As the year ends a new chapter begins – one that’s taken a much longer time to sort out that I had originally thought!
2025 has been all about getting a Destination Thailand Visa (DTV) and moving to Thailand – In case you didn’t see my 2024 year in review – you might want to read that first.
What is the Destination Thailand Visa (DTV)
Before I go further, I feel I should explain what the DTV is quickly. The DTV is a 5 year multiple entry tourist visa for Thailand.
There are two categories – ‘Workcation’ and ‘Soft Power’. Workcation is aimed at digital nomads and remote workers working for companies outside of Thailand. Whereas soft power is for those who want to stay in Thailand and participate in activities like learning the Thai language or taking a Muay Thai training course.
As a digital nomad, I went down the workcation route – but I don’t want my year in review to go on too much about all the ins and outs of getting a DTV as your experience will vary depending on what country you are from, where you apply, and whether you apply for workcation or soft power.
If you are interested in applying, the most useful information I found was on the Thai Embassy website but you don’t need an agent to apply – the official website for applying is the Thai E-Visa Official Website.
There are also groups online like the Destination Thailand Visa Facebook Group which are an invaluable source of information about this relatively new visa. You should also keep up to date with current changes – visa rules can change quickly in Thailand!
Right, now that’s out of the way, let’s get on with my year in review and how it went for me…
Getting my Destination Thailand Visa (DTV) in Sri Lanka
In December 2024, I took an amazing trip around Sri Lanka with my Mum where I also took the opportunity to apply for my Destination Thailand Visa (DTV)
I love Sri Lanka and hope to return again as soon as possible but the DTV application didn’t go as smoothly as planned. I thought it was a purely online process – but I got called into the Thai embassy in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, for an interview at 9 am the very next day, when we were on the other side of the island!
The embassy were understanding and rescheduled the interview for after we had completed our planned loop of the island. I had to cancel my return flight to Goa and extend my trip to stay alone in Colombo for a few days, but the interview was pretty straightforward.
I received an email that my application was successful while I visited the famous Gangaramaya Temple soon afterwards. The temple features a mix of Sri Lankan and Thai golden buddhas that seem to float on a lake – it felt very auspicious! Thank you Sri Lanka and Thailand for this exciting new opportunity 🙂
One Last Christmas and New Years In Goa
I returned to Goa just in time for Christmas and New Year and despite all the talk of Goa’s tourism being on the decline, I had never seen some of the beaches so crowded and chaotic!
This super busy holiday period of late December – January is when I prefer to stay at home to avoid the crowds and get work done! I find it too busy to enjoy Goa during this time nowadays.
Epic Travel Planning Fails
Knowing that these digital nomad visas change their requirements regularly, I was keen to get my partner, Damien, his DTV visa as soon as possible.
The thing is – you can’t apply in Thailand and you can’t apply in India (unless you’re an Indian citizen.) So another trip was on the cards….
Plan A – Vietnam
We got to work planning a trip to get my partner’s DTV Visa – which involved some epic travel fails! Currently, the best places to get the DTV are Vietnam and Indonesia.
Initially, we booked flights to Vietnam, but then realised it was Tet – Vietnam’s Lunar New Year Holiday which meant that all the offices would be shut for at least 10 days.
Tet is Vietnam’s biggest festival, a time when the whole country travels back home to their villages for an extended period. After realising the offices may not work for a month, and the purpose of our trip was to get a visa, we decided it was best to cancel our trip to Vietnam.
Plan B – Bali & Thailand
On to Plan B – Damien decided to go to Bali to apply for the DTV, while I went to Thailand to a yoga retreat on Koh Yao Noi, a tiny peaceful island only 30 minutes from Phuket, and then we would meet up in Thailand to look for a place to rent.
However, due to flight delays, Damien got stuck in Delhi which meant that the visa process took longer than expected so it would not be approved in time for his flight to Thailand.
And, after my retreat ended I struggled to find any accommodation anywhere in Southern Thailand – I thought about going up north but heard that the burning season had already started.
Morals of the story –
- Always book connecting flights with the same airline so they have a responsibility to get you to your destination if your first flight get delayed.
