Are we there yet?

According to the Office for National Statistics around 1 in 4 young adults live with their parents. Although at 34 I am at the top end of this age band, I have now found myself temporarily in this situation. Now, I actually quite like my parents so this shouldn't be too testing. I am enjoying being generally looked after. Where else do you get smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on a Tuesday morning?

What is mildly irksome though, is their constant need to know "what I'm doing" or "where I'm going"! As I type this I can hear my Dad downstairs quizzing my Mum on what I had for breakfast (a selection of fruits, greek yoghurt, and honey if you must know). After 16 years of being an independent adult, it is strange to need to provide a commentary on my every movement! How are all these young adults not going absolutely crazy?!

A New Opportunity

Anyway, I'll get back to the actual point of this post as it doesn't yet seem to have any relevance to Bangkok nor lurchers. In itself is a strange combination. I guess it's best if I provide a bit of background to explain how I've found myself temporarily unemployed and homeless at the age of 34.

The story begins in April 2017 when my boyfriend (now husband) Chris set off for work. Chris had been in his role for around 9 months, was making good progress but wasn't loving it and had started thinking about alternative employment options. I remember he had a meeting scheduled with his boss and I expected to get some sort of update on how that meeting had gone. Partway through the day the update came through via text message and read something along the lines of "They've offered me an assignment in Bangkok. Are you up for it?".

I think sometimes it can be good to receive some unexpected news when you're at work. I guess I was too busy to properly process it because I just responded with "Yeah, why not?" and carried on with my day. Interestingly enough, now we're many months down the line and it's actually happening, my attitude hasn't particularly changed, maybe just evolved to more of a "what's the worst that can happen?".

The Dependents

My thoughts then turned to what was really the biggest consideration for us, our two beautiful (yet bonkers) lurchers. We'd rescued (in the sense that we got them from a rescue rather than saved them from drowning) Charles & Siale only a year earlier. We'd probably only just really got to grips with them.

Like most people, we weren't particularly familiar with this breed of dog. I think most lurcher owners would agree that you will experience the best and worst of dog behaviour from them. They are incredibly affectionate, loving nothing more than a big snuggle on the sofa. But they're also pretty needy and likely to miss-behave or wee all over your house if they become slightly unsettled.

They also have bursts of energy and like to do what is known in lurcher circles as "zoomies" where they run around in circles as fast as they can. It's like they literally burst with energy and excitement and can't stop themselves. It's awesome to watch but when this happens in your own back garden and/or house there is usually a wake of destruction!

Research, Research, Research

What on Earth were we going to do with these dogs? Could we take them? How would they get there? What's Bangkok like for dogs? Is there anywhere to walk them? How would they cope with the heat? Do they eat dogs in Thailand? These were just a few of the questions that were racing through my mind. Obviously, I did what everyone does when they have a question; I turned to the internet! I spent hours reading blogs, Facebook posts & expat forums. The information I found was patchy and contradictory.

The internet is amazing but it is also a dangerous, un-validated source of information where some people are just downright mean! Some people said it was completely impossible to own a dog in Bangkok yet others were much more positive and said it was fine. I was encouraged when I read about the BMA Dog Park and also places designed specifically for your dogs like Barkyard BKK and Ozono as well as some of the shopping malls that allowed dogs. I concluded that it was perfectly feasible for them to live there but we would need to find the right accommodation and we would need to put in some effort. But owning a dog does require effort so nothing massively new there.

Transportation

Moving onto the next minor detail, how would we get them there? I was lucky to come across a fantastic blog called 8milesfromhome.com where they basically explained step by step how they'd brought their dog from the UK to Chiang Mai. Whilst there was quite a bit of form filling and different fees to pay, it actually sounded in straightforward. I actually enjoyed telling people that we could check the dogs in as excess baggage when they asked how they would get there!

Reassured that it was feasible to take the dogs and that we were up for going, Chris progressed things with his company. What followed was months of what I can only describe as faffing around. At times I wasn't sure if we were actually going. I'll skip to when things got interesting again in mid-August when we got to go an do a "Look-See" visit to Bangkok.

House Hunting

Now, I should probably mention that I had never been to Bangkok, Thailand or anywhere in Asia before. I guess there was every chance that I would completely hate it! Our main priority for the trip was to find somewhere to live that would allow dogs and also ideally had an enclosed garden. This sounded like an impossible task in a busy city! Fortunately, Chris' company had hooked us with a property guy who was able to find us a load of different houses to look at. So, on the first morning, I happily jumped in a car with a complete stranger in a city I'd never been to. As you do!

We were pretty fortunate in our timing as we were in Bangkok during the Mother's Day weekend. It seemed there'd been a mass exodus from the City and the roads were 'relatively' quiet. This meant we were able to see 11 houses in one day!

My expectation was that in order to find a house with a garden we would probably be living pretty far outside the centre of Bangkok. What we actually found were a lot of different houses in nice, relatively well-connected areas like Ekkamai & Phra Khanong that had various sizes of outdoor spaces. Whilst we are fortunate enough to be well supported by Chris' company, our budget isn't bottomless & I was pleasantly surprised that we actually had some options. As is always the case you look at 11 houses &, end up going with the first one you saw which is exactly what we did!

Working in Thailand

For the rest of the trip, Chris did actually need to work so I tagged along with him which allowed us to meet Expats and Thais living in Bangkok. This was actually really beneficial in terms of visualising what life would be like.

I also managed to squeeze in a job interview of my own. Whilst just chilling in Bangkok for 2 years sounded appealing it probably wouldn't support any future career aspirations I might have! I did also experience what I am calling "tequila poisoning". Others might call an epic hangover after one too many margaritas! All in all, I had a pretty intensive induction into Bangkok life and it was great!

So that was it, full steam ahead, nothing stopping us now! Apart from we weren't married & I hadn't been offered a job so I think a tourist visa was probably my only option. Unless we got married? We had been together for 10 years so it wasn't really out of the question to expect us to get married. We thought it was a nice excuse for a big party so we did it. Eight weeks after we returned from Bangkok, we got married & it was awesome. I will save the details for another post!

But why am I still here?

This probably now brings me to the point where I explain why I'm still not in Thailand at the beginning of November when this whole story started in April. One word - administration! Getting married, changing your name & leaving the country can require a ludicrous amount of administration, particularly if like Chris & I, you've made your lives very complicated with lots of bank accounts, credit cards, finance agreements etc.

We were almost there but two things have kept me in the UK for another week - selling Chris' car & also getting a new Non-B visa for me as I have now been offered a job. As much as a 3 day trip to Laos sounded appealing, it seemed more sensible to just get it done in London & delay my flight. Chris is already there in the house, the dogs will arrive on Friday & I will be the last to arrive on Sunday. Not quite the plan but not the end of the world & I am getting used to smiling through these situations..!