The poet Samuel Coleridge may have been a debt-laden opium addict, but he wrote good poems and had it right when he said “nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.”
As a traveling editor and opportunity seeker for International Living, I have been up close to enthusiasm in all its forms. You get the quiet contented sort. It leaves you feeling good to meet a retired man standing waist-deep in the Caribbean who’s just…happy.
There’s the giddy youthful kind inspired by new experiences, like the Californian so keen to share new discoveries in Italy she can barely catch a breath. You’ll meet plenty of recent expats who say, “I still can’t believe it!” Their enthusiasm is wide-eyed and wonderful. Like the couple showing you their new lake-view dream house…or their favorite secret beach…
It doesn’t matter what walk of life you’re in now, nor what lifestyle or destination is your idea of paradise; when you pull the trigger on it, your move overseas will fill you with an intense thrill.
And this issue should give you tingles right now…because this month we celebrate the profound wealth of choice you have when it comes to good living abroad.
Nicki Hed and her husband Scott are IL readers who have made colonial Granada in Nicaragua their home. I caught a dose of their enthusiasm when I met them there and you can catch it too here.
Get excited about an Italian hill-town home for $50,000… or where Jeff Raheb says the Colombian city he calls home is “truly First World” at 30% to 50% less than back home.
Mark and Jackie Baker like to spend afternoons in their country retreat in Belize down by the river… in their 60s Bill and Lynn Carmine sing the praises of Panama’s superb pensionado program for retirees… Suzie Hammond says the Chilean capital, Santiago, gives her and her husband Carl a better quality of life than Southern California and at half the price.
Tuula Rampont praises life in France’s “Cézanne Country” and discover how expat Joseph Toone has turned his enthusiasm for the history of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico’s Colonial Highlands into an income…
—Eoin Bassett, International Executive Editor
For or Mark and Jackie Baker, there's no question where they like to spend hot days in the Cayo, their new home in the heart of Belize. "On a warm afternoon, we like to go down to the river for a soak," says Mark. We're likely to find a third of the village there.
Our families and friends were not shocked about our decision to move to Medellín, Colombia," says Jeff Raheb. "Most thought it was a good move. Actually, about one-third of them are jealous.” They have good reason to be. “Medellín is truly First World,”
Every morning my husband Carl and I enjoy fresh, hot bread rolls from the local grocery shop. Then it’s a choice between a morning walk along the tree-shaded river path or working in the garden. Today the nature walk wins, and while the dog chases rabbits...
I love the road that leads to Volcán. It gently winds and curves its way through the mountains of Panama’s Chiriquí Province, putting you at ease as you take in scenic vistas of green, rolling hills shadowed by the volcano, Volcán Barú. The drive takes you from sea level to 4,000 feet in under 45 minutes.
The painter Cézanne once said of his hometown, "I thought I could leave Aix-en-Provence and be happy elsewhere, but I was wrong.If you are born here, you're doomed. You can live nowhere else" Anyone who has ever visited this sun-washed paradise can understand Cézanne's words.
I stand on a terrace overlooking the water, waves crashing onto the rocks below. Lights along the vast curve of the Bay of Banderas twinkle on as darkness falls. That’s my cue to taxi over to Puerto Vallarta’s Zona Romántica (also referred to as Old Town...
"No wind, no clouds, no rain," is how expat Lynn Pierce describes the weather in Los Cabos. "Last Sunday it was 96 F. If you're not in the sun, it's still pleasant, because it's so dry here." With its dry desert climate, Los Cabos gets about 350 sunny days...
I pay attention to a lot of real estate markets around the world, fr om Europe to Latin America to Southeast Asia. I look for opportunities where an investor can get in below true value and profit as values soar.
It was an enormous python and it was lying in wads of cash. I was in a monastery in Bago, about an hour’s drive from the Burmese capital of Yangon. This python (believed locally to be 125 years old) had apparently wriggled its way into the monastery years ago.
I live every day better than the best day I had on any vacation: exploring the countryside, attending fiestas, and lots of dancing. You simply have to put yourself out there, give something to the community, and enjoy all the opportunities that come your way.”