"It's Just Like Falling In Love!" How To Pick Your Country, How The Hosts Picked Theirs

0:00English speakers are still a novelty here. And of course, I had two cats who basically destroyed their carriers on days one and three. There was a lot of discussion to make sure that we were aligned and that we were doing it for for similar reasons. What are the visa paths? Are you running towards something or are you running away from something and then what?

0:25I can't believe we're finally here. This is Americans Abroad, you know, most of the people who we help move abroad are choosing Mexico or Portugal. So I thought we would talk about some of the reasons why Mexico is better than Portugal. Let's go. I'm ready to throw down. OK, listen, for one thing, and I mean this is obvious, right? The food, Mexican food gets its own like UNESCO World Heritage designation.

0:54The number one thing that Americans say they miss when they move abroad is Mexican food. And so I feel like I have cracked the code because I got to move abroad and get more Mexican. Food. OK, you are definitely not wrong. Dave and I last week went and had chicken and mole and conchinita P bill because I missed Mexican food. You know, living in San Antonio, trust me, Mexican food is something that I miss.

1:20But until you have had a warm pastel donata right out of the oven, a little charred on top, and A and a cafe and it's €2.00 for both of them combined. It's a tough call, but I think my cafe and pastel life definitely wins out. OK, you make a good case there. A little cinnamon on top. Like walking. Down a little powdered sugar, Yes, absolutely. It's a vibe.

1:46OK, yeah, fantastic. I'll give you that, although I don't know, tacos on the street everywhere you look out, Pastor. OK, so the other thing that I think is much better about Mexico is the fact that we could drive here. You know, we threw all four of our animals, the Instant Pot and all our clothes into the SUV and we drove 8 days.

2:09But we drove here from Alabama. You cannot do that in Portugal. No, the ease of access for Mexico from the United States definitely A+. When we were looking at where we wanted to move and also our timeline and you know we referred to as our bug out plan was to go to Mexico. You know, we could be across the border in three hours and into the interior here, Mexico and another 8.

2:35So definitely enticing. But when we were looking at what we would have access to, the fact that in like 4 hours I can be in Paris and not even have to get on a plane, that Spain is just across the border. That if I wanted to go visit my friends in the UK, it was a hour and a half plane ride.

2:56You take a Ryanair jet for €50 and you are in another country, so just traveling within Europe and honestly, if I never have to drive a car again, I will be the happiest person in the world. So the ease of public transportation is here, especially here in Porto. Top notch, could not be beat. So I think I have you there. OK, So you make a really good case there. You know, I would love to have the Jet 2 holiday. I can drive Cancun.

3:26Nothing. Right. I can drive to Cancun in 3 1/2 hours and then I can fly anywhere in the world. But it is, it is a hot, we'll give you that in Mexico is almost as car dependent as the US is. So you absolutely wouldn't be in walkable cities. I will say that today when we were coming back from the court to Inglass with our groceries and walking uphill with our Dave had two bags and I had two bags.

3:53There was a moment in there when I was like, do I just call an Uber to take me the four blocks? So there are times where the car would be really, really helpful. So the fact that you're still in a, in a drivable city, the roads are navigable. They're not these tiny little alleyways like we have here.

4:09I don't know how they drive it. They do, yeah. I admit sometimes having that car would would be nice. It is amazing that so many places in Portugal managed to be uphill both ways and it genuinely is like that because it's like up, down, up, down, up, down. And so you get to where you're going, and then when you go back, it's still up, down, up. Down.

4:28Absolutely. You're going to have hamstrings and quads and glutes from. Of steel. I'm telling you, people there, you'll see little old ladies and they're like mountain goats. They're just. In boots with a heel and and all of that, I'm not there yet. Go in their bags and everything else. You'll get there. It'll take time. OK. Last thing, though.

4:54So you are in the north of Portugal, which is lovely and lush, but it is also, you know, it's kind of like being in Northern California. So you have rain and gloom and cold. And here in Medida, Yucatan, I have 365 days of summer. Maybe I'm, I'm, it's my teenage goth coming out. I when we were looking to move, one of the big things was we did not want to deal with 100° summers anymore. You know, I, I lived in San Antonio combined for 38 out of my 47 years of my life.

