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I don't mind carrying a card as long as it's one card for all the public transportation networks. Thanks for the update @Patanawet.🤞

just a semi-related side note, i think i saw somewhere here forum members meet up. I am gonna be in Patt 21-25 May would be good to catch up with someone/people one night rather than be solo the whole time, does that happen?

'Trump is a weak, unhinged bully - he's lost the plot and is now losing the war' "Donald Trump’s unhinged, expletive-laden outburst exposes a reckless leader spiralling in a war he created, leaving the world facing dangerous consequences of his chaos-driven leadership" ~~ MIRROR ~~

I was reading how Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay is known for its large polar bear population. Perhaps Canada should convince Hoekstra to go for a walkabout down by the rocky shore to mingle with the migrating bears.

How are the wheels on those, I'm in need of new luggage... always had Eagle Creek with the heavy duty wheels...have an Osprey brand waiting for me in Singapore airport, also heavy duty wheels but haven't seen it in person ...yet.

I recently went to use my Rabbit card and was told it needed renewing. I protested (politely) that it was barely a year since I renewed it after it's 7 year validity expired. "Oh, it's all changed now -- renewal is annually". Oh shit I thought, I'd renewed my passport since then and NEVER carry the original with me. Luckily I had tatty B/W copies of new and old with me --- and they sufficed. This was at Saphan Thaksin skytrain station. I've recently read that 'soon' all ticketing will be combined skytrain/subway/busses and only via a phone app. No more physical tickets! But then, how many years have I been reading this in the local press?

@jimmie50 .... @hank75 and @mauRICE have given very useful and wise information/advice. You've seemed very level headed so far, so don't go off the deep end overthinking it. I almost fell down when I read you wanted to pay bar 3 months of off 🥺 Hank is right, they'll take him back or he can go to another bar, they need him too. But staying in BKK or Pattaya, may be too much temptation for one or both of you- he with his friends and you with "massage" or a cuter guy---better to go spend time together somewhere else, no? Wait....time and patience, don't rush into sending payments, if your future time together proves mutually amorous then do something special with the accumulated money you've put aside instead of sending it. I'm in Bali and have met someone that I really like and he appears to like me, not a money boy by trade but we met on Grindr...I might write about my time in Indonesia soon, when I can focus my thoughts and have more free time. But you came to my mind as he and I have been spending time together, I remind myself...don't get too goofy, he lives on the other side of the world and I'm a whore, most of us on this site are, whether you admit it or not 😝 He asked if I'm happy being with him, point blank... I said, "vamos a ver" let's see 😉

You wouldn't have met him if he didn't have this line of work. I believe that sex is one of the most beautiful, wholesome, natural things that money can buy. 💸

Hoekstra may be the only American who is more hated than Trump in Canada. He behaves like an asshole.

If Barron enlists he could always work with the Marine's TMZ like JD Vance did

Someone is over compensating. You just know he drove a TransAm in his early days

With all the Incompetent-in-Chief's to hide facts and hobble independent reporting on the economy - the private sector itself needs decent information and is generating itself - and it's bad. The USA lost 90,000+ job in manufacturing alone in 2025. There has been a net zero in job creation over the last six months. Just like in his first term the Incompetent-in-Chief was handed a growing economy and he fucked it up. First term by his incompetence during the COVID pandemic, this time through his billionaires first agenda.

Airport staff has zero influence....computer generated, like I said supposedly random, but there must be an algorithm that sets it off. Rather than guessing, I asked ChatGpt: Here’s the blunt real-world version: The people most likely to get SSSS are not “people who did one weird thing.” They are usually people in one of four buckets: 1. People whose identity does not clear cleanly. This is the big one. If your name is similar to someone on a watchlist, or your passenger data keeps getting matched imperfectly, you are much more likely to get repeated extra screening. That is exactly why DHS TRIP exists: DHS says it helps people who repeatedly get additional screening, are unable to print a boarding pass, or have other recurring screening problems. Secure Flight relies on passenger data like full name, date of birth, sex, redress number/KTN, passport info, reservation control number, and itinerary information. 2. Travelers whose itinerary matches TSA risk-based rules. This is the part that proves it is not just random. GAO says TSA began using risk-based factors to create screening rules for enhanced screening, and gave an example of a rule that could target passengers in a certain age range on a flight from a particular country. GAO also says Secure Flight uses the Silent Partner and Quiet Skies lists to designate those passengers for enhanced screening before boarding. 3. Travelers on certain international U.S.-related routings. Per GAO, the Silent Partner rules are used for flights inbound to the United States, and Quiet Skies can continue enhanced screening on certain later domestic or outbound flights for a limited period or number of flights. So if someone suddenly starts getting SSSS around a particular U.S.-linked international trip pattern, that is far more plausible than “the gate agent didn’t like me.” 4. Truly random selection. That part is real too. DHS says many factors are considered for secondary screening, but for security reasons they cannot be disclosed. In other words, some cases are random, some are not, and the government is deliberately not telling the public how to distinguish them from the outside. What is probably true in practice, but not officially confirmed as a neat public checklist, is the stuff travelers always repeat: one-way tickets, last-minute tickets, unusual routings, certain countries, etc. Some of that may overlap with real risk rules, but TSA does not publish a simple consumer list saying “these 7 booking behaviors cause SSSS.” The only government-backed thing we can say confidently is that there are undisclosed risk rules plus identity/watchlist matching plus some randomness. A useful rule of thumb is this: If it happens once, it may just be random. If it happens repeatedly, especially with trouble checking in online or printing a boarding pass, that starts to smell much more like an identity-resolution or watchlist-near-match problem, and DHS TRIP is the official fix path. So yes, there are almost certainly hidden scoring rules and pattern-based triggers in the background. TSA just isn’t going to publish the recipe card, because that would defeat the point. Very comforting, very transparent, very government.

