Your pet is part of your family. They live in your home, eat with you, and if you’re like me, they travel with you. In fact…if you’re like me, you wouldn’t dream of moving abroad without them. My dog Pippin travels with me whenever I go back to the U.S. for holidays.

After we fell 7,000 feet my instructor casually pointed out his new house on the lakeshore below.

When there is a disconnect between the public perception of a place and the reality on the ground, you'll often find opportunity as an overseas property buyer.

If you’re in Panama August 29 to September 5 and you’d like to see the world’s master surfers in action, head to Santa Catalina beach.

“I searched for years for the perfect place at the right price. I wanted a place on the beach that I could afford,” says Adele Aguirre. “For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to speak Spanish and to be in a Spanish-speaking environment. But every time I found something, everyone else had found it, too, and prices had gone up.

I’m just back from Salinas, a beach resort on Ecuador’s south Pacific Coast with a long, curving beach, a near-perfect climate, modern amenities…and inexpensive real estate.

Imagine a lead weight on a string. If you leave it alone, it will just hang down. But if someone comes along and gives it a push, it will swing away. When it’s done swinging, it moves back to its original position.

The summer is the perfect time to go skiing. Just head south.

Here’s Rule #1 when investigating your potential overseas destination: the mainstream media is not your friend.