I'm getting tired of the daily grind. Working all day to make printed paper that I trade for crap I need to go to work is so overrated. We have healthcare, an income, and actual useful skills. Which island should we move to?
I'm talking sell everything, live in a yurt on the beach and grow coconuts for a living to barter with the locals. Maybe a travel trailer and a scooter.
The Keys? Bahamas? Virgin Islands?
Caymans. Lots of tax shelters, should be pretty to stay off the grid if you be quiet.
My favorite island is Manhattan. Not sure if that helps or not.
In reply to mndsm:
Been there, done that, not worth the trip. Grand Cayman was a giant berking stinkhole full of wannabe "rich" people. I don't need a tax shelter because the economy is meaningless. This is the exact kind of crap I want away from.
I'll bring my tools and welder and barter mad mechanicing skills for food.
In reply to David S. Wallens:
Also been there, done that. Cool place, but so not what I'm looking for. I want locals that speak in clicks and carry spears. Okay, maybe not that crazy, but definitely something Caribbean...
One of my coworkers is from Trinidad and he says it is a good place for SLOW living. Not sure how cheap cause it is pretty big but the speak the queens there so no need to learn español.
"The point is, you DON'T NEED most of your things, they merely serve to weigh you down and remind of what other things you think you want."
"The hardest part is simply letting go of your anchors, both physical and psychological, that hold you where you currently live. Your job, your house, your car, your lifestyle... let them go."
Im there with you, I would love to go to the SLOW life.
We live super slow here in Barbados but the population here may be more similar to Americans with the "keeping up with the Joneses" crap than you might like.
And you know from my posts that this is car ownership hell.
If you're serious about the coconuts thing then you'll be OK. Otherwise scraping by on the local wages might help you appreciate your current situation better. Yurts on the beach go for $0.5m-1m BTW, yurt not included.
GameboyRMH wrote: If you're serious about the coconuts thing then you'll be OK.
I'm retired military, so I have a (very small) lifetime income. It basically doesn't do squat in the US, but anywhere else we could live on just that. We also have very real skills for rural areas (mechanics, welding, gardening, teaching, etc) to supplement income. Also, health care forever as well (for me and the fam-damily).
I'd kind of like to still own a car (Javelin as the only car?), but I would honestly be happy with a scooter on a car-less island. I can always build a go-kart. Besides, we'd definitely buy a boat.
Cost of living's not cheaper here than in most places in the US. Cheaper than the big coastal cities but that's it.
Islands in general are pretty expensive, shipping is a killer and then most have brutal import duties as well.
You might be able to import a car duty-free when immigrating, I'd have to check what the rules are for non-returning-nationals.
Don't go to the Turks and Caicos. The guy that managed the house we rented said if you aren't making $100K a year, you're almost destitute.
Everything was expensive. Food for 20 people for a week was almost $3000, and that was eating on the cheap.The wife made a Lasagna with a salad, the fixings for that meal alone were close to $200.
I think about disappearing off the grid every couple of months. The rat race sure does get old. Then I remember how much I love air conditioning. 
Why not sell everything and live in a yurt in your backyard? 
With enough coconuts, you may be able to make a go of it here in the States.
Toyman01 wrote: Then I remember how much I love air conditioning.
ehh.... I wouldn't miss it. Just need an island where I can run around nekkid all day.
My dad has seriously for a while wanted to move to the island of Dominica in the Caribbean. He's been trying to reform their educational system and get citizenship there.
As I understand it is more self sufficient than most of the other Caribbean islands. It is actually a rainforest island with an overabundance of fresh water and a lot of fruits and such growing everywhere.
Grtechguy wrote:Toyman01 wrote: Then I remember how much I love air conditioning.ehh.... I wouldn't miss it. Just need an island where I can run around nekkid all day.
If I did that, the glare would blind the neighbors and the locals would ship me back to the states. 
EastCoastMojo wrote: Why not sell everything and live in a yurt in your backyard?
