Greg Miller
For a decade or so, I spent part of my year in Chiang Mai, Thailand, the center of the ancient Lanna Kingdom, and a world apart from my hectic business life in the US. It was a wonderful sanctuary for me from the stressful life of living in America. In 2011, after selling my business and renting out my California house, I pulled up stakes and made Chiang Mai my permanent home. My goal is to also permanently change my lifestyle, living a more calm existence, eating better, becoming healthier, doing only highly worthwhile endeavors, and living a happier life.
And while I have not yet achieved everything on my agenda, I am headed down the right road to that end. I own a beautiful large house in a high-end gated community of fine homes in Chiang Mai at a fraction of the cost of my pretty much “regular” California house. I enjoy adventures everyday living in this exotic tropical paradise. I own a couple of small businesses in Thailand that generate a little income for me, and I am enjoying life.
Some of my American acquaintances back home question my plan; some see it as abandoning my duty as an American to stand up for what is wrong with the country and do something about it, to march, to protest, to get involved. One person even called me a “coward” for leaving the US. I remind these friends and critics that first and foremost, I am an American, and an Expat second. I continue to vote, continue to pay US taxes and occasionally get screwed by the US government, just like every other American.
I got a letter in the mail from the IRS stating that a request for transcript of tax return could not be processed because of my address across the sea. So, I called to correct the address, corrected it and then later got another letter from the IRS stating that my non-US address still didn’t match their records, which is still the case today.