- Applying for a visa can take much longer than expected, and sometimes requires requests for additional information or interviews.
- Make sure you book your accommodation well in advance if you plan to visit southern Thailand in peak season and be aware of the burning season in northern Thailand.
- Always check the weather and if there are any major local festivals happening while planning a trip.
As I struggled to find any decent accommodation in the whole of southern Thailand and with Damien stuck in Bali awaiting news on his visa and without a flight to Thailand – I decided to take a last minute flight from Phuket to Bali!
As it was the peak of the rainy season in Bali there was plenty of affordable accommodation – and also plenty of rain!
Luckily Damien’s visa got approved and we spent a rainy week in Bali catching up with friends and enjoying our favorite yoga classes, spas, vegan cafes, temples and rice field walks minus the crowds.
Bali’s another place I known very well by now so check out my guides on where to stay in Bali, things to do in Bali and yoga retreats in Bali if you’re thinking of visiting – but go between April and October for better weather!
While in Bali, we continued looking online for accommodation in Phuket, but good options were still sparse so we went back to Goa to regroup.
Returning to Thailand
We enjoyed March in Goa catching up with friends, revisiting our favorite places and booked an Airbnb in Thailand for 1 month so that we had somewhere to stay while looking for a long term rental – you just can’t turn up and wing it anymore these days!
By April the heat in Goa was getting unbearable and we headed to Thailand to start house hunting. We arrived in Phuket just in time to celebrate Songkran, explore the island from colourful Old Town Phuket to some of the world’s best beaches and the island of Koh Lanta.
We also finally visited Koh Phi Phi – the movie ‘The Beach’ really inspired me to start traveling and visit Thailand but I’d been put off visiting for so long because I’d heard it was ruined. Read my blog – ‘Is Koh Phi Phi worth visiting’ for my honest take and guide to Thailand most famous island.
As we already had plans to visit Portugal for a friend’s wedding and visit family in the UK we couldn’t commit to anything long term but fell in love with the Rawai area of Phuket.
We found an off season deal on a beach front condo with lovely pools within walking distance to great shops, cafes, coworking spaces and gyms – but it wasn’t available long term.
The problem with living in paradise is that everyone wants a slice!
A Quick Trip To Europe (UK & Portugal)
I visit my family in the UK every year and this year was no exception – I enjoyed long beach walks and catching up with my family and also made another trip over Portugal to attend a friend’s wedding.
I also enjoyed spending some more time in Lisbon – a city I’ve become quite familiar with by now! Read my Lisbon itinerary and Travel Guide if you’re thinking of visiting the enchanting Portuguese capital.
House Hunting in Thailand
In June we returned to Thailand, DTVs in hand and ready to commit to a long term rental, but it wasn’t as easy as it had been before.
Thailand has gotten a lot more expensive in recent years and I had quite a long list of requirements, which made the search more difficult. I need to live somewhere with good infrastructure, fast and reliable wifi, and close to airports and hospitals etc – but didn’t want to live in a big city like Bangkok.
I grew up in the Suffolk countryside – I just can’t handle cities for more than about a week. I always knew that Bangkok would be too much for me – I love visiting but if I stay for more than a week it starts to get too draining – 3-4 days in Bangkok is ideal but I always feel better in nature (preferably by the sea!)
After spending so long living in Goa, long beach walks and swimming have become such a part of my routine that I wanted to live within walking distance of a beach.
I also really wanted a house with a pool but soon realised that was going to be out of our budget, so we switched from house hunting to searching out the best condos with a gym and swimming pool – it’s the best way to exercise in a hot country like Thailand.
Many condos in Thailand are really small (some people just live in one room and eat out on street food every day) but I needed something spacious with a kitchen, good wifi and pool near a beach – so I realised I was still looking at the higher end of the property market.
In the last couple of years we’ve explored all over Thailand and I’ve lived for 3 months in both Koh Phangan (which is now crazy expensive and doesn’t have the infrastructure I need) and Chiang Mai – where you can still get cheaper houses, condos and rooms, especially in older buildings.
But I love the beach so much and Phuket felt like the perfect combination of natural beauty and convenience – it has great infrastructure, world class amenities, beautiful beaches and great places to stay.
