Life in Costa Rica: I caught these two kids squealing in happiness as they ran towards the ocean on Playa Hermosa at sunset in Uvita.
After our seven week trip to Costa Rica earlier this year, Yim and I came home ready to start expanding our lifestyle. We both enjoyed our time away and both disliked being back in a cold, harsh winter environment. Our bodies started to ache after a few weeks because we were no longer spending 5 – 8 hours a day in the sun.
Instead of a walk on the beach after our morning fitness routines, we were out shovelling snow to get the car out of the driveway, sometimes twice a day.
So we haven’t enjoyed being back at all this year.
March was too long and too cold. It’s now halfway through April and the temperature is just starting to warm up enough for me to want to be outside at all. I’ve said it often enough now – I don’t like the cold and it lasts far too long here for me. There are places we want to spend time in that are warm and we are ready to do that now.
This year we will start the transition of spending at least two months traveling to a sunny climate and one month somewhere new each year. We both loved Costa Rica but we wanted to test out southern Thailand as an option so we will visit there in 2027 to get a feel for the parts of the country we are interested in.
Collingwood will remain our home base for now and we’ll spend our time here enjoying the things we already love — Yim will continue her fitness, dance and sewing. I’ll continue my fitness, cycling and gardening. We’ll spend some time with the kids over the summer, visit family, see friends, take in summer concerts, and maybe make a few trips to Montreal and Toronto.
Winters will be spent somewhere warm — like Uvita or Krabi, Thailand. A place where we can walk to the beach, stay active, eat well, explore nature, and enjoy a slower rhythm for a while. While we’re there, we will make an effort to connect with the local community — visiting things like local farmers markets, live music evenings, local events, and meeting people who spend winters there also. We are looking for a place that feels right. Some place where we love to spend time as much, or more, than we do in Collingwood.
Then each year we keep one month for a different adventure somewhere in the world — Spain, Italy, Greece, maybe Denmark. That way every year still includes something new and exciting for both of us.
Our hope is that we find some place where we are happy to go back to for months at a time. I’d really like to have a tropical garden to enjoy by the time I am 75 so I know I am on the lookout for a place where we may be able to put down some roots, where it’s warm all year round and come back to Canada to visit from May to October. For me, that would be a better solution for us and that’s the direction my thinking is moving towards.
If not, then we will see the world over the next decade or two.
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