My hands stained purple with blueberry juice, I stop to watch a group of older Czech women. All bent double, they're picking berries and singing Wallachian folk songs, imperfect voices made perfect by easy happiness.

When traveling abroad with an eye toward retiring or buying a second home, you’re going to need a local phone number. This allows you to make inexpensive local calls while you’re overseas. And, just as importantly, it allows local people to call you.

Today you can buy real estate in Ireland at discounts of up to 80% from peak prices. Here’s the “why” and the “how….”

The hills are gentle, rolling, and impossibly green. In the fields, cows graze fetlock-deep in the lush grass, while clouds scud across the blue sky overhead. Leaving the modern motorway, you immediately plunge into a world of narrow, hedge-lined country lanes, primrose-colored houses, and gray stone manors. Now and again a curve in the road opens up vistas of blue sea. Down the road, round the bend and over the hillocks, lies sandy beach or rocky shore…

One of my favorite overseas markets to invest in for the long term is Chile. It’s a high-growth emerging market…and it’s a country that treats capital well. People often see emerging markets as Wild West-like frontiers where corruption is rife and the rule of law doesn’t exist. This can be true in some cases. But it’s not so in Chile.

I still remember the Broadway musical Fiorello!, based on the life of the popular New York City mayor, Fiorello LaGuardia, a reform Republican who served three hectic terms from 1934 to 1945. In one of the musical’s songs, an investigative committee demands to know how Mr. X, a minor city official, can afford a private yacht….

s lunchtime in the timber-paneled “Queen Adelaide” dining car with its white linens and stamped-tin ceiling. Past the Jacquard curtains, red-earthed vistas roll by outside as we move rhythmically through the Australian outback. Though named for the tough Afghan cameleers who first exploited this route 150 years ago, our train, the “Ghan,” requires no roughing it. It provides, instead, a luxurious throwback to Old-World travel.

The 21 islands of the Galápagos archipelago, off the coast of Ecuador, make up one of the world’s most famous wildlife wonderlands. There’s almost nowhere else with such an impressive blend of flora and fauna. But that biodiversity comes at a price. Just entering the park will set you back $100. And from mainland Ecuador, round-trip flights cost $300 to $400, depending on the point of departure and time of year. Then there’s accommodation, food, tours… it’s not a trip for the budget conscious. But, as I said, there’s almost nowhere else like it....

While still in Canada, Daphne visualized her new life. She knew what it would look like when she found it. Taking vacations throughout Latin America, she evaluated each country as a possible location. Some were already too developed, others too remote with limited business opportunities, still others lacked the pristine beauty and relaxed quality of life she sought. Nothing seemed quite right. Then she found the island of Roatán, Honduras.