I’m from Pennsylvania and studied interior design before moving to LA for work. My husband, Justin, is from Chicago and studied architecture before making the same move.
We met in 2010 at Walt Disney Imagineering, a segment of The Walt Disney Company that focuses on theme park design.
Fifteen years later, we’re based in Thailand and run our own business. We love the pace of life in Asia.
In 2013, we were transferred to Shanghai to help design and build Shanghai Disneyland
It was a pivotal moment for us. Not only were we working in a different country, but we could travel all over Asia.
We started to find our love for travel and experiencing different Asian cultures, including visiting Thailand several times. We moved back to LA in 2016 but were eager to find a reason to return to Asia.
I designed interiors for private jets at Gulfstream in New York City, and Justin designed restaurants in Miami before his job took us to Singapore.
We moved to Singapore in February 2022
We had a lovely life there, especially in terms of safety, efficiency, and cleanliness, but we still hadn’t moved on from our US-based corporate lifestyle.
We worked around the clock, barely spending much downtime together because it was all about making money to afford to live the Singapore lifestyle.
Our condo was nice, but we have a Rottweiler named Raja, and sharing common walls was also hard.
One of the first holidays we took from Singapore was to Koh Samui
We immediately fell in love and began speaking with real estate agents because we wanted to buy a vacation home there.
Then, we started thinking about quality of life and our end goal. Did we want to keep climbing the corporate ladder, or focus on our happiness and creative freedom?
These considerations led to us quitting our jobs and moving to Koh Samui full-time in July 2023
We live where some of the most recent season of “The White Lotus” was filmed.
We love the show and were thrilled to hear that season three was being filmed in Koh Samui. Several of our friends were on set as extras.
We can’t wait for the finale. It’s been exciting to recognize familiar places on the island featured on TV.
We have a visa issued through the Thailand Bureau of Investment
Our visa is called a ‘Smart Visa.’ Our program is designed to attract startup entrepreneurs investing in targeted industries.
Moving our dog was the most important thing. We’d had support with our relocations to Shanghai and Singapore, but we had to do it ourselves for Thailand.
Ever since we decided to move here, we haven’t looked back.
Navigating real estate was the most difficult part of the move
House hunting in Koh Samui is very different from LA. There’s no centralized database; less than 50% of properties are listed online. Many homes are sold through word of mouth.
Renovations were difficult, too. Coming from an urban environment with much more routine, structure, and predictability, getting used to doing something on an island can be challenging.
The experience made us much more adaptable and flexible. Whereas things in the past may have been frustrating, now we can laugh it off.
We started taking Thai lessons at the beginning of this year
We took Mandarin lessons when we lived in China and thought they might help, but they’ve made it more confusing, as some words are similar but have completely different meanings.
We want to be conversational in Thai, but English is fairly widespread here.
We started our own architecture, branding, and concept design studio
We run a studio called SnobBirds. We work remotely, with most projects based in the US, Singapore, and Hong Kong. We have a truly flexible schedule and are available for clients whenever they need us.
Our work is entirely project-based, so our hours fluctuate. Some weeks are intense (60+ hours), while others are lighter (20 hours). We regularly worked 70-80 hours a week in our corporate jobs.
The biggest difference now is control — we choose projects we’re passionate about and pass on those that aren’t a good fit. When work slows down, we can fully embrace island life.
We love to use our personal time to experience the island
We do a lot of road trips and take the ferry to the mainland to drive into Thailand.
Koh Samui is quite diverse. The exposure to the international community is part of what drove us to come to this island because you get a taste of both worlds.
We came here because we wanted to experience a new culture and foods and learn a new language. We didn’t want to be comfortable.
One of the best things about living here is the Thai food
You can get great Thai food for under $10; great seafood along the coast is a little more expensive.
The food quality is excellent. However, cheese and imported beer, wine, and spirits are 50% to 75% more expensive. There’s also variety, as there’s a lot of international food on the island, especially from the expat community.
The community is very tight-knit. We don’t know many places where you’ll shop at the same grocery store in the morning with a local restaurant owner.
The cost of living in Koh Samui is another advantage
We bought our house in LA, now a rental, for just over $1M in 2017 by taking out a loan and 30-year mortgage. The house in Koh Samui was one-third the cost, and we purchased it outright with cash in 2023.
Our cost of living in Koh Samui is significantly lower since our house is paid off, and we share a car without a car payment.
We miss our family and friends the most and try to go back home to LA once a year
Since we still have our house in California, if we need to split our time more for our business or family, we can.
Our families have been great about visiting us and love having the excuse to experience more of Asia.
We imagine we’ll return home at some point, but there’s no end date right now.
