sandyf

You don't really need a SIM if you have a phone as you can use the hotspot if you have data. I don't have data on my phone and just piggyback my wife's phone when out and about.

You should try the pharmacy,tablets will make you feel better. Seriously, android is a pain in the neck, I had a Lenevo and quickly changed it for a Windows version.

I only do contactless in the UK or when travelling, and only use the Wise card. They send an email within seconds of the spend which is quite handy.

No he didn't, he said it shouldn't be done online. Most people do it themselves at VFS, i was one of the first when it move from the FCO in 2014. Went back to UK in Sept to do it again. VFS sucks.

The online method that was suggested requires the original passport to be sent to the UK and Mr Tom was quite right in what he said. You may well think it is ok to be without a passport but I doubt many would agree.

If you are in Sattahip I wouldn't disagree.

Indeed,we are in Chonburi and would normally use BTS from Kheha. But VFS has moved from Trendy to Rama 9 and going to that area we would use the airport and Makkasan.

I used to hate going to Bangkok but recent years has been a bit easier, i think due to better transport services. From Pattaya you could get the bus to the airport and then the train to Makkasan. VFS is not far away, within walking distance or a couple of stops on the MRT.

Agreed, you shouldn't be here without an original passport as proof of identity. As far as the wife goes I think it meant send the wife to VFS in Bangkok with the application.

Apologies, I looked back at my old passports and when I went to Luan Prabang in Jan 23 I did get the same sticker as you show but never noticed. Nothing on previous visits but they were some years prior. Same with Malaysia last visit was Feb 2020 and certainly no sticker on entry to Vietnam 2 months ago.

The only card I have on Google is my UK credit card, no loading required. I also only use cash here, my card is only to get cash from ATM. When I lost my ATM card at least it was protected by the pin number, contactless cards are very vulnerable.

It is a bit of a confusing topic. I have been using Google Pay for some years and found it quite useful. Google Pay came from a merger of Google Wallet and Android Pay but the wallet never actually went away. Looks like Google wallet has been revamped and now taking over from Google Pay. My understanding is that the new version of the wallet provides a contactless facility on an android phone for your cards so should work in any establishment that accepts contactless payment. Anywhere that you find Google Pay or contactless payment logos, you can make contactless payments with a supported form of payment that you stored in Google Wallet. https://support.google.com/wallet/answer/11951709?hl=en#zippy=%2Cwhats-the-difference-between-google-wallet-google-pay%2Ccan-i-use-google-wallet-to-tap-to-pay

I flew into LP and can't remember an arrival card but could have been. They opened the back doors and we were first off the plane, I was through immigration quicker than my wife.

Looks like it has come to an end. From 1 January 2014, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has discontinued its service of depositing foreign marriage and civil partnership certificates with General Register Offices in the UK. https://www.tameside.gov.uk/registrars/births-deaths-marriages-abroad#:~:text=From 1 January 2014%2C the,Register Offices in the UK.

You need to be a little careful on the wording. There was a time when you could deposit the marriage certificate with the General Registry Office(GRO) through the British Embassy in Bangkok. I did it in 2008. I should point out it was a deposit rather than a registration, as you say the UK will recognise a legal marriage in Thailand. I think the embassy stopped handling GRO deposits in 2012 but not sure if you can still deal with the GRO direct. In reality not a great deal to be gained but you did get an annotated copy of the deposit with the GRO seal which over the years has been very useful in visa applications for my wife.

"major airlines"? The source text has been rearranged somewhat under journalistic licence, airlines named account for less than 10%. "More than 2,300 Ryanair flights have reported incidents of GPS interference since last August, according to a report, as well as almost 1,400 at Wizz Air, 82 at British Airways and four from easyJet. About 46,000 aircraft in total have logged problems with GPS over the Baltic Sea in the same time period, the Sun reported, based on analysis of flight logs with the website GPSJAM.org."

