A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Does anyone have any bright ideas on the above? I'm near retirement age - and have painful arthritis while in the UK (during the UK winter), so am researching somewhere to perhaps retire to. I'm a British passport holder, but grew up in Kenya (where I was schooled), Tanzania (where I first started to work), moved to South Africa and returned to UK some time ago. I've also had nearly two years in the Middle East, in Doha.

Any ideas would be welcome!

Val/Jacaranda :)

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Malaysia.

Look on the 'Far East' forum. Malaysia is actively encouraging people to retire to Malaysia under their "Malaysia - My Second Home" scheme. It's definitely worth checking out as it is very inexpensive to live there and English is widely spoken (although the Malay language is one of the easier ones to learn)...and of course you can choose peninsular Malaysia or the formerly known Borneo if you want to consider living in Sarawak.

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Thanks for that - but my sister, who has been there several times, tells me I would find it far too hot and humid (the humidity also goes for the arthritis). I guess I'm really looking for somewhere that is warm all year round, but dry - and, since I still have family in the UK, not too long a long-haul flight away.

Anyone any ideas on any of the countries on the Mediterranean seaboard?

Val/Jacaranda :)

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

The Med is sunny for much of the year but does get wet (and sometimes cold) in winter.

Obvious choices include (pros and cons of each):

- southern Spain
- southern Portugal
- Malta
- Gibraltar
- Cyprus
- South Africa (if you have the right to return there)
- Australia (if you can get a retirement visa)

Places that are warm in winter tend to be very hot in summer. Warm all year round imples an equatorial climate which is generally humid.

You'd have to decide on whether or not to keep a home in the UK. It's very important to consider healthcare issues, plus what support network you'll have in the other country as you get older. Plus issues like tax, legal (especially inheritance), foreign exchange controls (eg in South Africa) and so on.

Jeremy

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

We have taken early retirement and lived in Spain (Puerto De Sta Maria) for the last year. Like you, we seek a warmer climate and cheaper living. The winter temperature is warmer than the Uk and visitors now say how warm it is, however living here, you aclimatise to the weather and feel the chill. I remember sunbathing on arrival during the summer in Nairobi when the local people thought we were idiots because they were cold! Warming up the house is not expensive and during the day (an hour ago) I can have a couple of hours in the deckchair on the roof terrace to keep me smiling! Language is my concern, its okay thinking that English is the international language but round here it is not spoken at all and we manage the best we can. The local folk and neighbours are really nice and not understanding what they are saying is frustrating. You can't hear yourself think on the busses. We planned to start Spanish lessons but the enthusiasm has slipped. A small group of expats meet in the centre for a Quiz night at a bar owned by a chap from the UK and we all know each other well. Sky tv is available and a boat in the marina will be cheaper than UK. You need to have paid a "Full stamp" for the 2 years preceding your departure from the UK to receive medical cover by UK government whilst you are here, after 65/60 its free. We had been living abroad and paid only the voluntary payments so needed private cover........£800 ish for two of us and BUPA linked...not bad? They won't treat known declared problems though so if you are expecting a condition, wait until you are accepted by the private company before reporting the ailment. Financially most places to live in the world have the double taxation aggreement with the UK so that your pension is only taxed once but there is only a handful of places where your old age pension is not not frozen by the UK. (forget Oz and the Kiwis)
USA surprisingly is one of them and Florida springs to mind but check out the medical cover....its truly expensive. Of the others Malta sounds okay(English spoken) but Its too rocky for me, I need gardens and some soil. Jamaica and Barbadus look good if you can afford the airfare (£600). So there you are, all my mutterings. We have Jacaranda trees in the park nearby and the smell in wet weather reminds me of Kenya. Talking of wet weather, we've had about half a bucketfull in the 12 months we have been living here, if you want a dry place, come down here, but you'll need your socks till April!

