Emil

I arrive around that time of the night and have a car service pick me up. They charge 1000 baht plus tolls of 60 baht plus parking (was 30 baht at the old airport and haven't arrived at the new airport yet). I use the same service when I depart Pattaya at 3 AM. If you want contact info let me know.

If your going to be spending alot of time in Pattaya it would be wise to get a medical card from the hospital that you would like to be taken to in an emergency and carry it on you.

Carry only a photo copy of the info page with your photo and the page with your entry stamp or visa stamp. I also carry my health insurance card. I don't think you need to carry the passport. Many times when I've been to immigration to get an extension, and this last time when I got my retirement visa, they have kept my passport over night or over the weekend, to process those requests. Also this past year when raylene was carrying his passport with him he lost it. He reported it to the police on Soi 9, then had to go to US embassy in Bangkok twice to get a replacement. He was without a passport for over a week and no one minded. That lost passport cost him I believe over $200 when you factor in that he then had to make monthly visa runs as his lost passport had the non immigrant "O" visa.

There is a new place nearing completion on Soi Buakaow near the Night Market. My guess is that it should be ready by Dec. Since it hasn't opened it shouldn't be booked out. Just a short walk over to Sois 7 & 8 and the baht bus route out front will take you to the Walking St area or up to Big C.

I wouldn't worry. Like you I arrived in LOS at the old airport and then departed from the new one on the 5th of Oct. Regarding checking with your airline about a change in flight times, my airline send me an email everytime there is a change in any of my flight times, even when they are only 5 minutes.

I'm not familiar with that, to play it safe you might want to go to immigration on Friday to make sure they will process yours on Saturday. BTW, in your title you stated Pattaya immigration, your aware that they closed Pattaya immigration awhile back and moved to Jomtien.

Are you aware that Carrefour offers free dilevery if your purchase is 1000 baht or more. I think its good for up to 5 ks.

Only in the morning until about noon and only for a few of their normal functions. If they told you to come on a Saturday then what you need must be one of those. What is a 30 under consideration stamp?

I've stayed there close to 30 times this year and each time I left very satisfied.

Guido, I'm back home now and I do have a copy of the form but it's in my appartment in Pattaya. If you need to know now send Soi 7 a PM because I got him one of the forms. Otherwise send me a PM next month after the 5th when I'm back in Pattaya. You really don't need one beforehand if your going to the Embassy in Bangkok as they have them there and it takes less than a minute to fill it out. Once it filled out and you turn it in at the window you will be given a receipt to go to the cashier in the next room as you have to pay $30 ro 1200 baht. Once you finish with the cashier you take that piece of paper back to the window and they will tell you to take a seat and wait for your name. They then called my name and I went back up to the window where I had to affirm that the info was true and then had to sign it and I was out of there. Total time about 15 minutes. The next day went to immigration where I 1st had to get a non immigrant O visa because I was in LOS on a 30 day entry stamp, then the Retirement visa. Was told to came back the following day to pick up the completed passport. Returned the next day, picked up the passport and then got the multilpe entry stamp and everything was done. 1st day at immigration spent about 2 hours and the 2nd day about 15 minutes. Cost breakdown: Verification of monthly income 1,200 baht "O" visa 2,000 baht Retirement visa 1,900 baht Multiple entry 3,800 baht Getting a bank account 300 baht Getting bank verification 200 baht Dr certificate 150 baht Passport photos and copies 150 baht Transportation to Bangkok/Jomtien 800 baht Total cost 10,500 baht

Larry, How does Immigration know that the money came over vie a wire transfer from outside of LOS. Does the bankbook indicate how money is deposited or do you have to provide a copy of the wire transfer to immigration?

It seems the biggest problem for you is your own government. I got my retirement visa a little over 2 weeks ago and when I went to the US Embassy in Bangkok to get the certificate stating that I had a pension in excess of 65,000 baht a month, they not only didn't require any proof, they didn't want to see the proof that I had with me. Also the US forms states "pension or other forms of monthly income" so interest income, dividends, rental income among others would all count. I guess the UK government doesn't want you lads leaving the country.

I'm not sure that I understand your question. The UA lounge at Narita is nice, CIP lounge that I used at BKK was just a bit larger than the mens room at the UA lounge at Narita. I arrive on that UA flight that gets me in around 11:30 PM and have a driver waiting for me in the arrival hall. Cost is 1000 baht plus tolls (60 baht) plus parking.

When I checked in on the morning of the 5th, the UA agent gave me a lounge pass without me even asking, to a lounge called CIP. Maybe that is the Thai's lounge, it was very small and seemed to me to be a temporay place as I noticed a couple other airline lounges that were still under construction.

