It’s easier than you think to reveal your Irish roots. Here's a guide on how to get started. Your research begins with your family. Ask questions, collect stories, check out old photos, and search that attic chest or bottom drawer for any documents that might provide some clues.

Wednesday is market day in Piégut-Pluviers, a town in the north of Aquitaine’s Dordogne département. A French country market is a gastronomic Garden of Eden, so leaving these stalls of foie gras, saucissons and cheeses feels like being cast into the wilderness.

It’s been seven years since I hung up my trusty Telecaster guitar and left my life in Europe for the blue skies of the Argentine Pampas.

The Latin phrase festina lente (make haste slowly) suits the Maremma in Italy. It’s as if the air compels you to slow down and really savor Italy’s sweet life. But why savor it only on vacation? A move-into village house could be yours for $63,000. And consider this: You’d only be a 90-minute drive from Rome.

In Guatemala—as in Mexico—people celebrate All Saints’ Day on November 1 by traveling to cemeteries to honor the dead. They repaint family tombs, adorn them with yellow flowers and picnic by the graves.

International Living’s Retirement Index always brings back fond memories of my own analysis that preceded my first move abroad. My means of choosing a country back then was simple. I only studied the categories on the Index that were important to me and threw out the countries that didn’t score well in those areas. Cost of living was high on my list…as were climate and real estate. I didn’t particularly care about the ratings for political stability, or the ability to get half-price movie tickets.