• Andre Neveling moved to Thailand to recover from career burnout. • He pays about 13,000 Thai baht, or $400 a month, for a serviced apartment in Phuket with a gym and pool. • He says other expenses add up to $600, leaving a budget for weekend trips.

Last year, I was running on empty. Decades spent as an editor in the relentless pace of London, Hong Kong, and Dubai had left me depleted. What some might call a midlife crisis, I saw as a necessary intervention — one that led me straight to Thailand.

I began my reset in bustling Bangkok, but it was the calmer southern shores of Phuket where I truly found my peace. My mission was to stop, reset, and rebuild on my own terms.

Naturally, the most pressing question loomed over me: What was the price tag on this kind of freedom? My research,

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