**This post has been updated with known 2023 requirements from the Mexican government, but still retains our 4 year experience getting both the temporary and permanent visa.** For our first four years, I shared our experiences of getting the temporary visa. In december 2021, we qualified for the permanent visa and are ecstatic that we…
Tom and I had a discussion the other day about renting or buying. While we both agree it’s a good idea to rent for the first year or two when you arrive in a foreign country, we differ on opinion for the long term. While he prefers the benefits of buying a house, I like…
Moving to another country should never be taken lightly. We didn’t move to Mexico on a whim. We carefully considered our options and the process of moving our household items and a dog across the border. Many people have asked us about our move to Mexico. Why did we choose Mexico? Why did we choose…
We don’t regret moving to a new country, but our expat life wasn’t rainbows and butterflies every day. We struggled with the language, setting up internet and cable, getting lost with Google maps and even writing a claim for a car accident. Most of the stories you hear from expats are all the wonderful “better…
Have you ever dreamed of living in a villa overlooking the Mediterranean? Or an off-the-grid ecolodge in the jungles of Costa Rica? Strolling through the vineyards of Tuscany? Or maybe a high-rise apartment in Bangkok with the best Asian food just steps away…The perfect country is out there for you, but which one? I’m really…
A question we are asked often is “Did we sell our house before we moved abroad”? Well, yes we had planned to, but no it didn’t happen. We planned to put our house up for sale 3 months before we moved to Mexico, but it didn’t work out the way we hoped. Here’s the Story……
Our boxes have arrived! All 63 of them… Yes, we packed WAY too much. The kitchen stuff alone was 42 boxes. No, we didn’t bring our own stove and refrigerator, but Tom is a self-made chef, so he has plenty of “toys.” We shipped a cryovac machine, 22 cutting boards (I don’t know why we…
When it comes time to pack for a big move, the task can be overwhelming. How did you acquire so much stuff? If you’re lucky, your company will pay for most of the relocation costs. If you are doing this on your own, it’s time to “clean house”, decide what’s really important and become a…
I did a lot of research about the best way to maintain my business phone number when moving abroad to Mexico. My email direct marketing business uses cell phone calls, text messages and email heavily both to accept orders and to get credit card numbers or changes to credit cards on file. So I needed…
If you think it’s hard planning your own flight to your overseas location, planning your pet travel is even more difficult. As humans, we can deal with wonky flight times; leaving at 5am in the morning, or arriving at an unknown location at 11pm at night, hoping someone will be available at the hotel…
Mexico is a kaleidoscope of different landscapes. From the beach towns of the Yucatan, wine regions of Baja, the jungles of Oaxaca and mountain ranges twisting their way through dessert and pine forests, it’s hard to choose the perfect place to live. Mexico has something for everyone, from wildlife lovers to allergy sufferers. Big city…
Our new journey begins today! This is us 10 minutes before we left for the airport. We look exhausted and frazzled, we know, but we were ready to celebrate! Champagne has never tasted so good! We were still cleaning, painting and vacuuming our now empty house up until the minute we left. We finished moving…