Expat-Advice
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As a lawyer for many decades now, I know how important it is to read and understand what you read. I also know from experience that Americans have been bombarded for years by class warfare politicians attacking wealthy people as if success in life was a crime.
I like to travel. I work much of the time from my home in Colorado (where my tax-deductible office is exactly 11 steps from my bedroom and has a million-dollar mountain view). But, I’ve also worked from Vail, Denver, and Leadville… I’ve toted my computer to France, Honduras, Panama, Guatemala, Germany, and the list goes on (and on).
Saturday night in Murcia City, southern Spain. I’m in El Secreto tapas bar, trying to summon up the willpower to eat a sea urchin. It looks absolutely bizarre. And in all honesty, absolutely vile. But as all vacationers need to eat, food stories are a travel writer’s staple.
There’s an easy escape from gringo culture in Costa Rica. The sleepy town of Dominical is inhabited by a mix of bohemian expats, laid-back surfers (some on permanent vacation), and friendly locals. A few years ago, the trip from Quepos to Dominical took over two hours on a bone-jarring, potholed dirt road. But thanks to a recently paved two-lane highway, it’s now just 45 minutes.
Ashley and Jason Bartner were beginning a new phase in their lives. The couple had planned to settle down and buy a home in New York, but during their honeymoon, exploring cozy cafés, cobblestone avenues, and seasonal fruit markets, they fell in love with Italy.
We’re looking for someone to spend a month in the world’s top retirement haven—on us. If you like the idea of relaxing in a spring-like climate, exploring a colonial University city, making new and interesting friends from all over the world, trying new things and maybe even reporting about your adventures…this could be for you.
Amid the towers of steel and chrome waft the tantalizing smells of seafood and spices. Argentine, Cuban, Swiss, German, Thai, and Indian are only a few of the offerings you’ll enjoy today in Panama City.
You can volunteer at an organic farm next to the Podacarpus National Park in Vilcabamba, Ecuador, or on an apple orchard and organic bakery in Mendoza, Argentina. Help make goat cheese on an Irish farm near Ballyvaughan, County Clare in Ireland, learn about wine making on a vineyard in Italy’s Piemonte district while staying in a village house with a view of the Alps…
You’ll often hear the phrase “Same Same… But Different” in places like Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. And that phrase sums up the freelance copywriter’s lifestyle in Southeast Asia almost perfectly. Here’s why.
I work in Paris, France with plenty of free time to explore this phenomenal city with my children, because of my career. As a copywriter, I work a few hours a day, three or four days per week, and I can think of no better place to live.
Four years ago, I worked in a cubicle in a basement office in San Francisco’s financial district. The pay was decent. I worked in sales for a litigation support company. But putting on business-casual garb, schmoozing with paralegals and hitting the phones…sucked. So I did something about it. I sold my belongings. And I gallivanted around South America for 14 months.
Five years into my expat life, I look forward to downsizing. In fact, I recently bought a small, manageable, lock-and-leave property in Guanajuato, in the Colonial Highlands. It’s a far cry from what I thought I wanted when I first moved to Mexico… Then, I’d wanted a good-sized house, instead of an apartment as I’d had in the U.S.
When my wife, Suzan Haskins, and I moved overseas in 2001, we had no idea how much we didn’t know about living abroad. But we learned quickly. I still remember trying to figure out the nuts and bolts of Spanish hardware…literally.
After a few years spent teaching in Ecuador, Brazil, Australia and Thailand I returned to England to catch up with family and friends, but I missed the adventure, learning a language and the creative energy of life overseas. And that’s how I ended up in Spain.
A round-up of the weird and wonderful events taking place around the world over the coming months.
I’ve traveled in 92 countries, lived in Thailand and the Middle East, climbed the Pyramids, gone dog-sledding in Finland, trekked in Mali, seen the “gorillas in the mist” in Rwanda, and gone hot-air ballooning over the desert in Australia.
Being a firefighter was the best job in the world according to my husband Clyde, but after 26 years, it was time to retire. However, we were buried beneath a mortgage, car payments, gym membership, the high cost of health care, outrageous electric bills, and taxes, with no end in sight.
I first went to Uruguay by ferry in 2003 and it was love at first landing. I was living in Argentina, which meant I could make the hour-long crossing of the River Plate from Buenos Aires to historic Colonia.
The idea of moving to Uruguay came out of left field. If it hadn’t been for my health, it would never have happened. But the savings on health care are only one of the benefits of our new life.
Playing in the mountains of Colorado was my passion for decades. Skiing, hiking, mountain biking, and Ultimate Frisbee were all great fun, but they eventually took their toll on my body.
Fireworks explode in the sky above me. Reflected in the Panama Bay, I see fiery skyrockets, tungsten stars, and spidery bursts of pink, purple, and green. It’s the celebration of the Chinese New Year—an event Panama City has adopted as its own and celebrates with gusto.
Somewhere far out in the South Pacific lies a network of near-perfect castaway islands. Fifteen in all, their beaches are of white-powdered sands, the waters aquamarine and turquoise, and the climate ideal. From the shores of palm-fringed lagoons rise soaring volcanic peaks clad in lush green jungle.
Together-forever partners. Passing fancies. Torrid affairs. Love comes in many guises— and Italy was made for amore. Yet although Florence is a love song to art and culture, it doesn’t fit my idea of a romantic summer getaway.
The couple’s 300-year-old Italian farmhouse is now open for business. ©Melissa Ruttanai
As newlyweds, Ashley and Jason Bartner were beginning a new phase in their lives. Jason was a graduate of the French Culinary Institute in New York City. Ashley was an aspiring actress. But when they stepped off the plane for their honeymoon in Italy, they had no idea how different life was about to become.
New Zealand gets some of the finest weather in the world, and while snow falls on parts of the U.S. and Canada, folks in the “Land of the Long White Cloud” are hitting the hiking trails, swimming at the beach, and celebrating Christmas in shorts.
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