Inspiring Story: Michelle Bryan Harnessed the Internet to Retire Abroad

Michelle Bryan (age 68) had never left the United States before she boarded a plane with her husband and thirteen suitcases to begin a new life as a retired expat (expatriate) in Ecuador.

We spoke with Michelle about the benefits of retiring aboard and how she harnessed technology to plan the move and adjust to a new life abroad.

How’d you end up retiring in Ecuador?
I got to 62, and it was time to retire. I was working at a turkey processing plant in Minnesota. My husband was already retired. And so we were tossing ideas of where to move. Then I said, “who said we have to retire in the United States?” 

International living has a list of top ten places to retire outside of the U.S. And as I read more, a city that kept coming up was Cuenca, Ecuador. So we thought, “well, why not?” 

I spent two years, two hours a day using the internet, books from the library and YouTube videos to investigate the pros and cons. I joined several expat Facebook groups to see what people thought. A lot of people vacation here first before they move, but we decided we were just going to move here. People thought we were crazy or great or both.  We’ve been here since September 18, 2018. And there hasn’t been one day that we’ve been sorry. 

We found our apartment online before we moved here. 

How are you meeting people down there? Is there a community of expats?
I like the website, GringoPost, where people post, announcing things or selling things.  

You can meet other expats here easily. They have so many groups for people’s interests. It’s unbelievable. They have writing groups. They have acting groups. Painting, pottery, macrame, yoga. Any interest that an expat has, they can find a group to join.  

Did you or your husband speak Spanish before you went down?
Not at all. We use Duolingo and Google Translate and haven’t had any issues. I’ve learned most of my Spanish from going grocery shopping. 

What other pieces of tech or websites or apps have you found to be useful during this time?
I use Facebook Messenger for my friends and my four sons. To be able to call people in the states, we had to get MagicJack phone number. We also use WhatsApp a lot here, to order food or talk to appliance guys. We also found our apartment online before we moved here. 

Do you have any advice for somebody who is thinking about retiring abroad?
You have to be adaptable. Things are done different here. It’s not a good idea to come here and be here and say, oh, that’s not how we do in the United States. People don’t want to hear that. They have wonderful ideas here in Ecuador! I have to say in our master bedroom, above our bed is a light switch. So when you want to turn that light off or on, you don’t have to get out of bed. Something simple like that. It’s like, wow. 

What does aging with attitude mean to you?
You get up in the morning, and things hurt that maybe yesterday they didn’t, but there’s people in worse situations, health-wise, financial-wise than you are. You just gotta think: it could be worse. Appreciate what you got.   

YOUR TURN

Did you retire abroad? Do you plan to? Share your plans or your experience in the comments!

Pam Hugi is Senior Planet’s Community and Advocacy Manager. Based in Brooklyn, she is a contributing writer for this site.

Photo: Cuenca, Ecuador by alanfalcony – stock.adobe.com