Personally, it'd be Cyprus or Thailand for me.

Spent 2 months in Thailand and the internet was fine. With Cyprus, you've got the weather and close links to the UK.

Good luck with it.

Don't know Cyprus but I lived in Thailand for 2 years. Internet service is great there, some cost of living is cheap (housing not particularly if you live near BKK. Obviously a tremendous amount of instability at the moment and if you are a wine drinker it is REALLY expensive!! Valencia also has great links to the UK and the rest of Europe - not to mention the Americas Cup and the European Grand Prix....I sound like the tourism authority!!!

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Mature Women Defeating Breast Cancer

I am looking for a retirement location, but like you, require a quality broadband connection for some revenues. I looked very closely at Uruguay but dropped it from my list for several reasons, including the internet issue.

Right now I am getting ready to travel to Panama. Cost of living outside Panama City is pretty low. Lot's of websites for information.

The internet quality in Panama is supposed to be excellent. The infrastructure in Panama was either designed or built by Americans when they built and then ran the canal until recently. This is a real advantage for Panama compared to most Latin American countries. You should check it out and good luck in your search.

I didn't look outside Panama City, but if you go to anyplace that has a large expat population, prices will be higher than they were a few years ago. There are websites out there saying you can live a great lifestyle on $600 per month, but that just isn't true.

I wish now I'd checked out a couple of other areas besides Panama City, though. I wonder what effect the recent financial crisis has had on prices.

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You are right about the costs going up along with the expat population but there are still a lot of places in Panama that are either undiscovered or in the early stages of development. I am looking to buy land and build on part of it and sell the rest as prices go up. Panama is really booming for a lot of reasons but I think some impact has to be felt in the real estate market as people around the world deal with the recession, or whatever you want to call our current situation. Since I am looking to make a move sometime next year I am hoping to find some bargains compared to today's market.

A lot of the rise in real estate has been the result of Venezuelans wanting to make sure they have a safe haven in case Chavez...well, in case. If you invest at least $200,000 you get residency, so there are a lot of empty condos with absentee Venezuelan owners.

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If you can prove guaranteed income (I think it just changed to $1,000) per month you can qualify for a pensionado visa, which has no age limit and provides a ton of benefits and discounts. Great property tax benefits too if buying.

Hi Lisa,
We only joined a few weeks ago.
Scanning this site for something positive and interesting. We are Bev 47 yrs and Brian 52 yrs and presently living in the bush in S.Africa and have been here for 25 yrs. We are both Pommies (London and Manchester). Now looking for a change due to crime here. Never thought of Italy. Were looking at Cyprus or Spain. We don't need lots of entertainment, we don't have kids. My trade was PA/secretary and my other half is an Electronics Communications Engineer, but has consulted in many varied fields and built most of this bush lodge. We have a little money but would need some sort of an income, but we are pretty low maintenance. Looking for a small business to keep our heads above water but nothing very fancy. Know nothing about food or catering industries which is what most people tend to go for. Did see an opportunity to run a hire shop in Majorca, which we thought might be interesting. They hired anything from wheelchairs to hairdryers. Hope you don't mind us picking on you, but found your positive attitude towards Italy very interesting. Is our lack of Italian going to be a problem? Neither of us speak any other language, unless of course you can count schoolgirl French!!!
Any more advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.
Although we don't have to be in a city, we do like the coast. Are open to any form of business opportunities, as long as they are legal and not immoral!
Perhaps we are both barking mad, but we wanted to explore all possibilities.
Looking forward to hearing from you or anyone else for that matter.

I've been living in Malaysia for the past 2 years. Advantages: Almost everyone speaks English, there are plenty of English bookstores, etc - there is almost no need at all to learn a new language. English is actually the "first language" of a large percentage of the population. People are friendly and go out of their way to be helpful. Health care is very good - a trip to a local doctor costs about US$5, and seeing a hospital-based specialist trained in the US or UK costs under US$30. You can find inexpensive places to rent (a 3-bedroom condo in a good neighborhood in Kuala Lumpur can easily be found for under US$600 per month, and it's generally less expensive elsewhere in the country). High-speed internet is everywhere - at an internet cafe, it costs about US$1 an hour. Wireless broadband is also widely available. Food is great - Malaysians love international cuisines, and I never feel as if I have to "do without" when it comes to food. And it's safe - crime is low, terrorism is basically non-existent, and the standard of living is quite good.

Disadvantages: The majority of the population is Muslim (roughly 60%, with the remainder being Chinese, Indian and ex-pat) - not necessarily a disadvantage, but as a result, some things, such as beer, are relatively expensive. And conservative dress is appreciated, especially in the less urban, Muslim areas - no halter tops, for example. The low land areas, such as those that encompass every city in Malaysia, tend to be hot and humid. However, there are central highlands that are easily accessible where you can go to cool down.

For the two of us, living in Kuala Lumpur, we spend an average of US$1500 per month - that includes eating out regularly, internet, running the air conditioning most of the day, the occasional "holiday" trip to other areas, and generally living quite comfortably.

I've been living in Malaysia for the past 2 years. Advantages: Almost everyone speaks English, there are plenty of English bookstores, etc - there is almost no need at all to learn a new language. English is actually the "first language" of a large percentage of the population. People are friendly and go out of their way to be helpful. Health care is very good - a trip to a local doctor costs about US$5, and seeing a hospital-based specialist trained in the US or UK costs under US$30. You can find inexpensive places to rent (a 3-bedroom condo in a good neighborhood in Kuala Lumpur can easily be found for under US$600 per month, and it's generally less expensive elsewhere in the country). High-speed internet is everywhere - at an internet cafe, it costs about US$1 an hour. Wireless broadband is also widely available. Food is great - Malaysians love international cuisines, and I never feel as if I have to "do without" when it comes to food. And it's safe - crime is low, terrorism is basically non-existent, and the standard of living is quite good.

Disadvantages: The majority of the population is Muslim (roughly 60%, with the remainder being Chinese, Indian and ex-pat) - not necessarily a disadvantage, but as a result, some things, such as beer, are relatively expensive. And conservative dress is appreciated, especially in the less urban, Muslim areas - no halter tops, for example. The low land areas, such as those that encompass every city in Malaysia, tend to be hot and humid. However, there are central highlands that are easily accessible where you can go to cool down.

For the two of us, living in Kuala Lumpur, we spend an average of US$1500 per month - that includes eating out regularly, internet, running the air conditioning most of the day, the occasional "holiday" trip to other areas, and generally living quite comfortably.