Looking for relocation suggestions

Yours is a typical "I wanna move but am clueless" post. There are many like this.
An international move is stressful, costly and starting a new life requires lots of energy and tolerance for frustration. Pure push factors ("I need to get out of here") are rarely enough to give you the needed motivation and stamina. Successful expats usually have pull factors ("I really want to live in ...").
Furthermore, you list the typical soft factors of a dreamer (you want beach, infrastructure, comfort, and all that cheap), but few of the hard factors: The need for a residence visa (very few countries give retiree visas, so you need another type) and the ability to deal with buerocratic and financial issues (your passive income will be taxed!) in the local language reduce your list of potential destinations to just a few, even before you look for beaches. You also must realise that, unless you invest millions, authorities will treat you like a beggar (for a residence permit) not like a welcome guest - and the locals are also not exactly waiting for you (unless they see you as a wallet on legs with money to be extracted from).
Financially, living abroad always costs more than at home, unless you move to a third world location and change your lifestyle like a local - which involves dealing with poverty, dirt, imperfection and unusual food. This is a great adventure for a few weeks holiday, but can become a real chore when having on a daily basis!
Altogether, I sense an inertia to change (after all, you want more or less the same lifestyle, no change to hobbies and even take your dog - although relocating pets is far more difficult than people)), which will cause problems and potentially eventual failure. You may really be better off changing your life, to come nearer to your dreams, on familiar ground (i.e. in your home country, where you actually know how things work and how to achieve what you want).

I speak from experience of having lived 15 years in various Asian countries ranging from dirt poor to world-leading and am generally supporting international exposure, but in the right circumstances and frame of mind.

Um...Philly is a lot further than 12 hours from a large town or small city in Vietnam. It could take you 12 hours just to clear the country. Where in Philly? W. Mt. Airy?

One important thing: in Vietnam they eat dogs. And they steal other people's dogs to sell them to people to eat them. Leave your dog alone or walk it on the street and it will be kebabs. Don't do that. The dead getting-eaten part is actually the kindest part of the equation from when it disappears to ends up on a plate.

And your criteria contains conundrums. There is zero possibility of finding foreign food outside of big cities, whether in restaurants or supermarkets.

Many people in Asia ride motorcycles. Crosses and flowers on the roadways attest to how successful this is. And it's almost impossible to own a car on 3 grand a month.

Why not try Reading or Allentown or anywhere in the Lehigh Valley? They're very cheap places to live. But there will be a whole lot of pits, too many off leash....

You might like Chiang Rai, Thailand (not Chiang Mai). But with the relatively new visa rules, you can't stay for very long, a few months at best. That's essentially why people are what they call digital nomads.

You might also try Central and South America. Lots of crime but more likely to kidnap the dog for money than eat it.

Good luck!

I reccomend you to stay in Egypt because its nice and cheap country .
Your stable income 3000 USD is very good income because 1 USD =17-18 pound.

You can buy or rent a house or a villa near the red or miditrainean sea .

You need to pay 1000 USD to rent a nice villa on red sea.
I recommend ain el sokhna or hurgada if you prefer red sea .
You need maximum 500 USD for living expenses so you can save 50% of your income for anyother requirements.

Ain el sokhna is a very warm place during winter , the minimum temperature is 18 c , but it can be hot in summer in july and august can reach 40-45  and the same for hurghada . Therfore most houses are fully equiped by air conditions.

The temperature at nigt during these three months 25-30 c.

Take a look at the Dominican Republic. Your passive income is more than enough for a good standard of living.  Almost all services readily available depending what part of the country you settle in. Flying time would be less than 4  hours! 

Message me if you want more info or go over to the Dominican Republic forums and start reading.

Hello,

We appreciate your feedback.  We understand that there will be bureaucracy, and processes involved with making this move.  We've lived in various places within the states and are looking for a new experience.  We are excited by the challenges that await us.

The motorcycle and dog are definitely non-negotiables for us.

We do actually have a rudimentary list of countries we want to consider further, but it is not exclusive, as we are open to consider other areas, so we did not include it initially.  We're still open to other suggestions at this point. Obviously, the list will need further refinement.

Our list for further research currently includes:  Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, Croatia, Montenegro, Cyprus, Malta, Portugal and Spain.

Again,  we are very grateful for all of your feedback and welcome further input.  We are taking it all under consideration.

Namaste,
L&C

First suggestion - narrow down your list by knowing which countries will allow you in based on their processes!

Honestly, I have been looking for a long time and narrowed it down to Thailand and India. I have lived in India and know most of the country.
If anyone has suggestions about the most economical and easiest to get around? Much appreciated.

