Dec. 14, 2009
Pyrenees-Atlantic, France
PLUS:
- The Many Benefits Of Serial Retirement Overseas...
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Final 24 Hours!
Early Bird Discount Expires Tomorrow
You've got 24 more hours to take advantage of the Early Bird Discount for our next Live & Invest in Panama Conference, Feb. 24-26, 2010.
Through tomorrow, Dec. 15, at midnight, you can register as an Early Bird and save US$250 per person. Sign up as a couple during this Early Bird window, and you save a full US$500.
Other important discounts and savings are also available right now, meaning, again, when you register as a couple before the Early Bird Discount expires, you could save as much as US$650.
Conference Director Sofia Hogan is standing by to sign you up. Reach her by e-mail at
events@liveandinvestoverseas.com and by telephone, toll-free from the United States, at 1-888-627-8834.
I urge you to delay no longer. Places are filling quickly, and you have only 24 hours remaining to take advantage of the Early Bird Discount.
Full details of the program we're planning are here.
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Dear Live and Invest Overseas Reader,
"Everywhere I've been recently, as I've been doing my Christmas shopping," writes
France Correspondent Lucy Culpepper, "I've seen signs asking if I've ordered my
bûche."
"It's not too late, don't panic ('
no paniquez pas!'); there's still time to make it a happy Christmas, I'm assured everywhere I go.
"
La Bûche de Noel, or Yule Log, is served all over France as the must-have dessert after the midnight feast--the
réveillon--that follows Mass on Christmas Eve. The
réveillon varies from region to region but is always a rich meal featuring luxury foods. In the Pyrenees-Atlantic region, from where I write,
foie gras pate, raw oysters, and salmon are typical menu staples.
"The perfect Pyrenees
bûche is made of rectangular slices of Genoese sponge, spread with butter cream and shaped into a log. It is coated with chocolate butter cream, which is made to look like tree bark. The cakes I've seen are decorated with holly leaves made from almond paste, meringue mushrooms, and porcelain shepherd figures.
"Cooking historians seem divided about the origin of the
bûche. Some say it appeared in Parisian patisseries in the 1870s; other say it made its debut during the rule of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1804-1815). One story goes that Bonaparte told Parisians to block their chimneys during the cold winter months to stop cold air descending and to help prevent winter ailments and sickness. This meant fireplaces could not be used, so the Parisian bakers came up with the chocolate
bûche for the family to gather around and enjoy during the holiday.
"Last Saturday at my son's basketball match, I took a quick survey among the parents, asking which day their families open their Christmas presents. There was a 60:40 split between opening on Christmas Day and on Dec. 6, St Nicholas' Day. I think my children would pack their bags and seek out another family if I were to tell them that we intend to begin embracing the Dec. 6 St Nick tradition!
"I've ordered my
bûche from the baker at my local farmer's market, but I'm not stopping up my chimney. How would Santa get down with all the presents?"
Kathleen Peddicord
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"Kathleen, I really enjoy your living and investing overseas e-letter. It has given my husband and me a lot to think about. We have decided that we really don't want to live in one place full time. Is there any advantage to
renting a place for, say, six months or less at a time? We really enjoyed Belize when we stopped there on a cruise, and we like most of the Caribbean islands, but we like to travel and don't want to be stuck in one place too long."
-- Ada S., United States
I sympathize. My husband and I like to move around, too, as do many of the overseas retirees we spend time with. As you say, once you begin looking at all the options the world has to offer, it can be tough to choose. And why should you? It's easier than ever to enjoy what I've come to think of as serial life overseas.
Lief and my plan is to follow the seasons and to mix city living with beach and country escape. When the day comes to flip the switch to retirement, we look forward to springtime in Paris; summer in the mountains of Istria, Croatia; autumn in Buenos Aires (where our fall is their spring); and winter on the Azuero Sunset Coast of
Panama.
We've been preparing for this lifestyle for a decade already and have invested in an apartment in Paris, a farmhouse in Istria, another apartment in B.A., and a piece of property on Panama's Azuero coast where we intend to build our beach home among those of like-minded friends and neighbors (at my husband's, Lief Simon's,
Los Islotes development).
Our plan has been developed over many years and continues to evolve. This kind of serial overseas living needn't be so complicated, though, and certainly it needn't come with such carrying costs. That is, you could organize a life that would allow you to follow the seasons, to mix beach escape with the distractions of a big city, and to move where the living is particularly affordable simply by, as you suggest, renting for, say, six months at a time in places that appeal. When the six months are up, you could decide to renew your lease...or to move on.
There is absolutely no reason not to follow that strategy and many reasons why it makes more sense than any other. As I said, without the responsibility and financial liability of home ownership anywhere in the world, you're free to follow your wanderlust as you like.
