IL Magazine: Discover the World's Best Retirement Haven for 2021 + 24 more
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Serendipity led me to Ljubljana. I’d planned to take the overnight ferry from Italy to Croatia, when my friend, Marcela, suggested looping up and over through Slovenia. On the bus from Trieste, I was soon glad that I’d heeded Marcela’s suggestion. The scenery was lovely...
Home to 420,000 people, Florianopolis is often referred to by its residents as "the other Brazil." For one thing, there is the evident prosperity, from brand-name jeans to the latest-model cars. The streets and sidewalks are clean. Unemployment is low, as is the crime rate. There are parks and pedestrian plazas. And the city is large enough to offer most services that you might need, without the problems of a bigger metropolis.
Caprice Parkes and Joe Singh's rustic lifestyle is very different to the life they left behind...and they love it. The couple lives in Chan Chen Village, in Belize's northern Corozal District, abutting Mexico. Young "retirees" at only 43 and 45, Caprice and Joe actively work a 22-acre homestead, and are largely self-sufficient. "We grow our own greens, spinach, lettuces, okra, beans of different sorts, herbs, cassava, sweet potato, onions, and fruit trees," says Caprice. "Joe goes fishing and hunting with the locals from our village. We can pretty much eat for free most days. We raise chickens and turkeys and will shortly start raising pigs."