Finding Adventure—and Community—in Far-Flung Corners of the World

“You have to go back to Ireland…?”

“Well actually Mom, I get to go back to Ireland.”

My mom—the same woman who just returned from the Arctic Circle with my dad, who was off in Delhi or Beijing or somewhere in Algeria throughout the 80s and 90s. My dad was often running to catch a plane to somewhere I’d never heard of… conjuring in my mind the Indiana Jones theme as I flipped the pages of our atlas…

Apparently the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. These days, I find myself dashing for that next international flight, getting home from that red-eye just in time for school drop off, jet-lagged for little league practice after being five time zones away. It’s all very “Cat’s in the Cradle…” and a reminder of just how hard it can be to resist those far-off places.

In this issue, we journey to islands–not just far-off, but scattered across the globe. We explore the “occasional” island of Mont Saint-Michel, a fortress rising from France’s tides, discover the “Hawaii of Asia” just off South Korea, and find hidden beauty in a secret spot in Holbox, Mexico. In Gozo, Malta—our cover story—California transplants Mary and Kevin show us what it means to make a home on an island where the pace is slow, the ties to history are deep, and community is always near.

At home these days, community can feel hard to come by, but folks living overseas often praise the easy and rewarding relationships they enjoy. In Stockholm, we meet a family settling into Nordic routines with help from their found community. We investigate Cuenca, Ecuador, where expat life unfolds high in the Andes. And in San Miguel de Allende, a new life means shorter work days—and maybe even a nap.

We nearly fall off the grid in Wales, then swing south to the edge of Africa, where Ted Baumann writes about his new Cape Town cottage empire. Jeff Opdyke breaks down European tax rates—and how they can quietly eat away at your money. And Diego Samper shows us that numbers can be funny, and that the price of wine is rarely just about the wine.

Far-off places mean something different to all of us—sometimes a quick adventure, sometimes a whole new life. Next month, my 8-year-old and I jet off to Iceland for an adventurous long weekend. We haven’t yet told my mom.

 

 

 

 

Holly Andrew
Managing Editor