I love spending money!

Well our VISA is getting a run for it's money... but it is all for the good. I have found a cute little hotel/appartment to stay in for the remainder of October, it's located just 15 minutes north of San Jose - so very easy to get to from the airport. It's a small 2 bedroom place with a kitchen, living room, private bathroom with hot water, and either a balcony or small yard. There is internet service, so we will continue with our blog (thank you for reading by the way!). The town is called Heredia and there are stores near by to shop and buy food. The people at the hotel are very friendly and can help with anything we may need. Tours, transportation, etc. October Accomadations . Heredia is only a 10 or 15 minute drive to the town of Grecia, the cleanest town in latin america. One of the great places that I want to look at homes in. Although it's not near the sea, the prices there are great! I found a wonderful web site Karens Real Estate We have an appointment with her on Monday to look at homes (even I'm surprised at how fast this may be moving, but isin't that the way Chris and I work?). Karen is actually going to interview us for a show called House Hunters International! It's a show on HGTV (one that Chris and I try to watch all the time) They help you find homes in your price range, and help with many of the details! Wish us luck with this, it could be very cool, and who knows, we may be on tv! As for the month of November, we are still looking for a place to stay, no rush... we have time. We are looking in the area of Tambor (if you look at a map of CR, it will be at the south end of the north-west peninsula. Very beautiful (from what we've heard) and quiet. Not touristy, and full of cute little towns and villages. Ah, doesn't that sound like the life???

We have also talked about it, and decided that Belize would make a very nice 'vacation' for Christmas. We talked and talked about it, and were going to go north to Nicaragua, but have decided on Belize. So we are booked at The SeaSpray (if you want to visti!) it seems very nice, beautiful and relaxing actually! 2 minutes from the beach, restaurants, snorkelling, diving, fishing, sitting, etc. It is located in the town of Placencia, one of the places I wanted to stop and look at real estate anyways! Wow, is this trip working out? We will be at the sea-spray for the enitre month of December (Callym wants to know if Santa will surf to our home, and if he'll just bury his presents in the sand under our palm tree?) I'm not sure if we will stay throughout January aswell, but we have time to decide.

As Chris has mentioned, we are working hard, the boys are getting restless..... why oh why do we keep on with the 'matters of consequence'? As the little prince would say 'it's hard to understand Adults, you always need to explain things to them!'

Well, the days go on, and take off for CR is getting closer and closer. Will we be ready..... I wonder. We're ready to go, but our 'stuff' isin't quite there yet. Well, 21 more days. That should be enough..........

btw, just a cute picture of Callym with his new glasses. Enjoy!

And still more to do.

Well, as you can see. Our flight to Costa Rica is booked and confirmed. Now what? Well, we need confirmation that we are in fact leaving Costa Rica, so I will be on the phone with the consulate on Monday finding out exactly what that means. Do we need a flight or bus ticket out of the country? (we would probubly head to Nicaragua after C.R.), or do we need a ticket back to Canada, (we may just book a cheap flight from Cancun to Edmonton to show we are leaving eventually). Either way, it's quite easy and do-able.
I have a few ladies getting back to me about hotels and home rentals for the months up to January. We feel that is far enough in advance, who really knows where we will be in the new year.... we could have found a home by then, or we may be still travelling? Not sure.
Also, our Rabies shots are scheduled (3 apointments each), and that will be the last of them - and all shots we need.
I almost bought a book today. A 400$ book. It was a book about real estate and how to make money, especially in Latin America. I really thought about it, but have decided against it. I'm not sure why I'm not getting it, or why I would. I honestly think that I have enough to do before our October 13th deadline!
I am in the middle of making arangements with a few realtors to actually meet with and go on 'tours' of some homes for sale. That will be interesting. At any rate, I have found even more sites about real estate and they have very attractive prices. One more reason why we need to be there. I want to see if it's really as fabulous as they are telling me. But with prices starting at 15000 for a home and land, it's starting to look like we may just be in for the life of our dreams.......