5:35You would think that if anybody was acclimated to hot weather, it would be me. Absolutely not. So we were looking for some place rainy and cold and and Four Seasons and we needed a jacket and there were days that we didn't want to go outside. My partners grew up in San Francisco. A lot of his family's up in Northern Oregon. So we wanted a little bit of that weather. The first time I tried to move abroad in my 20s, I went to the UK and I went to Ireland.

6:03So I think I've always been chasing again, a little bit of that weather that that 15 year old goth kid so desperately, desperately was looking for. And and 99° is not goth weather. Kathy on the Moors. Absolutely, it is my weather and heights. I think we got to bust my heights off. Off the record, I think you got to bust my balls a little bit about the humidity and mosquitoes. No, I was just about how in the world have you acclimated to the heat and the humidity and the bugs? I came to visit you and oh strong goal, I came to visit you in January.

6:43January was lovely, but coming to visit the first week of September challenge your 105° weather in many that is not 105° weather in Texas. I don't know what magical 9th circle of hell 105° weather y'all have there, but it is not. I was not prepared for it. So how do you manage? Listen, it's a great question and I laugh when you say 100° summer because we also have 100° spring and 100° fall.

7:18It is. It's like that year round. And we had a really cool snap this past winter when everybody else was having it. It was unlike. Can you tell everybody what your cold snap? You know, mid 70s, but you were, you know, you're not wrong. We came, we moved here in May and May is the hottest month of the year. And I mean, heat index 1/18 1:20 and we were struggling, but we knew if we got through it, you know, if we did it first that we acclimate.

7:52And, and I'm not saying I love it. I would love it to not be quite so hot sometimes, I'm not going to lie. But you know, it's good for your skin. The sweating. They say that the heat now is good for preventing dementia. So I'm just leaning into it. The one thing that you don't get here is you don't do outdoor activities.

8:16You know, I mean like exercise. We go to the gym and we go to Pilates and we go to the mall and things like that. But nobody is hiking, nobody is riding bikes. And that is something that I would love to have one day. I do miss the idea of we eat outside, of course, especially in the cooler months. And you can eat outside all your all your bread. But you know, you don't want the dengue either, so. And I know there are.

8:49A lot of magnet. And I know there's a lot of people who are like actively, actively seeking out that warmer that what you're describing sounds like paradise to them. Oh, yeah, for sure, for sure. And you really do have to to be down for it. But I will tell you, when we first were talking about, in case listeners don't know, we have a test called the Expatsi test.

9:14And what it came from was mine and my husband's own research on where we want to live. And I wanted eternal spring, you know, exactly like the Quinka weather, the bouquette, the Cara Toro. And that's what I had in mind. And we just happened upon Merida by chance on TikTok when we were considering Mexico. And when we came, like, we loved it so much that I was willing to change my mind about the weather. And now I, I love it.

9:49I love the fact that it is predictably, you know, I wear shorts every single day or sandals every single day. And I, I, I like the fact that I know exactly what it's gonna be. And you can dip in your pool every single day. That's. True, that's true. That that. Especially in the summer. Yeah, absolutely. Especially in the summer.

10:09In the summer, sometimes you bowl even in the bowl, but. You haven't and it's lovely. It's absolutely lovely. Thank you. Well. Thanks for talking to me, Yugo Mexico, and thanks for letting me share about Portugal. Absolutely. I don't think we picked a winner. I don't think so. I think I think there's a space for everyone and it's really about what suits you.

10:38And I love that you mentioned too, that when you first started to plan your move, that Medea wasn't on your radar, that other places in Mexico were maybe a little bit higher up on your list. But when it feels right, I think it just feels right. I'm very much a gut instinct person. And so, you know, you can, you can logic your way, you can spreadsheet your way into picking a destination, but when you feel it, you feel it.

11:04And there's no way to shake it after that. 100,000% like it's good to you know, we have these stages of moving abroad and in the planning stage you're figuring out where you can go and then you're coming up with your short list based on math and spreadsheets and formulas. But then in stage 3 exploration, you're figuring out where you want to go, which is vibes.

