T-MINUS 18

So today marks exactly 18 months until we retire. WooHoo!

Today was also my yearly physical. Got poked, prodded, and stuck with pointy objects. When we told the Doctor that we wanted to get a complete checkup this year and next because we are retiring and moving to Thailand in 18 months he kinda did the same thing a dog does when he hears a high pitched sound. Cocked his head to the side and looked like WTF?!

He conceded that he didn't know much about the medical system in Thailand but thought it was great that we are adventurous enough to do that. He was a little surprised again when told him we had no plans to return to the US. So the checkup today went fine, the lab tests are being done, and in a couple weeks I'll go back for some more tests and labs. Lin is scheduled for her physical next week.

Lin has been very busy researching places to stay when we go to Chiang Mai at the end of this year. We've progressed from where we might want to check out in Thailand to which place in Chiang Mai do we want to stay on our reconnaissance mission.

We will be meeting Steve and Lisa in Thailand for their vacation during the same time and will spend some time with them wherever they want to visit.

I emailed our Credit Union to find out how the (Un)Patriot Act and the new banking regulations would affect our ability to keep an account open without having a US address; and they assured me that we can continue to have direct deposits into the account but would only need to update our address to whatever our Thai address will be and then we wouldn't have any issues using our debit cards in Thailand. There have been instances of some expats having their accounts closed by their banks because they don't have a permanent US address but that seems to be dependent on each financial institution's policy.

So, we are moving forward with our plans, studying Thai reading, writing, and speaking and feel like the Bullet Train has left the station and we're being whisked away into the future.