Journey to Panama & Beyond

The How of making this move has many components.  How did we decide on Panama, how are we going to live once we are there, how are we going to get there, how are we going to move our stuff and our dogs, how are we going to stay out of legal issues when we don't know the customs or laws?   We may be adventurous, but we are decidedly somewhat risk averse as well.  What does that mean... exactly?  Research, research, research!  Ya can't plan for every contingency, but one can have a pretty good idea of the both the upsides and the downsides of any decision.  And that is what we did…lotsa research! Exploring Bocas Del Toro Our approach involved a great deal of data gathering and wine drinking.  We researched by country and then by the possible province or city we might choose to live in.  Since we can't remember what we even had for breakfast by 5P most days, I created a spreadsheet with column headers that contained the key elements ...

The 'why'   OK then.  We are launching this blog just 4 weeks from D-Day, our departure day from the U.S. to Panama.    Why?  Because our family and friends are the inquiring minds that want to know... what the h--- are we doing?    Well, what we are doing is orchestrating a major shift in where and how we live our lives.  One with more purpose, more meaning, more.....  Ha!  Sucked you in, didn't I?  I suspect we all think about this one way or another. Why does anyone need a 'why' to do anything?  Do what feels right! (within moral, legal and ethical grounds)  Right?  Loco?  Maybe.  But we do have reasons... at least that are meaningful to us. The research and planning for this departure began about 5 years ago when we asked ourselves that if we just kept doing what we were doing, what would be different in 5 years? Nothing! Except that we would be older and maybe not as physically mobile. ...