Planning Your Escape Isn’t as Complicated as You Might Think

In the movie of The Shawshank Redemption, the protagonists have to endure some pretty unpleasant conditions as they make their escape to the Pacific-coast hideaway of Zihuatanejo, Mexico. These days, it’s not nearly so unsavory a journey, but you’d be forgiven for feeling like you need an escape as desperately as any stir-crazy convict.

Things feel less…complicated overseas right now. Or, really, things overseas are much the same as they ever were—but things at home are getting difficult to deal with. Who, these days, doesn’t dream of simpler things, a simpler life, simpler choices?

Robert Knight had the high-flying career in finance, the big salary, even an award from the President. He was the poster boy for the American Dream. But, in his own words: “My life was lacking joy.” Zihuatanejo was Robert’s escape, a place where he could relax, earn on his own terms, and find his own life again: “The solution seemed to be downsize my work and upsize my happiness,” he says.

Now, living less than five minutes’ walk from the spectacular beach, in an apartment that costs just $185 a month, he’s enjoying the things that money just can’t buy, like sunsets, and good health, and living life as he chooses.

In another part of Mexico, Scott and Leslie Lukeheart also found a way to get away from the complications they thought would hold them back. In their case, they were convinced that owning a long-lived dog would mean they had to put their overseas retirement on the long finger. But then they had a lightbulb moment—why not just drive down to San Miguel de Allende, and bring their pet with them?

And just like that, it was done. All three of them now live in “a city without freeways, neon signs, or the tyranny of travel time and distance that characterizes modern life in the U.S.” As Scott puts it, “What was once foreign and unknown now feels magically close and welcoming.”

Down in Costa Rica, expats have been escaping to the Central Valley towns of Atenas and Grecia for decades. There, spring-like weather, excellent healthcare, high quality amenities, and a strong expat community mean that the transition to a rewarding life in one of the world’s most beautiful locations is as easy as falling off a log. Now’s the time to get planning your own improved life overseas.

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