Learn From International Living's Expat Network
International Living's expat network is your key to a new life in a new country. Get real, honest advice from people just like you. Discover the tips, tricks, shortcuts, and strategies you can use to cut through red tape and improve your life overseas right away.
Read about and learn from real-life experiences our expats have had in their new home countries, from health care to taxes and much more.
Other topics in Expat advice include:
Expat Advice Articles
You and your spouse have finally made the decision: You’re moving to Mexico. You’re sure your quality of life will be better there, and you’re eager to make the leap. But wait! Did anybody ask the kids?
Here’s some good news for expats in Mexico: Buying and keeping a car there has just gotten a little cheaper.
If you’re looking to stretch your retirement dollars, check out Mexico. The lower cost of living in Mexico means your money goes further there.
I’m often asked by IL readers where you’d find the best climate in Panama. Though I’m a city girl through and through, I’ve often wished Panama City had been situated in the highlands.
Imagine living among the lushly-coated deep greens of Ecuador’s mountains…digging your toes into the white sand of a Caribbean beach in Mexico… looking out from your city pad at Panama City’s shimmering skyline…settling down to a new beachfront life in Brazil or Uruguay…and all for a fraction of what your life costs at home.
A decade ago, making phone calls from abroad meant one of two things: either a trip to a crowded call center…or phone bills that could add up to hundreds of dollars for the convenience of chatting from home.
“I don’t know how you can live with yourself,” a reader wrote to me. “By recommending places like Ecuador, you’re placing the lives of Americans in danger. Don’t you remember the four church women who were killed in Honduras?”
AARP The Magazine has chosen the highland town of Boquete in Panama as one of the top five places in the world to retire, along with Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; Languedoc-Roussillon Region, France; Le Marche, Italy; and Cascais, Portugal.
Mexico’s climate is so varied that there’s pretty much something for everyone, no matter what your taste. But if it came to a vote on the very best climate in Mexico, Lake Chapala, in central Mexico, might well win out. If you’re looking for a Mexico retirement spot with a mild climate, Lake Chapala is about as perfect as it gets.
I stayed at lavish haciendas, ate the freshest foods in Ecuador, got to know the smiling, helpful locals. I went to a Shaman healing ceremony, rode horses in the Andes and learned to weave. And then I sat sipping fresh mango juice, relaxing by the pool. It’s hard to believe it costs me nothing to travel like this.
