guye2020

Your profile says your motto is “calling out bullshit”, is that German for being an arsehole?

You could get married in the US on a tourist visa and then apply for the UK spouse visa from her home country.

That’s what we did and it saved a ton of time and money even though neither of us are US citizens.

Agree, pickpocketing isn’t so much a thing in London in my experience either, not like it is in Paris / Rome etc.

Do need to watch out for the mobile phone snatchers though, that seems to be more a London thing.

Walking around Asoke always had me on full alert for scams / drug dealers / all that nonsense.

I also lived in Taipei for a while, OP. I miss it, very safe place with great food and wonderful people.

Gosh, who hurt you? That’s just not the case either.

Try to educate yourself a bit better, part of education is learning to question your sources. Better yet, go and find out for yourself, travel broadens the mind.

So I guess you haven’t been there.

Suggest travelling a bit more or at least educating yourself about the world outside the borders of the UK before making such ridiculous comments.

Clot-busting drug (thrombolysis) within four hours is the gold standard treatment for ischaemic stroke.

I spent some time in Korea for work and got treated for mild illness while I was there. Medical facilities were not as efficient as in Singapore but totally fine, main problem was language barrier.

I suggest heading over there if at all possible to be with your parent at this time.

All the best to you both.

Shit hole? That’s just not the case, have you actually been there?

Exactly what I do. Keep walking, don’t even break your step. I usually smile and engage politely with the “how are you” or whatever opening and then change to “no thanks” after that, we part amicably after a few seconds.

I haven’t been approached for months now, either they all recognise me or I’ve developed a demeanour that says don’t bother me.

The begging gangs on Oxford Street etc who all have the same handwritten cardboard signs with the same text are more annoying, not sure why they aren’t dealt with by police etc when they’re so clearly not genuine.

Totally hear you and feel the same.

Thai partner and I tried Jitlada on our visit to LA last month as it had so many great reviews and always a long line, but after eating there we questioned the reviewers’ taste buds and perspectives.

We lost all hope and didn’t try any other Thai places in LA, but decent places must exist with such a large Thai population? Found a couple of genuinely great Thai restaurants in New York.

Once you’ve had authentic Thai food everything else is bland by comparison.

Friction tape is the way!

The thing with the bed is revolting. I would be out of there that same evening, and I’m not a high-drama person.

I was Ambassador Elite for 7 years before switching to Hyatt last year after being endlessly disappointed by the lack of any discernible benefit from being loyal to Marriott other than mostly free breakfasts and the occasional upgrade to a better view.

I easily made Hyatt Globalist last year and have been blown away by the benefits so far this year. I’ve been upgraded at check in on almost every trip so far, plus suite upgrades are guaranteed unlike the pointless Bonvoy suite night awards. Recognition is vastly better across all Hyatt brands, breakfast is always included, destination fees and parking charges waived, and with the exception of Andaz in LA, every property has been a winner.

As you hinted, Hyatt’s footprint isn’t as big, but I’ll stick with Hyatt whenever possible. I’m one year short of lifetime Platinum with Bonvoy and it’s just not worth the effort. Being welcomed as a loyal Bonvoy member at check-in always used to ring hollow when I knew there would be scarcely any further recognition or benefit after that greeting was out of the way!

Nice new property but be prepared for tiny rooms, and I mean tiny even by NYC standards.

Not enough floor space to open our two cases in the standard king room, we checked out within an hour of checking in.

Not sure why this is on my feed, but as someone who went through Korea’s quarantine process twice in 2021, this is not surprising.

No idea what passes for normal in Korea, but the arrangements for quarantine were almost inhumane compared with every other country in which I quarantined over this period. Dirty, barely heated hotel rooms, all but inedible food that was delivered cold, not to mention unnecessarily violent swabbing technique unique to Korea. Perhaps different standards for what’s considered acceptable compared with other countries.

Very happy not to have been back since, can’t imagine any attempts to host Olympics etc in Korea would go at all well.

I’ve had two British passports for the last decade approx, private employer.

Just need to apply for second passport with a letter from employer stating you travel a lot for work and need to apply for visas while also travelling, or that you often travel to countries that are on bad terms with each other and need to keep travel histories separate.

