friedgreencorrado wrote:BoostedBrian wrote: In reply to z31maniac: I agree completely. It's like talking to a wall, and the wall talks back. I bounce most of my ideas off this board.I agree with Brandon. (Awaiting the "My name is not Brandon!" post)
Man, friedgreenscirocco is just mean! ;)
z31maniac wrote:Adrian_Thompson wrote: Serious Q, just a couple of weeks ago you were talking about moving to Florida to be part of the family business. I thought that was poo pooed due to being too far from the spousal units family, now your talking of going off grid in the islands?Maybe that lack of mobility is the impetus behind this desire to leave it all?
This. The big reasons why FL wouldn't work are all of the self-made "obligations" (house, jobs, etc). We'd just be swapping her family with mine, so that wasn't it. The mostly-off-grid thing is coming from both of our employer's doing the berk with us and us realizing that we're literally killing ourselves working just to pay for crap we don't need (house, work clothes, phones, etc). We could easily go semi-native out of a trailer, grow stuff, and actually enjoy our short existences now instead spending a lifetime amassing "wealth" so we can spend just a few years beach bumming.
In reply to Javelin:
Jav, I know there's been a few threads here about building a house from a surplus shipping container..have you researched that yet?
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:David S. Wallens wrote: My favorite island is Manhattan. Not sure if that helps or not.They would never see us coming. Total surprise. It would be over in a matter of hours.
Imagine if it was a bunch of knife wielding potsmoker virgin island types. I'm just sayin. 70 degrees year round and all the dolphin you can eat.
Did I mention my brother has a pilot's license?
friedgreencorrado wrote: In reply to Javelin: Jav, I know there's been a few threads here about building a house from a surplus shipping container..have you researched that yet?
Not cheap at all from what I have looked at.
poopshovel wrote: Did I mention my brother has a pilot's license?
Now I'm berkeleying in. I hope it ain't a E36 M3 little Piper because I have thousands of pounds in ammo alone that needs to ride along.
I said "License" not "Plane." 2 more V&T's and I'm in.
Boats are cheap.
My goal is to become a missionary to Hawaii. However I have not raised the support I need as is the custom with missionaries. But someday I will........(JK)
Known a lot of people who talked about wanting to live it simple and easy. Known a few who actually tried. Most quickly returned to electricity and plumbing after a few days.
None the less, if you've got military retirement, than you should already know about the Phillipiens, Malaysia and the like. The US dollar gets you very far there.
If going that far away from the US spooks you, I've known quite a few retired military who left for DR never to return.
I've been to the Carribean a bit, nice place to visit. I have a friend living there. Living is cheap because no one has money. Your drinking water comes off the roof and is stored in a cistern, everything not grown there is imported; i.e. expensive. And oh yeah, you're white, so you obviously have money and you get rolled more than most.
No thanks.
However if you go for the sailboat, I've researched the MacGregor 65 and found it to do about everything you could ever want. Long canoe body just blisters along comfortably.
It's a romantic idea - getting out of the rat race and living cheaply off the land... but the reality is you'll still be in a rat race... the difference being you'll be racing against actual rats.
To me, it seems this sort of frustration is born when a house-hold's income to expense ratio is too close and it feels like all your doing to treading water. So instead of considering some huge, radical lifestyle change, maybe a few smaller changes will bring you closer to sanity. You'll have to trust me when I say that a frustrating job gets a lot less so when the required income is less important.
EastCoastMojo wrote: 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.
QFT
I'm not sure where you got the idea that living on ANY island is going to be cheap. Everything has to be shipped in. If you want simple, you would do better off by moving to BFE and buying your yurt. THere is plenty of land in lower SC where you would fit right in.
Sounds like mainland Mexico, Belize or Nicaragua is where you want to be.
poopshovel wrote: Boats are cheap.
Uhhhh... no. BOAT = Bust Out Another Thousand.
You are getting hung up on expenses. If you take somewhere by force you can use it's indigenous people as slaves to get the farming going.
Did the spanish teach us nothing? Conquest gets cheaper with each success story.
I heard New Guniea as lovely. Cannibalism was made illegal a year or two ago so I am sure that is all gone now.
The island that you want is Cuba. Seriously, think about it. No rat race because there is no capitalism. Nobody has any money, so you will live comfortably. The ability to keep old junkers running is the most sought-after skill on the island, so you will always have work. If you want anything from your military background, Gitmo is right there. (PX, medic, etc) And Canada put in a nice airport so you can always get in or out if you needed to.
The only issue is dropping your US citizenship, but once you become a Canadian, you get a 10% discount at Tim Hortons! (or so I hear)
Forget Trinidad. I love it, but would not consider living there. Deadly crime, and a goofy gov. Right now I can't get an 8000.00 wire transfer in because the banks don't have US$ Huh? Barbados is sweet, but pricy. Lowest crime in the Caribbean. St.Vincent is a beautiful island with a decent cost of living. For low cost and friendly neighbors, Belize is a good spot. Also Costa Rica and Panama. Ex-military would fit in well there. A lot of dirty money goes there to hide.
What's the drug situation looking like in Belize? I was always under the idea that it had a lot of thru traffic.
Looks like a lot of cocaine transshipment, and some areas are very corrupt and dangerous. Didn't know that till I did a little Google. Scratch that one of my list.
Ian F wrote: To me, it seems this sort of frustration is born when a house-hold's income to expense ratio is too close and it feels like all your doing to treading water. So instead of considering some huge, radical lifestyle change, maybe a few smaller changes will bring you closer to sanity. You'll have to trust me when I say that a frustrating job gets a lot less so when the required income is less important.
Our only debt is the actual house, and we can cover the mortgage on about 1/5th of take home. We're just realizing that all the other stuff we pay for (cable TV, internet, smartphones, work clothes, insurance, gas, car maintenance, child care, taxes, etc) can all go away because there's no reason for any of it.
USVI and the Keys are both looking good right now. Small motorboat or a travel trailer...
Fl keys are very expensive. Live on a boat, not so bad, but property values are sky high, as are rentals. Real problem getting workers for Burger King etc because they can't afford to live there on those salaries. I would love to give it a try though. Love it there.
Curmudgeon wrote: I used to date a girl who, for three years in the mid '80's, lived on the north side of Puerto Rico. She actually lived off the land, I'm talking local fruits and veggies etc., had pictures to back it up. Didn't own squat, ran around in a Tshirt and cutoffs all day, made a lean to out of palm fronds and such. She said it was great- for about two years. Then she got to where she really missed technology, indoor plumbing and etc, moved back to the States and has been here ever since.
I know probably a half-dozen people who have done some version of this and they all eventually came back to the 'real' world. Which is not to discourage you in the least - none of them regretted it. Just be careful how many bridges you burn. One guy I know maxed out all of his credit cards on hookers and blow (mostly hookers) before buying a one-way ticket to Costa Rica. He was back within 2 years.
I seriously considered the sailboat bum lifestyle and I have enough sailing experience to make a go of it, but living on a boat just isn't for everyone and apparently that includes Mrs. BDT. Boat size is a trade-off, the bigger the boat the more comfortable but harder to handle with a short-handed crew.
As for islands, I've been to a few as a tourist and Grenada struck me as pretty livable on a budget.
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