The instant I saw the ad I knew I was set for a life of adventure. But I never imagined just how far my native language could take me: All the way from leafing through the classifieds section of The Globe & Mail, in Toronto, Canada, to a new life in exotic Hong Kong.

A Boulevard St-Germain landmark, Café de Flore is one of Paris’s most hallowed literary cafés. I adore art deco elegance, but it isn’t somewhere I’d frequent regularly. Not after seeing the prices—$6.86 for a cafe crème, $8.45 for hot chocolate, $11.22 for a small beer. If it’s the hangout of the next Simone de Beauvoir or Picasso, I’d be astonished.

The passenger bus in front of us slowed and shifted into low gear on the steeply winding mountain road. I got a good look at the slogan gaily tattooed in huge cursive lettering across its rear panel: Si Ud. nunca ha ido a Loja, no conoce mi pais. “If you’ve never gone to Loja, you don’t know my country.”

It’s probably one of the last places most North Americans would think about investing, but the single best investment you make for the next decade could be to buy Africa. There are important reasons why African stocks are set to richly reward buy-and-hold-style investors. But the main reason is simply this: Africa is where the growth is. The continent’s economy has been growing at about 6% over the last decade. And it is expected to match that pace over the next several years.

Many people are surprised to learn that one of their biggest tax-planning decisions when it comes to living overseas has to do with where they live before they go. It’s one of the most overlooked aspects of tax planning. Put simply, there are states that are “no-income tax” states. If you move overseas from one of these, then you’ll pay no state income tax.

I’m in a 17th century church listening to French and Colombian artists perform baroque guitar music. Outside, cobblestone streets wind around white, Spanish-style buildings with red-tiled roofs. Bright bougainvillea and geraniums drape from the balconies. Colombia is a gracious place. And the colonial town of Villa de Leyva is positively genteel. For the past two years, I’ve been traveling south of the States. I’ve explored nearly every country in South America and I liked them all. But Colombia, to my surprise, I fell in love with—particularly with Villa de Leyva, founded in 1572.

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When Cat Beurnier launched her cupcake business in Paris in 2008, it never occurred to her that she might need to explain to Parisians the concept of a cupcake. But over and over she found herself answering the most basic questions about her treats: Are they candles? Are they table decorations? “Many people had no idea what they were looking at,” says Cat. “I worried then that my idea of having a cupcake business wouldn’t take off here.”

A round-up of the events you should be chalking down on your callendar. All of these events are expected to sell fast, so book your place early to avoid disappointment.

Antigua is Guatemala’s most beautiful city, and the center of its cultural life and Spanish- colonial heritage. If you want to taste a little of everything Guatemala has to offer, this is the place to come. To start with, Antigua is nestled amid some of the country’s most dramatic landscape. This local geology hasn’t always been kind, however. Earthquakes in the 18th century led the Spanish to move their capital to the site of modern-day Guatemala City. But while Antigua’s population declined—today it’s around 47,000— more than enough of the city’s impressive architecture remained.