Best Affordable Retirees Adventure - Live Abroad
Rosanne Knorr's "Running Away From Home" Tells How and Where to Move
Oct 1, 2008
What are the ways for older adults to venture beyond North America for an extended stay? Rosanne Knorr says retirees, empty nesters and others can move to Mexico, Central America or Europe without depleting their savings.
More than 1 million Americans live in Mexico, “where the cost of living is so low that it’s actually possible to live on Social Security,” according to Knorr, author of the book: The Grown-Up's Guide to Running away From Home: Making a New Life Abroad." A new hot spot," she adds, is Panama, “with its delightful year-round climate.”
A survey by the volunteer Association of Americans Resident Overseas says that according to State Department estimates, some 6.6 million Americans live in more than 160 countries.
The Grown-Up’s Guide to Running Away from Home offers detailed, informative instructions on how to choose your adventurous getaway overseas, how to make a budget so you can pay for it and how to find a base – including furnished apartments and homes for rent - where you can stay for months at a time while looking for your ideal house.
Home Exchanges and Renting Your U.S. Home
Knorr describes how to find house-sitting arrangements and home exchanges online. One service designed exclusively for seniors is available for a lifetime membership of $100.
Rather than sell your current U.S. residence in a poor economic market, Knorr suggests getting a sitter, or arranging for it to be rented. “A lease is a necessity. It will protect you from a tenant’s sudden whim to depart when you are thousands of miles away,” she says.
Her guide also explains how to handle the move with a pet, how to pack for the long haul and what the rules are about passports and visas. She also offers a countdown schedule starting three or four months before an overseas move right up until two weeks before departure, two days before, and then on moving day.
Because it is necessary to stay in touch with friends and family back home, Knorr shows how long-term travelers can arrange for their mail, how to deal with a forwarding address and how to plan for long-distance calls to and from abroad.
Staying Healthy Overseas
In addition, she talks about how expats protect themselves and their belongings. There is also a great deal of information about staying healthy abroad, and what to do about medical assistance programs.
Knorr and her husband have first-hand experience. They lived in a French village, met interesting people, learned their new language and used their French home to visit nearby countries. “It was a dream we never thought could be a reality but it proved to be amazingly easy,” says Knorr in a press release.
The second edition of The Grown-Up’s Guide to Running Away from Home, which is linked to new World Wide Web resources, was published in paperback in March 2008 by Ten Speed Press and sells for $14.95.
More on home exchanges: Home Exchanges are Great Vacations.
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