From pioneering as an early-in expat in a place just coming onto the scene to enjoying a soft landing in a well established locale where expats on the ground already have day-to-day life figured out—you have choices today. Lots of them—and they tend to lay out along a continuum, as new spots open up…
In Belize, for example, there’s a newly paved road from San Pedro toward
the bohemian artists’ hamlet of Secret Beach. All of a sudden, Secret Beach is abuzz. Access is easier now, amenities are following, and businesses are setting up. Sure, there will always be those who will wish it was all still a secret, but there are plenty who welcome the opening up of this new locale, too.
You can take that same idea and apply it to a larger arena. From the gleaming boulevards of Paris to the barefoot chic of Koh Phangan, Thailand, there are spots where things are taking off…as well as sleepy, tranquil places where nothing ever seems to change. Figuring out where you’ll be most comfortable on that continuum is one of the joys of a move abroad. You get to choose.
Take Panama, for starters. It’s been welcoming expats for decades, it has a whole range of living options to choose from, and they’re way up the luxury scale. Our Panama Editor Jessica Ramesch plots it out for you: “This is today’s Panama. Warm and tropical. Modern and surprisingly wealthy. In a word, comfortable.”
But if you’re more of a pioneering type, the world is also full of
options for a life where you’re free to forge your own path. Take Paul Beckman, who worked all over the world on IT contracts, but found everything he was looking for in the city of Arequipa, in southern Peru. Right now, it’s pretty undiscovered from an expat point of view, but
Paul’s sitting on a slice of land outside the city where he reckons the path of progress will be rolling some good luck his way soon: “The hotels will be arriving in three or four years…it will be ripe for plunder.”
The wonderful thing about relocating abroad is that, if you get itchy feet, you’re not locked in forever. As IL Riviera Maya Correspondent Don Murray puts it, “There are many places where you can build your new life and pursue your dreams…significant numbers can be found that meet nearly all of your primary needs and wants.”
All you have to do is get out there. In these pages each month, we show you where to go…
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