Living abroad

Did you take a vacation recently? If so you’re doing better than most Americans. I listened to a depressing story on NPR’s The World yesterday about the worsening vacation deficit in America. My idiotic countrymen and women are actually taking fewer vacations now than at any time in the past. This is despite the fact …

  “What are you doing down there?” is the first question I get about living in Mexico. (Half the time followed by “Is it safe?”) “Same thing I was doing in the other places I lived,” is my stock answer. I worked for many years to put myself in a position of being location independent, …

Where are the cheapest places to travel in the world? And how does City A compare to City B? How well does perception match reality? Every few years I put out a new edition of the book you see to the right and if you’re about to embark on a year-long trip around the world, …

“If you make $1,000 a month, you can drive a small car, take your family out to decent restaurants sometimes, and visit a place like this on the weekends.” That was an offhand comment from my Nicaraguan guide Pablo when we were at the overlook area checking out Lake Apoyo between Managua and Granada. “On …

Sure, you can read travel blogs full of advice from the road for free and get loads of great information. But you’ll have a read a few dozen of them until you’re bleary eyed to get the kind of structure and comprehensiveness you can find in a good book. Here are a few that are …