Every so often you are introduced to someone for a brief moment but you get a sense from your further online interactions that they are genuine. This is the case for my feeling about Tonia and her family. They are starting an exciting new expat entrepreneurship adventure in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. Here is their story.
I am so happy to have you share your dreams with us! Can you start with a little background about your family and describe your wish to relocate?
We are a family of four, two boys ages 8 and 11. We currently live in a very, very wintery city, in Barrie, Ontario, Canada. We enjoy skiing, sailing, camping, canoeing, and travelling. Our boys are super active and love skateboarding, parkour, and climbing trees. One day we decided that we should mix it up and go on an adventure, and live the dream we usually only enjoy for short blissful moments on vacation – and so we decided on Costa Rica.
Do you want to move temporarily or permanently? Will you go back to your native country or perhaps move on to somewhere new? Why or why not?
We have decided not to plan quite so far ahead. We will have to wait and see what life in Costa Rica brings us. We may move somewhere new, but we also may fall in love. We are trying not to put any pressure on ourselves to make life fit a specific plan. But we do know that we will be in Costa Rica for at least 5 years.
Can you explain how you plan on handling immigration concerns and/or working in your new home? What can you tell readers about how you will support yourself at your destination?
The only option for us, since we do not have an online income, was to search for a business in Costa Rica that fit our skills and passions. We searched and searched and searched and searched. We also took a research trip to the town we wanted to live in (Tamarindo) to really explore some of our ideas and meet business owners. We (all four of us) felt a strong draw towards TIDE Academy, a young, developing school located in Tamarindo that offers an individualized and flexible education to families looking for an alternative lifestyle. It was a very long process of asking questions, obtaining information, self-reflecting, and learning the ropes – but we are incredibly excited to be taking on the leadership of the school and truly living our dream!
Can you compare how you see family life abroad to family life where you are from? What are your plans for schooling your children?
Well, naturally, the boys will attend TIDE Academy. In fact, when we first started researching opportunities in Guanacaste we knew that we needed to think of schooling options for our boys right away – and that is really how this all began…..I, being a teacher, searched for just the right fit for us, a place that I would love to teach, and where our boys would love to go to school, and that is how we found TIDE Academy. I was really attracted to its unique teaching model, and felt it was the best fit for the lifestyle we wanted – and when I found out that the school was for sale, we knew it was a perfect match. We hope that our life in Costa Rica will be at a slower pace, and will eliminate the craziness of us all going in separate directions each day. We hope to settle in and be on the beach as much as possible. Here in Canada, we experience up to 6 months of winter, and so we are looking forward to endless summer!
What about healthcare? Is that a concern?
Healthcare is definitely a concern for us, and we have applied for an affordable expat insurance that we will pay monthly. We really need the security of knowing that we are covered in the case of an accident. However, we also plan to apply for residency, which will allow us to receive Costa Rican healthcare – which we understand to be excellent.
How have you found the planning process? What resources can you share with readers? What resources do you wish you had in your planning process so far?
After reading blogs online and looking through the typical websites that describe life in Costa Rica, we purchased Family Freedom Project – which really got us thinking about the practical side of things. About a year ago we began to ask people for recommendations for service providers, and sorted through our options for residency and so on. We looked at a lot of blogs too, because we felt that many gave a realistic perspective, and that the perspectives varied from person to person. And then we did our research trip – which was really key to understanding the cost of living and removing that feeling of venturing into the unknown for our boys.
How are your language skills? Do you plan to learn or will you try to by on what you have now?
We know little to no Spanish – and we can’t wait to begin learning as soon as we arrive. It is definitely a huge goal for us all to become fluent in Spanish and really connect with the local people and culture.
Sounds exciting right? I am looking forward to spending more time with Tonia and her family when we head back to Tamarindo in a few months. In the mean time, please feel free to leave comments both for Tonia and for me right here.
The post Costa Rica Expat Profile: From Ontario Canada to Guanacaste Costa Rica appeared first on Family Freedom Project.