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Third Monday I don't have to jump in the car to drive 100 miles to work! Phew!

But, sure starting to wonder where I go from here.
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dear golden :),

thanks, i agree! in fact, the solutions i’m working on, are helping me. i’m sending us all lots of luck!

bundle of joy :)
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bundle - the hardest and most important part is to find solutions for you. We can go nuts focusing on other people's problems and finding solutions for them, while not caring for ourselves as much. That being said I understand that the job of caregiving is a difficult one.
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dear polarbear :),

thanks! i got a lot of supportive messages from many of you. it helped a lot.

chaos over here. but bit by bit, things are improving. i prefer not to explain.

sending lots of courage to us all!!
:)
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Bundleofjoy, so glad to hear from you. You always share joy/ jokes with us but you don't seem to share your troubles. Don't you want to? Even if we can't help, it may help you feel better having someone listen and commiserate. We're here for you.
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@Llamalover47
Costa Rica is like the Bahamas as far as the poverty and third-world conditions go. The Bahamas is built up more though and is more cosmopilitan as far as hospitalization and medical care goes.
We love island vacationing, but pretty much it's the same thing everywhere. I'll take Hawaii any day of the week. It's expensive though. Isuppose you pay for the pleasure of not being panhandled and harassed on vacation. You will get none of that on Maui.
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wishing everyone a wonderful sunday!! courage!!

i continue to have a very rough time. but it’ll improve. i’m finding solutions for my LOs.

just wanted to wish you all a GREAT sunday. i’ll return one of these days.

bundle of joy :)
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Burnt: Wow! Must be similar in nature to the Bahamas. Couldn't even glance at an item for sale, else being hounded to buy it.
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Great conversation everyone, while I was sleeping.
Reminds me of the song:
It's a small world after all.

It's a world of laughter
A world of tears
It's a world of hopes
And a world of fears
There's so much that we share
That it's time we're aware
It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all.....
It's a small, small world
There is just one moon
And one golden sun
And a smile means
Friendship to ev'ryone
Though the mountains divide
And the oceans are wide
It's a small world after all.
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My grandchildren have complained about McDonald's and their insistence on using the app. They've switched to Tim's. Not an inconvenience - they're next door to each other on fast food row.
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cwillie, I just helped my son purchase travel health insurance for a 3-month gig in NZ (it's from BCBS). It is "inexpensive" but the issue is not the coverage, the issue is the *quality* of the healthcare you'd receive depending on in which foreign country one is living. Would I choose a surgery and rehab in the US rather than CR? Probably. Would I want cancer treatment in the US? Yes, def. Plus, not sure about getting prescriptions in other countries. Also, even though NZ offers nationalized healthcare, there is little to no financial provision for non-citizens or people without a 2-yr work visa. In NZ you have no real abiliity to have a "primary doctor" for non-emergency wellness care. Only if you are sick or injured enough to warrant the ER or hospital, so not sure if this is true in other countries. I'm not yet on Medicare so don't really know how it works for out-of-the-US coverage.
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I'm still ticked at McDonald's requiring an app in order to earn coffee and other rewards, at least Tim Horton's lets you use a physical card card if you'd rather.

I imagine wise American expats buy extra insurance for living abroad in the same way we Canadians do whenever we leave the country. And yeah, my understanding is that expat enclaves are like gated communities, there is no reason to venture into sketchy areas.
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My friends who retired to CR come back twice a year for dental care and doctor visits. They go to a local facility for emergent care. They have a supplemental policy that pays for care there. They still have their home in the US if it should ever become necessary or they would want to move back. They went into the move eyes wide open and have never considered it an irreversible permanent move.
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Geaton777, I always wondered about health care and legal documents outside of the United States, too.

I know that Medicare is only good for treatment in the United States and its territories [Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands].
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Sendhelp, about 10 years ago the Jeep dealership said I needed a couple thousand worth of repairs on my Jeep. I said I would think about it.

