Community matters. Your neighbors. Your friends. The character of your relationships in a place. We consider this dynamic before we recommend a place. It’s one of the great benefits our in-country editors bring to their stories.
Almost invariably, when you ask a happy expat why he loves his adopted home, he’ll talk about the people first. Take Costa Rica, the focus of our cover story. There the climate is warm, the cost of living is low, health care is excellent, the government is stable, and the economy is thriving.
But when asked “Why there?” Rene Aiki, who has lived in the Arenal region for 19 years, says, “Costa Ricans are a gracious people…it’s an easy place to live where you can make close friends.”
See the story below and the rest of the articles from your June 2013 issue. If you’d prefer to read your issue in PDF format, click here.
Even before heading into the doctor’s office, I had come to a decision. If surgery was an option to prevent pre-cancer from turning into cancer. . . I was ready. My story is no different from that of thousands of other women going for a Pap test. Except that the hospital I stepped into was in Panama City.
Blue becomes bluer, every shade from sapphire to cobalt. Sea merges with sky. The intensity of blueness is almost too much. It’s as if the Adriatic has fallen into the clutches of a Photoshop enthusiast with an uncontrolled passion for color saturation.
Sandy beaches with tumbling surf, peaceful lakeside living, bio-diverse tropical jungles, cool highland areas with modern cities. . . Little Costa Rica offers plenty to choose from. And for decades, expats like me have flocked here, making it one of the world’s most popular locales for good living abroad.
Real estate values have fallen so far in Ireland today that €20,000 ($26,387) puts you in the game. Spend that much and you get a traditional-style, semi-detached cottage in need of some modernization.
I believe an ownership stake in oil and gas in the ground will prove to be one of the best investments of the next decade. Buying these assets “on sale” will lead to even bigger profits.
Today, owning productive farmland is one of the safest ways to grow or preserve your nest egg. The case for farmland has never been stronger. Increasing populations and wealth in emerging economies is the primary driver. As people in these economies become richer, they eat more food.
If you’ve ever dreamed of escaping to an exotic place and opening a small hotel in your retirement years, you’re not alone. But many folks never get past the thought. Expats Kim Macphee and Tony Clark made the dream a reality; they got started after their employer laid them off in 2006. They used their free time and severance pay to map out a strategy for the future...
There’s a lot more to Italy’s underworld than old re-runs of The Godfather. This country is rich in a real underworld: caverns, grottoes and underground cities. Here are three of my favorite places for subterranean history and natural splendor.
Ever since the nomadic Turks spilled off the Central Asian steppe and settled the lands of modern day Turkey their carpets have been more than just comfortable rugs on a tent floor.
This is the Caribbean as it should be—clean, white-sand beaches; the freshest fruits and seafood; colorful wildlife; and smiling, laid-back locals.