11:25And it's like falling in love. You know, you can make on a list of what you're looking for in a partner, but the heart wants what the heart wants. And so that's why we have, you know, Stephanie and I met on our very first group scouting trip and we've taken, you know, hundreds of people on scouting trips now. But that's what it's for.

11:46It's because in person, it's so different from what it looks like on Instagram or YouTube or, or whatever. And you'll know it's, it is just like falling in love. You either feel it where you don't. Yeah, your your new home will feel like home and pretty quickly. Absolutely. I'm kind of location Polly because I think that I would be happy in Puerto or Cuenca or Montevideo or several other places that we've been, Oaxaca, I think so.

12:24Yeah, I had when I went on this scouting trip, I had one surprise when we were in Spain, I, you know, I talk about like, I like the doom and the gloom and I'm Catherine on the Moors Alicante in Spain. I did not, I did not expect to enjoy it. As to go, you know what, maybe it's a beach town. You're very close to Benidorm, which is where all the Brits go to vacation.

12:49So it is. It is. Everything on my life. Yes, but but it's everything on that list of what do I want? It was like, Nope, Nope, Nope, But it just felt like it fit, especially for for a, a beach town. And so, you know, sometimes you'll, you'll come with something in mind and then something will surprise you or be a, a, an unexpected Plan B or an unexpected you. Don't let me explore this a little bit more. Well, Alicante suits you to me because it is. Yeah, it's a beach town, but it's also gritty and cool. Like when you're up in closer to

13:29the train station, you could be in Manhattan or somewhere like that. Like it, It really has that feel. And then when you get closer to the beach, that's where it becomes a little more Spain coastline. But compared to Valencia, that is so I don't know what era it is, but I don't I don't know enough about architecture, but it is so classic, whereas Alicante is very urban. Yeah, completely agree.

14:00Completely agree. So that's interesting. I actually didn't remember that you liked Alicante. I knew that you liked Bilbao. I do and again it's green and it's a little Catherine on the Moors. It's you know, so it weather wise is great. The food is always a big thing and also Alicante had really good food. So I think that also displays me who's who's got really good food.

14:25We ate Thai food in Alicante. That's the only thing I remember. But Bilbao to me is Eastern European. San Sebastian is France. And then build out. It's far from the Old Town. To me it is. It's brutalist, which I just didn't because nothing else we saw in Spain was like that. But it was like we had been. It was a Soviet state.

14:47It was. So different from anything. It's a really interesting thing about Spain is that it is like 12 countries in a trench coat. Absolutely. And you know, as people are exploring where they want to go, I think one of the things that I love doing is when I host webinars or we're talking to folks about where they can go is getting rid of the idea that a country has is homogeneous.

15:16Even here in Portugal, you know, it's, it's a small country. The feeling in Porto is very different than Coimbra is very different than Lisbon is very different than, you know, Lowell or anywhere down in, in on, you know, on the southern coast. You, you even in small countries, you get just such a diverse vibe and landscape and geography and climate.

15:40So getting rid of the idea that Spain is Spain and France is France, and it's gosh, especially in Mexico that Mexico is Mexico, just how buried it can be and that there's just so much out there to explore. I think in Spain it's also all those subcultures because so many different languages. And that's true in Mexico too. You know, people here speak Mayan and it's prominent. It's not as prominent maybe as Basque or Catalan, but it is prominent.

16:10And I think that that lends to, you know, America is very efficient at the end of the day. That is one of the things that I think that the US is, which can be good, right? It means you can push through a new idea. I like innovation and you can get things done really quickly. And it is all very honed into the dollar and so on.

16:36But you lose so much in art and culture and significance and, and you know, even when we were growing up, none of the foods are the same anymore. And and when we go home now from Mexico, we go home at Christmas and it just seems small and decrepit compared to what I thought the future was going to be growing up. Interesting.

17:06Yeah, I absolutely can see that you know once you're exposed to new ideas and. And just difference recognize coming back and recognizing that there is more, that there's more out there. And that's I think one of the great things about about travel. My niece is coming to visit me next month. And I get emotional when I think about this, that other than myself and my dad, she is the first person in our family to have a passport.

17:35And that's all of my cousins, my aunt, my uncle, my grandparents, her siblings, none of it. She's the And she just got her passport to come. To visit Amazing. Yeah, and open. Open her world. And that there, there is so much more out there than than her neighborhood. And in, in even in San Antonio, it's a, it's the eighth biggest city in the US.

