I'm thinking of going for about 10 days in August. Round-trips from Chicago are pretty reasonable and I haven't been there since April of 2024. Hopefully things go well. I'm not too worried

47 and my age. Sounds adventurous. The fact that you're not into drinking, clubbing and just finding easy women and wanting to actually settle down you've already got the biggest downfalls out of your way. If you do this right you just might end up out of this with a happy ending.

@Rich ***********

Smart move

@Jay ******

If you switch to Magic Jack you may be able to carry that number with you. You'll then get an app to use that number on for calling and texting but I would verify if you can keep the number active that way

I use Magic Jack for my USA landline at home. It comes with the Magic App for your phone and that gives you a USA number for calls and texts when you have data or Wi-Fi. It's handy for taking care of business back home.

@Jay ******

Mint is great for me in the US. Right now they have a full year plan for 240 and that's unlimited everything. I take the mint SIM card out in Thailand and use a Thai sim card . Mint offers roaming but that can be pricey. I prefer to just use Wi-Fi and a Thai sim card in Thailand.

What exactly is a safe entry agent?

I have a magicjack for the phone in my house here in the US. It comes with an app that allows you to use your home number for traveling and it works really well in Thailand for all calls to the US. It also has texting but I don't think you can send pictures or files but it's not really necessary for me because there are other ways for those things.

@Andrew ********

Honestly I didn't know that. Thank you for the info.

You could write it as The Republic of Türkiye so you don't confuse the country with the bird.