First time to visit Panama and it will not be our last!
Hubby Joe and I have been thinking about alternative options to “retirement” and what it means to us. First, when we say “retirement,” we are not referring to rocking chairs on the front porch, waiting for the days to come and go while reminiscing about the “good ole days.” No, not at all. There may be some reminiscing going on, but we will also be in the midst of planning our next adventures.
We are both very young to be thinking, let alone mentioning, retirement. Hubby Joe is a little older than me, so he is much closer to the Golden Age than I am, but we both agreed before we ever got married that we wanted to travel together while we are physically capable of it; it is an absolute priority for us in our life. We do not want to wait until we have poor health but plenty of time. No! We want to take that leap into some sort of work-optional lifestyle, or at least live the kind of life that we can travel when, where and as much as we like around our work life. (Don’t worry friends, family and employers.) We are not there yet, but we are working towards that goal. In the meantime, in order to have that option, we have been considering geo-arbitrage, or commonly known as moving to a location that has a lower cost of living to stretch our dollars while still living a full life.
What does that look like? Maybe it’s living in a camper, traveling North America and volunteering at local parks to pay for our rent (Florida sees this a lot with “Snow Birds” from the Northern United States and Canada).
Or maybe it’s downsizing to essentially a tiny house outside of high tax areas.
Perhaps it is moving to some place in Europe, Asia, South America or Central America. A TON of ex-pats from all over the world are doing that every day and loving it. While in Panama, we met a Canadian who moved to Panama City, Panama a week prior after living in both the U.S. and Canada, and he was having breakfast with his realtor (now friend), a former American who has been in western Panama for the last 10 years.
For us, maybe it is a combination of all of these things that will satisfy our wanderlust and ensure our “retired” life is solidified for the long term? That is what we have to decide for ourselves because our future, needs and wants are going to differ from other people’s non-negotiables. And that, my friend, is how our trip to Panama City, Panama came about.