The rest of the world has far less tolerance for the chaos of this incompetent regime that the USA is currently suffering under. The USA is mocked and ridiculed for the Incompetent-in Chief's incompetence. The regime's only answer - bomb the shit out of them. If it wasn't all so dangerous for the national interest of American citizens it would just be tragic - the incompetence we currently suffer with. It will take decades to undo the damage of this incompetent President

Not sure of the situation now as this happened quite a few years ago. But it was the first time I had ever seen the initials on a boarding pass. On my return to Hong Kong i asked a friend who was no. 2 in Cathay Pacific. He told me it was almost certainly because the check-in staff had noticed the ticket had been issued in Bangkok which in those days was regarded as something of a security risk. It was a flight to LAX and my first flight originating in the USA.

Note to self: Try to remember this in June 😉

SSS is random, supposedly. I get it once or twice a year, I can't associate any rhyme, reason or trend why. Also, the metal detectors at airports alarm randomly, as a "random" check.... I get it as well, frequently.... but can't win the lottery 🤷‍♂️

Would Pattaya seriously be a good place for a beach experience, given that it is inhabited by generally a large number of older gay farang and you want to be primarily on your own? Thailand has great beaches elsewhere. In my view Phuket and Samui are overly expensive. Rayong might be a better bet. Further away, I always loved Khaolak about an hour north of Phuket airport - huge beaches, hotels very separated and not really a resort-type area. Eating in hotels was expensive but there were local restaurants on the beach with really good food at moderate prices. It's a bit of a hassle getting there as it is about an hour's drive north of Phuket airport, but once there there are lots of things to do. I appreciate the immigration status issue and hope there may be be some way around that eventually. The famous 'James Bond' island as featured in one of the movies Village on stilts

Apparently they were able to flag where the ticket was issued but not your originating flight. I agree that one should be able to transit in the US. It would require an investment, however, which officials don't seem to have a taste for. I feel a song with handsome dancers coming on...

@mauRICE may claim to be “too innocent,” but his rather sound and sober advice demonstrate he is at the very least far from naive. Some of what you are hearing may come across as harsh, but I really do think these guys have your best interests in mind.

He is worried about getting caught by the authorities for being an illegal alien yet he chooses to stay in Silom where it's the first place the authorities will look for illegal aliens? And he thinks paying the bar a 78-day off fee is a feasible idea? Hmmm...I think he and the mamasan may have struck a deal... By your own admission you seem to know very little about Thailand and even less the snake pit of Patpong which is an aberration to the norm. You've spent most of your time in Thailand in the fleshpots of Bangkok and, other than the lovely Thai family who seem to really care for you, don't seem to have any other Thai friends. Take a long, deep breath and a few steps back - regain some perspective: you're a clueless foreigner living thousands of miles away wrecking your brains thinking of ways to support an illegal alien sex worker thousands of miles away whom you've only known cumulatively for how many days? Someone who's more familiar with the territory than you'll ever be and is playing on his home turf so to speak. When their story has too many loose ends and parts that do not make sense, requiring you to defy common sense and make rationalisations to convince yourself that it's true, I feel that it's best to step back, at least for the time being. Wasn't he doing okay before you arrived on the scene? Well, he'll be okay long after you're gone.

Yup.

They never do; the canny ones make it seem like it's your idea.

As an insight into Thai thinking, when the Rabbit stored value card was first issued there was a limit of Bt.4,000. Maybe the same now, I have no idea. But the reason given for having a passport copied was "to avoid money laundering!"

Appreciate the bluntness, and totally agree it is excessive. Certainly not in favor of turning over a huge sum of money to Hotmale just so we can spend three months together. This is precisely why this forum is so great. I am gaining the knowledge and insight as to a better way of dealing with the situation based upon others experiences. I would much prefer to give the money to Cam, which he in turn can send to his family. The longest time he has been booked would be a 5-day trip to Phuket and several days to Pattaya with previous boyfriend I mentioned in another post. Anything else has been short term other than the 7 days with me. That was an unusual situation in that originally it was only three days but things happened. We handled the additional days on a day by day basis with mamasan. Again...this is all based upon what he has shared with me. In reality, he could have gone anywhere with anyone for any length of time and I wouldn't necessarily know it. I raised the question initially because I didn't know how the arrangement would work with the bar. Does the guy arrange that, do I make the arrangements, what is the cost factor...all unknown to me...so I am learning as I go in this situation.