Let me introduce myself…

I’m Leslie, a 60-year-old Midwesterner married to my husband, Russ. Along with our two Shih Tzus, Zoey and Coco, we’re in the process of our ultimate adventure, moving from stateside to the South of France. This blog chronicles from inception to present our adventures along the way.

Where to?

Russ is in reality responsible for the genesis of this blog. About 8 years ago, he came across an article talking about the ability to retire early by moving to South America, where your dollar stretches further and sunshine abounds.

Naturally, it became the topic of conversation. Perhaps not so logically, the first words out of my mouth were “where are we going?” And so it began.

We kicked the tires around a bit. Costa Rica? Belize? Mexico? Where was there a sizable English speaking expat community? What about health care? And what were we going to do once we got there?

The final question really tripped us up. We’re really not beach people. Not in the sense of lay out and bake in the sun. Maybe enjoy a walk during the cool parts of the day.

What we wanted to do was travel. In Europe. And the easiest way to travel in Europe didn’t seem to be starting in South America.

European Adventure

Consequently, our next thought was start in Europe. If you wanted to travel in Europe, beginning there made sense. But where? Europe is a pretty all-encompassing entity and we were clueless.

International Living was our first major resource on moving abroad for retirement and it was high on Spain as a destination. Ergo, so were we. Spain checked the following boxes:

• Ease of access to other European destinations for travel
• Mediterranean climate, goodbye Ohio winters!
• Sunshine
• Culture
• Available good and reasonably priced healthcare

So, paradigm shift. Spain. Spain would be lovely. And what better way to explore retirement there than plan a Spanish adventure?