Archives

Making The Most Of 2025

January 6, 2025

Happy New Year! All the calendar days of a new year in front of us... Each one begging to be filled with discovery. I’d say that this world of ours is a pretty great place to be. I make the point in case you’re worried the opposite is true. In this age of 24/7 real-time news, it can be…

A European New Year

December 30, 2024

I’m about to ring in my seventh year as a resident in France, and I’ve so far celebrated in a variety of ways, ranging from cliché American, to cliché tourist, to cliché French. I blame the “American year” on my ninth month of pregnancy, when I wasn’t motivated to be anywhere but my bed or…

How To Celebrate Christmas In Your New Home Overseas

December 23, 2024

Merry Christmas! Wherever we find ourselves in the world, no matter how the day is celebrated locally, Christmas is a day for goodwill and good cheer… and perhaps some good rum, if you’re south of the border! Here are some of my favorite ways to celebrate Christmas in some of our favorite countries around the…

Olhão, Portugal, A Town With Soul On A Sun-Kissed Shore

December 16, 2024

If you are looking for a home blessed with Algarve sun and sea, but without the tourist hordes that converge on much of the coast in summer, consider the town of Olhão. This is not one of the Algarve’s famed seaside resorts. For its many admirers, that is part of its charm. Olhão is a…

Portugal As The Perfect Launchpad For European Adventures

December 9, 2024

When my husband and I first decided to move abroad, we contemplated many options all over the world… First, we thought of English-speaking countries. Australia came to mind. Then my husband reminded me of the many indigenous species of very large spiders and snakes, so that was off the table. Then we thought of our…

3 Countries You Can Move To Today

December 2, 2024

More and more people are catching on to the idea that better lifestyle and investment opportunities can be found beyond the borders of the U.S. I’ve advised on this idea for more than 30 years, but I don’t just write about it. I live it myself. I made my first international move in 1998, leaving…

Reinventing Thanksgiving Overseas

November 25, 2024

I would argue that most things in life are better with a twist… something unusual… unexpected… unfamiliar… makes anything more interesting. For me, that’s about 90% of the allure of living overseas—nothing is ever as you expect it to be. And this has been the case with Thanksgivings throughout my life, for example. We moved…

The Many Faces Of Little Belize—Part II

November 18, 2024

Don’t be fooled because of its size. You can get from one end of Belize to the other in a half day by car or a half hour by plane (the country’s domestic air travel system is its most developed infrastructure). Despite this, Belize has many faces. First is Belize City—poor, underdeveloped, and, in parts, unsafe.…

Our Favorite Caribbean Paradise—Part I

November 11, 2024

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…

Exploring Panama With New Eyes

November 4, 2024

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…