Retire Early Lifestyle
Retirement; like your parents, but way cooler

In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this financially independent lifestyle, they invite you to take advantage of their wisdom and experience.

No Flight for You

Billy Kaderli

My Trip to Thailand

Dealing with documents, boarding passes, and electronic forms sounds simple, but some apps work on my phone and others only on my computer.

This is my first big trip without Akaisha. We used to work out these kinks in the apps between us, always finding a solution. Now I am solo. This is where I am thankful I use a travel agent for these longer, more complex trips. She was a huge help. Thank you, Stephanie.

Through the years Akaisha and I were increasing our comfort on these flights. I flew first class once, decades ago, on a mileage ticket. This time I am flying business class, which definitely has benefits. Our plan was to do this together. That wasn’t meant to be.

I’ve made this flight countless times since 1999. Smooth. Uneventful. Done.

Not this time.

At Phoenix Sky Harbor, boarding group six already forming, my name crackled over the gate speaker. I had checked in. Passport clean. Thailand entry form filed the night before. Documents stacked and ready.

“You’re ineligible to board.”

Ineligible?

“Your ticket shows 60 days. Thailand cut the on-arrival visa to 30. Change the ticket or you don’t fly.”

Thai immigration moved the goalposts. Southwest was the one holding the rope. And I was supposed to fix a ticket on my phone, in the boarding line, for a trip I’ve booked through the same agent since the first one.

I had options once I landed—Vietnam an hour away, a boat down the Mekong into Laos, or simply pay for another 30 days in Chiang Mai. None of that mattered at the gate, and I doubt she had ever been out of her area code.

“I’m sorry, sir. There’s nothing I can do.

”No flight for you.

I called Stephanie. Speakerphone. She told the agent to put me on the plane to LAX and she would rebook while I was in the air. Who was actually blocking me? I still don’t know. This was my first solo flight since Akaisha died. I did not need the circus.

They let me board. Stephanie pulled the rest of the string.

LAX. Next test: would the new boarding pass open EVA’s lounge? It did. Then they called my name again at the EVA gate—this time for the passport. Layers of security I can live with. Being the only name they keep flagging, less so. EVA is the only airline I’ve used into and out of Thailand for years. My history should already be sitting in their system.

Taipei. The LAX delay ate the layover. I wanted a shower. So did everyone else. Hour-plus wait. No shower for Billy.

Chiang Mai. I walked up to immigration ready to ask for the 60 days I used to get without thinking. Not a chance. The agents don’t have that kind of power, and after 32-plus hours of being hurled through the skies in Pringles cans, I didn’t have the energy to invent an argument.

Then I saw Yaya in the arrival hall. She gave me a big hug, breaking Thai cultural rules. She didn’t care, and neither did I. The whole trip—gates, rules, delays, jet lag—dropped. I felt a sense of ease pass over me.

Relief. Real and immediate.

Thailand keeps rewriting the visa script. One-year multiple entries are gone. Other visas we used to get are gone. Arrivals are down, and they wonder why. Thirty days on a 32- to 36-hour haul, plus a week of jet lag, makes Vietnam look easy. That’s the game now. You play it or you don’t.

I played it. I got there.

Billy

Retire Early Lifestyle appeals to a different kind of person – the person who prizes their independence, values their time, and who doesn’t want to mindlessly follow the crowd.

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