Absolutely!  I could absolutely do that, if I could find a $'s reasonably  priced in a nice area. Could you point me to some web sites to find long term furnished apartments?  Thanks, Joan

RipplesintheWater wrote:

Hello,

We appreciate your feedback.  We understand that there will be bureaucracy, and processes involved with making this move.  We've lived in various places within the states and are looking for a new experience.  We are excited by the challenges that await us.

The motorcycle and dog are definitely non-negotiables for us.

We do actually have a rudimentary list of countries we want to consider further, but it is not exclusive, as we are open to consider other areas, so we did not include it initially.  We're still open to other suggestions at this point. Obviously, the list will need further refinement.

Our list for further research currently includes:  Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, Croatia, Montenegro, Cyprus, Malta, Portugal and Spain.

Again,  we are very grateful for all of your feedback and welcome further input.  We are taking it all under consideration.

Namaste,
L&C

Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Panama have schemes to attract foreigners. The Panama one is very good. You would be in the same time zone and less than 12 hours from Philly. Lots of beaches. There are some norteamericans living in three towns near a mountain in the North near the border. It's at an altitude that means it stays cool year round. You could take day trips to the beach on the bike.

Why such a negative outlook? You have stated many things that simply are not true:

The need for a residence visa (very few countries give retiree visas, so you need another type) - you can easily get a non-lucrative retirement or residence visa in Spain as long as you can show sufficient assets.

The ability to deal with bureaucratic and financial issues (your passive income will be taxed!) in the local language reduce your list of potential destinations to just a few, even before you look for beaches.  How is this a limiting factor? I worked remotely in Spain and never had excessive issues that you mention.

You also must realize that, unless you invest millions, authorities will treat you like a beggar (for a residence permit) not like a welcome guest - and the locals are also not exactly waiting for you (unless they see you as a wallet on legs with money to be extracted from). This is simply not true in Europe, maybe in Asia where you were, but not in Europe. Along with my family we had several other expat families we lived close to and none of us had issues as you describe.

Financially, living abroad always costs more than at home, unless you move to a third world location and change your lifestyle like a local - which involves dealing with poverty, dirt, imperfection and unusual food. This is categorically false. For example, the cost of living in Spain is 30% less than where I live in the US and I do not live in a very expensive locale in the US.

This is a great adventure for a few weeks holiday, but can become a real chore when having on a daily basis! - Dude! Why are you such a downer? Plenty of us have lived long term as expats and IT IS AWESOME. Sure you have some small time things to deal with which are new like getting an NIE or getting enrolled in social security, but in the grand scheme of things, it is totally worth it.

Altogether, I sense an inertia to change (after all, you want more or less the same lifestyle, no change to hobbies and even take your dog - although relocating pets is far more difficult than people)),  I took 2 dogs and a cat to Spain with zero problems.

You should check out Andalucia in Spain - lots of beautiful locations and the moto and bicycle riding is amazing.

My .02 - The Lecrin Valley, between Granada and Motril, is beautiful and filled with small towns which seem like they would fit the description of what you are looking for.

DCinME wrote:

You should check out Andalucia in Spain - lots of beautiful locations and the moto and bicycle riding is amazing.

My .02 - The Lecrin Valley, between Granada and Motril, is beautiful and filled with small towns which seem like they would fit the description of what you are looking for.

Thank you so much for your response!  We are definitely considering Andalusia. Before we ever started considering a move, I felt a compelling desire to explore this region.  We were thinking about making a trip there in the spring for the MotoGP race at Jerez, and sticking around for a few weeks to get a feel for life there.   It is definitely one of our top spots on our list.

Namaste.

furthur wrote:

RipplesintheWater wrote:

Hello,

We appreciate your feedback.  We understand that there will be bureaucracy, and processes involved with making this move.  We've lived in various places within the states and are looking for a new experience.  We are excited by the challenges that await us.

The motorcycle and dog are definitely non-negotiables for us.

We do actually have a rudimentary list of countries we want to consider further, but it is not exclusive, as we are open to consider other areas, so we did not include it initially.  We're still open to other suggestions at this point. Obviously, the list will need further refinement.

Our list for further research currently includes:  Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, Croatia, Montenegro, Cyprus, Malta, Portugal and Spain.

Again,  we are very grateful for all of your feedback and welcome further input.  We are taking it all under consideration.

Namaste,
L&C

Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Panama have schemes to attract foreigners. The Panama one is very good. You would be in the same time zone and less than 12 hours from Philly. Lots of beaches. There are some norteamericans living in three towns near a mountain in the North near the border. It's at an altitude that means it stays cool year round. You could take day trips to the beach on the bike.

Thank you further!  My husband is very interested in Malaysia and this is the second time Sri Lanka has been suggested to us.  We will definitely take a further look at both.

Panama is attractive as you say.  We know a couple there already, which is a pulling factor for us to the country.

We are very grateful for your suggestions and we will be researching all of these!

I have friends in Jerez de la Frontera, which is close by, and the rides between there and Granada are some of my favorites.