WOW to both of you , my husband and I think the same we went to Panama, costa rica, freeport, Belize.
We are looking now at St Kitt and Nevis.
We want a place where they speak english, or french, were we can find more people thinking like us. We are from Canada, and our situation is the same as in the US I could say worst.
By looking at a lot of blog and forum I really think their is a good business opportunity here. A lot of people are looking for the a place like this, less government, less taxes, more privacy, more freedom, no NWO, more liberty.
If you ever find a place please tell me.
best regards
Jojo

But I hear what you're saying about living somewhere othere than the US. Maybe a nomad/permanent traveller lifestyle is the way to go. There's so much to see and do in this world. Why sit in one place?

I'm researching “location independent” livestyles where you can work from wherever you happen to be. Check out http://www.RidiculouslyExtraordinary.com. This guy makes it seem easy. Who knows?

Are you on FB? Maybe we could share info…

Jackie

I suppose another category you could add would be Turbo Travelers ( not really expats). I have met these a few times, Doing all of South-East Asia in a month or All of Europe in two weeks. More like collecting passport stamps.

You could add the category of people that travel to distant lands for the primary purpose of evangelizing the gospel. These people generally feel a deep commitment to their religious beliefs and seek out others from different cultures to share the joy of their knowledge. I believe the category could best be referred to as missionaries.

A possible second additional category could consist of people that travel for the primary reason of satisfying their insatiable urges to meet new and different people. Since most people we know and befriend are associated with specific environments, we are driven to changes in their environment in order to meet others that are perceived as different from our existing group of friends. As you say, many of the characteristics of each type you have identified are shared between groups so maybe this isn't really a separate category at all. I mention it because it seems to best describe my yearnings to live life to its fullest and experience all the wonderment of making new friends in new places. I haven't thought of an appropriate name for this new category but “people-lover” seems to engender most of the spirit it contains.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas as you travel.

Travis Ogle
Pensacola, FL

I have found that I need to pick and choose my expat friends carefully. I find expats to be either very competent, and are people who were successful back home, or they are bottom-of-the-barrel folks. The middle ground is not often seen. Why is that? I have some theories…

I’m from the upper midwest and we like to think our harsh winters keep much of the riff-raff away. If you want an easy life, why live with cold winters? The same dynamic is true for expat destinations but not about the temperature or weather… If you live in a difficult place then the “easy street” boys will stay away. Go to Angeles and Pattaya (easy street) and you’ll see the worst of the worst (not all of them, but many are this way). Go to inner China where things are difficult (but opportunity abounds) and you’ll find fewer slackers.

Just my humble opinion of course…

We are presently living in ES Asia in Thailand, very tropical and the people are friendly and it is inexpensive place to live. The downside is the government is full of incompetents and immigration likes to keep changing the rules. Also the Thai language is impossible to learn.Thailand has recently had problems in Bangkok and we have been researching where to go next if Thailand becomes untenable.

We have pretty much narrowed it down to Uruguay as it feels more permanent than many places. You can get permanent residency in a few months time and after three years they will issue you a Uruguayan passport. You can own land there like a local everything we have read has been encouraging. You have to pass a physical show a income of $500US a month and not have a police record.

We are pretty much all settled in Thailand and like it here, but if it goes turtle on us we look at it as another adventure. The wife and I retired on my 50th birthday and have never regretted it. That was in 1984 we traveled around for several years spending 3 months here and six months there. Back then travel was fun and not expensive. After 30+ countries we decided to settled down in Australia. so we got their retirement visa. We had to show we would be no burden on the country and were in good health and no police record. It also required bringing $500,000 into Australia. We bought land and built a very nice house on six acres, landscaped the whole six acres. After about 12 years Australia decided to do away with the retirement visa and while we could stay they made it a unpleasant task every 2 years of refiling. We said hell with it sold our house decided to either move to Thailand or Panama. were familiar with Thailand from many trips there so checked out Panama. It was nice but we never found a place that felt like we would like to live there. In hindsight it might have been a better choice but my crystal ball was fogged up.

Now perhaps a new adventure in Uruguay, we plan to check it out in September, have great expectations.

Sorry didn’t mean to write a book,
Happy expating
Norm

Darryl I’m doing my due diligence on some business opportunities in the Yucatan. I have some expat connections who have an infrastructure of American/Canadian friendly and trustworthy attorneys but I’m always looking to expand my knowledge and contact base. If you want to provide your email I would take you up on your offer to provide information to anyone considering a move there…thank you.

Earlier today I sent you an e-mail and was told by the “Postfix program” that your mailbox “is full.”

I’ll resend it every couple of days for a while.