That's about it for tonight. I have added some more pictures on our other site. Mostly of Callym and Oscar messing around. Enjoy and Love

Booked, Paid for, and Confirmed

Flight Itinerary

Depart
6:25 AM
13 Oct 2007 103 Edmonton, Canada
Las Vegas, NV 8:35 AM 13 Oct 2007


9:40 AM 13 Oct 2007 303 Las Vegas, NV
Phoenix, AZ 11:00 AM 13 Oct 2007


11:49 AM 13 Oct 2007 357 Phoenix, AZ
San Jose, Costa Rica 6:10 PM 13 Oct 2007

Where are We Going??? What are We Doing??? And Why????

Well, this may be a long blog or short and to the point, I'm not sure. I will try to be as complete as possible - but please, if I am unclear, ask. We will be happy to clarify.

First.... Where are we going....?
Let me start at the very begining. As many of you will remember - way back, when Chris and I started to talk about moving away. We spoke about Europe, in particular the Mediterranean. Spain, Portugal, Malta, Greece, Italy... all came to mind, and all for the same basic reasons. Heat. Sun. Sand. Surf. Slower pace of life. Well, after many months of research on the internet and in books, and too many hours to count emailing and calling realtors and business', we decided that our cost of living there would not give us the time to enjoy why we were going there in the first place.
So
We did more research, called more people, joined more expat forums, emailed new realtors, bought more books, and watched as many shows on different countries as possible. We still wanted the same things as before. Heat. Sun. Sand. Surf. Slower pace of life. But now we added Low cost of living. Bear in mind things like Schooling, Health Care, Safety and more were very high if not top on our list, I don't mention these because they were basic mandatory things we considered when doing our research. So after more research -as I mentioned- We came up with Central or Latin America. Once we had a good feeling about the general area, we started doing research on specific countries and their areas. (Yes more research, please quiz me! sometimes I feel as though I really have too much information about these countries inbedded in my head!) What sort of research did I do. Well for starters, I looked for expats, I wanted their opinion. I read through government websites on the country stats and politics, I visited the CIA website too many times looking at crime rates, death rates, safety, security, population, etc. I bought a subscription to International Living, a magazine that talks about living abroad, working abroad, real-estate, cost of living, expats, insider tips, real life stories, different ways to survive including jobs, real-estate, starting a business and more. There was a ton of information on their site, and most of it was very useful. I book-marked different on-line newspapers and read them weekly. I talked with people here, who knew people there and started emailing with them. I had many questions. This was important. This was not research for a vacation. This was for a new life.
So
Where did this research take me. A few countries have been flaged as potential places of paradise.

Costa Rica is one. Jungle and Surf. Spanish and howler Monkeys.

Belize is another. Jungle and Snorkelling. English and The Cayes.

Honduras and Nicaragua have our curiousity. Sea and Sand. Very simple lives, great real estate and cost of living.

And Dominica seems like a dream. Untouched land of wonder. Beauty and seclusion.

Mexico also has a place in our hearts. ( some of you are now worried - what about all the Canadians that have died there recently?..... Please don't worry. For one, we will not be fall over drunk buying drugs off people in the middle of the night in a tourist area. We will be living a simple life in a simple place, with simple people - We are smart).

Now... What are we doing???
This is a huge question. First, NO! we are not going to just sit on the beach and surf until our money runs out. Nor are we going to be pampered in hotels and all-inclusives until our money runs out. We have many many options that we have discussed over and over with eachother. Over and over. We want to be together as much as possible. The entire day, upon day if we can handle it. We have discussed it, and this is something that we will not budge on. The four of us are important to us, and spending as much time, if not all of our time together is a must. With that said, how will we make money, and what will we do to live. As I mentioned, this has been the source of 100's of hours of talking. We have many ideas, and we are very confident that put in the right situation in the right place, it will work. The research has been done, please trust me. Now, enough blabbering.... what are these ideas....

