asian
08:49region is really affordable is cheap
08:52they have lowc cost airlines that you
08:53can just hop on for less than $100 you
08:57can be in another part of Southeast Asia
09:00you know for a couple hundred more or
09:02$500 more you can be in Tokyo I could be
09:06visiting my dad and then there's Local
09:10trains uh the buses the fairies all of
09:13these things very affordable very
09:16accessible especially when you live in a
09:17big city like like uh Bangkok and um and
09:22you know you have things here like Uber
09:24or lift grab is the equivalent here but
09:27just getting around is just it's just
09:32affordable the next reason is
09:35safety now we have grown accustomed to
09:40places like Japan like Portugal and
09:45Thailand is up there as one of the
09:47safest countries to live in and you can
09:49feel that you can you can feel the sense
09:51of security as you walk around the
09:54city in a city like Bangkok too
09:57especially there's this chaos that is
10:00taking place but at no time do you feel
10:03like you're being threatened at any
10:04point like someone is going to rob you
10:07like you're going to be attacked you
10:09don't have that feeling in a in a in a
10:11lot of places in particular like the US
10:13for example you know and unfortunately
10:16there aren't many many places in the
10:19world where you have peace of mind and
10:22Portugal is one of those places for us
10:24Japan and Thailand is also one of those
10:27places for us and that is so Priceless
10:31us the next thing is
10:34community now one of the things that we
10:39cherish is the strong community that we
10:41have been able to build in Portugal if
10:44you've seen our uh if you've been to our
10:47meetups in Portugal if you follow us on
10:49Instagram you've seen a lot of our
10:51YouTube videos you'll see that we have
10:53so many friends that we have in Portugal
10:57and what's interesting is that there is
11:01a growing Community here in Bangkok of
11:05people that we have already connected
11:07with in fact one of our really good
11:09friends one of our best friends actually
11:11lives here in Bangkok he lives not too
11:13far from us right now and he uh he has
11:17shown us around the city he has he has
11:20helped set up several things for us here
11:22already and just talking to him it feels
11:26like we could have that same type of
11:28community here in Bangkok you know so
11:31many people live in this city so many
11:33people come to this city so I don't
11:35think there will ever be a point where
11:36we feel lonely like we can't connect
11:39with people that's something that's
11:40really important to to us especially as
11:44as fire people as early retirees we have
11:47this amount of time on our hands and we
11:49love to spend that free time with people
11:52that Inspire us that give us energy and
11:56so being in a place where we don't feel
11:57isolated is important important we want
11:59to be around people that we can connect
12:02with and so those are just some of the
12:04things that we have been considering we
12:07you know we are very fortunate because
12:10of our financial Independence we have
12:12choice and this is why we are huge
12:14proponents of people pursuing this
12:16ultimate goal because it leads to things
12:20like this it leads to your ability to
12:23have ultimate freedom to be able to make
12:26decisions however you want to one day
12:28you get say hey I'm living here the next
12:30day you can say you know what I want to
12:32go all the way across the world and I
12:34want to spend some time there that's the
12:36type of Freedom that Financial
12:37Independence gives you and that's why we
12:40share our journey with you to inspire
12:42you to also take this type of action and
12:45so uh we're going to be in Thailand for
12:50a lot longer you know we're going to be
12:52up here up we're going to be here for
12:54almost a month and if you guys want to
12:56keep up with us follow us make sure to
13:00follow us on Instagram but also if you
13:03want us to address your questions or do
13:07videos on life here in Bangkok and life
13:09here in Thailand leave those uh requests
13:12in the comments below and we'll try to
13:14do a video if you want us to go on a on
13:16a home tour if you want us to look into
13:19Health Care into schools let us know
13:21while we're here because we have
13:23connections here we get those questions
13:25answered and we can do a video about it
13:27and so if you guys have liked this video
13:29give it a thumbs up subscribe to our
13:31Channel and join the journey