The phrase “the world is getting smaller” gets bandied about a lot these days. But I believe the opposite is true. With information about destinations all around the globe literally at our fingertips, the options for travel and overseas living are broader than ever. Faster and cheaper flights, low-cost accommodation providers like Airbnb, and money-saving travel tips that are shared online has made it easier than ever to explore all the options out there for travel and overseas living.
Take Eric and Larisa Hungerford. They loved to travel but were tired of short vacations overseas. So in 2017 they embarked on a roving retirement. They spent some time in Penang, Malaysia before heading to Malta and Vietnam is next on the list. Choosing where to go is half the fun: “We get to flip a coin and pick a place off our bucket list,” Eric says.
Although the world is getting bigger, we are more interconnected than ever before when overseas. With email, Skype, and good internet in most places around the world, it’s easy to stay in touch with family…and work from anywhere (I’m writing this note in the charming northern Thai city of Chiang Mai). John Williams had spent most of his life hundreds of miles from the sea, so when he moved to Ecuador with his daughter, he chose the small Pacific Coast beach town of Santa Marianita. “Living on the ocean in the middle of the planet has been a new and exhilarating adventure,” John says. John is still a licensed mortgage loan officer and is supplementing his Social Security by doing work for clients in the U.S. “Even in a little fishing village, I have fiber optic internet service,” he says.
Here at International Living, we are always looking to make the overseas retirement world bigger. Our on-the-ground correspondents are always exploring and seeking out new and interesting retirement havens. This month, IL France Correspondent Stewart Richmond shares what he found on a recent trip to the southern French city of Perpignan, a place where two European cultures collide. “This is the place to be if you can’t decide whether you want to live in France or in Spain,” he says.
It’s a big world out there, filled with all new adventures and experiences for your overseas retirement. Turn the page to start exploring…
When you take your first steps onto Shanghai’s Bund waterfront, you’ll feel like you’ve been transported to another continent, a century back in time. More than 50 striking early 20th-century commercial buildings line the street, once the headquarters of the world’s East Asia-based banking and trading houses. Financiers and industrialists from the global powers of Read more...: Along the Waterfront of Shanghai’s Bund
I’m sitting in a small watering hole in Barranquilla, a city of about 1.2 million people on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. I’m sipping the most delicious limonada de coco (coconut lemonade) while the evening breeze sways the palm trees and blows my hair. Barranquilla is gearing up for its Carnival. Brightly colored decorations of flowers adorn Read more...: Baranquilla, Colombia
Soak in Spain’s Arabic Baths When the summer sun begins to scorch Madrid, my sanctuary is Hammam Al Ándalus. A hammam is a traditional Arabic bathhouse found throughout the Middle East and North Africa. They were introduced to Spain under Moorish rule, and contemporary versions survive today, offering luxurious soaking pools and scented massages. From Read more...: News & Notes From Around the World
VaultChain Disrupts How We Trade Gold Anthony Planas, Banyanhill.com Buying gold has finally caught up with the 21st century. With previous options, investors had two choices. The first is to hold the physical metal—and pay high fees. If you don’t own your own personal safe, the cost to carry can range from 0.3% to 1%, Read more...: Wall Street is Coming for Cryptocurrencies, Demand for Oil Stays Strong, and More
When Maria Johnson, of New England, and Cameron, her husband of 35 years, went on a cruise up Canada’s Atlantic coast, they were excited by the prospect—neither of them had ever left the U.S. before. As Maria and Cameron approached retirement, they realized they needed to wrap up a lot of things, both in their Read more...: A Maritime Retirement on The Magdalen Islands
After years spent searching for her perfect overseas retirement destination—a quest that had her visiting Ecuador, Belize, and Mexico— CheryLynn Ferrari, 63, found exactly what she was looking for. “Now I live in San Nicolás de Ibarra, a small town near Lake Chapala, in Mexico. The people here are amazing. I wanted to lower my Read more...: A Single Woman Lowers Costs and Boosts Her Lifestyle
The morning sun is indiscriminate, glittering equally off the surfaces of 21st-century glass-and-chrome skyscrapers and the filigree carvings of 600-year-old temples. Streets teem with more early risers than you’ll encounter in most major Asian cities, while the timeless Tonle Sap River carves a stately passage through historic, business, and residential districts. Phnom Penh is a Read more...: Get the Best Out of Phnom Penh’s Rentals Boom
“I Said to Myself ‘This Feels Right, I Can See Myself Living Here’” Name: Darryl Jones Age: 68 From: Buffalo, New York Living in: Chiang Mai, Thailand “Let’s sit by the river near this 300-year-old rain tree,” Darryl Jones suggests. It is easy to see why it’s one of his favorite places to enjoy lunch. Read more...: Finding Wellness, Health, and Inspiration in Asia
In International Living magazine we often write about how a Social Security check can provide you with a comfortable, even luxurious, lifestyle in a variety of appealing locations around the world. However, when the time comes to relocate and start your life’s next chapter, it is useful to understand how, exactly, you receive that check, Read more...: Maximize Your Social Security While Living Overseas
“A few years ago, my brother had a severe health scare, and I realized that life is finite,” says Eric Hungerford. “Why wait until you have all the money in the world? That will never happen. Why not go now with whatever money you do have?” In 2017, Eric, 64, and Larisa, 47, attended an Read more...: Slow Travel in Malaysia, Malta…and Maybe Vietnam