About oldsoldier1976

Status:

Considering a Move Abroad 

Gender:

Male

Currently Lives:

Citizen Of:

United States

Some Forum Posts:

Ecuador Welcome Forum: Presidential Election:

Okay but the question still remains. No one answered it. The answering replies were about the one year residency. With the election going on or finished. Those of us in other parts of the world do not get the news. How did the election turn out and does anyone see any instability in life there post election?

Ecuador Welcome Forum: Finalized our trip:

We finalized our exploratory trip to Ecuador. We decided to have guides through most of the trip. Neither of us speaks Spanish though we are taking Rosetta Stone course. We will be in Ecuador the first two weeks in November 2017. We hope it will be good weather. The trip is 9 days which for us is one of our longer trips. We are just entering retirement and Ecuador is a possible destination for a number of years of our lives in the future. So the trip starts in Guayaquil and we overnight there as the flight is long. The next day is a driver and guide through the National Forest and on to Cuenca. 3 days in Cuenca with Sunday a solo day for us. We then pick up a guide and driver again to head to Loja. 2 nights in Loja with trips in and around to Vilcabamba and Malacatos. Then a flight to Guayaquil. The next day is a day trip to Playas with a guide as well. Then back to the hotel for our flight out the next day. I have been told that we could do all of that on our own for less but that is not my point of the thread here. My point here is for the short period of time will we get a good feel for the differences between the locations? Will we find that we didn't plan enough? Too much? Over thought it or didn't give ourselves enough time to explore. The point of the trip is exploratory and we do have obligations even though we are not working. We have family members that do need us around for a while longer. Long story, just know that the plan for us is to really let loose in 4 years. So now that we have settled the trip does the adventure above sound about what many of you did on your first exploratory trip?

Ecuador Welcome Forum: Ecuador and Cuenca in particular:

Thank you Susan and thank you for allowing me to serve as a soldier for so long. I am proud of my service as you might guess but I am grateful that I was allowed to for as long as I did (38+ years). We are in the process of working with a travel agent to visit Ecuador in October. Yes we could do it on our own for less but we feel we will miss out on things that a private guide and driver will be able to bring to us. The agent currently has us in Guayaquil day one flight in and overnight. Then the trek up to Cuenca via the National Forrest. A few days of trips in and around Cuenca and then down to Loja. in and around Loja we see Vilcabamba and Malacatos. Then that is where we would like to stay in the south but the agent has us going back to Guayaquil to fly up to Quito for a direct flight home the next day. We would love to do Galapagos but we feel a single day there would not do it justice. so we will save that for another time. This is mainly an exploratory trip to see as much of the area and people as we can so we can decide if Ecuador is for us. We understand that it might not and a single trip like this will not prove it either but it is something that needs to happen to begin with. We are thinking on asking the agent to keep us in Guayaquil area or maybe a day in a village between Loja and Guayaquil. If it Guayaquil then I can rent a car to go see something like Salinas or another town on the coast. That is kind of what has brought me to ask these questions as many people may have started in Cuenca or Guayaquil only to end up in some little hamlet along the ocean or near a particularly pretty geological feature (stream or cliff).

Ecuador Welcome Forum: Tourist Visa:

So if I read that right if I decide move to Ecuador I need to stay 18 months out of 24? My question has a lot to do with some of my reasons for Ecuador. I am considering Ecuador as a hub for Central and South American travel so I have a closer place to reset. So that sort of dampens my idea somewhat.

Date Joined:

1/10/2017

Total Posts:

10

Posts/Day:

0.11