Before I arrived in Croatia, people told me that it was one of the most beautiful places in Europe. “If you love Italy, you’ll love Croatia,” they said. “After all, the Croatian coast is where the Italians go to vacation.” Most of Croatia’s coast is along the historic Dalmatian region—a place that perfectly meshes Italian and Eastern European inspirations in architecture, food, and even language.

From the roadside to the horizon, all we can see are flowers. They stretch in neat columns of brilliant color, striped across the flat landscape—pink, red, yellow, orange, blue, purple, and white. Some blaze brightly in the sun, others are modest pastels. From the roadside to the horizon, all we can see are flowers.

Panama’s a place of sunshine, 365 days a year. You have hundreds of miles of beach…highland retreats with green valleys where the weather is spring-like, even in January and August…and a genuinely cosmopolitan capital city, too, with one of the world’s largest financial districts. And Panama offers the world’s most generous retiree benefits.

For many, Latin America conjures up images of steamy, wildlife-filled jungles and beautiful people lounging on tropical beaches, sipping umbrella-bedecked drinks. But there’s a whole other side to Latin America…regions where temperate—even cool—climates and jaw-dropping vistas of snow-covered volcanos are the order of the day.

I remember the day I told my neighbor Jo Alice that my wife Ann and I were selling our beautiful waterfront home in Maryland and moving to the beach town of Salinas on the Pacific coast of Ecuador. Jo Alice thought I was joking. I wasn’t. Why would I? In Ecuador our cost of living is $1,200 a month, the weather is perfect, and our condo has sweeping ocean views.