 The Retire in Thailand Handbook (The First Six  Months) Book 1 in the Retiree Travel Guide Series.
 ISBN: 9781528928533
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 The Retire in Thailand Handbook (The First Six Months) is a step-by-step guide to help ex-pat retirees and baby boomers who may be considering retiring to Thailand, where their pensions will stretch much further than it does in their home countries and where the climate is wonderful for most months of the year. My first six months in Thailand were frustrating. When I dreamed about retiring in Thailand, I thought that when I arrived I would get my retirement visa, rent a condo, buy a vehicle, and then spend my time exploring my new country, going to the beach, going out for meals and meeting new friends. Unfortunately, reality took over and I spent most of my time dealing with Thai government bureaucracy and trying to sort out the endless problems that arise when moving to a new country. Back in Australia, I already had a visa, my own house, my own car, medical insurance, driving license, bank accounts, credit rating, doctor and dentist.  Moving to another country, I was more or less starting my life over and I needed to establish myself within the Thai system. Government, banking, medical, everything that was just part of my everyday life back home in Australia I had to re-create in Thailand. This book will give you the information you need to avoid most of the problems that I encountered, and allow you to retire to this wonderful country with confidence and assurance as well as saving you time, money and your sanity.
This book is available in paperback in all good bookstores and is published by Austin Macauley.
A Retirees Guide to Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Laos: Book 2 in The Retirees Travel Guide Series.
ASIN: B07YQP6GYN
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A Retirees Guide to South East Asia, Cambodia, Vietnam, The Philippines and Laos is the second book in The Retirees Travel Guide Series of books. The books are aimed at retirees or future retirees who want to enjoy their retirement years travelling and seeing places that they maybe couldn’t afford or did not have time for when they were working and raising a family. Sixty-five is the new fifty so most of us are fitter and healthier than our parents were, and when you retire there is a whole world out there waiting for you to discover. This is a journal of a two-month trip that I took through Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Laos. I did this trip on a budget, surviving on my pension. During that time I ticked off many items on my bucket list, ate and drank well, saw some breathtaking sights and did some amazing things including:
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Watching the sunrise over the temples of Angkor Wat .
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The atrocities of the Killing Fields and S_21 Prison in Phnom Phen.
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Sailed on the mighty Mekong River.
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Crawled through Vietnams Chu Chi Tunnels and visited the war museum.
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Explored the ancient cities of Ho Chi Min and Hanoi.
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Had clothing made to measure by expert tailors in Hoi An.
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Cruised Vietnams Halong Bay.
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Experienced Wind Surfing in Boracay and saw Bohol’s Chocolate Hills in the Philippines.
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Explored the city of Vientiane in Laos.
My philosophy is the more I can save when travelling, the more I can travel, having said that, be frugal, not cheap. Look for deals and don’t waste money, but don’t miss out on great experiences or walk miles to save a few dollars.
My first book, The Retire in Thailand Handbook (The First Six Months) was an account of my experiences when retiring to Thailand, and the difficulties and frustrations I encountered with Thai government bureaucracy and the endless problems that nearly always happen when moving to a new country. I wrote the book for the benefit of any prospective “farang retirees” who may be considering retiring to this beautiful country, to learn from (and hopefully avoid) the many mistakes I made when I first arrived here. This book is a follow on to my first six months and covers my next twelve months which were far more enjoyable and relaxing, which is how retirement should be. I now have a beautiful Thai girlfriend, my Thai retirement visa, a Thai bank account, a Thai driving licence, a car, a motorbike, and a nice villa overlooking Lamai beach in Koh Samui. I also now have the confidence and knowledge to live in Thailand and enjoy all that the “land of smiles” has to offer. The book is a day by day an account of the five-week road trip my Thai partner and I took driving throughout Thailand, looking for the perfect place to live, a place that would suit my circumstances, and the lifestyle that I had dreamed of when I first retired here.
Most retirees, who move to countries like Thailand, do so for the better lifestyle a tropical country like Thailand can offer. But many retirees come to Thailand to retire because their pensions stretch much further here, due to the lower cost of living. This book is filled with money-saving ideas and tips to help you not only live within your budget, but live your life to the fullest, and enjoy everything Thailand has to offer. The book will give you some great ideas on how you can save money when you travel, as well as an insight into all of the fantastic retirement areas to live within Thailand.