18:01It's, you know, we're not a tiny town, but even just going outside of what you are used to, it's, it's immersion therapy and, you know, drop you in in the middle and just that there is so much more to life than I think, you know, what, what we're used to and especially in the States, where it's relatively homogeneous in terms of the food that we eat and what the streets are like and how towns are built.

18:28And you go from one city to the to the next and it, you know, it feels the same. You know, may definitely have its own identity. You know, I think of a city like New Orleans that definitely has an identity and a personality that's very unique. But at the end of day, you can still go four blocks and go to a Chili's, or that there's an Olive Garden in the middle of Times Square and that it isn't quite like that other places. So I'm very excited for her to branch out. That's exciting.

18:54It is not like that. I think about that all the time. Like I think about Nashville hot chicken. You know, it's so exciting. You try something new, something new appears to you, new to you in Nashville or when it, you know, it trickled down to Birmingham. That didn't take too long since, you know, over to Atlanta first, then to Birmingham. Why not?

19:15And now it's like it's everywhere. Like there is no special unique aside from things that aren't super popular. I do love a Meeting 3 Birmingham and I love and I love regional BBQ styles and stuff like that. But yeah. And then like there are places in Birmingham that serve Texas BBQ. Of course, to be fair, there are also places in Navy that they serve because it's, you know. Figure that out.

19:41Do you find that now that you are removed from, you know, the homogeneousness? I don't even know if that's a word. It is now of no the sameness that there are times where you are charmed by. An American bit or especially like an American restaurant in your new country. Like I know we have talked about you eating at Texas Roadhouse and how it's like so good there.

20:10No, no, no, no, no. On on my list is like there's a really fancy Taco Bell like 2 stops away from the South Bento or two blocks from the South Bento station. And I was like, I want to go have a Baja Blast and a Crunchwrap Supreme in Porto, Portugal because I now find it very charming and. Unique.

20:29Yes. Same. Say. First of all, there is definitely no Taco Bell in Mexico. They are not. Oh. No, no, no. It's so funny. But yeah, we, we love Texas Roadhouse and I don't, I'm not a big listen, I'm bougie, I'm a foodie, I'm picky, I'm a snob. I get it. But I I don't eat a lot of chain restaurants in the US. But there are the thing that I think people don't realize when it comes to food is that, yeah, there are different cuisines, but also the way that everything is made is different. Everything like a Caesar salad

21:04or club sandwich, Those are those are a couple of dishes I've had in multiple countries. And it's just like, it's just very, very different. And sometimes I like comfort food. You know, I'm, I'm a human. I still bleed. And so there's a Texas Roadhouse here, and it is so. No shame, no guilt, Absolutely not. Sometimes just slaps.

21:31Uh huh. Yeah. I couldn't tell you the last time I went to a Texas Roadhouse in the US, but we love it. It's definitely where where we go on Brett's birthday. You know, one time they made him ride on a Saffle and they shouted yeehaw. So now we're not allowed to tell them. But, and it's not just because of steak.

21:48Like I, you know, I'd rather have a steak at home. But we like the road kill and we like, I like the chicken Caesar salad and like it. They're just certain American like flavors where even if someone makes an American dish, because inherently the butter is so different, it's not going to taste like what you know, or like we have.

22:11Brent loves ranch dressing and I taste it the other day and it is so dill forward. And then also hot dogs and Bologna are made with like 10 times more garlic which can be good but if you want. If you're expecting it to taste like home, yeah. Yeah, it's different. Uh huh. For sure Doritos are different. Yeah, I'm here. Here you buy your hot dogs in a jar. I don't know if I'm ever going to get over that because growing up, you know, you think like Vienna sausages, you know, your meat.

22:46Yeah, that's what I was going. To say. Yeah, yeah, Hot dogs. Are they cooked? Yeah, they're, they're cooked and they're in like a brine and they come in a jar and you can get little ones and tall ones and vegetarian ones. Like there's a whole sausage in a jar section at the grocery store. But then you have like, you know, your, your, your actual sausages like from here in, in Portugal.

