http://www.differentworld.com/mexico/buses.htm
Forget the lame jokes about chickens. The Mexican buses are deluxe and now that it’s time to get outta Dodge I’m going to be exploring the area starting with Morelia, a mere two hours away. There are a number of places either in the day trip category or the short stay category. I’m starting with Morelia because it’s the farthest yet doable and there are a number of low cost hostels in the city.
Destination Morelia this weekend!
http://www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/magazine/0405/retirement_in_mexico.shtml
Where are the snowbirds going and why?
http://www.acta.ca/news-releases/mx21002
This is a good overview on the topic of safety in Mexico.
http://www.fluentu.com/spanish/blog/best-apps-for-learning-spanish/
Well worth checking out as a warm up to going to Spanish classes and practicing with a native speaker! If you have your unlocked smartphone with you and have put in a Mexican SIM card then you are set both in town and in any WiFi environment be it coffee shops, bars or restaurantes.
http://www.mexicoguru.com/buses-in-mexico.php
Further the chickens. Retire the sad lame jokes about Mexican bus lines. They are modern, luxurious compared to sketchy Greyhound buses north of the border and are am excellent way to get around Mexico. I personally have taken them from Can Cun down to Belize and from Ajijic to Mexico Court and Mexico City to San Miquel de Allende. Clean, comfortable and fast.
Just keep to the one suitcase limit and you are totally fine. One carry on and one checked suitcase. Keep it simple.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/blog/how-get-started-as-online-teacher-english
With the clock winding down for 2014 it’s time to register for PayPal and realize my online English teaching goal. This is really a fabulous and comprehensive insider guide.
http://www.coolworks.com/older-bolder/
I just love the term ‘older and bolder.’ It’s shorthand for the type of handcrafted retirement model that entails stripping away everything superfluous to make way for new experiences and opportunities. Without the burden and ongoing grind of home ownership, renos or endless yardwork you are free to move into your brilliance that has been dimmed or even switched off for far too long.
Passport expired? Renew it.
Money pit house? Sell it.
Too much stuff? Donate, sell or throw it away!
Simplification IS the key to a retirement beyond expectation; beyond imagining…
So forget about getting all those unruly ducks in a row and celebrate and offer your like skills and talents at home or abroad.
Why?
Cuz on your last day on Earth you do NOT want to have any regrets.
On the weekend I posted a quotation falsely attributed to Buddha that says….Trouble is..you think you have time. Buddha
Well it wasn’t Buddha but it does ring true especially in the third act of life. All the new age gurus and yes Oprah are always exhorting us to seize the moment and stay in the present but most of the time our frantic North American culture works against us doing just that.
By far, THE biggest gift/regalo my time in Mexico has given me is an acute sense of my mortality (but not in a morbid sense) and how to get and STAY in the natural flow of day to day life as I toss my endless to do lists aside.
And simply BE.
In the Mexican sunshine, no less.
I highly recommend it.
http://www.writersincharge.com/guest-blogging-guide/
As the twelfth month dawns on this year I’m remembering things on my ‘ list’ that I didn’t quite get to and two invitations to guest blog was one of them. Although I’ve been blogging for about ten years either personally or for university classes it is not yet a daily or even semi weekly discipline.I seem to be under the impression that I need wait for inspiration to strike which it does but not on enough of a consistent basis. Writers or bloggers just write. That s what they do. Period.
The whole point is that to be a writer/ blogger you just need to do it. Write, that is. Right now, I’m also selecting my best blogs to put together a guidebook for newbie snowbirds. One Suitcase Snowbird. Hence, as of tomorrow, 12/6/14 I pledge to not just think about writing but to actually do it. As of today, I’ve been here five weeks and yes I have written Facebook and Twitter postings, one group email to friends and family, a few topical postings on this blog with pictures and now I have one of possibly three binders to collect my first draft book topics but…
Time to get out of the way of my buts as 2014 winds down. Two Week in a Life of a Snowbird in SMA guest postings are waiting. Still. Good weekend to clean up this blog and go through adding the links and pictures I’ve been meaning to for quite some time now.
No time like the present as they say.
http://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/
Most of the time you can pay for things with Mexican pesos but for rent, art or cooking classes often the cost is in USD. I recommend setting up a United States dollar cheque account before leaving so you will have cheques to pay in American funds.
When a cheque is not accepted it is great to have this site bookmarked on your tablet or unlocked smartphone so you can use the current rate of exchange to convert the USD amount into pesos. Be aware that there will be bank fees involved and if you are taking pesos out of your Canadian account for example there will likely be a slight discrepancy between the posted rate and what emerges from the bank machine due to local transactional banking fees added to your banking fees.
Seems everyone wants a piece of the ever shrinking peso pie!
Snowbird Soliloquy 