
Traveling the World From Umbria, Italy
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 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.
"The Impressionists painted here for a reason,” says Ira Faro of his new home in the southern French region of Languedoc-Roussillon. “The feel of the place is very powerful… It’s as though the light is shining from everything."
When Tom and Laine Berning first decided to give overseas living a try, they knew exactly what they wanted: “A place with good public transport [and] a lot of culture,” says Laine. “Walking neighborhoods and excellent-quality food.”
"I swore that, when I retired, I would never have to wear a jacket or a long-sleeved shirt again,” says Alan Worline. Luckily for Alan, he found the perfect place to do just that: in David, one of Panama’s hottest cities.
"The future of the U.S. was looking bad,” says Nancy Young of the decisions that led her and her family to find a new life in the highlands of western Panama. “My husband was going to retire on beans, with no benefits…not enough for us to live on. Every winter in Missouri I dreaded getting our electric bill, and in the summer there were a few days you could open your windows to let the air in and not have to use air conditioning, but the air was so dirty that everyone had allergies. We had to make a move.”
“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?”
“The last time I went exploring by motorbike through the jungle, I saw an elephant just walking down the road. An elephant! Now that doesn’t happen in Canada,” says Michael Brown, who now makes his home in the Thai resort city of Hua Hin. “I have the time to enjoy my life, and there is truly so much to enjoy here.”