“Wow, it’s already mid-July and in about twenty days I’m heading back home—or rather, I’m off to Bangkok again, which isn’t where I live but where I wish I could live…”
Or at least that’s what I had started to write five days ago for these“non-news stories,” then various last-minute engagements, some pleasant and some an ordeal, came upon me like divine wrath and I had to postpone the conclusion until today.
“It’s no secret that for a few years now I’ve felt more at home in Thailand than in Italy or anywhere else. But for various reasons—my main job, not having enough money yet to just drop everything comfortably, and the fact that I already have a short-term plan that will allow me to do so with some security in a few years—I have to wait for now and make do as best I can. But the future is never certain, so who knows.”
For now, what I know is that I have a flight waiting for me in fifteen days and an apartment already paid for until early September. This time, I’ll be based in Soi 13, then I’ll decide day by day what to do and where to go. Although it might seem like a strange choice, renting an apartment for a whole month and moving around to different places and accommodations as I please turns out to be more economical than staying three weeks in a hotel in Bangkok and the rest elsewhere. Plus, it definitely offers more freedom. (It’s true you can spend very little even in the capital, but staying in low-quality hotels or dives just to stick to a budget is not an acceptable option for me.)
Of course, if I wanted to tour Thailand, spending a week here and a week there, what I said would make little sense. But I love Bangkok, and the idea is to move around every two or three days, only if and when I feel like it. I’ll probably make a trip to Pattaya to visit some friends and check out some places to review, but other than that, I have no plans. This time it’s all about inspiration, absolute freedom, no fixed program. I might even spend a few days in Hua Hin, or I might stay in Bangkok the whole time, or maybe spend a weekend somewhere else.
About the apartment, how I booked it, and other details, perhaps useful to those who might want to do something similar, I will talk about once I have arrived and settled in; to do so now would be unhelpful and very vague.
As far as flying is concerned (Florence ⇒ Zurich ⇒ Bangkok, with Lufthansa/SWISS) I can say that I could have spent considerably less if I had booked it at the beginning of July and chosen as usual the basic economy fare (Now the prices have risen again), but given these crazy times we live in I had booked in April with the “flex” option that also includes the ability to change or cancel flights without penalty, which I did a few days later when the price for the same flight had dropped by a hundred euros, so I cancelled and rebooked at the lowest price. Then within about ten days, often checking the fares and offers regarding upgrades on flights, I saw that it was possible to upgrade to Business class for less than 300 euros difference(for the outbound flight), so without thinking too much about it I took advantage of it, because I am averagely poor but at this price it is a splurge I can afford too. For the return I will decide calmly, if another good opportunity happens I will take advantage of it, otherwise I will make the return flight among the poor^^, adding as usual a little extra for one of the good seats where I can stretch my legs(you can also hope to find them free as soon as the online check in opens, a couple of times I did it and it worked out fine, but it is a bit of a lottery and I don’t feel like risking an uncomfortable 11-hour trip to save not even a hundred euros).
As always at this time, work is taking its toll, and starting tomorrow I will probably find myself engaged in one thousand thousand things to finish and settle before I leave, but in the meantime in these last relatively quiet weeks I even found time to arrange a weekend in Germany to see a Sauna Club that I had heard about but never had the pleasure of visiting, and I must say that it was quite a discovery, so much so that it even inspired me to write The travelogue of that impromptu trip., which for European Fkk I haven’t done in a while (And longtime readers should know by now why.). The Venue in question is the Babylon in Elsdorf, whose dedicated review sheet you can now find, as well as the above-mentioned “logbook” of the pleasant weekend.
You may have also already seen several new articles regarding Thailand that I am sure will come in handy for many, especially the Instructions for completing the TDAC(there is also the video with Yuki explaining how to do it^^), and the Guide to Public Transportation in Thailand, which may not be 100% comprehensive but will undoubtedly lend a hand to those unfamiliar with travel in the land of smiles.
Finally, after yet another request for information on where to find Cialis and Viagra and various variants, I decided to devote an article to the topic, which then became a sort of Guide to buying Kamagra and Apcalis and other equivalents found in Thailand(and I have tried them all eh, by now I have some experience with them^^), so for those of you who have any doubts about what they are, how they work, how much they cost, and most importantly where to find them in popular Thai locations, just follow the link above or search the Blog. And for those who were wondering, no, I don’t want to sell you anything, and I strongly advise against buying those kinds of drugs online, because in addition to being illegal in italy and many other countries, it is risky and absolutely not convenient, while in Thailand you can find everything in pharmacies at honest prices (Obviously if you have health problems think twice because, although generally harmless on healthy individuals, they are still medicines to be used with caution, although I should be the last one to lecture others since I am the first to use them “a little bit fucking” as they say, but details).
I could tell you about the general discontent that hovers in many of the most popular trombodromes(including Wellcum, which is losing support even from longtime loyalists), but the upcoming August is a crazy month for borderline saunaclubs, and I prefer to wait until the end of the summer to see how the situation will evolve, so we will return to the subject in due course.
I would like to remind you that the Hotels is always there available for those looking for Guest-Friendly Hotels in Thailand and convenient hotels for visiting the various Sauna Clubs in European locations or in a megacity like Tokyo. In any case, I hope it is useful to you as a guideline for finding your accommodation, and if you book on Agoda From the site links to you nothing changes (Indeed, in truth you even save some money with the offers), and I get some change for the commitment, so maybe I’ll catch up with the expenses for Yuki and Soraya^^ (which are my assistants for those who still don’t know, and when I say “my” I mean literally created by me, which you find in the video reviews of Venues, such as the one of Paradise in Graz, Penelope, Kokoro and so on, and in some other articles such as the one of TDAC ).
What else to add, TravelsForMen.com is constantly updating even when there is no obvious news, prices change, Venues close, laws change, and situations within the thrombodromes change, but your multifaceted Neighborhood Editor is always here working behind the scenes to offer help and useful information(and hopefully a laugh now and then) to all Traveling Friends. I mention this because it’s not so obvious-much of the information you find on the Web about this industry is stuck five or 10 years ago, with prices now doubling, Venues that have been closed for years but not reported as such, and other little things that are potentially disastrous for those planning a trip or visit to new destinations. And speaking of updates, although this one is more futile and purely cosmetic, I’ve decided to update the old news image as well(which is still the one I used to use on the Trombodrome blog, for those who remember), but it’s not final yet, I know you don’t care, but I’ll tell you anyway^^.
That’s all for now, there are a couple of outstanding reviews that maybe you’ll see in the next few days if I find the time, but in the meantime I’ll say goodbye.
Talk to you in August, bye bye Traveling Friends!