A Retirees Guide To South East Asia. Myanmar, Singapore, Bali, and Malaysia: Book 4 In The Retirees Travel Guide Series
ASIN: B0814XM175
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If you have read my third book “Same Same but Different” in The Retirees Guide series, you will know that when I returned from my adventures in Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Laos (book three in the series), that I settled back in Koh Samui. A few weeks after I returned from my trip, on Valentine’s Day 2017, I met and later fell in love with a beautiful Thai lady called Jin. Within a few weeks of meeting, we were on an extended driving trip around Thailand. On our return from our Thailand road trip, we decided that we wanted to travel overseas for a few months of the year, every year, to visit all of the countries we wanted to see together. Jin had never been out of Thailand before and I wanted her to see some of the countries I had been fortunate enough to visit over the years, either on holidays with my family or when I was working at sea or in hotels around the world as a chef. We decided that for about ten months of the year we would live on a budget that would hopefully still allow us to have a good life in Koh Samui, and also allow us to travel and explore Thailand, and at the same time save up for our next overseas trip. This book is a journal of our first overseas trip that we took together to Myanmar, Singapore, Bali and Malaysia, by rail, road and air and sea. We stayed in some beautiful hotels, visited many local attractions, and ate in some fine restaurants well within the budget that we set for ourselves. We did this by checking out websites and advertisements to ensure that we got the very best value that our money could buy. By shopping around and surfing the internet, we managed to chance upon, a week’s accommodation in Bali, as well as two return flights from Singapore to Bali for less than US$600.00, and many other bargains that we managed to source, for accommodation, flights, and restaurants. I love shopping for bargains; I consider it a challenge not to pay the full price when travelling. The money we save enables us to travel and experience more out of life than we normally would if we paid the full asking price. Many people just book their travel and holidays through a travel agent, hotel chain, cruise ship companies or airlines without looking to see if there are better options available at cheaper prices. Being retired and on a pension it is important for me to stretch my money as far as I can, to enable us to travel more extensively. My motto is “You need to be frugal, not cheap, look for deals and don’t waste money, but don’t miss out on great experiences or walk miles just to save a couple of dollars. Time is money, spend them both wisely”.
With 60 being the new 40, many retirees don’t want to retire gracefully they want to retire "disgracefully" and have some fun in lives while they still can. While researching for my retiree travel books series I have met retirees, who much to the dismay and sometimes disgust of their children and grandchildren, decided to move away from the comfort of their home towns to start new lives far away in the mystical Far-East and change their lives forever. One of them now a rides a Harley Davidson motorbike, something that he had wanted to do since he was sixteen years old when he saw Peter Fonda ride one from California to New Orleans in the movie “Easy Rider”. Another retiree I interviewed was in his mid-60s and had married a 28-year-old bar lady, 14 months later she gave birth to a baby girl and he was loving the responsibility of being a father for the very first time…and yes they were very happy together. Another retiree I talked with had bought a sailing boat and learned how to sail at the age of 63 (41 in new years) and now spends his time sailing around South-East Asia. You don’t have to go to those extremes, but if you have secretly longed to do something different in your life while you were working and raising a family now is the time to do it…you don’t want to die wondering what might have been.
You may be retiring soon or maybe you have already retired after working hard all of your life and you will have the time and money to live your life to the fullest. Well, you hope that you will have enough money to live your life to the fullest. Many people that have retired or are retiring had well-paying jobs, a healthy superannuation account, invested wisely and saved enough money to live out their retirement years in comparative luxury. Unfortunately, many more retirees have not been so lucky or so foresighted and only have their government retirement pension and whatever savings and investments they have managed to accumulate over their working lives, and for them, the thought of living in retirement can sometimes be quite scary.
For those retirees, retiring to an overseas country has become a real consideration, because they can spend a lot less money, and get a whole lot more due to the lower cost of living than they would be able to by staying in their home countries. Add to this the tempting incentives of tropical climates and exciting new experiences to spice up your life and you can see why more and more retirees from all over the world are looking for alternative retirement options abroad. This book lists the ten best countries in the world for retirees to live where they can enjoy their retirement to the fullest on their pensions.
· Thailand
· Malaysia
· Vietnam
· Bali
· Cambodia
· Spain
· Portugal
· Costa Rica
· Belize
· Panama
These ten countries are all waiting to welcome you; it will be up to you to decide which is the best country that suits your personal circumstances.