Archives

A New, Better Way To Retire

October 14, 2024

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…

Escaping The Heat In The Mountains Of Panama

October 7, 2024

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…

Trading Toronto, Canada, For Torio, Panama

September 30, 2024

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…

Finding Your Personal Paradise In Panama

September 23, 2024

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…

Coming Home To That Vacation Feeling

September 9, 2024

“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…

Peaceful Overseas Escapes

September 2, 2024

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…

Why We Picked Panama

August 26, 2024

Why were Lief and I drawn to Panama in the first place, some 26 years ago? And why have we invested more in this country than anywhere else in the world? It’s partly because Panama’s is one the greatest economic success stories in the world. Massive Growth Has Been Due Largely To Foreign Investment When the United States handed…

3 Myths About Europe: Busted

August 19, 2024

Europe is a continent of myths and

11 Reasons To Choose Europe

August 12, 2024

Why Europe? It’s been a while since I considered the question… Let’s take a step back today and reconsider Europe from a broader perspective. Why should anyone want to live in Europe? Here are the top 11 reasons I can think of… Café culture. Most European cities have some sort of café culture, which lends…

Expats Introduce Me To Their Dream Lives In Spain

August 5, 2024

Last year, I took a whirlwind scouting trip in Spain. Between two trips, I drove nearly the entire way across the country, from the French border to Plasencia, not far from the Portuguese border… While there, I became addicted to the typical Spanish breakfast: tostadas and café con leche. Nearly every day I was there,…