Last week my youngest daughter flew from Orlando, FL to Europe. She’ll be spending about 2-1/2 months in Lille, France to round out her gap year between high school and college. In honor of her French adventure, I decided to review a couple of books by expats in France. Almost French, subtitled Love and a New Life in Paris, was written by Sarah Turnbull. An Australian journalist, she met Frédéric while traveling in Eastern Europe, visited him in Paris, and ended up making a life with him. She …
Living On Bajan Time
Guest Post by Kathy Nicholls Nothing is quite as wonderful as living 10 minutes from the Caribbean Sea. In 2008, I had the opportunity to relocate to Barbados, contracted by the government of Barbados to set up a school to train medical transcriptionists. The two years I lived there changed my life. You feel the sea breeze in the air no matter where you go on the island, and the people, while highly motivated to work hard, understand the importance of having a balance in life. Now back in the …
Let the Chocolate Decide!
I have a confession to make. I love chocolate. It's my drug of choice, my not-so-secret pleasure. That's why I was tickled recently to find that Ecuador, one of the countries we're considering as a place to live, is a good source of the luscious beans. According to MarketWire, "Where do the Swiss go to buy the best chocolate in the world? The Trade Commission of Ecuador says it's a little known fact that Swiss chocolatiers have been traveling to South America for centuries, specifically …
Are You A Boomer or A Hammock Swinging Adventurer?
Kathleen Peddicord of Live and Invest Overseas revisited Nicaragua recently, and had some interesting comparisons between Nicaragua and Panama. I can't help but draw comparisons between this place and the place I left early yesterday morning, Panama City. Granada, Nicaragua, from where I write, and Panama City, Panama, couldn't be more different, and I've been trying to put my finger on, exactly, why that is. Finally, the gentleman who was kind enough to collect me in Managua last night and …
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A Hundred Million Miracles
A Review of the Movie Flower Drum Song "A hundred million miracles are happening every day." That’s the opening song in the movie, Flower Drum Song, and the theme that sparkles throughout the entire musical. Flower Drum Song is also the story of cultures on collision courses with each other – East vs. West, traditional vs. modern, elegance vs. tawdriness, classical music vs. rock ‘n roll – and the resolution of those cultural conflicts is the real miracle. Mei Li and her father arrive in San …
Assisted Living in Mexico
Tied to concerns about health care, some expats and future expats are also looking into what would happen if they were to retire overseas and then become too ill to take care of themselves. Mexico is working on an answer. As the US population ages, and as more and more Americans decide to retire abroad, Assisted Living is becoming big business in Mexico. It even has its own non-profit organization! AMAR is the Asociacion Mexicana de Asistencia en el Retiro in Spanish, the Mexican Association …