1) You’ll find endless travel opportunities.
One of the best parts about living life as an expat is that you have a home base to frequently travel from. With Thailand’s diverse landscape filled with beaches, mountains, cities and countryside, you could travel around the country for years and still not get bored. This being said, Thailand is opportunely located right smack in the middle of South East Asia; a region known its cheap and convenient ground transportation system. And if air travel is more your style, Thailand has over 30 airports, seven of which are international.
2) Thailand is agreeable.
This could be broken down into several reasons, but for the sake of keeping the list at an even number, we’ll just say that Thailand is all around a great place to live. From the sunny and warm weather, to the friendliness of the locals, to the low cost of living and wide spread use of the English language, Thailand is simply a nice and easy place for anyone to live.
3) You won’t miss the comforts of home.
Unless the one thing that comforts you is snow, you can find all the comforts of home in Thailand. Whatever food you are craving, you can find a restaurant or street vendor who makes it here. If there’s a western movie you’ve been dying to see, you can catch it at the local cinema. If there’s a store that you love, chances are that Thailand loves it too, or at least has something very similar.
4) Has a large expatriate community.
Like we said earlier, you’re certainly not alone if you are thinking about relocating to Thailand. One of the biggest draws for westerners is that there is already a huge community of like-minded people that have been buying properties, living, working and retiring here for years. Here, you can check out the best expat neighborhoods in Bangkok.
5) Offers every type of living situation you could want, but cheaper.
Whether you want to live the life of luxury in a skyline Bangkok condo, become a beach house bohemian or spend your days relaxing in a Villa overlooking the mountains, you can live the life you’ve always dreamed of here. And when you do start living that dream, you will most likely do it for less money than you would in your home country.
6) Great investment opportunities.
Whether you want to out a rent commercial property to start a small business or start collecting Thai artwork to sell back home, you can find a number of unique investment opportunities here. Thailand is a developing country and has already changed drastically over the last 20 years, so there’s no time like the present to jump in on the race. If you’re business minded and you keep your eyes and ears peeled, you never know what opportunities will arise.
7) Begin to really understand another culture.
If you’re interested in learning about what life is like beyond your personal network, living in another culture is the most hands on and effective way to do so. You’ll begin to realize that other cultures, no matter how different or foreign they may be to you, still function as modern societies. While you always have the opportunity to see, learn about and explore when you travel, it’s often the smallest nuances of daily life that will give real insight into what the people are like, and what their values are.
8) Grow yourself.
When you separate yourself from your “normal” life, you can take a step back and start to objectively analyze the decisions you’ve made, your attitude to the world around you, your interests and dislikes, and more. And with this separation comes more solidarity that will give you the space and time to work on yourself however you please. If you realize that your previous life left you with no time to read or exercise, you can now work that into your new daily routine. It can be very productive to your personal growth by developing the habits of another culture.
9) Living away gives you an opportunity to realize who in your life is important to you.
With social media allowing us to stay connected to literally every person we’ve ever met, our ideas on who is important to us and who is not can become diluted. When you live abroad, you quickly realize who your real friends are, and you can then start to develop closer and more meaningful relationships with those people who really matter.
10) Because if you want to, you should.
This may be the least concrete reason why you should move to Thailand and become an expat, but in my opinion it is the most important. So many people let their dream of living internationally remain just that; as a dream. There’s no denying that leaving behind everything familiar is daunting, but if you can find the courage to take the leap of faith, you will find more life fulfilment than you ever thought possible.
Ready to take your leap of faith? You can start here by browsing through listings of condos in Thailand, as well as apartments and houses all over the country.