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Hi Sunnydays

I can live in socks till April - that sounds good to me! I spoke Spanish as a child in England (believe it or not!) before we went out to Kenya - we had a Displaced Person as a live-in mother's help (we lived on a farm, and had about 9 people in the house), and she wouldn't speak English, so we all learned Spanish in order to eat!! I've forgotten it over the years, but can always learn again - they say it is the easiest to learn!!

On the Health front, I'm already on Government pension, although still working, have been since September 2002, which means I don't pay NI - does that alter things with Health Care. Although, if I go down this road - opting out of UK and living elsewhere, warmer, in the EU, I will of course have, by then (I hope), sufficient funds to do it with!

Jacarandas - how I would love to feast my eyes on them again - do they have frangipani too, or is that just an East African/Indian/Asian thing?

It all sounds fantastic, and I'll keep this all in mind - thanks so much for your message, it has really given me food for thought.

Asante sana kabisa!

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Hi Jacaranda,

habari

I wrote to the Pensions department for the form 106 which is a form you renew every 6 months and is the health cover from the UK. Some Uk folk here have that and have found an English speaking Doctor to visit here in Puerto. (not an easy excercise)
Our healthcare insurance is linked to BUPA and if we have a problem we can have direct access to English speaking medical staff on the telephone and our actual place to go is the main hospital almost accross the road,(private). The NI local hospital is at Puerto Real and a short bus /taxi ride. Our med cover is also for Dental because all the dentisits are private here.

Enough of the dreary stuff....the Frangipani prefer more humid environments, the last one I sat under was in Funchal, Madeira. Plants down here need to survive drought conditions or "Limey" water sometimes. Bougainvillea, Plumbago, and the Geraniums do well.
Good to know you have Spanish in your blood, the local folk are really nice and you'll make friends easily, all our neighbours make the effort to speak. The afternoon siesta is a strange phenomena if you come from the UK, its like a ghost town, we nip to the supermarket then because its almost empty! We find ourselves tiptoing round the house and not putting the hoover or sewing machine on during these times.
Teaching English as private lessons is always an option because there is a need for more instructors specially the pronounciation part. Attending a local Christmas concert with our friends little boy, we listened to a group of twenty children saying merry Christmas as mewy cihmas. The youngsters go to one of four English private academies and pay about 50 Euros a month for lessons after school. Theoretical study is okay but of course the pronounciation practice has to be done at home or with some one they know. Offerring to help with the pronounciation could bring in from 15 to 20 Euros an hour on a one to one basis........not bad eh?
On the social side in Puerto, beside the weekly quiz night at "Bills bar" in town there is a "Ladies" Club that meets quite regularly and has a following of over a hundred members from the surrounding area.
I wish you luck in your choice of warm places to live, ... we could be going "tropical" next year.
Hasta luego

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Hola, que tal!

(Err, that's about the sum total, at the moment!) The more I hear about all this, the more I like it, on all counts. Definitely, thanks to you and all the info you've given me, I'm definitely going to plan a visit out next year, a sort of recce.

As to the frangipani - well, since there's bougainvilla, I can live without it, as bougainvillea was very much at the top of my "miss it like crazy list"! I love things like plumbago and geraniums too - so it sounds as if I would be in my element.

And as for siestas - I went to boarding school in Kenya, where we always had them - then moved down to the heat of Zululand, and Durban, where most people who worked took them at weekends - and then out to the Middle East, where some firms considered them mandatory - I wasn't working then, so I could enjoy them, then potter around for half the night!! I so miss them, and, now I'm back working full time really miss them, even though I've been back in UK more time than I care to think about!!

The idea of coaching English pronunciation appeals too - once my Spanish is better - I used to coach one-on-one with an Italian lady, to help her with her diction - I think children would be easier, as most are born mimics - and I can turn out a good more-or-less accentless English if I so desire!!

I am so grateful for your answering my plea - you have given me such food for thought - one more question, though? Not being a driver, how does one manage the travel from UK to El Puerto de Santa Maria? I've sussed out the plane travel, but not sure about the onward travel from Jerez Frontera - how is it done? Does the airport have a good bus link?

Many thanks again - asante sana! Muchos Gracias!

