Dana Takamoto
Status: Couple
Employed or Retired: Retired
Where are you living now / where are you from: Arlington, Wa
Timeframe for a move: Retiring in 2 years, 1 month and 3 weeks 🙂
Where else are you considering: My husband and I have been exploring Costa Rica. We’ve been there twice. We even went on the retirement tour and learn a lot of valuable information. I loved it but during our second visit an emergency came up at home and that’s when I realized I was too far from home. Absolute minimum travel time to get home is 15 hours. Too long, too far.
Why Vallarta: I’ve also been to Vallarta twice but only on vacation. I’ve also enjoyed the area. However I don’t know much about what it would take to live. I’m actually wanting to be a snowbird and leave home on the winter. It’s not as far and we could get direct flights back and forth from Seattle. I could be home in 8 hours.
How can ExPats in Vallarta assist you: The ExPats we’ve met both times in Costa Rica held a wealth of information. We learned from them that saved us both in time and money. Their experiences are invaluable.
Hi Dana (and husband),
I’m sending you a “welcome” message to you, that i would have loved to have received, so thought others would also appricate it. And welcome to expats.
I decided to move here in about 1969 when there was nothing here but one flashing light in the middle of town that almost no one paid any attention to including the taxi drivers. Also, our cab driver was drinking a beer as he was taking us to our hotel. Experience number one. HA But always thought I would still want to retire here someday, and here I am. I have visited several times through out the years and last December (2013) I packed 2 suitcases a month after I sold my business and started to put all my belongings in a 8 x10 storage unit from a large home. I had not much of an idea of what was in store but put everything that” I thought” was necessary to live in Mexico and with plane ticket in hand I arrived in PV with 7 weeks of time shares to use up before I needed to find a place to live. I am single so had no one to bounce ideas off of, so closed my eyes and jumped, hoping to grow wings on the way down. It had worked for me most of my life so thought “heck, it will this time too” Which in fact it did.I know that is scary for some, including most of my friends that said, ARE YOU CRAZY?
Have learned many things on my own, some took longer than I had hoped for but it all is good. I have offered to a couple of people to stay with me (a week to a month) and they have accepted so they would learn some of the “ropes” (which I am still learning) of the area that is in no books. I live in a 4 bdrm. 3 ba. gated community. It has been fun for both myself and my “new friends” to get aquainted and at the same time I am enjoying their company. I have offered them some of my new found information. If I had had this opportunity to do this with someone, I would have jumped at the chance to learn things in a shorter period of time instead of an ongoing slower learning experience. I would have felt like I would have gotten a jump start with my new found retirement. Plus could have made a educated decision on where I wanted to live without needing to make a choice more quickly.
One of these days in the next year or two I plan (well, have been known to not plan too good but it’s a starting point HA) on moving to Old Town where there is more hussle bussle but am very happy here as we speak.
If you are ever interested in coming to PV prior to actually moving here (or after you made the plunge) I would be happy to offer you to stay with me to find out from me some of the ins and outs of life in Mexico. Even if you stay a day or two (or more) to find a place to rent during your stay. I would charge a very small amount and would enjoy the company.
With all that said, welcome (soon) to your choice of retirement town and looking forward to meeting you in the future. If you chose to rent in a hotel type of place, there is a really nice one in Old Town for approximately $75.00 a day. This is the website you can look at…hotelyasmininpv@gmail.com. Give this place a look and this may be your preference instead. I am sure there are others near there but a couple of my “new found friends” have like this place very much and was happy that I mentioned it to them.
Looking forward to meeting you one of these days, Trenie ,my email is gpenrod@comcast.net