All Good Things Come to an End: Hanging Up the Keys

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Gizmo

Gizmo

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 22, 2012
Posts
1,805
Location
Bellingham,WA
We have decided to become expats - moving to Ecuador. as such we have accepted an offer to sell our 5th wheel to be finalized on Thursday. We have been RV'ing for 15+ years in 4 different RV's, 5 as full-timers. So it is bitter sweet and a part of us will miss the full-time adventures, but looking forward to the next chapter and adventure. We are currently in Bellingham, WA where we will be for a year as we iron out all the details for our move. I also wanted to say how much I have enjoyed, benefitted and been entertained by this forum and thank all for their valuable input, whether directly to me or to others.
 
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Gizmo said:
We have decided to become expats as such we have accepted an offer to sell our 5th wheel to be finalized on Thursday. We have been RV'ing for 15+ years in 4 different RV's, 5 as full-timers. So it is bitter sweet and a part of us will miss the full-time adventures, but looking forward to the next chapter and adventure. We are currently in Bellingham, WA where we will be for a year as we iron out all the details for our move. I also wanted to say how much I have enjoyed, benefitted and been entertained by this forum and thank all for their valuable input, whether directly to me or to others.
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Sad for you leaving the RVing lifestyle, but excited for your next lifestyle. Where do you plan to move/live when the year is up?
 
We had to give up on the fulltime lifestyle about 10 years ago but we downsized to a much smaller RV and we continue to spend a few months in it each year. Perhaps you could do something similar?
 
Kirk said:
We had to give up on the fulltime lifestyle about 10 years ago but we downsized to a much smaller RV and we continue to spend a few months in it each year. Perhaps you could do something similar?
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Thank you for the suggestion a good. We have - are considering that.
 
PancakeBill said:
Curious of the draw Ecuador has? Climate? Cost of living?
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All of the above plus natural beauty, biodiversity, culture. In addition we like the fact that Ecuador has written into their constitution a bill of rights - legal requirements for wildlife and nature on an equal plane as a bill of rights for people.
 
In addition, Ecuador also uses US Dollars at their official currency. The required minimum for an expat to move there on a retirement visa is only $425 per month.

The airline I worked for sends aircraft to Ecuador to have heavy maintenance done. Its surprising very good quality work, as many mechanic/engineer retirees from Lufthansa Technik retire to Ecuador because it is so expensive to live in Germany as a retiree. They get jobs at the MRO there and continue their trade.

I worked with a young fellow who was born in Ecuador and came here at about age 7 with his parents. He joined the US Navy and was a helicopter mechanic, and after leaving the Navy he came to us. Good mechanic but had a playboy lifestyle. He returned to Ecuador frequently to visit relatives and take the new girlfriend of the moment there to vacation.

Charles
 
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Hope you hang around and continue to join in with the chat.

I'm sure many like myself are interested in how your new life goes.

Photos of the wildlife would also be great šŸ˜

Hope it all goes smoothly for you guys. Sounds great.
 
It's always traumatic to end a chapter of your life. It took us 35 years RVing and DW having serious back issues before I decided she was no longer enjoying the life.
 
Sounds great. I did a lot of research on Latin America retirements and I was settling on the East Coast of Costa Rica. When my Colombian wife got wind of my research she hit me with her flip flop and told me we are living in Cartagena - LOL...

We have a condo there. Retirement plan was for me to sell everything here, buy a boat and move into the condo. Covid nixed that idea. I decided to build a farm and now that the world is open again we are trying to figure out what our "real" plan is gonna be.

I am all for splitting our time between here on the 5 acres, Cartagena on the beach with a little fishing boat and 3-4 months a year in the RV cruising around.

We've had the condo in the rental market but that too has been dried up by covid.

Belize and Panama also came up high on my list - Don't know why I didn't get a lock on Ecuador? Probably because I wanted to be on the Caribbean Sea. I even had this crazy idea to drive to Belize through Mexico. Still might do that if I live long enough.

I still nee to learn Spansih - LOL...
 
CharlesinGA said:
In addition, Ecuador also uses US Dollars at their official currency. The required minimum for an expat to move there on a retirement visa is only $425 per month.

The airline I worked for sends aircraft to Ecuador to have heavy maintenance done. Its surprising very good quality work, as many mechanic/engineer retirees from Lufthansa Technik retire to Ecuador because it is so expensive to live in Germany as a retiree. They get jobs at the MRO there and continue their trade.

I worked with a young fellow who was born in Ecuador and came here at about age 7 with his parents. He joined the US Navy and was a helicopter mechanic, and after leaving the Navy he came to us. Good mechanic but had a playboy lifestyle. He returned to Ecuador frequently to visit relatives and take the new girlfriend of the moment there to vacation.

Charles
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Yes I forgot to mention the US dollar used in Ecuador, one less challenge to work out. Actually the retirement visa has just recently gone up from $425 to I believe $1,200. Still in all the cost of living is dramatically lower.
 
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