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, earning an income overseas to buying real estate…and much more.
Moving abroad scares a lot of people. That's natural. We humans seem somehow conditioned to resist our nomadic heritage. But dig deeper, and get past that fear, and there's a world of benefits to enjoy. My wife Diane and I live in Mexico...
The mist rises up through the jungle in the early morning light, as the troop of chattering monkeys jumps from branch to branch on its way home. I sip my coffee and watch their antics from the veranda. Here, in the mountains of Goa, India’s smallest state, life is good...
When I graduated from college, I put on my traveling shoes and backpacked through Europe for three months, vowing to stay as long as the $500 in my pocket lasted. I stayed in hostels, lived off loaves of bread and French cheese,...
My love affair with MedellÃn, Colombia began after only my third day in the city. I woke to the sound of the birds chirping in the tree outside my window. I spent the day wandering through the neighborhood taking in the sights and sounds of my new surroundings. Fruit vendors were calling out to me announcing what they had to sell.
There’s one thing about the concept of living, working, or retiring abroad that I value above all else: It gives me options. Options are good. Having options is much better than not having options, even if you never make a choice. No one likes to be caught in a location...
When my wife Vivien and I first began looking into an overseas retirement, we looked everywhere for information. We wanted to know about the costs, climate, safety, how easy would it be to make friends, would we be bored…the list went...
The first thing you notice is the colors. Cobalt blue skies and turquoise waters…blindingly white sand beaches. Waterfalls of purple, yellow, and magenta bougainvillea tum-bling over ancient stone walls.
I was having yet another deep discussion with my wife Diane about leaving the U.S. for Ecuador. We’d spent more than a year researching, scouring the internet, the pages of this magazine…now I was suggesting we take a trip down there to check it out.
Take a look at your local real estate listings and see what $172,000 will buy you. Probably nothing close to what my wife Nicki and I built in Nicaragua. From our covered terrace, we savor views of Lake Nicaragua spanning nearly the entire eastern horizon...
With a year-round calendar of social and cultural events and temperate weather (rarely dropping below 50 F), Portugal’s capital, Lisbon, is a great choice for your European retirement. Its ocean views and hills ascended by cable cars remind many...