Great advice. I moved to Thailand last year by myself (and moved back in March). I absolutely loved Thailand, but there many stressful times trying to get things set up. I had a good friend already there (American who spoke some Thai), which helped immensely, but he was around only so much to help.

One of my funnier memories was getting set up for Internet. After I waited for a rep who could speak English well enough to help, I sat down and got her pitch for a 6 month up front payment deal.

I listened politely and when she was finished talking about the extras I'd get, I thanked her and declined the offer. Then she said that they require all foreigners to pay 6 months up front.

"Oh, well in that case I'll take the 6 month deal"