Plans Change! Be Ready When They Do.
You can spend weeks obsessing over every detail of your dream trip: the perfect backpack, a color-coded itinerary, playlists for the bus rides. And then real life throws a coconut at your carefully stacked plans.
That’s exactly what happened to us.
We had our route mapped out: three months in Thailand, six in Indonesia, a little island-hopping in the Philippines. Instead, we fell head over fins for Thailand, ditched the onward plan, and decided to spend the rest of the year eating pad kra pao, praying for whalesharks sightings, and building our businesses and diving careers.
Here’s what we learned about visas, border runs, and keeping your cool when your travel blueprint suddenly rewrites itself.
Visa and Long-Stay Options in Thailand
As of May 2025, most passport holders get a 60-day visa exemption when they land in Thailand. You can extend this with another 30 days. So that’s 90 days of mango smoothies and turquoise water with just one trip to the immigration office.
What you’ll need to enter Thailand:
Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC):
Fill it out online, get your QR code by email, print it before you forget.Proof of onward travel:
Either a real ticket or a temporary one from an onward ticket site (about €14) that self-destructs in 24 hours.
Extending Your Stay for 30 Days
When day 60 rolls around and you’re nowhere near done with sunset beaches or street-food marathons, head to immigration with:
Copy of your passport’s main page
Copy of your entry stamp page
Fresh passport photo
Your printed TDAC
TM30 form (from your landlord or hotel)
TM7 form (grab it at immigration or download beforehand)
1900 THB (roughly the price of a fancy dinner for two, but this one buys you thirty more days in paradise)
Pro tip: Bring extra copies of everything from home. Thailand has plenty of print shops, but why risk a paper-jam panic on extension day? Also, the passport photo’s they take look like mug shots…
Staying Beyond 90 Days: The Border Run
So you’ve blown past 90 days and you’re still not ready to swap coconuts for commutes. Enter the border run! A quick hop out of Thailand (Myanmar for a few hours, Singapore for a weekend), then straight back in, to score another 60-day exemption plus another 30-day extension.
Our upcoming border runs:
Run 1: One week on Malapascua, Philippines, hunting Thresher Sharks and Tiger Sharks (no visa needed if you stay under 30 days).
Run 2: Probably A few weeks in Indonesia to see friends and family (you’ll need an e-visa on arrival, valid for 30 days + 30-day extension).
Run 3: Maybe just a quick hop to Myanmar or Singapore.
Border Runs: What You Should Know
Border runs are legal.. but not guaranteed. Immigration officers can still say “no” if they think you’re abusing the system.
Land borders often cap visa-exempt entries at two per year (but plenty of divers and travelers report 3–4 consecutive runs without trouble).
Officials might ask for proof of onward travel, proof of funds, or a convincing reason you’re back yet again.
One or two runs? Usually fine.
Trying to “live” in Thailand forever on back-to-back runs? That’s a gamble. If you’re smitten with the Kingdom, look into:
Tourist visas
Education visas
Long-stay visas like the new DTV (Digital Nomad Visa)
Retirement visas if you qualify
Takeaway: Build Flexibility Into Your Journey
Travel plans sometimes feel like having a mind of their own. The trick is to stay flexible, laugh when things go sideways, and learn the local visa rules so you’re never caught off guard.
When your plan changes, it’s not the end of the trip, It’s the start of a new chapter. And honestly? Those are usually the best ones.
