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    Whether you’re looking for fun and sun, a peaceful retirement, or the chance to earn some extra income, you’ve got a real world of opportunity open to you… In short, we’ve done our best to narrow down your best options, but only you can decide the right country for you.

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    How Much Will It Cost You To Live Overseas?

    The only honest answer is, we have no idea. And neither does anyone else. The only one who can answer that question is you. Here’s the most important thing to understand about budgeting your new life overseas…

    Super Cheap

    • Chitré, Panama
    • Santa Marta, Colombia
    • Phuket, Thailand
    • Dumaguete, The Philippines

    Cheap

    • Medellin, Colombia
    • Boquete, Panama
    • Kyrenia, Cyprus
    • Hua Hin, Thailand
    • The Algarve, Portugal

    Affordable

    • Valencia, Spain
    • Cascais, Portugal
    • Las Terrenas, The DR
    • Pisa, Italy
    • La Rochelle, France
    • Mazatlán, Mexico

    Luxury

    • Ambergris Caye, Belize
    • Kotor, Montenegro
    • The Panama City Beaches
    • Paris, France
  • Resources

    Global Living

    • Living & Retiring Overseas
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    • Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

    Explore Our Latest Posts

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    Live and Invest In Spain Conference

    Offshore Wealth Summit

    Greece Workshop

    VALENCIA, SPAIN

    Sep. 17-19, 2025

    PANAMA CITY, PANAMA

    Oct. 15-17, 2025

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  • Home
  • Countries

    Top Destinations:

    Whether you’re looking for fun and sun, a peaceful retirement, or the chance to earn some extra income, you’ve got a real world of opportunity open to you… In short, we’ve done our best to narrow down your best options, but only you can decide the right country for you.

    • Spain
    • Portugal
    • Panama
    • Belize
    • Colombia
    • Cyprus
    • Mexico
    • France
    • Montenegro
    • Browse All Countries

    Best For:

    • The Best Places To Retire
    • Health Care Abroad
    • Cost Of Living
    • Investing in Real Estate
    • Establishing Residency
    • Gun Laws In The World
    • English-Speaking Countries
    • Safest Places For Retirement
    • Best Places In Latin America
  • Budgets

    How Much Will It Cost You To Live Overseas?

    The only honest answer is, we have no idea. And neither does anyone else. The only one who can answer that question is you. Here’s the most important thing to understand about budgeting your new life overseas…

    Super Cheap

    • Chitré, Panama
    • Santa Marta, Colombia
    • Phuket, Thailand
    • Dumaguete, The Philippines

    Cheap

    • Medellin, Colombia
    • Boquete, Panama
    • Kyrenia, Cyprus
    • Hua Hin, Thailand
    • The Algarve, Portugal

    Affordable

    • Valencia, Spain
    • Cascais, Portugal
    • Las Terrenas, The DR
    • Pisa, Italy
    • La Rochelle, France
    • Mazatlán, Mexico

    Luxury

    • Ambergris Caye, Belize
    • Kotor, Montenegro
    • The Panama City Beaches
    • Paris, France
  • Resources

    Global Living

    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore & Diversification

    Making Money

    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing

    Follow Us:

    • Meet Our Experts
  • Real Estate

    Buying Real Estate For Cashflow

    • Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

    Explore Our Latest Posts

    • Learn how to invest and purchase property abroad…

    Go To The Overseas Property Alert Site

    • How To Become Independently Wealthy And Fund The Lifestyle Of Your Dreams
  • Conferences

    Upcoming Events

    • Explore Our Events Site

    Live and Invest In Spain Conference

    Offshore Wealth Summit

    Greece Workshop

    VALENCIA, SPAIN

    Sep. 17-19, 2025

    PANAMA CITY, PANAMA

    Oct. 15-17, 2025

    VIRTUAL

    Nov. 13, 2025

    Learn More About This Event
    Learn More About This Event
    PRE-REGISTER
    Learn More About This Event
    PRE-REGISTER
    • MORE EVENTS

    Contact Our Events Team

    Toll-Free U.S. and Canada:
    1 (888) 627 8834
    From Outside North America:
    1 (443) 599 1221
    Working Hours
    Monday – Friday 08:00 am – 17:00 pm EST.

