moving to thailand

[Leapers]

My oldest and best friend has just revealed to me that she wants to move back to thailand next year when she finishes her A levels i'm really upset now.

She moved here when she was four with her mum as she had married an english guy and she didnt speak any enlgish when she came and i helped teach her english when my teacher asked me to show her around, we were so little and have been together ever since always attached at the hip (well my hip to her shoulder really)
shes moving back becasue she wants to be with her family and get a job that can help thai people as they dont have the best of stuff out there. i'm really glad she knows where her life is heading and what she wants to do and i dont want to stop her going but i feel really sad

Any advice on how NOT to emotional blackmail her to stay otherwise i might just handcuff her to my front door!!

[Lakitu]

You could go with her, Thailand is beautiful.

[Booldawg]

She may not adapt to life in thailand. When you have roots in a country that you have little experience of its easy to look at 'the old country' through rose-tinted spectacles - it may not work out for her.

[gravitate]

ya its such a cool place the sex is so cheap. which brothel is she going to work in I may visit it

[Bohne]

I fully understand your feelings, but a true friendship can survive distance.
It will not be the same as having her next door, obviously, but you can stay in touch and still share dreams and feelings.

My best friend lives in England and I live in Germany.
When I left England she might have felt the same way you do now.
She said: Don't go, what am I going to do without you?
That made me cry, but I still had to go.

Today I see her once or twice a year, call her once or twice a month and usually text her once or twice a week.

The relationship has changed.
But her life continued, and so did mine.

You will meet many more people during your life.
Give them the chance to become friends, too, and be happy for your best friend if she is happy enough to have a goal in life.

[muppeteer]

she probably feels as bad as you do. its lovely that you you have this attitude- as long as you dont go on about how it will affect you too much you will be fine- there is nothing wrong with telling her how much you will miss her.
why not arrange to go with her inittially to settle her in (say a weeks holiday). that way you can say goodbye properly, you can see where she will be living so you wont worry as much & will know what she is talking about when you keep in touch & would help her settle in as its a bigger thing for her to move her whole life & all she knows than for you to lose something out of yours.