There is an old saying, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Virtually every evening at 5pm I watch the BBC news channel live sat out on the verandah. Probably about 75% of the time there is no problem but the rest of the time it varies from slightly intermittant to unwatchable. Been doing it for some years and what I have noticed is the worst reception is when there is stormy weather in the area. Puzzled me a bit at first until I noticed the satellite details on the screen. A bit irrelevant to your title, although I have Cyberghost I don't use it when watching the TV app, at the end of the day if something works speed tests and vpn are superflous. If the buffering I see is weather related then not a lot can be done about that.

There was nothing other than the entry/exit stamps when I went to Laos last year on E-visa. There was no sticker last time I went to Malaysia a couple of years ago but I did get one back in 2014. Bit of a surprise as I had been KL the year before and never got one. That was by air, was on the train to Penang when they used the sticker, it had a tear off tab and left part behind. I was on last page of passport and they put it right in middle of remaing space causing bit of a problem. Never been to Korea.

ALL visa exemption into Thailand should be under a Bilateral Agreement with reciprocity for Thai nationals. My wife has had to pay out 10K baht in order to leave the country for UK and Europe yet some Brits and Europeans, along with others, think they can traverse the globe unimpeded with their better than thou attitude. They come to Thailand with 30 days for free and low cost option to extend, they try and circumvent the scheme regulations then start whinging at the suggestion of a 300 baht tourist tax, quite unbelievable.

It is indeed all about the office and the number of times this comes up you would think it was common knowledge. I have only ever done the one TM30, in 2015 and still in passport. Last October I came back on a new passport and new visa fully expecting to be challenged but when I came to do the extension nothing was said.

When the new airport opened Sep 2006 the introduction of PSC was not far away so they never moved any of the machines from DM. Think it likely the fee went onto tickets 1st Jan 2007 In the first few months it was chaos with someone going up and down the check in queues selling the 500 baht tickets, of course the majority had no baht left so had to leave the queue causing massive disruption. Fortunately it wasn't for long and took the exit ticket away for good. However the thread is about tourist tax rather the PSC, just booked an overnight stay in Brussels an that included a 4.24 EUR tourist City Tax. You wouldn't get many nights for 300 baht.

Nothing "new", the Thai baht has been a restricted currency for long enough. It is subject to currency control regulations and it can be very difficult to get a Thai bank to remit THB to an overseas bank. There are other options that can be considered.

Who do you mean by "they". Nothing new here. In the early 80s I built a prototype conveyor oven for a food company in Norfolk to make plant based chicken. The factory works manager had fixed views on meat and said it would never work. When we did the trials he was pleased to see some of the pieces with slightly burnt edges and said the proverbial 'told you so'. The company research dept however disagreed and asked him when was the last time he took a chicken out of the oven that didn't have brown patches. They were pleased with the trials and the rollout of the product was very successful, a couple of years later we got the order for a production unit, by that time they were doing both plant based chicken and beef for canned curries and stews. At the end of the day I would suggest that there is little difference in the concept of plant based meat, zirconia diamonds or alcohol free beer, all tailored to suit a market.

The Vietnam e-visa will come by email, it is a single page PDF document that you need to print off and have available on arrival. Your passport will only be stamped in and out as normal.

The statement you quoted appears in this update from one of the US consulates, it refers to a government meeting late last year so up to date rather than old. Historically the has been a difference of opinion between the info from Siam Legal sites and other sites that refer to the bilateral agreement with no limitation by air. I think there has always been a bit of confusion over the visa exemption scheme that apllies to the "majority" and bilateral agreements, but the table in this update indicates a distinct separation. On the basis that the 4 countries mentioned in the OP have been singled out from the rest of the "majority", I would suggest that it can be taken as the current requirement. The 4 countries in question have a bilateral agreement on diplomatic passports which may well have been extended to ordinary passports. https://thaiconsulatela.thaiembassy.org/en/publicservice/visa-exemption-and-visa-on-arrival-to-thailand Enforcement however is another matter entirely and many will contine to take their chances. .