Cynthia:  In the midst of a pandemic we left behind our safe, predictable lives last March to reimagine our retirement by becoming global explorers. I’m sure a lot of people thought we were crazy.

Edd:  They probably also believed we had some kind of detailed plan for our travels. The truth is we knew we were going to Mexico for at least a month. We booked a one-way flight to Mérida and our accommodations there. The rest unfolded one stop after the next.

C:  Hmm—putting it that way, yep, sounds like we were nuts! To be fair, we did have a general itinerary. But since we were scouting locations for our website, we wanted to give ourselves maximum flexibility to stay at each place long enough to gather the info we needed.

E:  That “plan” worked out for the best since the four original destinations grew to six, and we ended up staying in Mexico for 2 ½ months. Let’s talk about some of the things we learned during our adventure.

C:  Wow, where to start. Well, I want to congratulate you...

Edd:  Our followers will probably be surprised to learn where we are now.

Cynthia:  Well, so are we! Our plans were to say goodbye to cold weather after the holidays and head south to Peru or Colombia. But we learned both countries currently have restrictive policies in place regarding COVID-19.

E:  Right. And we didn’t want to go to the trouble and expense of traveling somewhere new without the freedom we enjoyed in Mexico.

C:  Plus, we discovered when we’re constantly on the move it’s difficult to focus on creating new content and products for our website.

E:  So we decided to spend the winter and get caught up on work projects in…our hometown of Cuenca, Ecuador!

C:  Finding ourselves back in the same neighborhood wasn’t the way we’d envisioned 2022 beginning. When our original plan didn’t work out, we quickly pivoted and decided going home for a few months makes the most sense.

E:  To be clear, Ecuador has some COVID restrictions too. But since Cuenca is so familiar we don’t n...

After traveling to Philadelphia for a crash course in the story of our nation’s beginning, we once again took advantage of Lancaster’s central location to learn more about the Civil War with a day trip to Gettysburg.

Our visit started at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center. “A New Birth of Freedom” film narrated by Morgan Freeman set the stage for the historical significance of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Next we went inside a beautifully rendered Cyclorama ("...360-degree, hand-painted canvas longer than a football field...") building to view a presentation of Pickett's Charge which took place on the decisive third day of battle.

Originally created in 1883, according to the Gettysburg Foundation “the painting survived years of exhibition, multiple moves, vandalism, fire, cuts and neglect” before undergoing a multimillion-dollar restoration completed in 2008.

The Museum is filled with exhibits, artifacts, and information. We could have stayed there a...

Since we once owned one of Atlanta’s most successful interior landscaping companies, we were excited to discover that Longwood Gardens was only about an hour’s drive from Lancaster.

Created by Pierre S. du Pont and opened to the public in 1921, Longwood Gardens is a fabulous botanical showcase featuring flower gardens, fountains, and a massive conservatory all spread over more than 1000 acres.

Walking from the Visitor Center to the Conservatory, we were immediately blown away by the Bellagio-like fountain show complete with opera music taking place in the meticulously landscaped gardens.

We had never seen a greenhouse on the scale of Longwood’s Conservatory and didn’t know what to expect when we stepped inside.

Words can’t properly convey the beauty we witnessed and the joy we experienced. So we’ll keep the narrative to a minimum and let you relive the visit with us through our photos.

Against a backdrop of greenery, flowers alternate according to season. We were treat...

In our previous post on Lancaster, Pennsylvania, we didn’t mention the city having two international airports less than an hour away as a big plus for this retirement location. An Amtrak station right in town offers another option for travel possibilities.

We love riding trains and have always wanted to visit Philadelphia to learn more about our nation’s beginnings.

So we booked inexpensive roundtrip tickets and climbed aboard for a 2-day excursion to the “City of Brotherly Love.”

BTW—know how Philadelphia got that nickname? William Penn, the city’s founder, combined the Greek words for love (phileo) and brother (adelphos).

Arriving in time for breakfast, our first stop was the Reading Terminal Market, one of the country’s oldest and largest public markets.  Wow, compared to the market in Lancaster, this place was overwhelming. The selection of meat, seafood, cheeses, produce, baked goods and prepared food is so fantastic, we came back for breakfast the following day!

We began...

