A few weeks ago, I called my mom from a tiny hotel in the Costa Rican cloud forest. But I didn’t use a phone. I called for free from my computer, using Skype (www.skype.com).

This month's Globetrotting tales...

Around 260 pounds of confetti were consumed at Lucrezia Borgia’s wedding banquet in 1487. But guests weren’t eating bits of colored paper.

Steve Hartwig runs his own guesthouse in Bocas del Toro in Panama—on an island approximately 3 miles long and half a mile wide.

When I retired to Punta del Este in Uruguay last year, I was eager to find out if the stories I'd heard of great deals on quality dental care outside the U.S. were true.

When I was a cruise ship crew member, I saw it all. Some passengers would complain about the food (only after finishing four courses) or about “finding” dead bugs (one went on a butterfly farm tour, then smuggled some rare “stowaways” onboard). Often they were just angling for a free cruise.

The flight from Quito left just after sunrise. Like most Andean mornings, a sheer, silky haze rose from the tarmac, and wisps of clouds covered the mountains beyond. As the plane gained altitude, we left the high-rise condos and traffic of cosmopolitan Quito behind and looked forward to the view we’d see next.

A selection of interesting upcoming events for IL readers.

Living abroad is not an all-or-nothing proposition. You needn’t pull up stakes and renounce life “back home” entirely. Instead, take a part-time approach to the adventure.

To protect your portfolio from today’s “falling dollar,” you should diversify into assets like foreign currencies and precious metals. Here’s why this makes sense.