@Loon ********
, as a U.S. citizen who has traveled a lot, I can tell you that taking plants and animals from one country into another is not as easy as bringing them on the flight with you. Countries have rules and regulations about what can be imported. While you might be able to take a pet, it requires full veterinary vaccinations and and disease checks, and an application filled out and filed with the destination county. And then your pet may be quarantined for a short period of time in the destination county. Now take time to consider the amount of luggage that you can take on an international flight and the weight limit. On the U.S. side the limit for an international flight is 2 large checked bags weighing no more than 50 pounds each. One carry on bag that meets the airline size requirements for the overhead luggage storage on the plane. And one personal item that can be a large purse or backpack that can fit under the seat in front of you. Now you need to consider how difficult it will be for you to physically move 2 large 50 pound bags and a small bag while carrying a large purse or wearing a backpack.(I recommend a backpack.) The next thing that you need to know is once you are in Asia and need to go from one country to another is that the Asian airlines use kilograms instead of pounds.(100 pounds is 45.359 kilograms) Let’s say you go to Thailand on a tourist stamp on arrival. You decide that you don’t want to go back to the U.S.. So you choose to go to another country like Vietnam to apply for a longer term visa, if you don’t rent a storage locker for some of your luggage for the time you will be traveling out of Thailand, you will need think about how many kilograms you are allowed with your airline ticket. And don’t wait until you check in for your flight to pay for more kilograms of weight. It will be very expensive at check in. You need to buy extra weight on the airlines web site, or go the airline sales counter at the airport no less than the day before your flight to buy extra kilograms of weight. (Buy a hand held luggage scale while you are planning to travel in the U.S. to take with you. Because the Asian airlines go by total weight, if you know your total weight and buy enough extra weight, you can check more than the 2 bags so you don’t have to deal with your carry on. As for bringing a bunch of extra daily use items like toiletries: don’t bother. It’s not worth it. You can buy everything you need at Big C, Super Cheap and even 7-11. And finally you need to evaluate yourself physically and psychologically . How adaptable are you? There are a lot of little things that are different in Thailand (and Asia as a whole), and some big differences. If you are easily annoyed, and you are not adaptable to new things and ways of doing things, then trying to jump into living in Thailand long term might actually make you miserable. You can not work in Thailand without the appropriate visa, and then you are restricted from working a list of Thai only jobs. So you need a source of income in the U.S. if you are on a tourist visa or visa exemption stamp, or a retirement visa. Go to Thailand on the tourist exemption stamp for 60 days and you can buy a 30 day extension. You can do the extension yourself. It will cost $50 to extend, and the cost of going to a copy and passport picture business to get pictures and and a copy of your passport. Go to the immigration office and get the form for the extension in advance so you can take time to fill it out in your room. Having everything needed for the extension when you go to the immigration office will make things fast and easier. The immigration officers get annoyed dealing with unprepared foreigners. So live for the three months on tourist exemption so you can figure out if you can adapt. If you can not eat the food that the locals eat, it will be more expensive and difficult for you. And have enough money to hire a visa agent to help you with a longer term visa if you decide that you do want to stay long term. As for your the stuff that you own in the U.S. if you do choose to stay long term: if you don’t have family members that would want it or to be care taker’s of it, then sell it all. While it is possible to use a company such as “Mayflower moving” to ship things to Thailand. It’s done by the pallet and Mayflower has to go through everything and palletize it properly for the shipping. So that will be $2500 per pallet at least. And then you will pay an import tax on the Thailand side. Unless you are very wealthy, it’s just not worth it. You can buy everything you need in Thailand. And it is best if you can adapt to a minimalist lifestyle. I hope this helps you.