OK, we know what you’re thinking.

“Lancaster, Pennsylvania?!? What is the ‘retiring abroad’ couple doing there?”

We’d be asking the same thing. Let us explain.

After spending months in Mexico over the summer, then visiting family in the States, issues arose that made leaving the country again in 2021 impractical.

So…

We shifted gears and began researching best retirement locations in the U.S.

Unsurprisingly, several of the top picks were in Florida, which for many reasons holds no interest to us.

But more than once we noticed Lancaster being mentioned. In 2019 it was #1 in the entire country according to U.S. News & World Report.

Their top ranking reflected favorable scores in areas like housing affordability, desirability, health care, and overall happiness.

Having never even heard of the place, we were immediately intrigued. You see, we’d never heard of Cuenca, Ecuador, when it popped up on an Internet search in 2008.

And you know what happened with that discovery.

October...

Cynthia:  We’ve heard a LOT about Lake Chapala over the years and were anxious to see for ourselves why it’s home to so many North American expats.

Edd:  Right. It’s estimated that out of a total population of about 50,000, there are between 15 and 20 thousand expats living full time in the town and municipality of Chapala, which includes the town of Ajijic. And that number swells to more than 30,000 in winter when the snowbirds show up!

C:  Those are remarkable statistics. We were so lucky to find an Airbnb right between the two places, which made for easy exploration.

E:  A duplex with a pool that we shared with the owners? Perfect way to end our Mexico travel adventures! 

C:  It was such fun to meet up with friends from Cuenca living nearby that were happy to show us around. We were incredibly grateful for their help since we didn’t have a car, and their perspective as residents was invaluable. 

E:  Sure was. We hadn’t thought about the logistics of lakeside living, but by de...

Cynthia:  Our original plan was to spend two weeks in San Miguel. Shortly after arriving, we decided to extend our visit an additional week. That pretty much sums up our feelings about this top expat destination, right?

Edd:  Yep. And I’m glad we moved to a different part of the city for that extra time. It gave us a more complete impression.

C:  Turns out we chose an extremely popular location for the expat community. It was really convenient. Only about a 15-minute walk to downtown, and there were lots of great restaurants in the neighborhood.

E:  Plus a 2-story building full of organic foods and products was so close. I went to a massive supermarket that, like the modern northern area of Mérida, almost made me forget I was in Mexico! 

C:  Can you even think of anything we didn’t like?

E:  Well, let’s be honest, the hills in some areas of town are incredibly steep. And even with good walking shoes on, the cobblestone streets and uneven sidewalks are a challenge.

C:  It woul...

We were thrilled to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary in San Miguel de Allende. It’s so incredibly beautiful you often feel like you’re walking around in a fairy tale.

But simply being in this fabulous setting wasn’t enough for such a momentous occasion. We wanted to make this anniversary extra special. To create a lifelong memory.

Cynthia came up with the perfect idea. We would celebrate with a 5-day extravaganza. One event for each decade!

To kick things off we enjoyed a lovely lunch at Cumpanio, a downtown bistro serving French and Italian classics with a modern twist.

The menu featured inventive dishes like this pumpkin blossom ravioli in a citrus sauce. Delicious!

Next came an afternoon of pampering at a spa we had noticed while exploring. After massages, reflexology, and facials we floated back to our place.

Day 2, our actual anniversary day, started with lunch at Restaurante del Parque, a Belmond property nearby. Yes, those pork al pastor tacos were as tasty...

We told you in the last post how our visit to San Miguel got off to a rough start. Happy to report that once we were settled things immediately improved.

Let’s first back up and tell you why we decided to visit this beautifully preserved colonial city in the Mexican highlands. San Miguel de Allende has been an expat magnet since former U.S. soldiers began flocking there to study art through the G.I. Bill after World War II.

Attracted by its temperate climate, low cost of living, proximity to the States, cultural opportunities, and low crime, San Miguel today is estimated to have up to 20,000 expats, over half of whom are from the States.

All those attributes are on our personal wish list, so we wanted to experience this expat hot spot firsthand.

The city rises up on all sides from the historic center, and our Airbnb was perched on a hillside with a magnificent view. From our terrace the first morning we were delighted to see a hot air balloon floating in the distance. “A good o...