Has anyone found a good long-term base for splitting time between Asia ; S America?
Hi all,
I'm trying to work out a long-term living setup for retirement with easy access to the best of our hobby ST / LT etc, to see out my years (early before I get too old).
I'd like to spend about 5 months each year in Southeast Asia (places like the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam), and some time in South America as well. I would base myself in either region but I can't find a country without downsides or where they allow you to buy a house with no ongoing leasehold / maintenance fees. Most Asian countries you wouldn't buy in anyway due to earthquakes, typhoons or collapsing currencies. From what I've seen so far: A lot of Southeast Asia is great short-term, but visas and long-term stability can be a bit awkward. Passport Bros, Digital Nomads, travelvloggers and all have driven up the prices in these places too apart from maybe Indonesia or Cambodia. Buying property as a foreigner is often limited or not straightforward for example there is a minimum price threshold in Malaysia, the foreigner price! So its better to rent in most of Asia.
South America seems harder logistically (flights, costs, distance), especially if you're also trying to stay connected to Asia. Paraguay is good for house buying but very hot, some say isolated and bad for the hobby, so you would spend a lot of time in Argentina or Brazil and Colombia is a long expensive flight.
So I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that probably you would be better off keeping a house in a more stable country that has good and cheap flight connections to Asia but is nearer and cheaper than home (my case UK) and make that your retirement base from which to travel / monger. It's no good if the place works out more expensive than staying in the UK, as many places do once running the numbers. But looking for somewhere that's:
Stable and reasonably quiet.
Easy to stay long-term (visa-wise).
Well connected enough for a few long-haul trips a year.
Not too expensive or highly taxed.
Got good flight connections.
Good general liveability long-term.
But I'm struggling to find places that genuinely tick those boxes without major downsides. It feels like everywhere falls down on at least one of these.
Has anyone here actually found a place that works for this kind of setup? Not looking for perfect, just somewhere that's "good enough" to base yourself while travelling out to other regions. Would be really interested in hearing what people have tried and what worked (or didn't).
Have I missed somewhere actually in Asia or Latin America that works?
Thanks in advance.
Newbie. Help choose Latin country for mongering
Fellow mongers, which country in Latin America is best for a newbie with following constraints:
1) Cannot speak Spanish.
2) Do not prefer to go to clubs / brothels, preferably incall to my hotel / airbnb via online listings or picking off a safe place.
3) Budget not a problem but safety is priority.
4) Only into slim and petite Latinas (no offense to anyone).
I'm confused between Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil and Argentina (if any other country please suggest).
I see Argentina having greatest online ads via distinas, not sure why people say Argentina is dead.
Thanks a lot!