Overhyped Countries

[Nords]

Just got back from vacation in Caribbean and DW is making noises about how she would rather go somewhere else in Feb next year and couldn't we find someplace warm in Europe?

I guess it depends on how cold is cold. I'm getting a little paranoid because we put our full PV array online in late Jan and our solar water heater on 7 Feb-- and since then it's been rainy or cloudy (mostly both) every day. Maybe March will be better.

Rota and the surroundings weren't too bad in 1980s winters.

What about the Madeiras or the Canary Islands?

There are a lot of flights to Hawaii through O'Hare!

 

[ESRBob]

Nords,
If even Hawaii is cold and cloudy maybe I should lower the bar for anywhere else, too.

Good idea on the Canaries, btw -- went there in 1978 and had a great time -- there were cheap tix from a 'bucket shop' in London where I was an exchange student at the time -- 30 pounds round trip. Got my first head-scratching lesson in cheap travel though -- we were three of us sitting in a row on the flight down and began comparing notes-- Turns out we'd all bought the tix from the same small travel consolidator -- the young Irish guy on my left paid 15 pounds, I'd paid 30 and the middle aged guy on my right had paid 60 pounds. He was especially upset, though, since he was a loyal and regular customer of the travel consolidator, even bringing the agents gift baskets every christmas etc.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

It was in the low 70's and sunny here in the central valley most of the past week.

Alas, 63 and raining today. Had to RUN from the car to the store to avoid getting wet and chilly.

Yes, minnesotans, theres a light on the horizon. Its not the sun, its the landing lights of a 747. But theres a light...

Stopped raining out temporarily, and the baby just went down. Time for me to go put a couple of pre-salted rib eyes on the grill alongside a humongous amount of fresh asparagus...

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

My wife and I (and sons) lived in Argentina and Gabon during the 1980's. We lived in Comodoro Rivadavia in southern Argentina which my wife disliked due to the dust and sometimes strong constant winds. We visited Buenos Aires several times for several weeks and we both loved it.

We lived in Port Gentil, Gabon which is on the Atlantic coast about 40 miles south of the Equator. The beaches were beautiful. The food stuff was mostly imported from Europe which made it expensive but a hefty cost of living allowance from Amoco took care of that. The not so good part was the reservoir of diseases (Aids, hepatitus, malaria, and other tropical diseases), the lack of medical facilities and care, and government corruption with rule by a dictator (still in power today).

Well, then by the fact the Buenos Aires is in the cover story of New York Magazine, then perhaps it is too late to go there...

http://www.newyorkmag.com/guides/changeyourlife/16047/

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

I think the article's author has a valid point -- it is essential to do your own homework before buying the hype, but he obviously didn't do his homework. A luxury condo in Phuket will not set you back anywhere near $4500/night. That sum is more close to 10 months' rent. Heck, a condo can be bought for $35,000, why would anyone besides the most greenhorn of tourists pony up $4500/night?

 

[Nords]

M*'s Sue Stevens just put out an article on "How to Retire to Tahiti". It's intended to be a general guide to the major issues faced by potential expats.

Stevens mentions a couple books by Rosanne Knorr-- "The Grown-Up's Guide to Running Away from Home" and "The Grown-Up's Guide to Retiring Abroad". Anyone know if they're worth the trouble of reading?

 

[ESRBob]

Nords,
The reviews on Amazon don't look too promising, but I've ordered some used copies and can let you know what I think (if you want to wait a few weeks). She did one just for France, too, which seemed to get some reviewers' backs up as being too fluffy. These would clearly be hard books to research thoroughly, as they would, at some level, require you to retire in (or at least travel extensively in) all those different countries, which could take awhile!

 

[Nords]

Thanks, Bob, I'm happy to wait and I have plenty of other books in the hopper.

My Amazon.com habits are going to cost me at least $300 more this year... although the kid enjoys her Motley Fool Teenager's Guide to Investing.

 

[dougdo]

Jeez, i'd love a European passport. Unfortunately when I looked into it a number of years back I found out that i had to have a living German born ancestor--if I had looked into it young enough when my great grandparents were alive.

Of course, no desire to live in Germany but that passport lets you live/work anywhere.

Emigrating and going through all that process wouldn't be too difficult for certain Northern European countries but I don't want to live in Northern Europe...I want sun! And if you get it through a work/live visa then you don't get that red live/work anywhere passport...

 

[justin]

Nords,
The reviews on Amazon don't look too promising, but I've ordered some used copies and can let you know what I think (if you want to wait a few weeks). She did one just for France, too, which seemed to get some reviewers' backs up as being too fluffy. These would clearly be hard books to research thoroughly, as they would, at some level, require you to retire in (or at least travel extensively in) all those different countries, which could take awhile!