23:10But yeah, hot dogs in a jar. I don't, I don't know, at 47 years old, if I'm ever going to be able to manage that one day. I'll try. Oh, you, one day you'll try. Of course you will. You better. You can try when I come and visit you. What's your favorite thing that you've eaten in Portugal?

23:28Oh. I I love Portuguese brunch culture, you know, I I've always loved a brunch, but the way that they do scrambled eggs and I've been to 7-8 places for brunch, you know here in via Novatagaya like more trendy places in the center of town you've. Been brunch 8 times in three weeks. Well, because we I also will do.

23:57I will also do brunch on like a Tuesday when I when I went to go eat with that. Is a commitment. With the, the person who does our e-mail marketing with Ashley who happened to be here in, in Porto, I was like, great, we're going to go to Esquire's coffee and we're going to go have a little brunch. We'll meet at 10:30 and then we'll, we'll have good because brunch, brunch is, is forever.

24:19But the way that they do scrambled eggs here, at least in in Porto, they are the softest, most well seasoned, just buttery it, it must be 1/2 a pound of butter and an egg, but I will eat that forever and ever. And you usually get your, your, your ovos meshy those that that is the one of the first things that I have memorized how to order because I order it all the time. And you'll get on like a like a big piece of toast and your scrambled eggs and a little bit of like chives on top. But it is just these buttery,

24:57soft, creamy, creamy scrambled eggs and they're so, so good that. Sounds amazing. So with all the food that I have, what is my favorite as a scrambled egg in Portugal? It's simple, but it but it's beautiful. Absolutely. I guess it makes sense since you have that rooster. Mascot. Yeah, we love our poultry. Yeah, for people who don't know, Portugal's mascot is a like, really fancy. Rooster, Rooster, you know I love Portugal. I found my home in Portugal.

25:31You have found Medida, Mexico. I know we have a bunch of people who are just getting started or just even thinking and daydreaming about moving abroad. What advice would you have for them? And obviously the first thing we always recommend is to take the Expatsi test because that's the whole point right is that's. Where I started 2 1/2 years ago.

25:51Was taking it's incredible. It's so exciting. One of my success stories, and I mean, to be fair, we have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people who started with the Expatsi test and now we're living all over the world and now, so we have this international network. But you start by taking the Expatsi test and it will ask you all the questions that you need to answer to get started.

26:14And then we even have a platform and it'll coach you through all the steps and yadda, yadda, yadda. But you can start by taking the Expatsi test. It's free and it will ask you everything that you really need to be thinking about if you want to make this real. And we'll put the link to the test down in the show notes.

26:32OK, so one of the things that we do at Expatsi is we have tons and tons and tons and tons of events, and Stephanie manages all of those. So will you tell us what's coming up at Expatsi? So May 9th and 10th we are headed to San Diego, CA at the Hard Rock Hotel for our second annual Move Abroad con. We have over two dozen talks already scheduled and we have more that are coming.

26:58We have partners, visa providers, moving services, financial professionals, you name it, who can come and help you put your move abroad plan together. It's going to be a really fun time. I'm so excited for it. We even have a Saturday night event at Petco Field during the Padres game. Big time. So, so excited. What a wonderful, unique experience that Jen has has curated for our speakers and for some of our ticket holders.

27:30But Move Abroad Con 2026 May 9th and 10th in San Diego, CA. Come and meet Jen, meet me, meet the rest of the Expatsi crew. But more importantly, meet the people that are going to help make your move abroad a reality, just like it's now a reality for Jen and myself. I love that. Thank you, Stephanie. And they're going to help you move to Portugal, Spain, Costa Rica, Panama, Uruguay, and tons of other countries. And we also have events every single week. You can see what is the latest and greatest anytime at expatsi.com/events.

28:07Are you? Thinking about moving abroad but you're not sure where to start? Join us at Move Abroad. Con it's a 2 day. Event where you'll meet experts, get your questions answered and leave with a real move abroad plan. It's happening May 9th and 10th in San Diego, CA. You can learn more and grab your ticket at moveabroadcon.com. We'd love to see you there.