So we decided on Phuket but sadly found the Rawai area (which is best for digital nomads) too crowded, noisy and expensive. It was really hard to find a condo that wasn’t next to a construction site which was a big no no for me – I really need my peace and quiet now!
Giving Chiang Mai Another Go
After a month of searching for an affordable, long term rental in this popular area of Phuket without any luck we decided to give Chiang Mai (where we started our Thailand digital nomad journey) another go. I thought that instead of the trendy Nimman area where I lived before, maybe somewhere on the riverside or outskirts of town could work better for me.
We spent a month in Chiang Mai, by this time it was raining A LOT – the clouds hung grey and heavy over the city and the roads were flooded. I love a lot of things about Chiang Mai but I’ve been spoilt after spending time in Phuket and being in a grey, rainy city really wasn’t why I wanted to move to Thailand.
We headed out to Doi Saket which was a lovely retreat just outside the city, and Pai which has lovely nature and a great vibe, but is too far from hospitals etc. Having, already spent time in Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao last year so there was just one more place to try – Hua Hin!
Exploring Hua Hin
Hua Hin is a seaside resort and former royal retreat a few hours drive south of Bangkok – popular with retirees and Bangkokians at the weekend.
It was really interesting spending 1 month in Hua Hin, admiring the old railway station, discovering the great night markets, taking long walks on deserted beaches and exploring Sam Roi Yot National Park where you’ll find the amazing Phraya Nakhon Cave. (I’ll finish my guide to Hua Hin soon!)
Hua Hin is definitely worth a visit and has a lot of potential, but it wasn’t the right place for me right now – the airport has very limited flights and there’s limited coworking spaces – it attracts mainly retirees and just didn’t feel like we would make any friends there or have easy access to travel options.
We’d heard Hua Hin was a cheap option for accommodation, but, like-for-like, it is actually just as expensive as other beachside destinations in Thailand and lacked some of the important facilities we were looking for.
By this time we had realised that anywhere that we’d actually want to live in Thailand was not going to be as cheap as we had thought, and that since this new DTV visa has come in there was a lot of competition from people also looking for long-term condos and houses just like us.
By this time I was making a bit more money and getting new projects, so we upped our budget and headed back to Phuket – the only place that met all our requirements – hoping that we would be able to find somewhere we could afford now that it was the peak of the rainy season in Thailand.
Burning Out
I thought we were traveling slowly but, even doing 1 month in each destination, ended up feeling too rushed. It would take a week to explore and settle in, then I’d get a week or two to be productive, and then it was onto thinking about the next destination and looking for the next place to stay.
Living out of Airbnb’s and hotels was getting really expensive, plus, it’s really hard to find places with ergonomic workspaces. We ended up having to buy bits and pieces for each place we stayed, and ended with more bags than we could carry!
My back, neck and shoulders were hurting, I felt unable to make friends or to settle into a routine when we were moving every month. Plus, I just couldn’t keep up with my workload or a healthy exercise routine.
So back to Phuket we went. Just in time to celebrate the festival of Loi Kathong. This time I was quite sure where I wanted to be, and I was prepared to pay the premium price for the perfect location near to modern convivences and beautiful beaches.
Phuket airport is much better connected than Hua Hin or Koh Samui, plus it has a really pretty and fun Old Phuket Town area full of history and unique architecture. For me, it’s things like this that set it apart from the popular islands like Samui. When you compare Phuket vs Koh Samui in terms of longer term living, I feel that Phuket wins hands down.
However, when I arrived back at this perfect location in Phuket, I found there was a new construction site right next door to the complex I wanted to stay at. The peak season prices at this place make a London flat look affordable, so there weren’t any units available for long term rental because the landlords make more money renting them short term just for the peak season months and letting them sit empty or as (often illegal) daily rentals for the rest of the year.
We tried other places that were more affordable but found out that it’s not possible for two people to live and work in a ¬30 sqm room next to a construction site or a busy road! Some of these condos are tiny and I felt that my dream of a luxury pool villa would quickly turn into a nightmare if I ended up living in one of these shoe boxes.
It was this disappointment, along with the realisation that I hadn’t spent more than 6 weeks in one place for over a year, that made me finally succumb to burn out. I was constantly stressed and it was badly impacting both my sleep and my mental health.
