I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself,” said the poet Maya Angelou. I suppose she’s right…we all aspire to a certain comfort in our own skin. I’ve always felt travel encouraged it, in fact.
Still, you have to live somewhere. For eons people lived where they were born. Never mind if they liked it or not. To venture farther afield was to embark on a journey often wrought with hardship: Slow-boat ocean crossings…horse-drawn-carriage caravans…
But no longer. Today we can travel with ease and the ability to remain connected while we do it. It means we needn’t abandon our past to seek out a corner where we feel content—where we’re welcomed, accepted, maybe even celebrated.
It’s broadened the definition of “home.” Today home can be anyplace you feel that sense of ease and belonging. Linda Card, originally from New Jersey, traveled all over Central America but found herself enchanted by Panama’s highlands.
For Gigi Griffis, home turned out to be an alpine town in Switzerland. After two years of full-time travel, she says, she stumbled upon a place where “my whole body relaxed… I couldn’t stop smiling.” So she moved there.
Your home? We endeavor to profile several good options this month…from a lively town in Ecuador’s Amazon…to a foodie haven in France and a variety in between… Read more about the different places you can make home in these articles below.
Inside this Issue…Low-Cost Life in Panama’s “Land of Plenty”; Live on a Beach in Belize for $1,500 a Month; Find Out Why Even Parisians are Moving to Lyon, France; Make a Million with First Edition Books; Eat Gourmet Street Food in Penang, Malaysia…and much more
"I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself,” said the poet Maya Angelou. I suppose she’s right…we all aspire to a certain comfort in our own skin. I’ve always felt travel encouraged it, in fact.
Douz, in south Tunisia, hosts the International Festival of the Sahara on October 1. Taking place at the gateway to the great desert, the event was founded as a camelracing festival in 1910. But you can expect horse races, poetry contests, and Bedouin weddings, as well.
Panama is the world’s top retirement haven and it’s Chiriquí province attracts more expats than anywhere else in the country. In the provincial capital, David, homes rent for as little as $220 a month.
I’m on a narrow road that cuts across the bleakest part of Dartmoor. And from here, the view of one of Britain’s most dismally austere buildings is perfect. The road leads to HMP Dartmoor—and HMP is the acronym for Her Majesty’s Prison.
Sales for the 1,000 most sought after single-malt scotches have risen around 175% since 2008. That’s based on auction figures compiled by Scottish company, Whisky Highland, which track the market. In 2013, some 20,211 bottles were sold at auction, up from 5,431 in 2010.
Corozal, on the northern edge of Belize, might just be the perfect retirement destination. It’s certainly captured the hearts of the 1,000 or so North American expats who call it home.
I’m a daydreamer and a traveler at heart. One of my favorite ways to pass time is to imagine where else I might want to live one day. A recurring dream involves a cabin in the jungle where I would wake to the songs of carefree birds, the chatter of mischievous monkeys, and the rustle of a light breeze playing through overhead palm fronds.
To some folks, home is a place on a map or a house filled with memories and possessions. But for Ellen and Hank Barone, “home, it turns out, is something internal and portable. We’ve traveled to all 50 states and six continents and are curious and comfortable in the world,” says Ellen. “So in 2011, when we began looking for a new place to live—it wasn’t restricted to the U.S.”
I bought my house in Nicaragua in one day on a whim. While I wouldn’t recommend doing something so hasty, it worked out great. I went back to the U.S. and neatly closed up my life there. Arriving three months later in Nicaragua, I was ready to start my new life in my new house.