Pause beside a terrace of elegant 19th-century houses in London just as a damp fog curls past and, even though it’s cold and wet, you’ll find romance. You can imagine the writer Charles Dickens on one of his strolls, or picture some of his characters large as life.
I know London a little. I spent a month there researching a book—perusing the map room of the British Library, attending parties, and poking around stuffy old antiquarian stores.
What I remember most were the maps. I love maps, and in the British Library and the shops around Charring Cross I found many old ones…on paper, parchment, vellum and silk…revealing all sorts of secrets.
There’s more to a map than where a place is, or how to get there. A friend of mine has a map of the world with South Korea in the center. Of course, she’s South Korean so that makes sense. Ever notice how European mapmakers have an inflated sense of just how big the “Old World” really is? And here, on the wall of the International Living offices we chose a map that aims to show the world in its true proportions. Handy for planning where to send our scouts next.
Your issue this month plants the pins in this map far and wide. Six continents are featured—only Antarctica is left out. Join us as we trek from the Mountains of the Moon in Africa to the wineries and stunning hikes of New Zealand. You’ll learn about opportunities to make money in Vietnam and we’ll show you how to overcome Paris’ restrictive rental laws.
South America is a well-trodden beat of ours but it’s a big place and still full of surprises. This issue, you’ll learn about a perfect-weather city in Bolivia where you can live well on just $1,000 a month.
Or venture closer to home on the North American continent, where you can buy a winter retreat for as little as $45,000 beside Mexico’s most popular lakeside retreat.
—Eoin Bassett, Editorial Director
The Parisian pied-à-terre of your dreams is finally yours. Leaning on the ornate iron railings of your balcony, you look out over a tree-lined boulevard, the Eiffel Tower piercing the sky in the distance. Glass of wine in hand, you relax and enjoy an orange sunset over the City of Light. Surely you could never tire of this…and even if you could, there’s lots of money to be made from others hoping to call Paris home for a few months.
"The stars here are incredible,” says expat Linda Ott of the views she and her partner Mike Short enjoy from their self-built home in Santa Fe, Panama. “There’s no light pollution. Orion’s Belt goes right over our house. And during the day, we can see hummingbirds, hawks, and toucans right from our terrace.”
I think it’s the slow pace of life and the small-town feel that impressed me most. Battambang, in northwest Cambodia, is a social and welcoming place. No one’s in a hurry. Sitting down, having a cool drink, and meeting new people is a popular pastime. And when I walked around town, people would come out to talk to me and freely share what they enjoyed about living here, or which restaurants they liked the best, or when the latest opening of an art gallery was to take place.
"There’s something in the air that provides the deepest sense of peace. People laugh about the Pura Vida but it’s true, it’s really here. All you have to do is accept it.” That’s expat Chuck Mollenkopf talking about the elusive ingredient to the “pure life” he has found in Costa Rica. “Pure life” is the literal translation. But that doesn’t do it justice… “I actually enjoy everything more and appreciate the small things, such as trying a new fruit or vegetable each week from the farmers’ market in town,” says Denice Key from Colorado. “It’s the Pura Vida everyone talks about.”
All Costa Rica is a land of Pura Vida. But the Caribbean coast takes this relaxed attitude to the greatest extreme. It’s a place where beach bars play reggae as patrons knock back cold beers. Locals slowly ride bicycles rusted from the salt air down the winding coast road. And beach-goers doze lazily in hammocks strung between trees on the beach, pondering a dip in the clear blue water.
From ski apartments in Austria to beachside pads in Thailand, you’ll see developers luring buyers with guaranteed rental yields. These deals can sometimes be advertised as a “leaseback.” Other times they come with a promise of “guaranteed income” or “fixed rent.”
When you first visit Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, all your senses are assaulted by the constant activity. On every street, masses of people hustle and bustle to make a buck (or a dong, the local currency). The architecture is an intriguing mix of colonial French, traditional Vietnamese, and communist monolith. The food is sensational: among the best I’ve tried anywhere in Asia. And Hanoi’s thriving arts scene attracts creative types from across the country and beyond. All this adds up to a place bursting with energy—and potential.
When it comes to keeping your assets safe from creditors, an offshore trust (that is, where your property is held for your benefit in an overseas location) might seem the way to go. Offshoring your assets can make it very difficult (if not impossible) for a U.S. court to seize them. This is because of the strong asset-protection laws in many offshore havens…and the fact that many offshore jurisdictions don’t recognize judgments made in a foreign country.
Parents attempting to clean their kids’ bedrooms know all too well the temptation to throw old toys out with the trash. I’m here to tell you to resist that impulse. That piece of junk that cost a few pennies back in the 80s could go for $2,500 or more today, even without the packaging. Moms: Check before you chuck! The market for collectible toys is booming, with old examples selling for many times the price you bought them for way back when.
Some people aspire to run a successful business. Others just want to live in a tropical paradise. Terry Bolduc gets to do both. “When you can go to a tropical beach with your daughter on your day off, and unwind with friends beneath a beautiful sunset after a day’s work, it doesn’t get much better,” he says of his new life in Las Terrenas, a laidback beach town on the Dominican Republic’s Atlantic coast.