28:30Jen, do you know what time it is? I do know what time it is with the perfect intro Jingle. OK. Are the Q&A section I, you know, it's just a little ditty that I wrote. I think it's perfect for us and our audience. It goes. Should I stay or should I go now? Should I stay or should I go now? If I go, there will be trouble, That's true. But if I stay, it will be double. That is also true.

29:02Also true. But like every single lyric of that song, Ron, our producer, you have to figure out how to help. Let us license. Yeah. To the Ghost Drummer Estate. Please don't come for us. I can't. I cannot help him. I think I'm saying less. Than 5 seconds, Yeah, please be punk rock about this and let us use this 5 1/2 seconds of this song.

29:30Is it not perfect? The indecision's killing me. You know this place. Don't want? To use indecision me Molesta, yes, absolutely. So we even get it international. There we go, We get the translation. I love it. Oh my God. So there you go. Cool, so we had a listener. Write in they said hi I'm interested in Spain or a place I can receive a retirement visa without having a lease prior to moving and no investment requirements. I have passive income that can sustain me living abroad. I'm seeking A relaxed life that's walkable and good healthcare.

30:07And they also say thank you for all you do. So I I love somebody who knows what they want. I think it definitely makes our job easier when we're giving them advice. If if they have some definitive, you know, the, the, the must haves and the, the, it would be cool ifs. So what would you recommend for this listener who passive income?

30:29So we're going to get rid of Portugal because we know that lease thing is a thing. They want something walkable, something relaxing and good healthcare. Where should we send them? I think it's a great question I was actually looking to see because you do need proof of accommodation even for the non lucrative visa. That said, it isn't for a year. That is a big stumbling block for folks moving to Portugal. You went through this?

30:58How did you accomplish this in Portugal? Getting this year long lease from Texas. Yeah, so we had an estate agent here in Porto who just did video tours for us. We would find something online and go. Can you check this out? First of all, if it isn't legit? And two, can you just arrange a video tour? And then we just made sure that we were very, very decisive. Thankfully, we are very, you know, very decisive once we see how.

31:29Yeah, you are. Once we see something we like, we're like, let's, let's just jump on it. Nothing is permanent. You know, what's the worst that can happen? And so that's how we approach it. We just knew that it was, you know, cost of doing business essentially is how we looked at it. This is part of the cost of the visa is having this lease ahead of our visa appointment.

31:51So, you know, we just we just planned for it and tried to keep our must have list as reasonable as possible and being very flexible on our it would be cool if and and again, just hoped and jumped on the first thing that we were like, yeah, this is totally viable for us and thankfully it's perfect for us.

32:11I. Don't know. And you know, I don't know everything about every visa by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't know if there are any long term visas that you can get in Europe without a place to live. I haven't heard heard of any that require absolutely nothing. I think in France you can probably get away with the long term Airbnb.

32:35You know, a short term rental like that. I can't swear to it. This is the perfect this is the perfect question to come to move abroad con with. I don't know if this will air before or after move abroad con, but you know, we have experts from 20 countries in one place, so you can just go down the line.

32:52Do I need a lease? Do I need a lease? Do I need a lease? And. What does it look like? You know, is it something that can be future dated? Here's my Airbnb that starts in July. Or does it need to be at the time of application? So even just the timing is for our lease? We had to do it before we even had our first visa appointment in the States and registered.

33:15It's mental to me because, you know, these countries talk about they have a housing crisis. Well, you know what's going to cause a housing crisis is a bunch of empty apartments that people have to lease in order to even apply for this visa. And then you as a country aren't on the ball at approving the visas. Listen, I I don't begrudge any country their process, their bureaucracy, but this is such a catch 22 where oh, we need more housing.

33:43Oh, you have to rent an apartment. Oh, you can't live in it, so of course you're going to have housing problems. You know that. My backup business idea is Expatsi's Flop House for wayward Americans where I I get basically, you know, a warehouse or a roadside motel in Portugal and I lease the rooms out. 12 month lease is really cheap, but as soon as you get to the country, I'll let you break your lease and you can go live wherever you want. And it's really small.

34:14You know, it's 300, four, 100 bucks a month or whatever else. I also have an idea where people can lease out rooms in their homes to people going through this process because it's so insane. Okay, that said, I do think that most other countries are more reasonable about it than Portugal is. But with these needs that you have a relaxed life that's walkable in good healthcare, I would look at Latin America. I think it is that you'd be really happy in a place like Cuenca, Ecuador.

