Being FIRE aspire-rs with a small side dose of the travel bug, Ms.K and I frequently throw around ideas of where we’d settle for a few months as we slow travel around the world. There’s the typical spots in Asia like Koh Samui and Chiang Mai, or Bali and maybe even a few months off the tourist route in Spain/Italy/Portugal to benefit from geographical cost arbitrage.
So when I saw on Facebook that a friend had relocated to Vanuatu for work in early 2017 and was living the resort life, I mentioned to Ms.K that we should consider going there to stay for like half a year or so to enjoy the diving, sailing and seafood. Ms.K’s first reaction was…”oh that’s near Australia right because I have Australian colleagues who say they travel there quite often”. (I had no idea where the country was at the time). Then she said “hang on, don’t they have like earthquakes or tsunamis or something there too?’. I just said c’mon people are staying there…surely it can’t be that bad. Famous last words. 😀
A week or so later, after mentioning Vanuatu to Ms.K again after more awesome Facebook pictures from my friend, we both sat down at our laptops to find out more about the country. So apparently, when you search for living in Vanuatu on Google, the first few search results are to articles that proclaim Vanuatu to be the riskiest place to live on Earth from a natural disaster perspective.
Then just in early Oct, out came the news that the WHOLE ISLAND had to be evacuated because of the threat of a volcano eruption.
I sure know how to pick ’em. (Ms.K has shot down my idea of moving to NZ before for almost similar reasons)
Although to be fair, I’m usually the one who borrows survival skills books from the library to prep for when the zombies come, but I guess everyone slips up sometimes right? Haha. So another point to add to the checklist for evaluation of retirement locations!
What about you? What’s top on your travel list after FIRE and why do you love that location?
P/s: My friend is safely out of the country. 🙂
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Lapland and Cinque Terre. Visited recently and in 2015 respectively.
Both beautiful, quiet places with picturesque views of seas, lakes, mountains and forests. Especially magical when capped with snow.
Want to revisit and live there for a month or two. Look forward to that upon achieving FI (doesn’t have to be RE yet).
Thanks, I’ll check it out! I’m not too keen on snow and cold cold weather, but guess I need to leave my comfort zone. 🙂 Most importantly, the place needs to have good food. Haha.
Both are in Finland and Italy respectively.
Look forward to hear more travel ideas from everyone!
I’m thinking we are really lucky to be living in Singapore. In terms of full or semi retirement locations, we have quite a number of options near us that are rather cost effective, with Malaysia and Thailand being the closest. Penang and Chiang Mai seems rather popular choices for expats, among others.
The short distance is awesome because home is just a short flight away, which really saves time and money from a logistical point of view. Administrative stuff to do, getting in touch with friends and family, getting
hard-to-find supplies, or even medical situations.
I’m guessing you might have done some preliminary calculations and arrived at similar conclusions – by renting out our SG apartment for say $1.5k to $2k, the money goes surprisingly far in our neighbouring countries! Couple that with a decent dividend yield of 5% or 6% from our portfolio and the possibilities are amazing.
I haven’t really gotten down to the nitty gritty details but it’s a fun area to research on!
Hey Kevin, yes were quite lucky to have come from SEA so most of our social connections are in this region.
The comparatively low cost of living makes moving to Chiang Mai or other retire hotspots almost a no brainer, but Ms.K and I need to consider things like schooling for the young ones unlike the traditional empty nester retirees. But you’re right, just $2k goes a long way there. 🙂
Merry Christmas!