Worst Things About Moving Abroad

Those B! banks!

Reclining golden Buddha in Thailand – Best Places In The World To Retire – International LivingBANKING-- despite all their assurances that you have set up all the correct procedures and accounts, there WILL be problems. Not in your host country, but 'back home'. These will take the form of excessive fees, limitations on the maximum allowed currency, changes in their regulations, both Governmental and internal bank rules, staff changes, lock-outs for internet transactions and many, many others.

Should you try snail mail it may take weeks of effort; I once took a certified bank check wih...

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An Expat Christmas In Panama

Christmas In Panama – Best Places In The World To Retire – International LivingThis has been our second Christmas living in Panama… and whilst I cannot deny that spending Christmas day on the beach and by a gorgeous pool in glorious sunshine is a huge plus point, for us and many people we know there is that severe lack of ‘chrismassy feeling’
 
That is not because Christmas is not celebrated here… Christmas decorations have been up everywhere, stores have dedicated floors of Christmas paraphernalia and the shops are crammed...

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Of Myths, the Bard, and Moving Overseas: To Thine Own Self Be True

Confession Booth – Best Places In The World To Retire – International LivingBless me, Father.  It has been ten years since my last confession.  Leastwise, that was when I committed the ‘sin’ of my exodus from Philadelphia, PA to the Promised Land of Belize.  You see, Father, that little coastal country hanging below Mexico laid before me a sensual temptation.   With the strength of the mythical Sirens, it lured me with its enchantingly sweet ‘singing’ about sunny days and more-for-the-money lifestyle.

“Alas, there was no...

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Edesia's Revenge

Good food is like good sex – most people don’t need it every day, but life becomes drab and colorless when it disappears entirely.  Here Panama ranks low (on the food index, not the sex index). Most meals in Panama, whether at home or in restaurants, consist of white rice and beans with a bit of leathery meat or chicken. Fried foods are also popular – especially hojaldra (fried bread), tortillas and other things made of corn -- with predictable results for the national body...

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Best Places In The World To Retire