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    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
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    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
    DISCOUNT
    LEARN MORE
    PRE-REGISTER
    LEARN MORE
    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

The Road To Ithaca

Our Road To Ithaca

by Kathleen Peddicord
Jan 16, 2022
in Retirement/Living
0 0
A person standing on a beach during sunset in Los Islotes, Panama

“What are we doing?” Lief asked me the other morning as we were dressing for the day, rushed, hurried, confirming conference calls and video chat schedules, checking emails from overnight and WhatsApp messages from staff, wondering when they could expect to receive the copy I owed them, feeling already that the day was getting away from us, as, frankly, we feel most mornings…

“What?” I asked, barely registering his question, trying to tidy up the bathroom before we headed downstairs and out the door for the office.

“What are we doing, here in Panama?” he asked.

“Well, we’ve got to be somewhere,” I replied, finally looking at him.

It wasn’t the first time we’ve had this kind of conversation. In the 25 years that Lief and I have been moving around the world together, we’ve had many of these taking-stock moments.

And, while Lief and I have been pursuing this live-overseas lifestyle together for two-and-a-half decades, I’ve been focused on it for more than 35 years!

How It All Started

I was introduced to these ideas, by chance, by my first employer, Bill, a man who became my mentor, my partner, and my friend. When I hitched my cart to his horse, at the tender age of 21, some three-and-a-half decades ago, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

Lucky for me, Bill recognized something in me worth cultivating, and, with his support, I set out, all those years ago, with an open mind, a spirit of adventure, and a naïve enthusiasm, to see what I might see.

From my original base in Baltimore, I traversed the globe until, finally, I had the chance to relocate my base.

I met Lief, he and I enjoyed a whirlwind courtship, and then we married and moved, together, to Waterford, Ireland, where we put down Euro-roots.

While living in Waterford, we established sub-bases in Granada, Nicaragua; Quito, Ecuador; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Roatán, Honduras; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Montevideo, Uruguay; and Panama City, Panama, traveling among these “local offices,” as we called them, regularly.

Just recalling those times today makes me tired.

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After seven years in Ireland, we shifted base camps again, relocating the family to Paris. Over the four years we lived in the City of Light, we further expanded our Euro-presence to include operations in Italy and Croatia.

Then, in 2008, we shifted our geographic perspective again, moving from Paris to Panama City, where we’ve since hung our hats, raised our children, and run our businesses.

That’s what we’re doing in Panama, dear husband.

Shall we continue?

Through The Ups And Downs

We struggle day-to-day with the traffic, the humidity, the maddening mañana approach to everything in this part of the world.

Just as we struggled in ways in Ireland and in Paris, too… just as we’d struggle in ways we probably couldn’t predict living anywhere in the world.

We’re committed to Panama long haul and for good reason.

When Lief wondered aloud the other morning what we’re doing here, I don’t think he was questioning the sense of Panama. I think, perhaps, he was questioning the ride… the journey… our personal road to Ithaca…

Posing the philosophical version of a child’s, “Are we there yet, Dad?” from the back seat of the family station wagon at some point during the long drive to summer vacation.

The road to Ithaca isn’t smooth or well-paved, at least not in our experience. But, after more than three-and-a-half decades journeying along it, I find myself stopping more often to reflect on its twists and turns… which I increasingly see as blessings rather than bothers.

Memories from our life in Waterford, our time in Paris, and our early days here in Panama, when they come to mind, they distract me, in a good way, and make me smile.

How much longer will we make our base in Panama? Who could say. Where to from here? Who knows. Our ultimate destination? We couldn’t tell you.

Our Ithaca beckons still from the far horizon. We tire now and then, we question our situation, our options, our choices, but we continue on the journey, down our path, happy, in truth, that we don’t know where it leads.

And we’re delighted that you’ve chosen to come along with us for the ride.

Sincerely,
Kathleen Peddicord signature
Kathleen Peddicord
Founding Publisher, Overseas Opportunity Letter

Tags: 'Argentina''Ecuador''France''Honduras''Ireland''Italy''Nicaragua'CroatiaithacaLive abroadlive overseasMexico'Move abroadmove overseasPanamaretirement livingthe journeyUruguay
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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
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Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

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From Outside North America:
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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

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