34:49It is incredibly walkable in the city center or Montevideo, Uruguay, or a number of other cities That would be beautiful, Spanish speaking, charming, safe, tranquil, Franquilo, etcetera. What do you think? Yeah, you know, I also remember because I, I take the Expatsi quiz from time to time, just, you know, to just for business reasons, but also just for like personal update.

35:21And one of the questions that we ask is like kind of a what is your vibe? And one of them is walkable cities. So if this person hasn't had an opportunity to take the quiz at expatsi.com, at least we can include that in there as as a little bit of like a, a wild card factor, you know, and then the healthcare, you know what, top 5%, top 10%, top 25% of healthcare.

35:47And so, you know, get a little bit of a narrow down there. Yeah. I mean, I, I think there are plenty of places in Latin America that would that would be fantastic. I think I'm still going to advocate for Spain because of, I don't know, this is me interjecting, but I'm like, oh, and like, it's so easy to travel to other countries. So if part of like the the relaxation and enjoying retirement is like today I want to be at the beach and tomorrow I want to go, I want to go to Barcelona and go to an Art Museum.

36:22Like, like all these little things are so tight next to each other with walkability. I also think of public transportation, you know, yeah, I can walk everywhere, but at some point I don't want to walk the whole way. So places that 15 minutes and then I'm like, well, I'm ready to sit down and have a cafe or something like that.

36:43So a place that have good, good public transportation, Spain may be viable for you as a retiree. The one question that I that I wish this person was here in front of me for me to ask is what kind of weather do you want? Because I think that that is that other wild card. Factory. Yeah, that's true, although Spain has all the kinds. Just exactly.

37:06So it's just where in Spain? Like if you want to be near the beach, I would go to Alicante. If you are mountain green, I would go built. You know, I love Bilbao. I would go to Bilbao. I know you do. I still remember the train coming in and me like messaging you. I'm like, it's like the Sound of Music here. Because it very much was.

37:22The hills are alive and there was like sheep and greener, you know? It's like, I hadn't seen. It's so different. Yeah, it was. So different. It's, it's different in every way. The food is different, the language is different. I thought when we got into town and there was all that brutalist architecture and I felt like I was in the former Soviet Union. But then you go to San Sebastian and it's essentially France. It's, it's so interesting being in that region. And then you like a pink Joe, don't you? I do.

37:55I love, I love a little thing on a stick and any sort of something on a stick. You like a briny thing too? You know my thing? Yeah. My thing is an olive, a pickle, a fish, a mayonnaise, an egg. Pick one. You cannot put all five of those things. Absolutely. So what? So you you haven't seen my Texas tattoo. So this is and for those of you who are watching on YouTube, you get to see my my, this was my souvenir. This is chicken on a stick.

38:29It's a flat little piece of chicken that's deep fried with a pickled jalapeno on top. So it's it's a stick and a pickle and a thing literally so. OK, I now I can't get behind that. I'll eat fried chicken some ways to Sunday. It is a very San Antonio thing. But yeah, I, you know, I for, for this person.

38:49I also want to talk about the healthcare thing, just very, very briefly. You know, we, we, we talked about this a lot of when, when those of us who have lived in the United States for our entire lives and we are thinking of the bureaucracy and the money and the, the, and everything that goes into American healthcare. And I don't want to say anywhere you go is probably going to be better, but I think any of the countries that at least Expatsi serves and the countries you'll get on that quiz are going to be a better experience than we are

39:31so traumatized in the US. So I understand why this person is asking the question of the of good healthcare because getting, having no Healthcare is the reality for so many Americans. So yeah, for sure, yeah, look into the healthcare. I think for most of the places that are going to be relaxing, walkable, that you can go on a passive income visa, that Healthcare is going to be there for you.

39:56Yeah, fair enough. If you have a question you'd like us to address here on the podcast, you can e-mail your questions to podcast at expatsi.com. Americans Abroad is an Expatsi production. Please like, share, subscribe, and leave a review. Are you thinking about moving abroad? Start with our quiz at expatsi.com. That's expatsi.com.