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Construction has begun on two new islands off the coast of Panama City, just across from the ritzy new neighborhood of Punta Pacífica. Per local realtors, the development dubbed Ocean Reef will include a 26-acre harbor featuring more than 200 wet slips.

Out beyond the turquoise water, waves break on the reef. I’m standing on a white-sand beach looking at the Caribbean. Behind me, a gentle breeze rustles the thick foliage covering the hillsides. The occasional sway of the trees reveals sheltered shorefront homes just back from the sand.

Sipping a cup of thick-as-mud coffee, I breathe out slowly, enjoying the bittersweet taste and the cool mountain air. Around the back of the café, a family is taking pictures of the amazing mountain view.

In Diane Pearl’s view, taking a conventional retirement is the worst thing you can do for yourself; people start feeling old, she thinks, if they have nothing to do…and it’s all downhill from there. No chance of that with Diane—or with the place she’s called home for the last eight years: Ajijic, Mexico, on the shores of Lake Chapala.

Ever had the itch to travel but found that household bills meant you had to put your vacation plans on hold? It’s not always possible to pay for that well-deserved break upfront and still cover the cost of mortgage payments or rent back home.

One of the biggest benefits of moving abroad is the possibility of gaining access to good, inexpensive health care. In so many of the countries we cover regularly—like Mexico, Ecuador and Panama, for instance—you'll find you can get care as good (and perhaps better) than what you're used to. And it will cost you half or even less what you pay up north.

City of dreaming spires and of lost causes, Oxford is the obvious destination for anyone who has exhausted London's charms and wants a day trip outside the capital.

Just one year ago, my husband Bryan and I pondered our quandary. We needed a change. But here we were in our 30’s with a young daughter. How do you find more time to enjoy life when you have a family to raise and the cost of living continues to rise?

The luminous hour before sunset is special. Every bay is a brilliant turquoise. Villages take on a honeyed glow; vineyards are dusted with gold; mountain crags flare orange. Out to the west, rocky islets change from dusky pink to a deep blood-red.