I really needed a home – but more travel was on the cards….
Kuala Lumpur City Break
The DTV allows you stay in Thailand for up to 180 days at a time. There are debates online about whether you can extend this, but it seems like some people have had bad experiences trying to do so. So we decided the best thing to do was to leave for a few days and head to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. .
Kuala Lumpur (KL) is a city I’m very familiar with by now having visited dozens of times. It is a fascinating and multicultural city, full of things to do and see – but this time I wasn’t feeling up to seeing and doing it all again.
Even though I didn’t really feel up to traveling, I enjoyed spending a few days in KL. I got my India fix by visiting the temples and eating in Little India. I visited some of the city’s parks and nature spots, and enjoyed a spot of shopping in the giant malls.
However many times I visit KL, I always find something to explore! KL is so much more than a layover – if you’re thinking of visiting read my Kuala Lumpur Itinerary and Travel guide.
Finally Getting a Base
When we returned from KL to Phuket, we decided we had to expand our search to more off beat areas, and within a couple of weeks managed to secure a 6 month condo lease at an afforable cost, close to the beach! We’ve had to spend a bit extra to add work desks and chairs into the condo, but that’s OK – it was fun shopping for home furnishings and it helped me to start feeling a bit more settled.
It’s not perfect, but it’s way better than nothing. There’s still some construction on the far side of the complex, and there’s no coworking places nearby (yet). But I can wake up to the sights of nature and the sound of the birds instead of the roars of superbikes and drills of jackhammers, and I can still walk to the beach in under ten minutes. So I’m happy. 🙂
It might not be a forever home, but I couldn’t continue with living and working on the road, constantly packing and unpacking, and worrying about where I was going to stay next..
The burn out will pass, and it feels good to be ending the year with a place to rest for a while and comfortably catch up on all the work that I couldn’t do while constantly on the move. The reality of being a travel blogger and digital nomad isn’t as easy, or as glamorous, as it looks on Instagram!
Going Forwards (and Avoiding Burnout) in 2026
Now that we’ve found a place to stay in Thailand for a few months I’m going to continue exploring Thailand and I’m also dreaming of finally taking a trip to Korea and Japan!
On the blog side of life, Ai is still hot on my heals and my social media reach just keeps getting more restricted. So I’m making a new Global Gallivanting newsletter to connect with readers that want to follow my travels, and to reduce my reliance on big tech for generating traffic to my travel guides.
I’m going to be diversifying my travel blog with a range of new products – including comprehensive offline travel guides, exclusive maps, and fun travel gifts – and I also want to connect more with other digital nomads.
I need help with keeping on top of everything (and avoiding burn out!) so I’m considering taking on a casual assistant to help with admin tasks, and writers to add more destinations to the blog so that I don’t feel like I have to run around seeing doing and documenting everything myself!
One thing I’m going to do is start taking days off, and spending less time on social media. I know I need to start separating myself a little from my blog/ business because it has been my whole life 24/7 for over a decade, and I need some other hobbies!
Working on becoming European again
While I love Thailand, this DTV visa has a lot of limitations. It doesn’t allow you to open a bank account, buy a house or land, work for a Thai company, and isn’t a route to citizenship.
Europe seems like the best long term option for me, and it would be great to be closer to family and friends in the UK – to be a short hop away instead of a long haul flight.
In the next year I’m hoping to improve my income further so that I can apply for a digital nomad visa in either Spain or Portugal and be on track to becoming European again!
If you are considering getting the Thai DTV visa as a digital nomad I would still recommend it. Just be prepared for a few surprises along the way as it’s still relatively new, and know that there are limitations that come with it.
There’s loads of info in online groups like the Destination Thailand Visa Facebook Group where you can ask questions as well as read and learn from other’s experiences.
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Thanks for reading! How was your 2025? Did you travel or move anywhere new?
Do you have you any tips for avoiding burnout as a digital nomad?
Are you planning to go anywhere exciting next year?
Happy New Year and Happy Travels
Anna x
P.S. If you’re also thinking about visiting or moving to Thailand you might find these blogs useful:
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