About Glynna Prentice

Lipstick, Legs and Ham…Expat Adventures in Hitchhiking

I’m a middle-aged woman who pays taxes, owns property and has a career of sorts. I’m a Serious Person, and so are my friends. Mostly. So when I find myself standing by the side of a road in rural Spain, holding a sign written in lipstick (Burt’s Bees Raisin, to be exact—my favourite shade—and sacrificed for the occasion), I can’t help asking myself: How did I get here?
lisbon, portugal

Enjoy a Low Cost of Living in Portugal

Love Europe but think you can’t afford it? Think again. I recently spent some time in Portugal and was wowed by the low prices. In Portugal, you can enjoy a low cost of living similar to that in Latin America’s more developed countries…with all the benefits of European life thrown in.
Europe

Part-Time Living in Old World Europe

It’s more than 25 years since I lost my heart to Spain. On my first visit, its romantic, rich history, its people and the rhythm of the days won me over. These days I spend several months a year there, getting my fill of sun, siestas and serrano ham. (Part-time living in Europe is easy: You can spend 90-day stints on a simple tourist visa.) This year a five-kilo ham, cured to perfection, is already waiting for me. Hey—I’ll have months to eat it.
Enjoying life abroad

Going Solo: Enjoying Life Abroad as a Single

Last year, at 70—an age when most recent widows sell the family home and downsize to a smaller home near the grandkids—Kit Fitley moved to a beach town in Panama. “Most of my friends [back home] consider what I’m doing extremely daring,” she says of her new life in Coronado, on Panama’s Pacific coast...
Europe

Exploring Europe on a Budget

Diverse and varied Europe may well be, but it’s still a relatively small and well-connected continent, which makes exploration easy. You don’t have to spend a fortune doing it, either—there are travel and accommodation options at every price point...
Spain

How Under-The-Radar Spots Can Save You Money

Recently, when a friend and I were travelling by train in Spain, she got a hefty discount off the ticket price. She’s not Spanish; she’s a tourist, but it turns out that Renfe, Spain’s national train company, offers a senior discount card, called a tarjeta dorada, for train travel to anyone aged 60 and over...
Jerez de la Frontera, Spain

Taking Time Out in Southern Spain

Spain has long been one of the lowest-cost countries in Western Europe, which was just one of the reasons it was my destination of choice when I decided to spend a month overseas. I had the pleasure of living in the sherry-capital of Jerez de la Frontera in southern Spain, where $2,000 covered all my living expenses—including rent...
portugal

The Best Ways to Explore Historic, Seaside Portugal

In Porto, a mild climate complements a history-rich heart and a sparkling café scene making this—Portugal’s second city—one of my new favourite destinations. I was there along Portugal’s northern coast this past spring and was wowed by the mellow weather and the city’s beautiful historic centre, rich with grand, domed, granite structures.