    Reach us with your questions by email at: events@liveandinvestoverseas.com

  • Store

    Unlock The World

    • Access Your Library

    Overseas Havens Reports

    • Expats' comprehensive destination guides

    Conference Kits

    • Hours of coverage  from our latests conferences

    Lahardan Books

    • Titles on living and investing around the world
    • Explore Our Store
    Your passport to a life well-lived abroad

    Services

    overseas living letter offers affordable retirement guidance
    The Simon Letter Wealth Protection Insights
    Global Property Advisor Global Investment Opportunities

    Our Customer Service team is here to assist with any questions or concerns CustomerService@LiveandInvestOverseas.com

  • My Library
Live and Invest Overseas
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Home Retirement/Living

Old Friends, Sunday Picnics, And Corner Cafés

by Kathleen Peddicord
Apr 07, 2024
in Retirement/Living
0 0
Cityscape of Paris by the sunset, France

AdobeStock/Sean Hsu

Yesterday morning, my first back home in Paris after three months away, I laid still with my eyes closed wondering if there were any chance I’d be able to fall back asleep.

Outside my window, in our courtyard, buzz saws buzzed, hammers pounded, and workmen shouted to each other in French, trying to be heard above the din.

I gave up on the idea of additional slumber and dragged my still-on-Panama-time body out of bed. Here in Paris, it was a bright new early spring day.

The workers were at it all day, distracting me as I unpacked and settled us in for our extended stay. I couldn’t not watch. I find men cutting wood and mixing plaster irresistible.

Our apartment is in the heart of old Paris, where the classic-style buildings, including ours, are more than 300 years old. They need constant attention. The current works are taking place in the apartment across the courtyard from ours. From what I can see, the place is being stripped down to its 300-year-old rafters.

I’ve undertaken the restoration of four centuries-old apartments in Paris over the years. I’ll enjoy watching the progress on this one. It’s easier to appreciate this kind of total-gut-job effort when you’re not the one living amidst the dust.

This city’s architectural traditions are one of the things I appreciate most about it. Paris has long boasted the world’s most experienced tradesmen. Carpenters, parquetiers, stonemasons, ironworkers, painters… they’ve all sought out central Paris since the Middle Ages. Here they’ve known their talents would be respected and they’d always find work.

These trades have been passed down generation to generation the centuries since, and, thanks to the skill of those who practice them, this city is a museum whose exhibits enjoy continual facelifts. Historic Paris is at once always the same and forever renewing itself.

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Each time we return after a long absence, we’re suspicious of any changes.

“There’s a new restaurant on our street. It’s Japanese.” Jackson remarked yesterday afternoon, a few hours after our arrival.

“I liked the Italian restaurant that used to be there.”

We were glad to find that our favorite local Chinese carryout remains open for business as it’s been the past 20 years we’ve been based in this neighborhood. The owner greeted us with a big smile, a warm welcome back, and a beer on the house for Jackson when we explained that the young man recently graduated university.

We’ve returned to Paris the past 16 summers we’ve lived in Panama. However, this summer we aren’t in town for a hurried visit. This summer, we’re returning home.

At least that’s how it feels. We’re settling back into the apartment where we lived when our children were young together, where Jackson, now fully launched, started preschool.

After spending decades getting to know this town, we feel no urge to rush out to see the sights. Eventually we’ll make our way across the river to the Tuileries, our favorite spot for afternoon walks, and down to the Île de la Cité, our preferred destination for Sunday picnics.

For now we’re content to stay in and enjoy the view.

Back in Panama City, our team sends email reminders—don’t forget to review Overseas Living Letter issue copy… send your feedback for the final speaker list for this week’s Live And Invest In Portugal Conference remember our conference call tomorrow at 9 a.m. Panama time…

Perhaps they fear that if they don’t stay in touch with us in real time, they might lose us to the lures of springtime in Paris.

Lief and I have been working toward this day for more than 25 years. Year by year, organically, as ideas, options, and opportunities have presented themselves, we’ve pieced together a plan for our lives post-kids.

You could call this our retirement plan, but it doesn’t have anything to do with pulling back from working. It’s not work we object to but routine.

This weekend we break from the routine that has been our lives for decades and embrace a future lived according to a schedule imagined not imposed. From here on out, we’re all about life outside any box.

Should we spend the afternoon browsing at Shakespeare & Co? Meet friends for a glass of wine at the café on the corner? Or maybe I could persuade Lief to escort me to the antique market at Clingnancourt. Our living room sofa is looking a little shabby…

Monday Lief takes off for Portugal where he’ll host this week’s nearly sold-out event.

Next month we’re planning a long weekend in Morocco… and maybe a quick trip to Ireland. Later in the summer we’re hoping to meet up with friends in Lisbon.

Paris is both my favorite place to be and also a great jumping-off spot for exploring Europe and beyond. After years of daily commutes and being where we needed to be when we needed to be there, we’re relishing our first steps free of those encumbrances.