Bob,

Would you mind posting a "book report" thread on those retire abroad books you mentioned after you read them? I've discovered a few good reads from Nords' "book review" threads, so they can be very helpful and informative.

 

[Sheryl]

Bob,

Would you mind posting a "book report" thread on those retire abroad books you mentioned after you read them?  I've discovered a few good reads from Nords' "book review" threads, so they can be very helpful and informative.

Were we going to try to get a Book Report thread set up in the "best of" section? That would be beneficial to a lot of people. But I realize our hardworking moderators don't want this turned into a J@b.

 

[Martha]

Were we going to try to get a Book Report thread set up in the "best of" section? That would be beneficial to a lot of people. But I realize our hardworking moderators don't want this turned into a J@b.

We are very lazy.

 

[Sheryl]

We are very lazy.   

I wish I could be lazy too. Maybe someday.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I'm too lazy to develop an opinion on the relative merits of lazy moderators.

 

[ESRBob]

Bob,

Would you mind posting a "book report" thread on those retire abroad books you mentioned after you read them? I've discovered a few good reads from Nords' "book review" threads, so they can be very helpful and informative.

Justin,
Sure - it will probably be late this month. Sometimes the used book part of Amazon takes awhile to arrive, then I'm out on book signing tour stuff until the 20th. I plan to lace those 10 days with plenty of meals with old friends, visits to sculpture galleries, yoga classes and day spas, so it won't have a chance to start feeling like a 'business trip'. "Business Trip" was never part of the plan...

 

[justin]

Thanks ESRBob. I (and many others) will look forward to the book report(s). For wage slaves like me, free time is limited. Picking "winner" books from the start makes reading more enjoyable. It's no fun to spend 1-2 hours reading a book and then realizing that is is mediocre.

 

[dougdo]

I'm too lazy to develop an opinion on the relative merits of lazy moderators.

Ah, but i've got you all beat on laziness; being a professional slacker.

Although i do love reading and am planning to add more book reviews to Travel Blogs Travel Books. But then, that's travel books and not early retirement guides.

I do have to agree with the comment that an author purporting to write retirement guides on a bunch of different places probably doesn't know any of them well enough. It seems like most places have a local author who's written the local bible. Sometimes the writing quality is uneven in these cases but the info is usually pretty good. (I'm thinking as I type about the Discovery Press 'Choose Costa Rica' book but there are similar others I recall seeing over the years).

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Ah, but i've got you all beat on laziness; being a professional slacker.

I dont think you do...you typed way more than I did.

 

[MJ]

I dont think you do...you typed way more than I did.

Come on CFB, in your house who does all most of the cooking, shopping, house chores, bedroom chores, etc. who? Mr. MOM you !

 

[Nords]

It's no fun to spend 1-2 hours reading a book and then realizing that is is mediocre.

Our kid's middle school librarian runs an "Adult Readers" program. We're required to read a total of 5000 pages between last Nov and 15 Apr. Participants get a cool t-shirt. Winner of a random drawing gets a $50 gift certificate to a local restaurant.

I've been very motivated to read but I've also been a little more selective on what I read. I've upped the suspense & sci-fi portion of my reading and dialed back the financial analysis stuff so that I'm reading faster. I turned in eight of those 5000-word tickets last year and we enjoyed the dinner very much. Our kid did too, so the lesson was enjoyed twice. (Her motto: "Will work for food.")

This year I'm only going to turn in six of those entries. But I'm one of only five adults in the competition.

In the spirit of "What are you spending it on?", when our kid graduates from middle school we're giving the librarian $50 cash for her discretionary use. If we win this year's competition then we'll up that to $100.

Ironically this librarian is the same woman who used to work at our kid's elementary school library when we spent a $500 insurance settlement on books for her library. We turned her loose in the local Scholastic Books warehouse with a shopping list and a calculator-- it was like watching a kid in a candy store!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Come on CFB, in your house who does all most of the cooking, shopping, house chores, bedroom chores, etc. who? Mr. MOM you !

Yeah but i'm lazy about it.

I typed less than you did too!

 

[ESRBob]

Nords,
Can you work out a way to get credit for reading posts here? That should get you back up to last year's levels at least!

Nice touch with the return of prize or insurance payment back into the system.

 

[Nords]

Can you work out a way to get credit for reading posts here?  That should get you back up to last year's levels at least!

Nope, no magazines or comics either.

Our kid gripes about it, too, while she reads books a couple years above her grade level...