Guest Post by Michelle Garrett Moving overseas was one of the best things I could have done. I am frequently asked by the British ‘why do you stay in Britain?’ as if I’m half crazy. They say it like that because of the weather. My short answer is that I live in Britain for love: my husband is British. They always reply ‘awwww,’ because it sounds so romantic. But the full answer is of course much longer than that, and predates my husband’s entry into my life. I grew up in a small …
Americans, I Have Some Bad News for You
On June 10, EFAM published an article titled America -- the Grim Truth. And grim it was indeed! "Americans, I have some bad news for you," the article starts. "You have the worst quality of life in the developed world – by a wide margin. "If you had any idea of how people really lived in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and many parts of Asia, you’d be rioting in the streets calling for a better life. In fact, the average Australian or Singaporean taxi driver has a much better …
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Support Yourself Anywhere as a Travel Writer
Sun, surf and white sand beaches. . . glamorous evenings. . . gourmet meals. . . what image does life as a travel writer conjure for you? Travel writing is indeed a glamorous career, and it might be just the ticket for you to pay for your overseas life. Earlier this evening I joined a teleconference with Jennifer Stevens. Jen has spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer and has traveled through 23 countries writing about the best locales for travel, investment and retirement. She was an …
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OK, I Told My Mom
A few days ago I had a long phone call with my mother, and told her about our plans to move overseas. She handled it better than I expected, and I give her a lot of credit. (She expressed far more unhappiness years ago when we told her we were moving from upstate New York, about five minutes away from her, to Florida.) Of course, that was 22 years ago, so she's certainly had a chance to adjust to our being far away. I explained, as calmly as I could, our reasons. The biggest one is that we …
At Home in a Spaceship
Expat TV Series/Movie Review: Firefly and Serenity I'm not a big TV watcher. In fact, I almost never watch TV. But once in a while a show comes along that really catches my fancy. My kids introduced me to Firefly, sadly after it had already been cancelled. (That's common with shows I like, I might add.) However, Firefly still has an extremely active fan base, enough so that they convinced Universal Studios to release the movie Serenity. I've just re-watched both the series and the movie on …
Top Quality of Living Cities for 2010
Every year, Mercer conducts a Quality of Living survey. Results for 2010 were announced a couple of days ago. Vienna, Austria, keeps its #1 spot for another year. Top 10 cities worldwide for quality of living are: Vienna, Austria Zurich, Switzerland Geneva, Switzerland Vancouver, Canada Auckland, New Zealand Dusseldorf, Germany Frankfurt, Germany Munich, Germany Bern, Switzerland Sydney, Australia The first US city on the list is Honolulu, at #31. Singapore, at #28, tops the list …
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