Quote:
Originally Posted by Velvet
The problem is as I see it, that nothing is walkable in TV also there are few to no sidewalks. There is no public transportation as in other cities which people who don’t drive take. Uber or taxis will not come into TV easily because the short distances are not worth it to most of them. Not everyone can afford a self-driving car when it comes out. So what do you do? I might as well get on that ice float cause I’m too much trouble if I can’t drive.
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Completely understand. Only a year ago we drove a 9 year old Toyota Yaris and had no plans to replace it... ever. A Tesla was not even an option. Today we are living in a senior citizens resort in our new home and making plans for a better future than we ever thought possible. We are extremely fortunate and lucky to be here.
We were living on a beautiful 11 acres in the country with a pond and heavily wooded for the past 10 years. As we began planning for our future, we realized that we could not stay on our "Green Acres". Someday, one of us would fall, or have a stroke, or something. And it was 15 minutes into town, 30 minutes for an ambulance to get to us and take us to a hospital - and a not very good hospital at that. Then when/if one of us died, the other would be left isolated and alone out in the country. Not a good situation for a senior.
We live(d) on our combined SS alone. Our 401k's, saving and everything were destroyed in the 2008 crash. After a couple dental/medical vacations to Ecuador we began seriously discussing immigrating to Ecuador. The cost of living is about 1/4 of what it is here. A 5 bedroom 3 bath home complete with utilities and internet is about $450/mth in and around Cuenca. Public transportation is amazing, buses anywhere every 5 minutes, and the ride costs $0.25 for seniors to go anywhere. Taxis are even faster, less than a minute wait and go anywhere for under $2.50. (They use American dollars for currency) Eating out a 4 course lunch was about $2.75 ea. And on and on.
100% coverage healthcare (no deductibles and including vision and dental) would run the two of us 17% of one of our SS income (premium of $340/mth) and the other would get virtually free coverage as a dependent. And lastly, the people there are amazing and friendly and happy. We really enjoyed our time there.
We struggled with this for a long time, because while it would be great for us, and give us the option to travel extensively and live better than here, it was 1000s of miles away from our families.
Luckily for us we came into an inheritance from a completely unexpected source and all our plans changed over night.
What has all that got to do with your post? It was that part of our consideration in moving to Ecuador was that Cuenca was designed for walking and public transportation. Instead of large shopping centers/plazas a 15 minute drive away like here, there they have neighborhood stores run by neighbors. We had literally dozens of small 3 or 4 table restaurants within a 5 minute walk of any house. There were small grocerys every block or two, bakeries with fresh bread daily within one block, etc... So, any daily shopping was as simple as walk across the street (almost). Going to the doctor was a 5 minute ride by taxi. Going to a mall was a 10 minute ride by bus.
That was a very big attraction to us, to be able to retain our ability to get around and to not be isolated.
And a bonus was the people and culture. They are a very family oriented culture, and respect seniors and foreigners. Even though we struggled to learn Spanish, everyone was happy to go out of their way to help us in anyway they could. Lots of arm waving and sign language to get our questions answered
If things had not changed for us, we would have been happy to move to Ecuador and with the reduced cost of living would have simply had to fly "home" to see family and friends occasionally.
My point, is there are options for almost everyone - not everyone I understand, but sometimes one needs to look outside the box to find a solution and the sooner one looks the easier it is to make the changes.
Honestly, here in the US, I think a senior that loses the ability to travel independently is pretty much destined for assisted living, and that is not cheap in this country.