Greetings from Portugal

[tatugrl68]

Hello from Portugal! My husband and I have lived in Porto for about three years (I'm American and he's Romanian), and are ready to move to more tropical climes (Not Caribbean). We have a retired friend (diver) in the Philippines (Dauin) who raves about where he has retired. We also talk to every Expat Cruise director, dive guide or videographer about their favorite places in Asia that they have called home. We have dived several locations in Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Solomon Islands, Palau, Yap, and Fiji. At this point we are sailing on two LOB trips each year (min.10 day cruise). We have the means to dive more often, but really want to cut out the 12+ hour flight from Europe, just to get into the neighborhood. The options as we see them from conversations with many people are Bali, Malaysia (Penang), or Philippines. Leaning more towards Malaysia because of their Visa program MMSH. I am retired and my husband works remotely. We really want to do this while we are young (both under 60). Really only looking for first hand experiences or second hand (ie, a good friend of yours lives there). Please no rumors, or friend of a friend of a friend.........
Thanks in advance for the information!

 

[Lorenzoid]

Welcome to SB! I have no firsthand experience, but will be interested in seeing where you decide to move. I recall an American SB member who moved with his wife to Bali "for a year," ended up staying two if I recall correctly, and did all kinds of diving and adventuring using Bali as a base. I could totally see living in Bali or Malaysia (Penang over KL--very astute of you). Good luck!

 

[tatugrl68]

Welcome to SB! I have no firsthand experience, but will be interested in seeing where you decide to move. I recall an American SB member who moved with his wife to Bali "for a year," ended up staying two if I recall correctly, and did all kinds of diving and adventuring using Bali as a base. I could totally see living in Bali or Malaysia (Penang over KL--very astute of you). Good luck!

Thanks so much for your welcome! I'll be glad to keep people updated as plans coalesce. We just met a gentleman in Singapore that had lived in Penang for 1.5 years and was returning to America for knee replacement surgery and to see his kids and grandkids in person, since moving to Malaysia. He raved about it, and that really bumped Penang to the top of our list slightly above Bali. Have heard recent stories from many peeps on LOB in the area, that Bali is now overrun with the digital nomad folks (Indonesia is courting them pretty heavily) as well as "trustafarians".