Sunshine, Snorkeling…and Hassle-free Health Care
Date: 07/28/2008 Author: Brigid DarraghMonday, July 28, 2008
Read more about inexpensive health care overseas in International Living Postcards—your daily escape
Dear International Living Reader,
Imagine yourself snorkeling in the tropical sun and gin-clear waters off Thailand’s coast.
You pause for a rest and stand on what you think is a rock…and the water suddenly turns bright red.
It really happened to Brigid Darragh, and as a diver myself, it gave me a chill to read about it. But all’s well that ends well…read how the Thai medical system saved a vacation from turning into a horror story below.
Dan Prescher
Publisher, International Living
Earn $4,000 for Writing a Simple Letter
Date: 07/25/2008 Author: Steenie HarveyFriday, July 25, 2008
Find more ways to make money overseas in International Living Postcards—your daily escape
My friend Jason Gaspero is a professional copywriter. He lives and works in Kho Phangan, Thailand...but he could live anywhere he wanted.
Steenie Harvey caught up with Jason to ask him how he does it. You’ll be amazed by his answer, and by the income potential of Jason’s line of work.
Steenie tried her hand at it...and made $4,000 for writing one letter.
She’ll tell you all about it below.
Dan Prescher
Publisher, International Living
The Best Place to Buy Plane Tickets (and Medicine…Wine…Cameras….)
Date: 01/27/2008Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008
Read more about retiring overseas in International Living Postcards—Sunday Edition
Buy your medicine in Argentina, glasses in Singapore, plane tickets in London, and cameras and computers in the United States. Buy French wine in France, Spanish wine in Spain, and Argentine wine in Argentina. Don't buy any wine at all in Thailand, where the government taxes the stuff at 400% or so.
Read OnEarly Retirement Starts With Your Attitude
Date: 12/23/2007Sunday, Dec. 23, 2007
Read more about retiring overseas in International Living Postcards--Sunday Edition
Emilio was a beach vendor in Phuket, Thailand, where Vicki and I spent a month earlier this year with some friends. It was slow season, May/June, and Emilio had few customers. He stopped by and chatted with us every now and again. He spoke good English.
Read On
Medical tourism—why more than 400,000 patients are flocking to Thai hospitals every year
Date: 11/01/2007
By Jo Foley
It’s the new buzz in travel—tourists not just visiting places to relax, unwind, play golf, explore new cultures or cuisines, but to have medical check-ups, a new hip, or a simple bit of liposuction. It’s called medical tourism and is burgeoning throughout Eastern Europe and South Africa…but most of all in South East Asia. Time was, when the whole purpose of a vacation was to return feeling fitter and healthier and looking better—now that feeling is no longer left to chance or the right resort, the perfect beach and a classic course. It is to do with what procedures and operations and expert physicians can be experienced along the way. It also has to do with cost and comfort.
It began rather slowly and apologetically with a concept called “Surgery and Safari” in South Africa, when half the world realized that some of the best trained medical staff were South Africans—remember Christian Barnaard the heart transplant pioneer and his center of excellence? Serious surgery became a byword for the place, and when it became known that some of the finest aestheticians were trained there, women began to filter through for a face lift, a breast augmentation, or apronectomy. Better still guests could pretend they had been on a holiday “safari” even, and return home looking rested and relaxed rather than blatantly surgically enhanced.
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A rebellious Brit finds love in Thailand
Date: 10/03/2007
Neal Bambridge grew up in York in the north of England and attended University in Liverpool, where he studied electronic engineering. He then worked as a telecommunications consultant in Manchester. Every day, he'd put on his suit and tie and drive to work. After putting in 10 hours he'd go home to bed and get up to do it all again the next day. On weekends?when the weather was accommodating, which wasn't all that often in northern England?Neal would climb aboard his Harley Davidson and cruise on out to his country house. Work contracts occasionally took him to places like India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Iran, and every vacation was spent backpacking, mostly in Asia.
Sound idyllic? Some would say yes, but to Neal Bambridge, this was no way to live.
Read On
No I "Do's" at the Buddhist Wedding
Date: 10/01/2007Six drummers in ethnic dress led the wedding parade through the traffic, followed by six dancing girls in gorgeous costumes.
Read On