Because I live in Washington State. 
I've killed three palm trees already!
Grtechguy wrote:Toyman01 wrote: Then I remember how much I love air conditioning.ehh.... I wouldn't miss it. Just need an island where I can run around nekkid all day.
If I did that the glare would reflect back to the sun and make it explode.
Why don't you move to Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Norther Nevada, North Dakota, The UP or some other similar low cost of living area of the US? Still have locals to barter with, but the cost of the things you need from the Man is a lot lower. last time I looked a 40-80 acre spread in some of the more remote parts of the US was still cheap.
Glare is easy to fix. Unless you're a ginger or British-pale you'll get a tan even if you only walk between buildings and your car. And the beaches are bright white in some places so you could nude sunbathe invisibly
Grtechguy wrote: ehh.... I wouldn't miss it. Just need an island where I can run around nekkid all day.
Mosquitoes
There is an island for sale in the Mohawk River near Schenectdy.
Look up Belize. Not an island, but I've heard good things about emigrating there as an American.
You mention that you have health care, but would you still if you moved to the sticks of another country? There aren't exactly VA hospitals aplenty on Caribbean islands that I know of.
I used to live in Trinidad & Tobago, that was pretty nice, the island of Tobago has no industry on it so is very clean and very slow livin'.
Javelin wrote:EastCoastMojo wrote: Why not sell everything and live in a yurt in your backyard?Because I live in Washington State.
Guess that rules out the island city of cathlamet. They move slow. But you'd still have to put up with Gargoyle and the rest of WA's fine elected officials.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode-island/2012/08/28/islands-off-conn-coast-put-for-sale/xSIWvnEtm8Gva45v8y8BdK/story.html
2 islands off Conn. coast put up for sale By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN Associated Press / August 28, 2012
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A woman who amassed a collection of small islands off the Connecticut coast is selling two of them.
Christine Svenningsen, a widow of a party-goods magnate, is selling Belden Island for $3.95 million and Jepson Island for nearly $2 million, her real estate agents said. They are part of the Thimble Islands off Branford, which have attracted celebrities and the wealthy for generations.
‘‘For anybody looking for privacy it’s got great appeal yet it’s very close to the mainland,’’ said Clint Rodenberg, an agent at William Pitt Sotheby’s in Madison, where listing agents Margaret Muir and Tony Nuzzo are handling the sale.
Svenningsen, an artist who has restored many of the properties, spent around $33 million to buy about 10 islands in Long Island Sound.
‘‘They’re like little pieces of art. I get to put my brush to them,’’ Svenningsen said in 2006.
She does not plan to sell the other islands she owns, Rodenberg said.
‘‘She’s looking for someone who will respect them and enjoy them as much as she does,’’ Rodenberg said. ‘‘She’s simplifying her life somewhat.’’
The houses are seasonal and rely on gas lights and solar power, Rodenberg said.
Jepson Island is a little over one-quarter of an acre and has a 1,100-square-foot house with a wraparound deck. Belden is slightly over an acre and has a 1912 colonial with about 2,100 square feet and clam beds.
Of the hundreds of Thimble Islands, about 25 are considered habitable. Tour boats have taken sightseers among the islands for generations, while treasure hunters have combed them for Captain Kidd’s buried riches.
Houses on the islands have long served as social gathering spots for the wealthy and famous, as well as summer vacation sites for families of more modest means. President William H. Taft and actor James Earl Jones were among the visitors, while ‘‘Doonesbury’’ cartoonist Garry Trudeau and his wife, newscaster Jane Pauley, own an island home.
Svenningsen’s late husband, John, bought a home on the islands in the late 1970s. After he died in 1997, she began to buy more islands.
She bought the house where circus star Tom Thumb courted ‘‘Miss Emily.’’ Local legend has it that his boss, P.T. Barnum, ordered Thumb instead to marry ‘‘Miss Livinia,’’ another of his performers.
Tom and Emily’s names remain etched in a rock near the house.end of story marker
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