Celebrating Darwin's 200th birthday, visiting Cuba and staying with the locals in Latin America.

We’re always told in life to enjoy the journey, not the destination—but sometimes it’s hard to slow down. We take vacations to get away from it all, and end up needing a second vacation to get over the first one.

If you spend a few months every year traveling, or if you’re overseas scouting a new retirement haven, who’s looking after your house while you’re away?

Breathe it all in: incense fragrance from a Chinese temple; frangipani blossoms wafting though the balmy night air; the pungent aroma of fish drying on sidewalk racks. Everywhere is suffused with spices—ginger; nutmeg; cloves.

Six years ago, my wife Patti and I bought Capri—a 17-meters-long Dutch barge that was built in 1916. Now we spend every summer (April to September) crawling through the canals of Europe (mainly France) at 5 miles an hour.

The warm sun on your face, the aroma of crushed grapes, a view toward the Pyrénées mountains… For a wine lover, I can think of no bigger thrill than owning a vineyard. Especially if that vineyard is in southwestern France.

When affordable quality of life is the number one priority, more International Living readers move to Ecuador than anyplace else.

I’ve just returned from my sixth scouting trip to Fortaleza, Brazil, in the past 12 months. It was the wettest time of year when I was there—a time that attracts the lowest number of tourists; a time when the hotels should be empty.

Since 1917, the U.S. government has had a “triple-A” credit rating. Up until a few weeks ago, its bonds were considered “risk free.”

You’ve done the research. You’ve read everything you can. And now you think you’d like to live in Buenos Aires…or Puerto Vallarta…or Granada….