Venture a Little Farther off the Beaten Path to Reap the Rewards of Adventure

Beneath every cliché is a grain of truth that makes a statement shareable currency. One example is the commonplace utterance that the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity is just a matter of attitude.

That’s certainly true of Ronni Kerrins, whose retirement adventure in Southeast Asia got off to a difficult start when she broke her leg on a jungle hike. Her recovery, though, gave her the time she needed to figure out where in the region she wanted to live. “I decided that Thailand was the safest place to settle and then I could spend time traveling around other Southeast Asian countries,” she says, and adds that her adventures now take place on two wheels, since she passed her motorbike test. No armchair retirement for Ronni!

She’s just one example of how, to dredge up another cliché, fortune favors the brave. For adventurous souls, the world really is a rewarding place. Take Cecilia Snyder, who knew, deep down, that Italy was where she belonged, even when she was living in Washington, D.C. In 2014, stuck between jobs, Cecilia made the leap and moved to Italy, the country that, in her own words, “had captured my heart.”

Or Michael Burr, who first fell for Vietnam’s complex charms when he was drafted there in the 1960s. Being sent to war isn’t the best introduction to any country, but as Michael puts it, “Once Asia grabs your heart, it never lets go.” Now he’s living there, happily, on a quarter of what it cost him to live in California.

A taste for adventure, and a willingness to see the opportunities in what might look like obstacles are two immensely rewarding tools in the potential expat’s arsenal. Our correspondent Laura Diffendal examines a slowly developing spot in the lush Caribbean nation of Belize that, with a little imagination, is easy to recognize as a spectacular beach-side location to settle in.

And if you’re able to see the potential, you could find a home on one of the world’s most beautiful coastlines, in a country—Ecuador—with a cost of living that’s almost unbelievably low. It’s a prime opportunity for the expat who sees opportunities, not obstacles.

Download Your PDF Here

Digital Edition

Click on the magazine cover below to read
and click the button to enlarge the magazine