Eco Lodge / Bed and Breakfast / Hotel / Hostel / Restaurant / Bakery
These are all similar ideas. We would purchase an existing building or have a new building built and start it up ( I have done research on starting a company or business in all of these countries, found out about many tax incentives, etc). We would hire locals (I have done research on hiring in all of the above countries, including minimum wages, safety, health, etc). There is more to this obviously, but the basic idea is here.

Import / Export
Again, this would intail starting up a company. I already have a few people in Canada who would be willing to sell goods from a few of the above listed countries. We also think an Import would work aswell. There are more and more and more Gated Communities coming up in Latin America, full of retired, semi retired, or other Expats all from Britian, USA, and Canada. They crave North American items that you can not find in Latin America ( we are sure of this, from many that we have spoken and still speak to)

Copy Writting.
This is something that Chris has been doing research on, and has actually bought a course on. He has yet to find time to study at all (with all the work we've been doing), but see's this as a great part time thing, and hey, if he get's paid... all the better!!

2nd Home as a Rental
This would be ideal as well, and something that I am REALLY REALLY crossing my fingers for. Real Estate is cheap in Latin America. But vacationing and rentals are usually not. So, if we can, we will buy two homes, and live in whichever is not being rented out for that time. (we've also had people interested in joining us in this type of income) Maybe we would even have one on the Pacific and one on the Caribbena. (Family would not have to pay if your wondering mom :))
--- This brings up another point. Where are we thinking of living when we find our ideal country. Well, we have 2 options really. First we could buy in a gated community. Security, Expats, Ammenities, etc. Or we could buy in the city or village with locals (true living). We aren't sure. That is why we are going to explore. We want to find what is right for us, and we won't know until we get there are try it. This also depends on what we end up doing for income. But rest assured, research has also been done on this area.

On the side, I do want to mention. We do not have any sort of plans to move to a country and live off the land for free. What I mean is that we want to be involved with the community and the people. The environment and land, etc (whether in a gated community or not). We would love to be a part of helping build schools, Eco friendly anything, Conservation and Volunteering in the Rain forest / Jungle and Sea. These are all important to the 4 of us. We have also decided to bring many extra's with us on this trip like crayons, pencils, little toys, etc. Things that the boys can give out to children they meet and play with, as well as donating them to schools that we come across.

Ok, I hope that was satisfactory. Now for the last question. Why. Why would we want to leave all the wonderful things of Canada. Our home. Our family. Our Jobs and Friends. All these things that we truly love. Why oh Why.........

Well, quite simply and to the point is... a new way of life. We are GYPSIES. We are, didn't you know that. Haven't you guessed yet?
But Really. We don't want to be bambared with the rush rush of money money and the stress of feeling that we need all these things that we don't really need!!! Now wait. I know that there are places in Canada that we can achieve this, it's true. But we also want Heat. Sun. Sand. Surf. Slower pace of life. We want to wake up and enjoy each other. We want to learn new things. We want to be a part of something that we know nothing about! Be a family that is a family together. We don't want to wake up and rush off to a job that is mediocre, and be stuck in traffic when we could be together. We don't want a car. We don't want sweaters and mittens. We want fresh air, and fresh foods. Chris has been craving the Ocean ever since he left Australia. We want to walk everywhere. We want to live slowly. We want to say hello to people walking by.

We want to feel that by having eachother and a few simple things, that we have everything.

I know that some of you wont understand this. I know some of you that think this, that we, are crazy. I want you to know that we know what we have - and we feel lucky to have it. And whether you think we're wrong, crazy, brave, stupid, or somewhere in between, we just want more by having less. We need to try this. This is something that Chris and I have been talking about since we met. Yes, over 5 years now we have been talking about it. It's not something sudden (although it may seem that way to some), and it's not something that one of us has convinced the other into. This is something that we both had in mind, and when it was shared, a new adventure started in our minds that has now, it seems come to be.