Denny, When you and the Mrs move over to LOS next year you should check out the Oceans One property in Jomtien. It is advertised as being the tallest building in LOS when completed and the tallest residential building in the world. It just one step above the Skytop.

Besides being over 50 you must have 800,000 baht in a Thai bank or a signed statement from your Embassy stating that your monthly pension or other sourcs is over 65,000 baht a month. If your monthly pension is only half of the required amount then you would only need 400,000 in the bank. You aso need to open a Thai bank account and they would like to see activity for 3 months. You will need to get a statement from the bank which will cost you 200 baht, in addition make some copies of your passbook. Also you will need a sign letter from a Dr which cost me 150 baht. Get the bank statement and Dr's certificate on the day that you go to immigration.

If you can do the 5 minute walk up to Pattayaklang the transportation issue isn't much. The baht busses run up and down Pattayaklang. Some will head north when they reach 2nd Rd taking you up to the Big C area and other will head over to Beach Rd and then south to Walking St. Both will cost you 10 baht for yourself and 5 baht for your TG. Coming back will require the use of 2 baht busses, so the cost will double. You won't pay too much more on transporation than elsewhere in Pattaya as long as that 300 meter walk isn't a problem.

Jack, Your probably out of the range of Carrefour, but check with the Lotus Tesco up on Pattaya Nua, to see if they provide free delivery. Carrefour does if you purchase is at least 1000 baht and your within I think 5 Ks.

I don't know about the other parts of the US, but anybody who bought a house in California 10 years ago or more and didn't take out 2nds on the home are sitting on around $200k or more of equity. If they sold those homes they would have plenty of funds available to purchase a nice condo in LOS, on top of that,hopefully they would be cutting their ties with California so that they wouldn't be giving any more $$$ to the Franchise Tax Board.

You might want to look into getting a new passport at your embassy in Bangkok. I needed additional pages earlier this year and didn't want to risk putting it in the mail and sending it cross country. Took about 15 minutes to have it done in Bangkok.

They are KFC and also know as Khrongfa. They are a tours and transportation outfit located in Pattaya. I've used them about 16 times and they have always been there waiting for me even when my flight was delayed 3 hours and I didn't arrive until 3 AM. I don't know how old are the cars, gone are the days that I could tell a 55 Chevy from a 57 Chevy. All I can say is that they appear fairly new and that they are very clean. They have at least 6 drivers who drive for them. They also have mini vans at a higher price. email: khrongfa@ego.co.th

When I first starting going to LOS I flew on Cathay and I rank it a close 2nd to Singapore Airlines. They didn't depart Bangkok that early in the morning because I use to take the mini bus service to the airport and their 1st run out of Pattaya was 6 AM. Once I fully understood UA FF program, I've only flown with them.

They fly the 747s through Nariata. I like their schedule, earlier this year they put me on Singapore when I used my miles. It departed SFO around 1:30 in the morning, problem was the last hop out of SMF was around 9 PM so I had a long wait. UA requires 90K for a freebie in economy, but offers a few seats on each flight for 60K, so to get those you need to book early and be flexible on your dates. You need to have 25k paid miles to become premier which give you a 25% bonus and 50K to become premier executive for a 100% bonus. When you reach that level not only do you get that bonus for the rest of that calander year but all of the following year. You can see that flying out of SMF instead of SFO is a big help in achieving premier executive status. They have other perks when you reach those levels.

Its a little over 16k from SFO, the leg from SMF to SFO is a little over 90 miles however UA gives you actual miles or 500 miles whichever is greater for each leg. Thus I'm getting over 17K per trip. I said that the promotion gave everyone doubles miles and that premier executive get triple. I was implying that I'm premier executive so I'm earning over 51k miles. Use your United credit card and you get 1 miles for every $ spent on your ticket. Add in another 1k for booking on line plus UA give me 4 - 500 mile upgrades for every 10K flown. They can only be used on domestice flights but if not used they convert to miles. Add it all up and your near 60 K which is required for a freebie. I know I paying for a 2nd trip in advance and whats great about that is that I'll use the freebie when prices are at their highest. I don't cash in miles as soon as I qualify.

Could be that many of their seats have already been sold. They ran a promotion back in May that if you purchased by the end of the month that you would get double miles, the premier executives would then be getting triple miles. I purchased one and paid just under $1200 which is the most expensive price I've paid to date, however I will be earning almost enough miles for a free flight so the effective cost is around $600.