Where would your foreign hideaway be?
Ok....It seems like we have a pretty interesting group of people here....albeit a smaller one in the forums (the regs...you know) so I thought I'd pose this question.
Answer realistically...you know...none of that Cayman Island/Lichtenstein tax shelter mumbo jumbo...Monaco is off the list also unless of course Bill Gates is reading this blog.
Also...take into consideration what you might know or not know about owning property in a foreign country.
You can actually read some info at places like Escapeartist before you make your choice.
For the poll pick what you might be your favorite but feel free to share a couple if you can't decide in your post.
Tell us why also...what do you know that we don't?
Answer realistically...you know...none of that Cayman Island/Lichtenstein tax shelter mumbo jumbo...Monaco is off the list also unless of course Bill Gates is reading this blog.
Also...take into consideration what you might know or not know about owning property in a foreign country.
You can actually read some info at places like Escapeartist before you make your choice.
For the poll pick what you might be your favorite but feel free to share a couple if you can't decide in your post.
Tell us why also...what do you know that we don't?
Comments
My first choice would probably be somewhere in the Caribbean...most likely somewhere along the Mayan Riviera. I'm aware of the full legal process, have spent plenty of time there, passable spanish...plus I know how to get a 40% discount. 8)
My Second choice would probably be somewhere in Canada...The natural beauty and isolation is great. Ainsworth B.C. would probably be a nice choice as it is off the beaten path and their Hot Springs are incredible.
I'm not advocating purchasing citizenship...I know about that gig with Canada...in fact...over the last few years...the price has increased substantially.
even if one wasn't going to "buy"...you can still rent for extremely cheap. I have a few friends that rent in the Caribbean. One right across from the water in a 1br for $280/month one in a 2br for $325 a month one block from the beach and one in a 2BR house on the water for $400 They keep them year round...and they are neither slums nor teeny-tiny domiciles.
Who knows...maybe I'll just rent around the world forever...Musical countries.
I want to go somewere that will not have every functionary asking me for my damn SSN everytime I want to get change to operate the coin-op toilet. I would also like to make it through a week of public interaction without some race hustler trying to score an advantage by drowning me in White Guilt. Modern PC got its start in Canada in 1971 and has only gotten worse, so it is right-out.
My answer is different with a family vs without a family. With a family, it is probably NZ, Tasmania, or Ireland. Perhaps somewhere in Patagonia up to Uruguay would do nicely. My primary concern would be to raise my kids in an environment where political correctness does not color their education and interaction with others. Right now I am able to do that in the US, but that window is closing. I fear their college years. There is absolutely no concept of classical liberal free speech on the modern college campus. The modern Orwellians have a straight jacket around any form of cultural dissent. As these kids move into the adult world, society will also be an Orwellian hell hole.
If it is just me, I would be "whereabouts unknown." I think the concept of "perpetual traveller" comes to mind. Mexico, the Caribbean, Panama, Europe, South Pacific, etc. If I thought I would never come back to the US (if we became a secularist East German style of police state), I would send in my final 1040 on one side of the paper with a photocopy of me sitting on the Ass-Jet 2000 on the other, and go bounce around the rest of the world. I'd probably buy citizenship in a country that could care less, and have an assumed name on my new passport.
While I don't care for 10% of Mexico living in my country, I do like to VISIT theirs. They have a habit of not asking a bunch of intrusive questions. Cash is OK, and I have NEVER been asked for ID. Some of my favorite layovers have been in Leon. Mexico is quite nice if you get away from border towns and American ghettos (Cabo, PV, Cozumel). I wouldn't go to Mex City on a bet.
If I had gobs of money, and the ability to use that money to keep a low profile, I would live in the Alps, Chile-Argentina, or Down Under. I'd try to get citizenship outside of the US and never live in the country of that citizenship. I think I would just float around until I found a place where freedom is more than a punchline.
i've daydreamed about this quite a bit. if money was no object, i'd probably live in or just outside of vienna. given more realistic finances, likely san miguel de allende, mexico. it's lovely---low key, affordable, gorgeous countryside and weather, and manageable proximity to the US to visit family and friends.
Longish term getaway: Somewhere in the Mediterranean. Monaco would be nice, but my pauper salary wouldn't even get me in the door. North coast of Africa would be interesting, so long as I can have a non-US passport, and lots of guns.
Really long term: NZ. It's basically like the PacNW without as many loonies.
A true hideaway seems difficult nowadays. Just look at all the US criminals caught in faraway places. One guy who intrigued me lived in a cave in a national forest in Arizona for 11 years, until a hiker reported him.