International Living Community

Hi! Ron here and just getting started.

Hi there! Ted Baumann here. I've actually stayed at the Garden Route Game Lodge myself, it's really nice. Lovely big fireplaces for the evening meals. The quickest way to get there from Aghulas would be to take the R319 provincial road north Until you intersect with the N2 highway, Which runs east west. You would make a right turn onto the N2 then go through Swellendam, Heidelberg, and Riversdale, and then you'll pick up the game lodge a bit further on on the left.

It is nice to meet you! I just got back from a trip to the Central Valley last month. I use Facebook Groups to answer my questions and give advice when I am visiting a new place. I find them very helpful and my top resource. On my recent editorial trip to Grecia, Costa Rica, I wandered into Los Jardines Vivero y Café. A kaleidoscope of colors welcomed me—flowers in every shade, vintage VWs adding charm, captivating art, and a Koi Pond. The Nuevos Amigos Group in Grecia weekly gathering was in full swing. Although expats started the group, it's a place where anyone interested in building new relationships can join on Wednesdays at noon. And in Atenas, a weekly women's group gets together on Thursdays from 10 am - 12 pm. Every month they choose a new restaurant to visit. Their Facebook Group is informative: https://www.facebook.com/groups/663758784658197/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=1144736216560449 Additionally, there was so much interest in Atenas that another group started meeting on Tuesday mornings, too. I met a wonderful woman in Grecia, who specializes in real estate in these areas. I suggest contacting her on WhatsApp: Brooke Bishop +506 8311 5336 In the Central Valley, you will find the country's biggest cities and many bigger towns. That doesn't mean it's all urban. There are plenty of quiet countryside locations, little mountain villages, bustling market towns — you can also get away from it all in the Central Valley. I suggest checking out some other areas, maybe Escazu, Alajuela, Santa Ana, Pavas, Tres Rios, and Cartago. If you stay in San Jose, you might want to stay at the Grano de Oro or the Gran Hilton Hotel. And we hold our yearly conference at the InterContinental Escazu. Let me know if other questions come up. Bekah Bottone, IL's Costa Rica Correspondent

Hello there. Sorry about the technical difficulties. Let's start with the golden visa issue. The type of programs you are referring to have mainly abandoned real estate as an option. But there are plenty of other visa types that will work for you as well. There's no need for you to start investing little bits into foreign stock markets to get residency abroad. Of course, if you have money in an IRA, you can convert some of it to a self directed IRA, and to use that to invest in qualifying assets in whatever country you want to live in. As you note, it's quite difficult to get banking and brokerage facilities in a foreign country unless you have a close connection there, or until you've got a residency visa. If your goal is to retire overseas, then your best bet is to focus on getting a financially independent person's visa, sometimes called a non-lucrative visa. In all countries, this requires that you demonstrate a regular flow of passive income from pension or investments. As long as you have enough coming in, and you have all the other paperwork in order, that allows you to live in the country indefinitely. And it doesn't require that you open up a bank account ahead of time.

Hi Keith, I adore my island Cozumel and have been here for seven years now. I love everything about it. the culture, food, people, but especially the ocean. The water is gorgeous. Bel Woodhouse - Mexico Correspondent.

Hi Sherryl, I'm Bel, the Mexico Correspondent and yes, there are expats living in Mazatlan. Here are a coupld of Facebook groups: Mazatlan Expats and Mazatlan Buy and Sell so you have contacts for those living there right now to answer your questions. https://www.facebook.com/groups/421874412236301 https://www.facebook.com/groups/498042901476569

It's hard to go wrong RLBarker, there are so many great options that you're better off deciding which country you'd love to spend time in and then zeroing in on towns within that country with good language programs. That said I think Panama, where I live, is a great option. There's a Spanish school in the capital's colonial sector, Casco Viejo, that gets great reviews and the owner has spoken at IL Event in Panama so we know the school is real (IL's annual Fast Track Panama conference), see https://cascospanish.com/. Many say the easiest Latin American Spanish accent to learn in is Mexican or Colombian. I find the accent in Panama City to be very straightforward, it's not sing-songy but rather more like newscaster accents. Outside of Panama City if you get into rural parts you will find that people speak a bit differently (clipping words/omitting the end syllable, for example) but this is true in much of Latin America (easier for learners to understand "posher" accents in cities versus rural parts) If you love countries like Argentina and Uruguay then that's a quite different type of Spanish so you'd maybe want to go to a school that can teach you Rioplatense Spanish. And if you fancy spending a lot of time in Spain, same thing - it's a quite different version Spanish, probably best to study it in Spain itself. ~IL Panama Editor Jessica Ramesch

Hi, IL Events should be able to help you with that, go to https://internationalliving.com/contact-us/ and send them a note or call the listed number (there's a toll-free and a direct dial).