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Ola,

The small but pleasant Jerez airport has no bus links to the city but there are taxis that charge about 9 Euros to the railway station. From the station a half hourly train does the journey to Puerto in 15 minutes and the price is 5 Euros. My son last year got his times wrong for catching his return flight to Uk and made the airport from here in 20 minutes on a Sunday morning. He called us from there after handing in his hire car and was able to join the queue of passengers for boarding.
The railway station here is on the edge of town and a 10 minute walk into the centre. The trains also go into Cadiz and Sevilla.
Puerto has a very convenient circular bus system that charges 54 cents where ever you go. A C1 goes anticlockwise round the town and a C2 goes clockwise. Two other busses venture out to the Urban enclaves. We used them a lot when we first arrived and quite enjoyed the experience. both circular busses go via the large Carrefours shopping mal which is very handy, although for us the local shops are litterally round the corner.
Hope you like fish because there's loads of it in all shapes and sizes, Dorada is 7 Euros a kilo and we like a boneless fillet of Percha which sells for slightly less.....and you want to see the variety and piles of prawns!!!
On a Sunday we get busses of Spanish visitors who invade the front fish restaurents and gorge fried shellfish with glasses of beer in the sunshine. Its quite a spectacle really, all these very well dressed middleaged people up to their elbows in fish bits chatting away busily with each other.....if only I knew what they were saying?
When you come here try to arrive during the Fair time (Feria) in April because it is quite spectacular. There are busses to the ground on the outskirts of the town from the centre and to see all ages of people enjoying themselves together is very nice. Ladies dress up in the flamenco dresses and theres lots of loud music in the air and dancing.
Hasta Luego

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Ola, y muchos gracias por todos!

It all sounds fantastic, intriguing, and the more you tell me, the more I want to do it - am getting quite excited, even though it's ages away! In the meantime, I have to brush up my almost non-existent Spanish!

About.com has all sorts of things on the site - I signed up for both the French and Spanish email courses a little while ago - a while before I joined this Forum!! So far I haven't done much, so must get to it!

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Adios - hasta luego

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Just wanted to pop in and say that it sounds like you've had some amazing experiences, Jacaranda :D!

Also, I would say look at Greece.

Best of luck.

-Becs

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Thanks Becs, for all - I do have to say Crete has always appealed! My last boss used always to go there to chill - not sure if he perhaps had his own villa - he always returned to the same place, Loutro, which can only be reached by boat, or by foot, over the hills!

As to the experiences, well, I had a boss once who used to allude to my past life as my "exotic life in Africa" - but, you know, it's all relative - because, growing up in places like that, when you're there, it's just how it is, perhaps you could even call it the "norm" - but it leaves you with perennially "itchy feet" coming back to the UK climate, especially the Scottish one, as it's always colder up here in the North.

Roll on summer, hopefully we might get some sun!!

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Crete is nice, but I'm biased towards the mainland :D We lived outside Athens for 10 years. Good times.

I've always been curious about Edinburgh though!

-Becs

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

What was that about warm all year 'round, Becs? :)

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Jacaranda
Have you ever thought about Antalya, Turkey. The ancient roman town of Side is particularly nice and a lot of europeans have decided to settle there.

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

No Debs, I hadn't even thought of it - need to do a bit of research, I guess!
thanks for the suggestion.

V

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Have you concidered the Canaries( I personally love Fuerteventura)
very little rain, Warm all year round but never too hot.

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

I sort-of thought about it - am still researching (electronically), I guess, as am still working, and, as yet, no moola to go off on fact-finding trips. What is it like re crowds of "grottles"/holidaymakers, though - as would want to avoid that if possible, at least for some of the year! What I don't necessarily want it to find somewhere really nice, economically, socially, climatically, and it turn into a "little Blackpool" (or a gathering place for lager louts) for the holiday months - that would, with respect to all fellow Brits, who do have the need and right to holiday somewhere, after all, give me the "screaming abdabs", to use my old mum's fave expression!

