IL Magazine + 101 Travel Secrets FREE!
Subscribe now for Instant Access about subscribing to International Living Magazine
Wendy’s love of travel was ignited at a very early age, when her grandparents brought back treasures and tales from India and Thailand. Her family took extensive trips throughout the United States, and as a young woman, she lived for two years in a Bavarian village a stone’s throw from the East German border. To finance her travels, she has worked as a bookkeeper, then as a business owner, as a registered nurse, and finally as the Director of Professional Services with a hospice in central California. She took an early retirement at the age of 51. In 2005, she and her husband, David, left the U.S. for Asia, achieving her dream of discovering new places, seeking out new adventures, and immersing herself in new cultures. Since that time, she has also fulfilled a life-long dream of being a writer. She has been writing for International Living since 2016, first as the Vietnam Correspondent, then as the Southeast Asia Correspondent, and most recently, as International Living’s Mexico Correspondent. After living in Southeast Asia for 16 years, Wendy now resides in the Spanish colonial city of Querétaro in the highlands of central Mexico.
In 2005, she and her husband David left the U.S. for Asia, fulfilling her dream of discovering new places, seeking out new adventures, and immersing herself in new cultures. Since that time, she has also fulfilled a life-long dream of becoming a writer. Wendy and David now live in Hanoi and are enjoying exploring the beaches, mountains, and restaurants in their new adopted home in Vietnam.
Jason arrived in Querétaro in January 2022, and has enjoyed scouting both the city and the surrounding area. He is a videographer and film editor who documents his discoveries and experiences on his own popular YouTube channel. He says, “I take videos of the city and my experiences abroad. I usually spend two days a week filming and the rest of the week editing.
My husband David and I are renting a one-bedroom house in the Los Arcos area, with a full view of the 18th-century aqueduct that stretches from the hills in the east to the center of town. We pay $800 a month for our one-bedroom duplex, which is fully furnished and includes all utilities and the occasional homemade dinner that our landlord brings to us (he's awesome!).
Despite having lived in Vietnam for well over a decade, it took years before I even heard of Quy Nhon, a city of more than 450,000 sun-kissed souls on the south-central coast. A friend told me it was a beautiful place, just right for retirees, but there were only a few foreigners living there. How could this city have escaped my notice? My curiosity was piqued...
I’ve never felt so comfortable living anywhere as I did in Vietnam. The people are welcoming and genuinely friendly, the mountains and beaches are breathtakingly beautiful, and the cities are alive and vibrant. It was my home for more than ten years—first in Nha Trang on the south-central coast, and then in Hanoi and Da Nang.
I could see Bernal long before I entered this small town in the middle of Mexico’s central highlands. The Peña de Bernal—a towering rock monolith similar to Devils Tower in Wyoming—stands 1,148 feet above its base in the high desert, dominating the landscape for miles around. This volcanic dome is said to be the third-highest of its type in the world...
Tequisquiapan fills up every weekend with day-trippers who come from Querétaro, Mexico City, Guanajuato, and other cities in central Mexico to enjoy its mild, pleasant weather and relaxing ambiance. Tequisquiapan, one of Mexico’s pueblos mágicos, or magical towns, is a charming village famous for its vineyards...
History buffs will often stop in Huế, a city about halfway between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam. Most people spend a day or two exploring the famous Citadel and the Imperial City hidden within its depths, but there’s so much more to see if you have the time—immense tombs, a quaint covered bridge, a serene Buddhist temple...
A gentle breeze herds puffy clouds across a clear blue sky. Stretching out in the distance are miles of mountains and pine forests. Banana and papaya trees strain to stay upright, weighed down by their heavy fruits, while the hills are dotted with greenhouses full of brilliant flowers, temperate-zone produce, and ripening strawberries.
Living in modern-day Vietnam is safe and fun. I’ve had to shake my head when people asked me over the years whether there is still a war being fought here; that war officially ended over 40 years ago and Vietnam has moved forward. According to the 2019 Global Peace Index...
The Tet holiday, Tết Nguyên Đán (“Feast of the First Morning of the First Day”) feels like a combination of New Year’s Eve, with aspects of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, all rolled up into one fabulous, frenetic weeks-long celebration. In addition to ushering in the Lunar New Year, it’s also considered every Vietnamese person’s birthday...