Hi Bekah, Thanks so much for the valuable insights. Will definitely get in touch with the attorney you highly recommended. Be happy and healthy! Joan

Hello! You can set up a Wise account before you leave to France. You don’t need a French bank account to apply for the visa. With a Wise account you have a European routing number so you can secure a short term or long-term rental, set up utilities, and mobile phone service, etc. Then when you arrive in France, you can walk into an establishment to set up a brick and mortar French account. I hope that is helpful, please let me know if you have any follow-up questions. Tuula Rampont, IL France Correspondent

Hi Cheri, That is very cool! And actually great timing... I wrote a comprehensive guide to the Olympics that is going to be published in the June edition of IL. Keep an eye out for it in the coming weeks. If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to post them, or email me directly: france@internationalliving.com. IL France Correspondent, Tuula Rampont

Im young at heart and spirit but old in number hehe im here to get to know much more

Hi, emergency healthcare is actually not free in Greece. I was on the island of Crete just last year and had to go to the hospital. I got excellent care, the doctors spoke great English and explained things more thoroughly that what I have had in Canada. That said, the visit was not free. I had to pay around $100 - $125 Euros after I was seen. You also have to pay immediately before you leave the hospital. Can be in cash or cc. This is coming from my time as a tourist there. If you are a resident, EU passport holder - maybe healthcare it's free.

Yes, recent changes to Belize's QRP (Qualified Retirement Program) have reduced the age at which you can apply to 40 as well as added a number of accepted ways you can prove that you meet the $2,000 per month in retirement income. To get the latest on this program, visit: https://www.belizetourismboard.org/

I just wanted to add that Semana Santa (Holy Week) is a very busy time (big vacation time for Ticos) on the beaches and one of the most expensive times too. You may see prices increase during that time. If you have trouble finding something that week or notice prices are super high, it may be a good time to visit some places inland and then return back to the beach after Easter. Just an idea. Have you thought about which beach area you prefer? Choose from the following: Guancaste, Nicoya, the Central Pacific coast, the South Pacific coast, or the Carribbean coast. Guanacaste is the dryest area and the South Pacific and Carribbean are the wetest ones. Yet March and April are the end of the dry seaon in Costa Rica.

By the way, if you have good reviews on Airbnb, those can help convince a homeowner to give you a shot even if you have no reviews on THS.com. (I am a "host" on THS and have seen some sitters link to their Airbnb profiles.) As a somewhat nervous home and cat owner I never consider applicants unless they have at least three five-star reviews (these generally show that the person is caring with animals and also takes good care of the homes they are entrusted with). That said, there have to be hosts our there who are willing to give new sitters their first break. As a host I have 6 sits under my belt and each has been a five-star experience. Here are some insights: I only consider applicants who 1- send a coherent message with their application, showing that they've read my listing with care (many do not; my listing states that these will be automatically rejected), 2- have a lot of cat-sitting experience as evidenced by their reviews (many sitters have experience with dogs and not cats), and 3- are self-professed cat-lovers (extra points if they say they have/have had their own). Once I've verified that the candidate(s) look good on paper, I always have a zoom call and only then, if my gut feeling is that we are a good match, do I offer them the sit.

Hello, hope you had/are having a wonderful time in Panama. Rosalind Baitel was at the conference as an expat speaker, she is not a tour guide. Generally expat speakers participate in IL conferences to talk abut their full and enriching lives as expats. They do not sell real estate or offer tours. In your conference materials you have contact information for Pangea's RETA concierge who can help answer questions about neighborhoods and real estate and put you in contact with brokers who offer tours. Generally speaking you'll spend upwards of $900 a month for an apartment like that in a nice neighborhood in Pamama City and in the city electric is usually billed separately. Happy apartment hunting!

Your response was so helpful - thank you very much!