Any info you can give will be very much appreciated!

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

My mother always went to the Canaries because its warmer during the winter and she could swim in the sea. There is a constant breeze of course and little depth of soil over volacanic ground would mean limited choice of plants excepting succulants and the like. Whilst the properties can look nice and enticing, the surrounding dark gray rockery can be intimidating. We flashed round (no pun) Portugal and loved Lisbon, cheap available moorings too, but needing a fire on in our small hotel room during June was a sign of chilly winters and the constant cold wind in other coastal towns might be refreshing in Summer for the holiday makers but not for retirees. Took a liking to the small town of Travira or is it Tavira, (one's suit material!) which is on the south coast near the border with Spain. Sheltered by sand dunes from the sea and pretty as a picture, but I think boredom would arrive after a couple of years and one look at the local group of "Ex pats" meant that we'd be out of place without an earing and tattoo. Much of the property was in Apartment blocks and the townhouses were on the outskirts of the town where you'd need a car every day.

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Fuerteventura is the quietest of the canaries as far as holidaymakers are concerned. There are 3 main resorts the biggest in the north but it is very easy to "get away from it all" espesually if yourheart is not set in being where the action is. the biggest resort is Corralejo which by Spanish resort standards is still not too bad.
Enough of my rambling the best way is to visit the site below check out all the pages and then follow the links to the forum. They are a helpful bunch with attemps at good humour and are too happy to extol virtues of the island.

www.fuerteventura.com/

Bruce.

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Hi Sunnydays

Thanks for all that - when last were you in Tavira? I only passed through it once, summer of 1974, with my late parents, who were living in Portugal at the time - they'd got sick of going down to the "camera" to register every month, and having to go through some other palaver that they had, so we (on advice from seasoned expats resident there) went over to Spain for the day, got the requisite stamps in the passports, and came back!

It actually ended up being "Spain for lunch", which was lovely, and in lovely surroundings - I think, looking at the map, it was in Ayamonte.

There was concern, travelling to and fro, as Tavira had, in those days, some open sewers, and there was a cholera outbreak - so we definitely didn't stop anywhere there!!

I loved Portugal, by the way, but I'd never be able to get my tongue around the language!

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Thanks for all info Bruce - I'll have a look - everyone has been so kind here, giving me so much information, I really appreciate it.

I also thought (in fact I know!) I replied to this yesterday - don't know what happened to the post! :)

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Hi Jacaranda,

Last year we were there in Tavira....no open drains thank goodness.

Yes the Portuguese language is difficult isn't it, its got some guteral bits that send you reaching for an umbrella....

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Haha, I never had to reach for an umbrella, thankfully! - but I did have the unfortunate experience (Mum and Dad were there during and after the Revolution in 1974 - in Luz, in the Algarve) of having to go down to the bakery to get rolls (there was a shortage of bread, for some reason)! Mum had written down what I had to say, Dad took me, then, bless his little cotton socks, leaned back on the car and let me join the bread queue (he spoke French, you understand - but somehow couldn't get his tongue around the Portuguese!!), so I tried my best, but the dear lady just glared at me through the hole in the wall, and thrust a big plastic bag into my hand with an assortment of rolls and loaves - a quick glance around everyone else showed me that everyone was getting the same - it must have been her way of rationing everyone! So my lovely Mum "got telt" (colloquial Scots) that next time, since she was the one taking the Portuguese lessons, she could go - but happily things sorted out, and the shortage ended! That was some holiday, but I thoroughly enjoyed it!! Even the cracked cisterna that had to be drained because the roots of our fig tree had broached its walls seeking water, and contaminated our water - that's another story . . .

