Look up the cities where you'll be visiting on Google Maps and download the maps for offline viewing on your phone.

Actually, here's a map of places I like to eat in Chiang Mai, to get you started:

Join some groups focused on things you're interested in (like, for me, it's foodie groups in Bangkok and Chiang Mai) and start saving stuff that sounds interesting in Google Maps. That way, when you're wandering around a city just enjoying the vibe, you can have sudden "Ooh! Awesome-sounding place x is right around the corner!"

Check to make sure you have an ATM card with a bank that refunds other banks' ATM charges and doesn't hit you with foreign transaction fees. (Schwab is really good for this.)

And a credit card with no foreign transaction fees is also helpful (Amazon and Apple both offer them.)

I haven’t used them myself yet, but REDD and ARYU look like they might be decent for longer term storage. Check out and

One other thing to bear in mind is that, even if you’re retiring to Chiang Mai, you might still want to take advantage of medical care like annual checkups in Bangkok — I’ve been really impressed with the checkup packages at both Bumrungrad and Samitivej Hospitals there. So, if you do find that there are a few weeks a year when Chiang Mai just doesn’t feel comfortable, that’s a good time to schedule your annual checkups in Bangkok.

Bear in mind that, in addition to burning season, summer gets quite hot, which might have health issues of its own if it means you’re staying sedentary by an air conditioner for a month. (If it wasn’t for needing to walk around the city exploring khao soi every day, I probably never would have left my room.) But it would probably be amazing to spend some seasons in Chiang Mai, and some in other parts of Thailand. (Or in Ubud, in Bali, if you’d rather be around temples and mountains instead of beaches, but still have a really good culinary scene.)

@Jim *******

they're also just one street over from one of my favorite cafes in Asia. (

@Sometimes ********

)

Maybe try the Bless Hotel & Residence on Sukhumvit 33. The rooms are large and clean, and they have bathtubs — you might find an epsom salt bath really helpful for your muscles. And just a couple blocks from the EmQ mall, so tons of restaurants with elevator access.

Not walking distance to Bumrungrad if you’re dealing with hip stuff, but a pretty short ride on Grab (Thailand’s Uber).

I typically book on a monthly basis, so the rates are lower, but I think even shorter trips should still be in that $30 price range if Agoda has a good coupon code.

The Bless Hotel & Residence

+66 2 662 2444

@Steve ******************

I think they just started doing it late last year. Pretty smooth process. Note: this is a 60-day tourist visa, and then you can extend it for another 30 days at immigration (not the airport) once you’re here.

@Andreas *******

at least for me, the Chiang Mai office made me get the 30-day extension before I could apply for the Covid “extension,” but the Covid visa was actually considered a new visa that started from the date of issuance, so it wound up overlapping with that 30-day extension instead of getting added to the end.

So, your safe bet might be to get the 30-day extension now, along with all the paperwork for the Covid visa, and then go back to immigration on the 24th with all that paperwork already ready, to see if they’ll let you get the Covid visa. If they extend the program yet again, they probably won’t announce that until the 24th, so you won’t know until you show up.

@Curt's *****

I think that’s only for the first extension — in my case, they treated my first extension in January as if they were converting my tourist visa to something new, so the sixty days started from that conversion/application date. But when I went back for another extension last week, they treated it as a 60-day extension from my new expiration date, so there was no need to wait until the last minute.

@Nguyễn *******

I was wondering if that was happening. The "covid extension" ordinarily comes after the 30-day extension that I was thinking you'd have gotten after your exemption. It sounds like either the exemption for travelers from Vietnam is different from what Americans get, or they were giving you the wrong extension (which, to be fair, would give you 60 days instead of just 30 for the same price, so it's super-generous if you can pull it off).

The letter from the consulate/embassy seems to be something some officers insist on and most officers don't. Like, fear of travel due to covid, not actual border issues, has been enough. But it sounds like either they're tightening things up, or you wound up with an unusually strict officer. I'm glad it all worked out in the end!