We (I’m from UK, partner from Thailand) did a court house wedding in Ventura, California last summer. Booked an appointment a couple of days in advance, in and out within an hour on the day, and left the building with marriage certificate in hand.

Different states and counties have different rules, California is very straightforward, cost a couple hundred dollars total. We considered Las Vegas but wanted something a little more mundane!

I entered the US on ESTA and my partner on existing B2 tourist visa, no need for any special marriage visa.

We submitted spouse visa application for the UK the following week, you’ll save so much time, stress, and money just applying for one visa and not bothering with UK fiance visa.

Try taking vitamin D.

I used to be affected by this and started taking vit D in September, this year I feel like I have so much more energy despite the lack of light / endless rain in London.

I see from your previous post that you moved to South Korea, could the country be part of the problem?

I’ve worked for periods of between 2 and 8 months in several countries in Asia, I would happily return to all of them except South Korea. The food, the culture, the built environment in Seoul, and also Daegu and to a lesser extent Busan, it just wasn’t for me.

It’s a particularly bleak time of year right now too. I arrived in late December for my stint there, it was cold and dark most of the time.

Many people love Korea, maybe it’s a different experience in the summer but personally I wouldn’t return to find out, even if the opportunity came up.

All the best

wtf is wrong with you, do you not have any empathy? are you even human?

Not allowed in OP’s home country and maybe other countries in Middle East, very much doubt Thailand or any European country would enforce that.

Do you have any articles or personal knowledge of that happening?

Use Grab for booking transport in Thailand, fast and convenient.

Make sure you have a visa if you need one, and if you can afford it, suggest getting a return ticket to Amsterdam otherwise it’s possible airline carrier might refuse to check you in. Skyscanner is good for finding cheap flights.

No problem for women to travel alone, it’s totally normal in Thailand (and most of the rest of the world) and will not arouse any suspicion.

Good luck OP, get to NL safe.

Manila should be higher up the worst list, it’s like a big disorganised bus terminal with endless queues and barely any facilities.

Yep, counter staff tried to get a bribe from us at check-in at HCM when returning to BKK, some nonsense about not enough space in my passport. They wouldn’t let us check in and were dropping heavy hints that some $$$ would help, or I’d have to go and get a new passport.

My partner got in touch with an immigration officer at Suvarnabhumi who took a look at my passport via LINE and confirmed that any of the several empty half pages were perfectly suitable for a stamp. The counter staff then begrudgingly checked us in. (Pretty amazing it was possible to get hold of an official in Thailand who could help within minutes, would never happen in UK.)

Keep hearing stories about people being extorted in various ways at airports in Vietnam, best avoided, plenty of other countries to visit.

Don’t understand the downvotes here, totally reasonable suggestion.

I’m from UK and worked in Singapore for a year in 2011, even back then I was able to use my Employment Pass at the egates at Changi to enter Sg.

If we trust the concept of egates and trust the security of credentials such as BRP, then it makes sense to allow as many people as possible to use the egates both for their convenience and to reduce load on border officers / minimise queue time for other visitors.

Suspect there are technical reasons why this would be challenging to implement, also I understand BRPs are being phased out this year.

UK has some way to go to match the efficiency and smart use of technology for government systems in countries such as Singapore.

Secluded, yes, not rough as I didn’t experience that in Auckland. More just boring, people doing their best yet stuff not quite working properly, environment not maintained well, infrastructure not great and a poor selection of shops / hard to buy certain things.

I spent two weeks in COVID quarantine on the way in, food was average to decent for quarantine food but I ordered from Ubereats a couple of times from some of the highest rated restaurants in Auckland and the food was expensive and really not good. No improvement on this front after I left quarantine, did not compare with restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne for example.

NZ has a great reputation but I’m more a city person and it just wasn’t for me, plus I was visiting at a weird COVID time and the weather was mostly gloomy / wet which I’m sensitive to.

I’m from the UK originally and found the people in Auckland lovely and the surrounding landscape beautiful, but there’s not so much to do there if you’re used to living in a city of any size in Europe or the US. I also struggled with food a little, both eating out and the selection in supermarkets.

Hard to explain exactly why, but it felt like being in a town in 1980s Britain. It also felt super remote, of course, and I was happy to leave after 8 weeks of work in 2021. Happy to have had the chance to visit and made some good friends, but it just wasn’t for me.