Down Under Disneyana Australian Disney Forum

Thought it was time to update you on what I'm doing in 2017 and maybe start a thread on what everyone else has planned.

I arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand yesterday and plan to retire here for a while and just relax and travel. I'm old enough to qualify for a retirement visa, I have spent a bit of time in Chiang Mai and it has everything I could want as well as being a much cheaper place to live than Australia and there is an American girl I used to work with in Laos who works here now. I have been back in Australia for the last couple of months while I sold my house and tidied up my "affairs" so I am now in a position to be a gentleman of leisure.

A travel mag that I wrote a couple of articles for has been in touch because they want articles from this area so that will be my excuse to see and do things rather than just spend all my time sitting on the balcony reading. I can also get a return flights to Hong Kong and Shanghai really cheap so watch out or trip reports.

For me it was all a matter of "lifestyle" and living here means I can do everything I want to do without having to actually work.


Greg

Greg, sounds like you have it all worked out!  Congratulations!  Look forward to seeing and hearing about this new stage of life.  Didn't realise there was such a thing as a retirement visa, must be why a lot of the old crustys live in Bali :lol:

What I'm doing is consolidating having a normal job, which I'm fine with, moving into a new house and getting reacquainted with the travel bug.

Yep, a retirement visa is definitely a thing, you just have to be over 50 and meet a couple of financial requirements. The whole "retiring elsewhere for financial and lifestyle reasons" is becoming a big thing, especially in the US. I've written a couple of articles for a travel/expat magazine and they want me to write more about this part of the world.  

I'm a bit jealous of you if you like your job. Part of my problem is that I've never really been able to say that. I've done the "career", "house-ownership", "travel" things and I'm pretty confident I've figured out which I want to do for the foreseeable future.

I should be getting my passport back with my visa in it by the end of March so I'll be planning a trip for sometime after that. Might wait and see what Keith has to say about Shanghai.


Greg

Retirement seems so far off.  With my love of travel I may not be retiring until I'm in my 70s   How does one find a job they love and do they really exist?

Sounds like a great lifestyle you're creating for yourself and when I can't travel it's great to live through others so hope you post any of your trips up here.

Sounds like a great lifestyle you're creating for yourself and when I can't travel it's great to live through others so hope you post any of your trips up here.

I will certainly be doing that. Shameless plug time...Planet Trekker if you want to see my previous Disney (and other) trips. 



Greg

OMG... I want to retire... but your plans sound great and I wish I had all my ducks in a row like that.  Actually not sure its ever going to happen. 
My 2017?  
Well so far, I've packed up all my stuff, moved back to QLD for a sum total of 10 days and then packed up all my stuff and moved back to Adelaide again at phenomenal expense I may never recover from. Very long and boring story about shonky real estate folks that abound on the Sunshine Coast and ducks that wandered off in a big way at all the wrong times. 
So 2017, will see me continue to study remotely ( but part time this year), publish a couple of e-books that are ready to go, find a publisher for another I have ready to be handled by someone who knows about hard copy books, and find a 'real job' while I work on another couple of irons I've had in the fire for a little while now.  I also have 3 more books I'm working on but not expecting to see them in print for a while.  The rest is still a vague idea at this stage.  

publish a couple of e-books that are ready to go, find a publisher for another I have ready to be handled by someone who knows about hard copy books, 

Anything you can reveal about the books?
Greg

Anything you can reveal about the books?
Greg

Sure   both of the ones that are ready are 'how to' books I wrote last year and plan to self publish on amazon when I figure out how to insert images into the text without wrecking the formatting, and the other one is one designed to be hard cover that I wrote for a Uni assignment and my lecturer encouraged me to find a publisher ( still looking for the right fit so far though) about responsible tourism in a a graphic novel style... trying to find a publisher that isn't after a comic or a documentary but a combo is a little challenging.    The novels  and short story anthologies that I have on the go number well in the double figures now... but they still need work.  

Have you thought of self-publishing through someone like Blurb ?

It would probably take a bit of work to get them out there but you would have total control.


Greg

So 2017, will see me continue to study remotely ( but part time this year), publish a couple of e-books that are ready to go, find a publisher for another I have ready to be handled by someone who knows about hard copy books, and find a 'real job' while I work on another couple of irons I've had in the fire for a little while now.  I also have 3 more books I'm working on but not expecting to see them in print for a while.  The rest is still a vague idea at this stage.  

What a crazy start to your year, it can only pick up from here.  Love your plans, they sound way more interesting than a 'real job'.  Good luck with the publishers.  

Have you thought of self-publishing through someone like Blurb ?

It would probably take a bit of work to get them out there but you would have total control.


Greg

yep, I've looked at it, but Amazon ebooks have a bigger reach and I'm happy to give up a tiny % for not having to market them myself.  

What a crazy start to your year, it can only pick up from here.  Love your plans, they sound way more interesting than a 'real job'.  Good luck with the publishers.  

Thanks, yep, its been pretty hectic and stressful and not at all what I had planned, but anyhoo, rolling with it and seeing what happens

Life's all about the journey. May it always be interesting. 

Plus I'm slowly learning that it's better to be able to say that you tried something rather than saying you should have tried.

Greg