At last our day-to-day is more about what we’d like to do rather than what we must do. Maybe our staff back in Panama is right to be worried.

Until next time,

Kathleen Peddicord signature

Kathleen Peddicord

Founding Publisher, Overseas Opportunity Letter

Tags: 'France''retirement'
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Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has reported on opportunities for Americans to live, retire, and do business overseas for 40 years. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 24, established businesses in 7, renovated and built properties in 6, and educated her children in 5.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets from the east coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland, then to Paris, France, and finally to Panama City, Panama, where she has based her Live And Invest Overseas business. Peddicord and her husband, Lief Simon, now divide their time between Panama and Paris.

Peddicord was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. She opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Waterford, Ireland; Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France. Peddicord launched Live And Invest Overseas group in 2008 and has built it into a successful multimillion-dollar business. Today, she shares her firsthand experience of expat life with more than 500,000 readers of her publications, including Overseas Opportunity Letter and Overseas Living Letter.

Kathleen has been featured often in The New York Times, MSNBC, AARP, CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, and more and writes monthly about expat matters, international real estate, and offshore diversification for Forbes and U.S. News.

Kathleen has written several books including the memoirs “At Home In Ireland” and “At Home At Los Islotes” and her latest title “At Home Abroad,” all published by Lahardan Books. Her best-selling "How To Retire Overseas: Everything You Need To Know To Live Well (For Less) Abroad” was published by Penguin Random House in 2018 and her “Buying Real Estate Overseas For Cash Flow (And A Better Life)” was published by Wiley in August 2020.

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Top Countries

  • Spain
  • Portugal
  • Panama
  • Belize
  • Colombia
  • Cyprus
  • Mexico
  • France
  • Montenegro

Best For:

  • Health Care Abroad
  • Retirement Living
  • Cost Of Living
  • Investing in Real Estate
  • Establishing Residency
  • Gun Ownership
  • English Speakers
  • Safety
BROWSE ALL COUNTRIES

Budgets

How Much Will It Cost
To Live Overseas?

Super Cheap

  • Chitré, Panama
  • Santa Marta, Colombia
  • Phuket, Thailand
  • Dumaguete, The Philippines

Cheap

  • Medellin, Colombia
  • Boquete, Panama
  • Kyrenia, Cyprus
  • Hua Hin, Thailand
  • The Algarve, Portugal

Affordable

  • Valencia, Spain
  • Cascais, Portugal
  • Las Terrenas, The DR
  • Pisa, Italy
  • La Rochelle, France
  • Mazatlán, Mexico

Luxury

  • Ambergris Caye, Belize
  • Kotor, Montenegro
  • The Panama City Beaches
  • Paris, France

Resources

Global Living

  • Living & Retiring Overseas
  • Raising A Family Abroad
  • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
  • Offshore & Diversification

Making Money

  • International Real Estate
  • Banking
  • Employment
  • Investing
Meet Our Experts

Real Estate

Overseas Property Alert 

 

How To Become Independently Wealthy And Fund The Lifestyle Of Your Dreams

VISIT SITE

Buying Real Estate For Cashflow

 

Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

READ MORE

Explore Our Latest Posts

 

Learn how to invest and purchase property abroad…

EXPLORE

Conferences

Live and Invest In Spain Conference

VALENCIA, SPAIN Sep. 17-19, 2025
Learn More About This Event

Offshore Wealth Summit

PANAMA CITY, PANAMA Oct. 15-17, 2025
Learn More About This Event
PRE-REGISTER

GREECE WORKSHOP

VIRTUAL Nov. 13, 2025
Learn More About This Event
PRE-REGISTER
MORE EVENTS

Contact Our Events Team:

Toll-Free U.S. and Canada:
1 (888) 627 8834

From Outside North America:
1 (443) 599 1221

Working Hours
Monday – Friday 08:00 am – 17:00 pm EST.

Reach us with your questions by email at: events@liveandinvestoverseas.com

Store

Overseas Havens Reports

  • Expats' comprehensive destination guides

Conference Kits

  • Hours of coverage  from our latests conferences

Lahardan Books

  • Titles on living and investing around the world

Services

  • Overseas Living Letter: Affordable Retirement Guidance
  • The Simon Letter: Wealth Protection Insights
  • Global Property Advisor: Global Investment Opportunitites
VISIT OUR STORE

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THE 10 BEST PLACES TO RETIRE IN 2025

FREE REPORT: The 10 Best Places To retire in 2025

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