“Da Nang is the most livable city in Vietnam.” I thought I was the one to come up with this observation—I was pretty pleased about it, actually. But ever since I came up with the phrase, I have heard it again and again from my Vietnamese friends and from expats I’ve met.
I turn the corner and walk on the narrow sidewalk, up a gentle slope. The street is cobblestone. The surrounding buildings are centuries old, painted in rich shades of burgundy, amber, and burnt umber. An older woman going home from the market, laden with bags, walks by.
One thing that makes the lifestyle in the Colonial Highlands so appealing is the ideal temperatures much of the year—no air-conditioning needed. During the day, expect temperatures in the 70sF, cooling off into the 60s F at night and dipping into the 50s F in the wee hours.
As the costs of healthcare, utilities, taxes, and food continue to rise in North America, the idea of retiring abroad is gaining traction. International Living has been talking about saving money by moving abroad since before the internet…for 36 years, in fact.
For many North Americans, moving to Italy to live in a stone cottage with its own olive grove is dream-worthy enough on its own. But for Bruce Adgate and Joanna Ross, it was just the start of their adventures.
For serial housesitters Denny and Eden Rudin, gone is their hectic, working-world life in the U.S., with car and mortgage payments and high medical costs. “With housesitting, we find it’s actually cheaper than our life was back in Arizona. Plus we get to see new places,” they say.
“The longer I stay here, the more I realize I’ve made a good choice,” says Leo Ellis of his new home in the colorful Thai city of Chiang Mai. Leo moved here in 2012—at the modest age of 87. Four years later, he’s as happy as ever to call it home.
I’m strolling along a pretty, red-brick promenade, gazing at a scattering of fishing boats bobbing in the luminous, blue-green waters of a small harbor. The warmth of the May sunshine on my shoulders feels like an embrace.
“What I really dig about my life now is that I am no longer stuck in a crowded and expensive city. I can enjoy retirement hanging out at the beach, with all the worries of overpriced healthcare far behind me,” says expat Roger Carter of his new life in Cambodia.
“The best part of living here is that it is just a five-minute walk to the beach. We walk to the beach every day,” says Erin Scholnick-Lee, who lives in Da Nang, Vietnam. “Who doesn’t want to live five minutes from the beach?”