PHUKET: Brett Bean has made it back from the other side. The email message headline from his parents said it all: Look Who's HOME . . . today May 9th . . . YAHOOOOOOO.

The message was passed on to Phuketwan early today, with the photograph of father and son and a May 9 date stamp.

The 43-year-old surfer and snow ski instructor was due to meet his parents in Los Angeles after being booked on a flight out of Phuket on November 26, 2012. He never made it. He just vanished.

His parents, Wayne and Lynne, could not understand what had gone wrong. They feared the worst. They sounded the alarm.

The first of many emails to Phuketwan arrived from Wayne in California: ''Brett spends about six months every summer on Phuket and has done for the past seven or eight years.

''He was scheduled to leave Phuket on Monday, November 26 to fly to Bangkok, from there he was scheduled to fly to Hong Kong and catch a flight to Los Angeles on November 28.

''He never arrived, I checked the airlines and they said his ticket was not used!

''I have contact the US Embassy in Hong Kong and Bangkok. I tried contacting the Phuket police department on several occasions. Because of the language barrier the best I could gather from the discussion was for me to dial 1155.

''Since I called from the US I had no idea what prefix if any I was supposed to use. I tried every combination I could think of without any luck.

''Did you by any chance run and stories about an accident or anything with the name Brett Bean? I am getting desperate and really need your assistance.''

On Phuket, local police and US Embassy wardens Denny Bowman and Ananya ''Rin'' Insumrun quickly became involved. They found Brett's small house in Kata-Karon, left with washing on the line.

Inside the studio-sized bungalow, officers discovered Mr Bean's passport, a small amount of cash, flight departure information, a newspaper clipping and a map of the Thai province of Udon Thani, north of Bangkok.

A Swiss neighbor said: ''He was a pleasant guy, didn't smoke or drink. I liked him. We got on well.'' Each man would head home to the US or Switzerland for part of the year, so they briefly overlapped, with each keeping an eye on the other man's rented bungalow.

The mystery of his whereabouts deepened when a pal, fellow Phuket resident Clare Bickerton, reported days after he missed his flight that she'd seen a man looking like Brett ride past along the beach road.

The annual rent on the bungalow had been paid in advance, just as Brett always did when he headed off to visit his parents and work as an instructor in the snow fields of Aspen. The perfect life, many people imagined, surfing on Phuket for half the year, then skiing in Aspen the rest.

Lynne Bean flew to Phuket with a friend of Brett's, Naomi Smith, and offered a reward of 50,000 baht leading to knowledge of her son's whereabouts. ''Dead or alive,'' she added, teary-eyed and fearing the worst.

She and Naomi began padding the streets of Karon and Patong, handing out pamphlets with a photo and description of Brett, who was 6 feet 2 inches tall, slender, and has blond hair and blue eyes. He sometimes grows a beard and at other times goes clean-shaven.

No luck. Then on December 11, police revealed security camera footage from places at Patong and Chalong where a tall man wearing a full face motorcycle helmet had made withdrawals from ATMs or purchased items at a convenience store.

Hundreds of brochures picturing Brett and providing contact telephone numbers were handed out on Phuket and in other parts of Thailand. Naomi Smith flew home. Brett's father, Wayne, flew in.

Christmas came and went. The Beans opted to fly back to California, to check Brett's American bank accounts and properties. Lynne Bean was weary but undaunted when she and Wayne left Phuket. ''I will be back soon,'' she said. ''Better prepared to find my son.''

In April 2013 came the breakthrough. Brett Bean called his mother. ''It was a very brief call,'' Mrs Bean said. ''He said he would call back.

''We still do not know where Brett is or what happened to him,'' said Mrs Bean, who had kept her promise and made a second trip to Phuket in search of her son earlier in the year.

In a brief email message on July 24, parents Lynne and Wayne said that Brett had been in contact again more regularly.

''Hello Everyone,'' the Beans wrote.

''Brett has been in contact with us several times. Our Search and Reward Offer is now over. We are most grateful to the Karon Police department, The US Embassy, the News Media, and the many friends whom we have met in Phuket. Their concern for our family has been greatly appreciated.

Kindest Regards,
The Bean Family.''

So between July and May, it appears, Brett has been ''talked back in'' to his family again. He has regained his passport, probably negotiated a fee for overstaying his visa by several months, and flown home at long last, to the delight of his parents.

Phuketwan sent a message of congratulations back to the Beans, who responded: ''He went back to Aspen. He looks good and in good spirits. He needs to write a book about his experience.''

Indeed. We can't wait to read it.

Postscript: Dean Mancuso, an American who lost his passport before the 2004 tsunami, did not apply for a replacement and began cadging a living from Patong tourists. He survived in a loner's world where he failed to stay in touch with family in the US and did not make friends with other expats on Phuket.

Eventually arrested and sent back to the US in 2010, we understand Mr Manusco now has a job and is putting money aside to return to Thailand, where his two daughters live with their mother in Isarn.