We have gotten a few questions like “why would you move overseas?”, or “You are going where! Are you Loco?”. The answer is not a simple one, as we have pondered it for a couple of years and also gone back and forth as to whether we were going to do so. We will attempt to document the process we have gone through on this blog.
Each person’s reasons for choosing the expat life are different and we encourage you to make a list of why and why not. Then really talk through each of those so you understand all the implications of your decision.
The Straw That Broke the Camel’s Back…
Or more appropriately the pole that holds up the whole thing. As I said we spent quite a bit of time contemplating and discussing moving overseas. We always came back to are we really sure we want to completely give up life in the US? What about family, grandkids, etc. What if we do not like where we move to?
On the other hand, we kept coming back to wanting to see more of the world, travel and explore, sooner rather than later. We realized that it was very likely we could not afford to travel after retirement unless we waited until the age of 70 or so to actually retire. Also due to several health issues we both have, we need to move to a warmer stable climate much sooner than later.
We kept seeing the advice of many expats that you should never go somewhere and buy an expensive house and settle in without living in the area for at least a year.
Finally, the light lit up and our “AH HA” moment occurred to us. What if we just went to Central America and spent a few years moving from area to area, country to country to explore? No firm intention of moving permanently, but if we find someplace we want to move to we are open to settling down.
We soon discovered that there are actually a large number of people that do this all the time and it even has a name, Slow Travel. Slow travel involves spending much more time in places and really getting to know the people, culture and life in any one place. Spending 2 weeks in Mexico at a resort does not give you any sense of the place you are visiting, but rather what the resort fabricates for you.
Slow travel can be much less expensive than resort vacations. A typical apartment or house rented for a few months is going to cost less per month than 2 weeks at a resort or large hotel. You will not have to eat out for every meal because you have a kitchen to prepare those meals you want to eat in at great savings.
Without the expense of maintaining a residence in the US, and flights back and forth constantly to keep things going in the US we could have more resources to spend on a great adventure. In our research, we found we could easily live on our Military Retirement and VA Disability and wait for Social Security and a small second career pension.
We have chosen Panama as our Slow Travel base for a number of reasons, many of them very important to us. The top of the list is ease of return to the US to visit Grandkids and other family members. Since English is widely spoken throughout Panama it becomes an easier place to land while we both relearn the Spanish we have forgotten. High-quality health care is very affordable and our Health Insurance Company has 2 offices in Panama, making it easier to utilize.
A very important reason to us to be moving to Central America is our Health Issues. We both have conditions that are made almost debilitating by the weather and altitude where we are currently living. Through a lot of research, we have found that most of our issues can be mitigated by living in what is called the Golden Arc, 20 degrees either side of the equator.
This is an area of the world where there are not big swings in barometric pressure, bad storms and conditions are right to minimize many of the issues we face daily.
We have put our Plan B into motion and are very excited to move on to a new adventure in life. Come join us. We will keep a lawn chair ready for you at the beach!