The International Living Guide to Retiring Overseas on a Budget: How to Live Well on $25,000 a Year

Chapter 18Once You Know Where You’re GoingPut Your Plan in Action

YOU DECIDED TO RETIRE OVERSEAS. You’ve chosen the community where you’ll live. Now what? There are a few things yet to do before you leave home that will help put your plan in action and streamline your move.

HEALTH CARE

If you don’t believe vaccinations are of benefit or that they’re detrimental to your health, that’s certainly your choice. But if you do, now is a good time to make sure you’re current with routine immunizations like measles/mumps/rubella (MMR), diphtheria/pertussis/tetanus (DPT), poliovirus, and so forth. If you’re of retirement age, chances are that you’re already up to date on all of these. You may, though, want to consider getting vaccinations for hepatitis A and B, typhoid, and—depending what country you are moving to—yellow fever.

Do You Need a Yellow Fever Vaccination?

While your chances of getting yellow fever are very low unless you travel deep into jungle areas, some countries—such as Costa Rica, where there is no risk—require proof of yellow fever vaccination if you are traveling there directly from other countries where the disease can be found. People who get vaccinated should be given an International Certificate of Vaccination. And note that the vaccine is to be given 10 days before travel to an endemic area.

In some countries, some vaccinations, such as for shingles, aren’t yet available. Do some research and consideration about your health care needs. One resource for health ...