We mark a story as real when it's based directly on lived experience, unlike other stories on the site that are inspired by similar situations but recreated for narrative purposes. You can read more about this distinction in our editorial policy, where we explain how we tell the two types of content apart and why being transparent about it matters to us. The real stories you'll find here keep the essential details of the original account, changing only what's necessary to protect the identity of the people involved.
Divorced and burned out from work, a 42-year-old Lebanese man booked two weeks to Thailand with no real plan. On his last night in Phuket, food poisoning left him vomiting on the pavement outside his hotel at one in the morning. A stranger who worked at a nearby spa sat with him until sunrise and refused to accept a single baht in return.
At 39, an Australian who considered himself a seasoned Thailand traveller met a girl over a game of pool in a Pattaya bar. Ten perfect days, a golf tournament in Indonesia, visits to her family in Isaan. All good until six months of distance for work uncovered that the Scottish boyfriend she said she'd left had never actually gone anywhere.
For a few hours, a 62-year-old American felt like the most interesting man in the room. It took him a while to see what was really behind it.
A 41-year-old British man went in two weeks from a Soi 4 fling to talking dowry and house renovations. He almost sent 400,000 baht. He did not.
A retired teacher thought he was building a future with Lek. Eighteen months and six hundred thousand baht later, he learned who he was really funding.