Don

Although US-centric, the perspective may provide a bit of a springboard to relocate WITHIN the US whilst working on getting OUT of the US.

The only time I really want to be a pioneer is when I visit Africa or Argentina! You can just tell there are so many amazing opportunities in both. But with a baby, living in either place becomes a risk that I am willing to take but one that I cannot force upon my family.

I particularly help astute men “Find Their Own Never Never Land” by helping them answer the biggest expat question I seem to come across: ‘where to go?’.

Great insight, Simon. I like your content as well. By all means, keep up the good work.

Regards,
Fiercely Independent John Nada

Nice!

health (paying cash is best),
house (mostly masonry, no fires nor termites)
automobile (mechanics and doctors are cheap) though we do carry small liability policies on our vehicles.

Hope this helps people considering expatriation!

To get things rolling, I propose building a small Kasbah in Ubud, Bali, near the international Waldorf “Green School”. If we could get a dozen such projects off the ground, worldwide, then we could trade them, or travel from one to the next, which would first get everyone out of Dodge, and then buy them plenty of time to figure out their next move, in the comfort of a reasonably secure condo-like group residence project.

http://rauschenbach.us/node/623

Being a double Virgo (Earth Sign), both my Sun and my Moon are in Virgo; and with my name meaning “gardner” in Polish, but with a restless ( Rising Sign ) in Sagittarius (Fire Sign), I would
fall predominantly under the Retiree – Hermit categories, with occasional cabin fever forays into the
exciting world of the nomadic-hedonist, but only for weeks which end in a full moon! The rest of the time is for flying, fishing, golfing, reading ( whatever I like) Renaissance Lit. major at Northwestern,
growing my own salads, citrus and nuts and preparing and eating gourmet meals with local wines
(from my own vineyard and bartered for variety), and exploring the nearly uninhabited and savagely exotic terrain of N. Eastern Argentina and the area around the headlands of the Andean cordillera in my L.I. battery powered Electraflyer Trike, which qualifies as an ultralight aircraft, and
as such, requires no pilot’s license and is restricted to low density population areas and daytime flying only, which is exactly what I want to do. I’ll be doing it in stealth mode as the trike is virtually silent except for the whispering whoose of the push prop as it pushes me along at 75 to
105 k/hr. depending on wind. And with the help of abundant thermals in the upper deserts and
foothills of the cordillera, I will be able to cut the engine entirely and rise as high as the thermal will take me, just like a hang glider, only with power to land wherever I choose. And soon there will
be fabric solar collector material that will extend my range indefinitely as I cut the tether of the electric outlet for recharging the battery pack, which now gives about 2 hrs. of cruising power.
Just let your imagination fill in the next few paragraphs.

I am planning to visit Panama on my way to the grand opening festivities at La Estancia de Cafayate, where I will begin building my little hobbit hole, which will serve as home base in-
between cabin-fever excursions. While there I will be taking your advice and my old friend
Doug Casey’s advice and dropping off some of my pm assets. When are you going to have those
contacts ready? I’ll be needing them within a months time. After taking care of this important business, I will be proceeding to Salta Province via my 1998 Dodge 1/2 ton truck, which I will have
had shipped to Panama City for the journey. I will be accompanied on the “roadtrip of a lifetime”
by a very old friend of mine. This guy is a 2-time Viet Nam Marine non-com vet with a very interesting and
still compelling story behind his 3 purple heart tours of duty. The ending of the story has just recently been written, and after 40 years of perseverance and needless suffering, I am happy to
be able to report that it was a happy one. Semper Fi! I would be happy to relate the details at
another time, if you are interested. You should be! I’ll even buy the drinks!

I would be interested in your opinion about my roadtrip, as I will be driving through Medellin, Chile, Bolivia and Peru on my journey. Any advice? Warnings? Good bars along the way? We will be sleeping in the back under a camper shell covering a carpeted and foam padded truck-bed; a
mode I have been perfecting for many years. It goes pretty much like this: no tight schedules,
as opportunities to “get tight” take precedence over “getting there” on time. Getting there will
be the eventual goal, but following the call of the open road and the opportunity for adventure will not be a slave to it. Fun rules the day. This will be tempered by my belief in this little phrase I
modeled my lifestyle after, having seen it on the wall at Little Annie’s in Aspen. It said: “Excess
in Moderation”. It has served me well as a model for living my life ever since seeing it during my late twenties ’til now, in my early sixties. Luckily, my Polish constitution helped me to emerge
from my twenties more or less physically and mentally intact. It has kept me that way ever since.

Advice on shipping my truck and any contacts for such, and for stashing my pms will be appreciated and remunerated with thanks. A short reply would be appreciated. Thanks, Og