Due to the rising cost of living in Melbourne and Australia generally I'm thinking more and more of the possibility of retiring in another country after my RTW trip.
Life tends to get in the way of the best laid plans and my 6 month South American trip planned for 2014 has had to be put on the back burner and Im now looking at a RTW in 7 years or so once I get my full superannuation payout.

In my research on the top spots to retire to worldwide the top 2 countries seem to be Ecuador and Panama, both having excellent programs and incentives for retirees, which extend to non nationals.

At this stage though I'm more likely to choose Thailand but am open to anyplace I find on the road that takes my fancy.

So I'm wondering how many people actually relocate or retire to another country after their travels?
And what made you choose that country?

Cheers,

James

I suspect not that many is the answer; the ties of family and familiarity draw a lot of people back 'home'.

I would surely be considering Thailand, Panama and Costa Rica as well as Belize and Ecuador. Paraguay and Uruguay are often overlooked as well. The availability of decent healthcare as one gets older is a consideration, I think, for a lot of people.

It seems like the economic crisis in the U.S has seen record numbers retiring in countries where the standard of living is still high but the cost of living is 50-70% less. Europeans and Australians are also moving to Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia.
I can understand that family and friends are probably the main factor.

From my point of view I could work another 5-10 years after I reach my full firefighting pension to be able to have a comfortable lifestyle in my own country or retire 5-10 years earlier and live a tropical beach lifestyle at a fraction of the cost.

Healthcare in Asia(perhaps apart from Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam) is now of a high standard at a fraction of the cost of western countries.
Anybody who has been to a Bangkok hospital can tell you they are more like hotels, have excellent care and are relatively a bargain compared to their own country.

I would have thought that given the general population are retiring in foreign countries in record numbers, overlander's would be even more likely to relocate for a higher standard of living relative to cost.

Or are most adventure travellers these days BMW 1200gs/Touratech riders with unlimited funds :-)

I am a pensioner and my home base is a country that gives me free health care with priority treatment, free travel and arguably the finest TV and radio programmes in the world. My dwelling place has one of the best beaches in the world, OK most of the year lying on it semi naked would probably lead to hypothermia but on the good or even better side, there is no chance of being continually bothered by locals trying to remove my hard earned pension by almost any means possible, legal or otherwise. I must admit that attempting to satisfy what remains of my rapidly diminishing sex drive without resorting to slightly illegal means is harder than it would be living in the tropics, but each to his or her own. Like almost every country that I have been to and they are many, on closer inspection they are all, in my opinion, better to visit than to live in. I am writing this missive in Colombia whilst waiting to catch a boat to Cuba and the moto that is parked beside me on the hostel patio is my 2004 BMW R1200GS with some Touratech bits and 260,000k on it, I bought it by saving up from my miserly military pension which is not a patch on the one that our police and firemen get but they have a union and my lot have to rely on the goodwill of our elected representatives. Still, mustn't grumble. Just in passing, how many counties in the world can you take an indexed linked pension to and also, once again, how much will this super duper health care cost. I would keep buying a lottery ticket. Oh and bye the way, I am a two wheeled tourist and not a poser adventure traveller. Ride safe.

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Mike
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Mike is riding the twisty road in the sky

Maja thanks for your input. You started well but halfway through deteriorated into a somewhat bitter little rant thereby confirming another well known factoid on the HUBB, being that BMW R1200 GS riders not only have money to burn but have absolutely no sense of humour whatsoever

You do sound quite old so FYI in future note that a :-) at the end of a sentence is called an "emoticon". It tells the reader that the previous sentence was meant in jest.

When you get to Cuba, chill out, have a or two and get some sun. The vitamin D is great for depression. smiley face!

You did well to get to the end of the previous posters "post"

I got to about line 4,

vette

What Mike says above, more or less.

I've been retired 15 years now and travelled a lot. Staying the winters in various warmer places, S. Spain, Guatemala, Mexico, Oz, S. America.
I'd return to all of them tomorrow for another visit, but there are lots of other places still to see.

Nearly every place I visit I think - well, this is a great place, nice people, warm biking climate, a good place to live.
The places where this really kicked in were Bali, New Zealand, Bolivia, Oaxaca Mexico, eastern suburbs of Malaga, Margarita Island (N. coast away from the holiday towns, Venezuela), Cartagena Colombia, Western Kenya and others.
But every time, after a short or maybe a long while, I get homesick.
For London.

Winter here now. Inside the M25 40 mins from the West End. An hour from Brighton:




I took the photos a couple of hours ago, then read this thread.
I don't think being an overlander has anything to do with it. It's the depth of your roots, the sense of belonging, the sense of place.
My travelling has been mainly by big Honda, big Ducati, big Aprilia and little Yamaha. Never felt any sort of draw towards those Bavarian machines.... (My word, they're getting controversial in these threads lately!)

In fact I think the more I've travelled (I travelled around the world a bit for work before retiring), the greater has been the sense of belonging here.
Something about being born within the sound of Bow Bells I suppose.

And to confirm the purely mercenary aspect hinted at by Mike. Yes, the index linking of my pension stops the minute I move abroad.

So it's very nice to imagine a home in the sun, to daydream a new life, but reality is much better.
Home is where the heart is!

(From above, it seems I should add some of these to go with the winter Vitamin D ... )

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TTR250 - London to Cape Town

Nicely said and with a little more thought and good nature than Mike.

I have also been to many places around the world where I thought, yes I could live here but as you say, the return home gives you a certain sense of place.
Obviously not for everybody and it may turn out eventually to not even be for me but it is interesting to hear other peoples perspective either for or against such a move. Happy

The german language has a single word for this:-
Heimat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Regarding the index linking thingy, I understand that there is a range of countries which have some kind of recipocral arrangement with the UK, whereby the pension benefits earned in UK employment are maintained while residing overseas (such as the EU for instance, or have I got that bit wrong?).

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Dave

And in case anybody else takes offence at my use of the word "Overlander" I use it with reference to mode of transport wether Motorcycle, Bicycle, 4WD, Mogi and yes even cranky old gits on BMW R1200 GS"s.

I find it hard to imagine how offence can be taken with that word, but it does seem to be used increasingly within the HUBB; just as the website has developed/evolved into aspects of riding bicycles, driving 4x4 etc etc.
Maybe the word adventurer (with or without motorcyclist) is "so last year".

Next, there will be a section for the walking fraternity; then there will be real ructions, with rambling rights, access to the countryside etc
The hubris associated with that would be enough to kill off the jibes at Boxer twins.

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Dave

[QUOTE=Walkabout;408576]
Next, there will be a section for the walking fraternity; then there will be real ructions, with rambling rights, access to the countryside etc

I think the term independent ambulatory explorers might be a suitably PC term for their own forum

Thanks for the nice thread..You are not alone after this target(incl. me)
and nice life lessons are given here..Cheers All.
Mehmet zeki avar

I think about this a lot when I'm travelling. The grass always seems greener when on holiday because we're not bogged down with the mundane chores of living there.

At first, I too struggled to read Maja's post, but having read it again, I think he was basically saying - he likes living in Scotland

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Elaine

Striving to live the ordinary life in a non ordinary way

I am like McCrankpin, the more I travel the more I appreciate my home in Devon and have no wish to live elsewhere, but having spent 2 of the last 4 winters in warmer climes fully appreciate the benefits and would like to do it as often as possible, Asia being the favourite destination for a variety of reasons, price being one of them.

It will take more than that!