I found a really good place to take my vehicle that had old time mechanics, and ten years later none of those so called "repairs" ever needed to be fixed.
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Regarding retirement living in places like Cost Rica... What happens when you need next-level healthcare? What's the cost of a medical transport back to the US? If you weren't transportable, could your family afford to go to you? And how fast could it happen if they don't have passports? What about PoA laws orr guardianship in other countries? What laws would govern the ex-pat?
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I've been in branding and marketing for 4 decades (b to b, not retail). Giving out your email today is really not different than giving a business your home address when you ordered something (credit card, delivery) "back in the day". They put or sold that info to companies that sold mailing lists. Hence, junk mail. I have a free gmail account that is dedicated for purchases. Then, once the retailer starts sending me junk email, I go in and request to be taken off their list (it's an option at the very bottom of their emails, often in tiny print and in pale grey). By law they must unsubscribe you. Any emails that I want to keep (like order/delivery info) I just forward to myself at my protected email address. I do occasionally get spam texts and calls, but I use RoboKiller to block those and my iPhone is very quiet. Do you use an encrypted browser? If not, then whenever you go online you are also being watched and followed and your information gathered. Yes, technology has scary downsides but it can be mostly very useful to us as we get older. Block chain technology would de-centralize informatiion so that you would "own" it and it would be much harder for businesses to get your info (essentially, advertisers would have to pay each you and me personally for the same info they're getting for free now). This is what crypto is based on (this is a very simplified explanation). Block chain also has downsides, just like most things in life. Adapt to the best of technology that makes our aging lives better and keeps us more connected to family, our healthcare, each other.
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@llamalover47

Yes, Costa Rica is a very beautiful country if you don't mind living in the third-world and getting panhandled incessantly because everyone knows you're a foreigner and they think you must have money. I took a vacation there once. The begging really ruined the trip because we couldn't take a step off the resort we were staying at. Nothing like living in village where the hospital shares the same building with a the church. Perfectly fine if your don's need surgery on a Sunday or basic care.

@gladimhere.

I couldn't agree more. I will not do any online business that insists on a cellphone number and email before even allowing the product to be seen. Restaurants too. If I can't read the menu online without the "screen" over it demanding an email and phone number, I move on.
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I met that yesterday. It was the company who looks after my investments, I have a new advisor and i wanted to check her out. I couldn't get into the site without giving them my email address, which they already have, but i wasn't going to give again. I really object to that!!! Are they so hard up for business???
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AGREE! Many places lose my business.

I don't know where I have added my email address in the past month or so, but I have been bombarded with scams and junk! The only thing I can figure out is shopping for Medicare supplement!
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I cannot believe I'm actually posting this but I have become anti-techie. Lately everytime I try to check out a menu online or confirm a place is still open I am confronted by a screen wanting my email and/or phone before I can read a menu! No thanks, I do not need any more junk email or phone calls! If you want to put such a barrier to viewing your general information, then I am going to just pass on your business. Can't they at least wait till I order something?
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You can find reliable mechanics by going to the Car Guys website and putting in your zip code. Have found two wonderful local mechanics through them.
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When you live in a small town there aren't a lot of different options for car services Send, but I think my local dealer has always been trustworthy. Of course they no longer treat me like royalty for buying a car from them now that so many years have gone by, and the staff keep getting younger and younger (and the guy that went to school with my bro has retired).
I used to love driving, I thought when I retired I'd hop in the car and travel. But then I developed a driving phobia that causes crippling fear in heavy traffic...
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Hello Send,

I wish us all a great weekend!

I’m quoting you:
“Well, it is not very patriotic to go live in another country other than your own.”

It’s one Earth.
It just happens to be cut up in the random borders we have.

Hundreds of years from now, the borders will look different yet again.

And all that time, since the start, it was and is, one Earth.

One Earth with splendid landscapes, here and there, in various “countries”.
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Costa Rica is supposed to be quite beautiful.
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Lol.
Well, it is not very patriotic to go live in another country other than your own.
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CWillie,
This could be important information.
I took my very low mileage Toyota 2005 into the dealership.
They found $3,000 worth of repairs needed.

Since then, disheartened, I have not even gone to the beach, mostly driving nearby up to 10 miles. Could not afford that much.

I have not found a mechanic who confirms that the brakes need bleeding.
Other mechanics ask a few questions, and say there is no need to do that, or another repair, The car passed smog.

So, maybe get a second opinion not from a dealer.

Keep that car on the road! Toyotas are good for 200,000 miles plus!
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Barb, Thank you! I usually look those things up when I have doubts. But all I could find quickly was ex-pat, an abbreviation.
I think that I and my dH are pedantic.

Definition and correct spelling:
Pedantic is an insulting word used to describe someone who annoys others by correcting small errors, caring too much about minor details, or emphasizing their own expertise especially in some narrow or boring subject matter.

I am usually trying to make a joke about something. But not the spelling of the word pendantic. 😜
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My guilty pleasure is watching that property (junk) show House Hunters International - just for Costa Rica, Mexico & similar!

I have decided to start dressing like I live there anyway as soon as the sun comes out this year (if it ever does..). Picked up a bright yellow & aqua resort dress in the local thrift shop 🌴🌞 😆
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Send: it's expatriate, not ex-patriot!. Or maybe you were making a joke. I'm pendantic.
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