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Hi there saw your message, please forgive me as this is my first time on expats and am not to sure of the proceedure. Have you thought of Northern Cyprus? We have a large three bedroom villa, with tiled garage that could be forth bedroom. No stairs except to roof terrace which has a barbecue. There is a small pool, and large garden mainly laid with paving and shrubs. There is also a separate car port for two large cars with tiled roof. By coincidence we have called Jacaranda as we planted one. The place was purpose built 18 months ago, as a holiday home, but to be honest the trip from London is just a bit to long. Door to door can be 8 hours. As you have to fly via Turkey. We had thought they would be be part of the EU by now which would have brought flight time down to 4 hours. We are in our late 6o's and would love to live there full time but tried it for two months and missed family to much. There is a large British community there. Oh, I forgot the property is air con and fully furnished to a very high standard, all goods about 18 months old. Tvs videos dvd's, the lot. If interest please contact us. Or a cheap holiday to try the place out. Hope you find what you are looking for. Regards lotofrot(not you).

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

What about Queensland, Australia, warm all year round, English speaking country, great beaches, and scenery.

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

The only fly in the ointment with Oz is that the UK gov freeze the state pension at the level you leave the country. Some old UK pensioners are still drawing £20 a week. Its also becoming more difficult to live in Oz as a retiree because of the immigration requirements, understandably they only want qualified working people who can offer something to the country.
Shame really because we looked at Cairns as being an ideal place for us.

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Also, although on the plus side Queensland ticks all the boxes, after living in Africa and the Middle East, the downside is that it's tooooo far away from family, and you just have too many poisonous spiders, snakes and things - I thought Africa was bad enough, with tarantulas, green and black mambas, and spitting cobras . . . I wouldn't want to have to suddenly have to be that vigilant about life again! I can still remember freezing (at the age of 19) with my foot in mid-step, one sunny Sunday morning in KwaZulu Natal, I nearly stepped on a green mamba sunning itself on our back veranda - rather scary!!

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

......and learning from my open mouthed colleague across the other side of the barbecue on "Landrover beach" in Lagos that a Mamba had fallen from the palm tree next to me and some children before scurrying into the Bush.....

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Yes . . . I don't know that I would quite like to live with scary things like that again, even though wild things are, in the main, more scared of us humans than we of them!

Saw a TV prog once of this place in USA, in a very hot place (perhaps Arizona) where you're never many inches at all away from scorpions! They used some kind of infra-red or ultra-V photography to show them up - aieee!! I wouldn't want to share my shower, shoes, or anything with them - and these ones proved quite lethal, sometimes, for kiddies . . .they were everywhere!

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Ah, the days of waking up and tapping our school shoes in case a scorpion had made its way in there during the night...and waking up one Saturday morning bright and early with a large snake on my bed.....

Never again, thank you.. ;)

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Oh no, no way! Although I hate the cold climate, they do say that, apart from imported licenced "pet" species, the only indigenous snake here in UK that is poisonous is the adder! ;)

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Become a snowbird ..spend the 6 months of the winter in Florida .
and the other 6 months in the UK ... thousands do ....

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Its nice to have a circle of friends though Ray and doing the 6 months turnaround doesn't encourage people to make the effort. Okay of you are like reading books.

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

That not what happens here in my experience ..All the snowbird I know ..and there are many ..all seem to have full social calendars...

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

What about Chile? I also spent some years in Africa and also Bermuda and the USA but decided to retire here in 1998. Chile is a place that Brits know very little about, but when they do come to see the place, they fall in love with it. There is just about every kind of climate you can wish for as the country is so long. We live in Santiago, which is sunny and dry for about 9 months a year with more or less mild and a bit wet winters of about 3 months. My wife also suffers from arthritis and finds the dry climate to be very helpful. Cost wise it´s far cheaper than anywhere in Europe, and most people speak some English. Shopping etc is far more sophisticated than England, housing is a fraction of the cost in England, and taxes on income are low. I could go on forever, but if you were to think seriously about it, I suggest you contact me directly on [email protected]

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Try day 10 after a recluse spider bite ...

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

The Canaries have a good all year round climate

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Not very much to do though unless you have absorbing hobbies.

Re: A Warm All-Year-Round Place to Retire
 

Oh my goodness - have been off the boards for a bit, so not following the thread! Ray, that looks awful - I hope it's better now? What *is* a recluse spider, and where do they come from?