Becoming An Expat

I've read articles, seen websites, and last Friday at supper a friend said he read an article and they were seriously thinking about it too.

That idea is retiring into another country in Central or South America. My friend was talking about Belize, I've read articles on many other countries at escapeartist.com

It seems alluring, stretch your limited retirement income further, explore a new country, take up new hobbies, and live a life of relative luxury. Of course there are always drawbacks, same as here. They might have great weather and the occasional hurricane. We have yearly tornadoes.

Crime is more rampant in Central and South America but we have Detroit.

They have the occasional banana republic dictator pop up, we have Obama and the Democrats.

Belize for example (I read this but have never been there so I can't vouch for it's accuracy) has the second largest barrier reef outside of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It is a tropical climate and on the southern part of the Yucatan Peninsula. English is the official language (something we in the States actually need) and it is a prime destination for many expatriates.

Living isn't dirt cheap but you can easily live well on dual retirement incomes. Personally I think I'd be more inclined to find an ocean going boat and live it up on that. Yeah it would be more expensive but you would have the entire world before you and the vessel to get there!

You could go to the Antarctic and heckle the Sea Shepherds who are harassing the Japanese fleet! How much fun would that be?!?!

You could summer in the north or south, winter around the equator. Shove off to Asia and in a couple of weeks be in the Bahamas. That kind of freedom would be incredible!

Of course you can get world wide internet, it's a bit expensive but an absolute must have for me. You'd need a vessel that is definitely livable for years at a time so that would be a bit of a start up cost. You can sail a lot and wouldn't need much diesel power but that is a skill you'd have to learn, as well as navigation.

I'm sure I can learn all of that and more:)