Welcome to the website where I enjoy sharing the accumulated chapters of my life after seven decades of lessons, migration, and growth; – & fortunately, still a work in progress.

It has been said that the best stories are written with a passport, so after 75 years and countless miles traveled, I finally have a retirement place to share mine. Having two citizenships, living in three countries, & with numerous international and domestic travels, has broadened my perspective on life, allowed for my own personal growth & acceptance of differences.

My reflections are shared from the vantage point of an easy-paced retirement in sunny Thailand. It’s been a wonderfully fantastic life with twists, turns & great adventures all along the journey. What does a truly global life look like? It involves an endless string of goodbyes, beautiful hellos, fascinating new experiences; however, it took three countries and countless miles to realize that sometimes, the greatest adventure is the view from your own back porch, here in Thailand. During retirement, our time in Thailand moves at a slower pace than the many previous years of our working lives, & we look at it differently:

Creating this website

It is fun to fondly reminisce about my past and capture the grand journey so far. I enjoy sharing stories of my unscripted life today in Thailand, along with the road that led me here, involving memoirs of earlier times in Canada, Australia. These include our Thailand retirement life, the recent building of our Thai country home, my Canadian roots, RCMP career & early travel adventures, along with a 2nd working life & adventures in Australia, as well as exploring my worldly travels over the years.

Pages – I invite you to explore the “site menu” for page links to stories of my life’s journey.

Posts – Latest Blog Posts, – click the link to check out my stories of our current, Thai retirement life.

Our backgrounds

Today, my partner & I are living in North East (Isaan) Thailand, near the town of That Phanom, in Nakhon Phanom Province, situated on the banks of the mighty Mekong River, opposite the country of Loas. Thailand has been our home base for over 11 years, after first arriving in Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) in 2014, and enjoying life there until our move in early 2024.

I am Ron, an Australian / Canadian expat, now enjoying retired life after working hard in a variety of interesting careers:

• Family Business – Service Station/Garage during my growing up/teen years
• Royal Canadian Mounted Police (a Canuk Mountie for 21 years),
• Australian Government Protective Security (Aussie public servant 10 yrs)
• Sydney Airport Security Manager ( aviation security specialist 13 yrs) & finally
• Australian Honorary Consul Chiang Mai (Aus Hon Con 8 years) – & my farewell to a working life.

My Spouse – & I have been together for 26+ years. He (Ace) is a dual Thai/Aussie citizen who lived 20+ yrs in Australia. He worked careers in restaurant hospitality & the medical laboratory industry. He enjoyed his time living in Sydney, travelling around the country & parts of the world. He is happy to be back in Thailand. We consider ourselves fairly well-traveled and live a “life less ordinary”.

Our Retirement Location

After 10 wonderful semi-retirement years in Chiang Mai, we now enjoy a very different retirement lifestyle, with laidback, slow-paced rural country days living in the small town of That Phanom, in Nakhon Phanom Province. It is well known for this Buddhist temple.

We take pleasure in our rural country property, while undertaking home building projects, planning and creating landscaping & gardens, exploring the local food scene, touring the Isaan Region, and Thailand when we can. Regular contact with my family in Australia, & the USA, as well as Ace’s family in Thailand, is also important.

Thai Retirement Home Construction

The project to build our new retirement home began in April 2024, and we moved in just before Christmas 2024. It is aptly named – RAce (Ron & Ace) Country Cottage. It sits on 3.7 Rai (1.5 acres) of rural Thai countryside, a few kilometers from the Mekong River, near the town of That Phanom. We are happy with the result.

YouTube Channel

During the 8-month building period, I took on the hobby as a “YouTuber”, reporting weekly build progress on my channel. If house construction & experiences in Thailand interest you, then see progress reports in the “menu links” above, or watch the full build series on the “YouTube link”.

Retired Tranquil in Thailand –

Here are a few pictures of the house on a glorious sunny day, which makes it stand out very nicely.

Our outlook is peaceful, with a nicely landscaped yard & gardens with views to rural bushland & banana plants.

One only needs to venture a short distance to take in lovely scenery along the Mekong River. A short drive also allows us to enjoy the aspects of larger cities of Nakhon Phanom, Mukdahan & Sakon Nakhon.

Local scenery along the Mekong River.

Our Pets

While in Thailand, we have been accompanied by lovely pets. When relocating here from Sydney, Australia, we brought our two Burman cats, who had been with us for many years. Their airline journey was successful. Once in Chiang Mai we adopted a wonderful English Cream Golden Retriever (Lex) from a breeder in Korat. Then we added to our pet family by adopting a lovely Pomeranian, Izzy, from a Chiang Rai breeder.

We were a family with 4 pets until 2018 when Lindsay, one of the Burman cats died of kidney failure. Unexpectedly, on 21 July 2025 our beloved cream golden retriever of nearly 12 years, LEX, passed away while boarding with a Vet Clinic in Nakhon Phanom, while we were in Bangkok.

Click on this link to view information on our pets stories here.

The pictures are of Lex (Retriever), Izzy (Pom) & cats Lucas & Lindsay, along with AI portraits made from these photos.

LIFE REFLECTION – Here is a “YouTube link” for a video that offers a snapshot of my life’s journey, careers, & family – up until my Sydney airport retirement, before our move to Thailand in 2014. It was shown at my retirement farewell function.