Archives

Palms and beach at Caye Caulker island, Belize

Our Favorite Caribbean Paradise—Part I

For me, it was love at first sight. From the first morning I arrived in Belize, more than 30 years ago, climbed down from the plane onto the runway, threw my backpack over my shoulder, pulled on my sunglasses, and walked across the tarmac in the direction of the one-room Belize City airport, I was…
Sunny view from Los Islote in Panama

Exploring Panama With New Eyes

Coming to Panama feels surreal these days. Between the nostalgia for our lives here pre-Paris and the evolution of the city, country, and our long-term home here, Los Islotes, plus bringing our daughters to this place we talk about all the time but they don’t know themselves… It’s a dreamlike state I feel when I’m…
View of a flag from Panama in a park in Panama City, Panama

Panama City 2.0

My family and I landed in Panama last night, and it felt like coming to a completely new place… The new airport terminal has been completed since I was here last (only partially operational a few years ago), and it was all so sleek and new I didn’t recognize a bit of the airport I…
View of Casco Viejo in Panama City, Panama

What I Miss Most About Panama

At the time of writing this I’m preparing for my first return to Panama in two years… Here in Paris, it’s already quite chilly and our summer clothes have been packed away for weeks… my husband and I need both business and beach clothes… warm-weather wear that still fits our rapidly growing 4-year-old needs to…
Clear water beach in Thailand

A New, Better Way To Retire

Go to school… get a job… work hard for a few decades… retire… then die. For as long as I can remember, that’s the schedule we’ve been expected to adhere to. Some people make it look good. I have friends now retiring in their early 60s with money in the bank, good health, and lots of…
Panoramic view of Volcan, Panama

Escaping The Heat In The Mountains Of Panama

Situated in the highlands of western Panama, Tierras Altas (literally, “High Lands”) features comparable scenery to neighboring Boquete—misty hillsides dense with greenery, gardens terraced into slopes, and abundant wildflowers. Its cool-weather climate and the outdoor lifestyle it affords are also similar… But Tierras Altas is also very different to Boquete in important ways. First, it’s…
Green meadow with amazing view of tropical beach by the Pacific Ocean.

Trading Toronto, Canada, For Torio, Panama

Although firmly on the map as a world-class retirement haven, parts of Panama are still relatively undiscovered. The country’s Veraguas Province is one such place. It sits on the Azuero Peninsula, and its western coast is one of the few places in Panama from which you can watch the sun set over the ocean. And…
wooden staircase towards a beach in Bocas del Toro, Panama

Finding Your Personal Paradise In Panama

My husband and I just bought tickets to return to Panama, where we lived for seven years. It’s been a couple of years since we’ve been back, and this time there was a deadline: we need to renew our permanent residency and get new ID cards. Even though we moved away in 2018, we’re still…
View of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France

Coming Home To That Vacation Feeling

“At least it’s Paris we’re going back to…” I sighed to my husband and daughter as we packed up to leave Mallorca, where we’d been blissfully untethered from reality for the last 10 days. “Because Paris is the best city in the world, right mama?” My four-year-old grinned up at me with this aphorism that…
View od Madeira island in Portugal.

Peaceful Overseas Escapes

With election madness ramping up, even a cursory glance at the headlines serves as a reminder of how volatile and divisive U.S. politics have become. Add to that a string of global crises and conflicts, and the desire to somehow escape from the chaos becomes easily understandable. I’ve long been on a mission to identify…
PHP Code Snippets Powered By : XYZScripts.com