I hope you enjoy this overly long post. Sorry about the lenght. Please ask us if you have any questions. We love you all, and will miss you so much. But as I said, we are part Gypsie, and I'm sure we'll be back soon (at least for a visit!)

All our love, The Lukies

Is today the day?

Well, we got home in time to have one offer presented to us. It was a much better offer than our realtor thought it would be (good news!), but still lower than we wanted (unfortunate)..... so the counter offer was given. The lady was waiting in the car, and the realtor was waiting on our front step. They were serious, and we seriously considered the offer. After we countered it took the buyers all of about 15 seconds to come in and accept. The one thing Chris and I didn't want was a possesion date of more than 30 days, or to wait for an inspection. We thought that these things would just postpone the actual day of moving forward. Well, her requested date of possesion was October 15 - only 5 weeks away, plus she had an inspection scheduled for tomorrow. TOMORROW! Great. So, once that was taken care of.... we celebrated with a beer! The buyer was actually interested in a few of our items to purchase on the side. She didn't buy much, but it was a good sign that she really wanted this place. Apparently she looked at over 30 homes over the weekend. She was living out of province and was starting a job in Edmonton soon. A good sign for us, and a great deal for her!
Well, we tried to sleep, but morning came soon, and the home inspector was due here at 11am. 10:30 he showed up and started outside. He was very careful not to miss anything, and wrote everything down. EVERYTHING. Chris had a really hard time with this guy walking around looking at our home, writing down little things that aren't perfect and could be different. He actually had to leave for a while it was so over-whelming! He ended up taking the boys to the park for a while, and I stayed here answering questions and trying my best to listen in to their conversation! After an hour or so, the buyer came by to see how things were going. She wanted to see what was wrong, etc. She was leaving on a flight back to her home province around 6pm. Well, the inspection continued and went on and on. Around 4:30 they finally decided to leave. They had heard enough. And I had had enough of people looking around our home. Just buy it or leave I thought. The buyer ended up having 2 issues about our home and asked for some money back. After calling Chris and talking it over, it was decided that we would counter that. It was done and accepted. What? Yes Accepted. We have officially sold our home.

Please understand we are the very most excited that 4 people could be. We are also very very overwhelmed! There are so many more things to be done, but the major item now has a tick beside it. I promise to write more tomorrow, let you know where I am looking to book a flight to, and give more detail as to what we plan to do in Central America. (I've been told that some people have the impression that we are going to sit on the beach until our $$ runs out, Not True! - But I'll explain later!)

For now, Thanks for reading, and we'll be in touch soon. The farewell Party will be soon, and we can't wait to see you all before we head out!

Ciao for Now!

Well, the next moring we were off at around 9am to head to Banff. The drive was so nice. Fresh air and beautiful mountains. Just what I wanted. We were there too early for check in, but just in time for lunch. St.James Gate, a regular stopping place for Chris and I. Callym ever remembered being there from the last time we were there with Isabel and my sister. Delisious food and a pint. Just the way to start a vacation..... Then we went for a stroll. Banff is under a lot of construction right now, it is going to look really nice when done. All the same shops..... and guess what, the candy store is still there (duh). The boys were so so good (many people actually commented on that, as well as them being beautiful - again duh!) So they were allowed 6 candies each. Callym had them all picked out within 4 steps into the shop, but continued to 'trade up' when he found something better to get. Oscar on the other hand needed to be convinced to pick something. We were there forever with him. I would see something I thought he would love and he would say no. After a long time, he found his 6 items. I found a few things too, so did Chris. Our bill was only 40$ so I think we did pretty well. It was still to early for our 4pm check in, so we headed to the hot springs. Ah, so nice and relaxing. Not the place for kids to run around and splash. Sadly they did get in a bit of trouble. Not their fault but ours. After around 30 minutes we were gone and now it was time for the RimRock. The drive up was nice. Situated on the side of the mountain, the views were very nice. The room was very nice too. We had a 25$ room credit, we would use this the next morning for breakfast! We hung out jumping on the beds for a while.... the boys got very good at jumping from one bed to the other. Now it was time for dinner. Oh but wait..... where was my wallet! Ah, the things girls do. Lose their wallet. I looked everywhere. Then I ran back to the hot springs. Thank goodness it was there. I think secretly Chris was wishing that I didn't ever carry a wallet. Dinner was fantastic. Very delish, but as you will see in the pictures.... the Lasagna that Callym and I shared was a little small. Good thing it was filling! We headed back to the hotel, and fell asleep fast. Actually, Chris and I stayed up later and watched the funniest guy on 'just for laughs'... a funny oversized guy talking about eating. SO FUNNY!

