The Grown-Up's Guide to Running Away from Home: Making a New Life Abroad [Paperback]

Rosanne Knorr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2008

For empty-nesters, early retirees, and even established executives, midlife is the ideal time to turn travel fantasies into real and rewarding experiences. This second edition of THE GROWN-UP'S GUIDE covers estimating cost-of-living expenses, the dos and don'ts of international health care, the boom in online travel resources, and much more. Whether planning a monthlong escape or a whole new life in another country, this empowering guide will encourage mature would-be expats to pursue the overseas adventure they've been craving.

 

An accessible primer for midlife adults who long to live or retire in another country, featuring information on choosing a destination, readying finances, working, and keeping the stateside home fires burning.

Detailed advice is interspersed with lively and inspiring anecdotes from the author's own adventures, plus interviews with other experienced expats.

 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

ROSANNE KNORR is a seasoned traveler, expatriate, and author of numerous books, including the GROWN-UP’S GUIDE series and Gone with the Wine. Rosanne has been profiled in People Magazine and has appeared on national media including National Public Radio’s Marketplace Money, CNN Travel, CNNfn, NBC Nightly News and ABC Radio Network. Interviews and articles about her work have appeared in Time Magazine, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Bon Appetit, American Express Horizons, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She lives in Sarasota, Florida.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press; 2 edition (March 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580088732
• ISBN-13: 978-1580088732
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.5 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,248 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #7 in Books > Travel > Specialty Travel > Senior Travel
  • #77 in Books > Travel > Reference & Tips > Reference

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

79 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You name it, she thought of it., October 14, 2008

By 

K. S. Hirschfeld - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Grown-Up's Guide to Running Away from Home: Making a New Life Abroad (Paperback)

When I first happened upon this book I was immediately attracted to the title. As a person who had left the comforts of an active career 4 years earlier to see what I could build in Europe, I thought this book might be amusing and thought it might enlighten me about situations I had yet to encounter.

It turned out to be a great deal more than that and I wish I had read it before I'd made the leap. It would have saved me a lot of hand wringing on various subjects and helped me think through a number of topics in advance.

The book addresses those who want a few months' getaway in a different environment as well as those who want to pull up stakes completely for a more `long term' change of scenery. Although written to some degree from an American perspective, the issues and questions raised apply no matter what your departure point.

Knorr raises subjects ranging from how to choose your destination, the family planning that's required, health care and medical coverage, insurance, passports, visas, bureaucracy, safety, financial considerations when operating away from home, what to take and what to leave behind, how to deal with the property you own, settling in, networking in your new environment as well as how to find a home, car, doctor, you name it, she thought of it.

Knorr gives you the facts but also addresses the emotional upheaval that can accompany such a move and helps you think through the permutations that always accompany a big decision! She writes with the wisdom of somehow who has passed this way and wants to save the reader some of the headaches she encountered while navigating the waters of setting up home in a new location. Her style is engaging, straight forward and very well informed .

If this book inspires you to take the leap, all the better, but even if I doesn't, it's a great read and will acquaint you with the adventure and challenges that await those who do. It is an easy read and jam packed with good information on virtually every aspect of making this kind of decision. If she missed anything, I'm not sure what it is.

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Slim Guide to the Obvious, August 3, 2009

By 

T. I. Farmer "[e-mail]" (Edmonds, WA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Grown-Up's Guide to Running Away from Home: Making a New Life Abroad (Paperback)

There's nothing in this slim, superficial little book you can't discover for yourself in 30 minutes' focused Internet surfing. If you have genuinely never considered even the most basic issues associated with living abroad, and you find value in pronouncements like "Don't buy a fancy car over there" or a list of 800 numbers for overseas airlines, you might get some value from this. If you've traveled overseas with some frequency, know the culture you want to join, and now need practical advice on tax and money management, visa and residency requirements, property ownership rules, etc., this book is more or less useless. The author quotes a couple of immediate-circle friends extensively about their move to Portugal but appears to have done little serious research... admittedly it's difficult to write a guide that covers every country you might move to, but be warned this book is really an example of "once over lightly."

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Relocation for a career change? Start here..., May 24, 2008

By 

Dr Cathy Goodwin (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Grown-Up's Guide to Running Away from Home: Making a New Life Abroad (Paperback)

As a career consultant, I find myself responding to questions about the ultimate getaway: finding a new job (and maybe a new life) overseas. It sounds so romantic...till you get into the nitty-gritty of paperwork, taxes and health care.


This guide gets 5 stars simply because it does what it promises: offers a straightforward guide to those who are considering a move but have no place to begin. However, I would recommend (a) reading multiple guides and (b) talking to folks who have been there. Try to find someone who's been in your situation. A 60+ retiree won't benefit from talking to a twenty-something; a single person needs to understand how a culture interprets her lifestyle.

I spent a few years in Canada on a "landed immigrant" visa (equivalent to a green card) as a business school professor. It's been awhile, but I would say the info here seems accurate and balanced. The author assumes her readers will be concerned about safety and health care. Your beliefs, values, and interpretation of events will influence your own priorities.

But for a starting point, you could do a lot worse.