Thank you for the warm welcome, Dave! Nice to hear from a fellow Oregonian (or semi-Oregonian, anyway!)
Although we have been talking about becoming expats for several years now, I just discovered and joined the Expat.com community. Much of our info so far has come from International Living. Yes, I know, I KNOW - we take what they print with a HUGE grain of salt, because it's clear that they NEVER EVER give any view other than the ultra white-washed positive picture, so we try to balance that with reading other blogs and talking with "real people", rather than just profit-motivated organizations. The beautiful pictures IL paints, with both words and watercolor illustrations, do help pique one's interest and add to the desire and motivation to experience life outside of the US - but we see the folly in setting an expectation that is all sweetness and roses, as they present it.
While Claude and I are both generally optimists, we are also very much realists - traits that I think will serve us well in our travels and if/when we eventually settle in a new country. We're also pretty easy going and flexible, but with that being said, we have tended more towards the cautious side, and might need to loosen up a bit and tap more into our more adventurous side to fully experience and enjoy this next phase of vagabonding.
I will be pouring over the forums and other information on this site. We're interested in not only Costa Rica, but also the other "usual suspects" - Panama, Belize, Mexico, Ecuador, etc. We will be in a little different situation because of NOT looking to become residents of a new country right away. Since we will be traveling for an extended period of time, we wouldn't be able to take advantage of residency in a new country (with such things as "pensionado" benefits, resident health care, etc), so I will be seeking info from others who have also been vagabonds, prior to becoming resident expats. Budgeting will be pretty important to us and we will need to figure out how to travel frugally and get the most bang for our travel buck - which we're looking at as being part of the adventure. Neither of us did the "back-packing around the world" thing as youngsters, so I guess we get to sort of have a 2nd childhood now in early retirement, LOL!
Sorry this ran so long - thank you again, Dave, for your warm reply. We appreciate all responses, and any information sources anyone can point us to, especially about being long-term travelers, in search of a new place to call home.
~ Penny and Claude