The next day we woke up before 9am.... a feat for a holiday. Oscar of course was up after we finished half of the room service breakfast. Yum, I even had a croisant. We started the day with a trip up




Sulfur Mountain on the gondola. This was a wicked wicked trip. The boys loved being on the top of the world. There was snow, and fresh air. The views were better than amazing. We were only there for a little over an hour, but well worth the 50$ ticket! We had a bit of lunch and walked around so more. There is only so much you can do in Banff when you aren't a big hiker or snow sporter. Anyways, we left and decided to come home and see how the open house went. Such a long drive. Many many rest stops were needed, but the boys slept from just outside of Banff to just before Red Deer. That is when we got the call for our awesome realtor Jason. We needed to get home by 730 because an offer was going to be presented to us. Wow, the best way to end our vacation was for this to happen. Actually, there may be 2 offer's for us to consider..... Hum, was this my secret 11;11 wish? Well, if we drove 130 the entire way, we would just make it! On our way home........................................

The weekend contines... #2

After the Zoo we headed to Gina, Paul and Sophia's house for the night. It was too too fantastic to see them. Gina is looking so great, and Sophia is growing like all kids do. She is walking around, talking.... She introduced me to all her little toys, and fed them all her gold-fish snacks. She is absolutly the most gorgeous little princess I have ever seen! I love her, and secretly hope she marries Oscar!

Gina made us the most fabulous dinner, belated birthday cake included! We had a great time hanging out and catching up. I love her so much. We have actually been friends since the age of about 2..... I think we met on Haloween? Correct me if I'm wrong.... Ah, Woodcroft. Paul worked late, a shame really, They are the greatest couple. They have a beautiful relationship and family. I hope all the best of the best for the three of them, and I will miss them so so much when we leave!

Our weekend Trip!

Well, I was right. Chris was sick on Friday. What a way to start our trip..... :) Anyways, Callym had a little time at Nursery School before we left, and while Chris and I finished cleaning for the Open House, and packing. We picked him up early, and he loved that! We left at exactly 11;11, a time in which we made our secret wishes.... Mine was to come home to 2 offers for our home. We'll see.

Anyways, the boys fell asleep between Red Deer and Calgary. That was nice. As soon as we got to Calgary, we headed straight to the Zoo, the weather was looking like it wasn't going to co-operate with an outdoor adventure, but it stayed nice enough. No rain, but our sweaters and jackets came in handy. The tiger had a new cub, and the boys loved that! We saw everything but Chris' favourite.... the Canadian Exibit. Sad, (not really!)




Tigers, Red Pandas, Butterflies, the Tropical Plant area (very interesting, it was all the plants we would see in the rainforest), Elephants, Monkeys, Gorillas, Snakes, Turtles, Bats, Lizards, Pigs, Hogs, Giraffes, Hippos (Callym was 2 feet away.... very cool!), Lions, Zebras, Ostrich, Wort Hogs, Meer Cat eating a swallow, Flamingos, Peacok, Parrots, Flowers, etc. Fantastic! We loved it so so much, and have too many picutres to prove it.