 The
drama unfolded as if in slow motion. Three men in black exchanged
words with our driver who was no longer jolly.
Then two of the men ordered the young passenger out of the car and muscled
him into the black car. Our driver jumped into the taxi, sped a block
away and dumped our bags in the middle of the street beside another taxi.
Through the few minutes of what seemed like a sit-com, Carroll and I didn't
speak, we just observed. And even later we only speculated briefly
that probably the driver had not paid protection money to the mob.
It really never occurred to us that we could have been in danger. We were
more focused on our guidebook, "Georgia:
The Bradt Travel Guide". I scrambled to find the page with the hotel
so we could show the new driver. We had chosen the Adjara Hotel because
of its central location. The Bradt guide suggested hotel rooms might
be scarce because of the Abkhazia refugees who had fled from the breakaway
province of Abkhazia when it had declared itself a Republic in 1992.
This was one of the latest developments in Georgia's complicated historical
tapestry woven from threads beginning even before Noah's great grandson,
Karthlos gave his name to Georgia.-
Wandering
Through Georgia Journey From Yerevan, Armenia Through The Former Republic
Of Georgia by Dorothy Aksamit ~
|
|
 Georgia
in the warm heart of the Caucasus by Duncan Williamson
- I’ve called this piece Georgia in the warm heart of the Caucasus for
a very good reason: the Georgians are basically warm, friendly people,
and for much of the year, Georgia is a warm inviting country. I live and
work in Tbilisi, the capital of the Caucasian, former Soviet, Republic
of Georgia. Since recorded time, Georgians have been famous for their hospitality
to strangers. The visiting ancient Greeks knew Georgia as the land of the
Golden Fleece. It was a woman, St. Nino, who brought Christianity to Georgia
in 330 A.D. Georgian wine has been produced for over 3,000 years and Georgian
literature dates back to the fifth century A.D. Scholars have compared
the 12th century Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli to Dante and Shakespeare. |
 FOR
SALE”: Old Castles in Europe By Helga van Horn & Stephen Ferrada
- The richest selection of castles and manor houses are to be found in
the eastern states of former East Germany, followed by more eastern countries,
like the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and others. It has been said
that looking for castles in East Germany is equivalent to being like a
small child in a candy store…the opportunities are rich indeed but great
care is needed to make the right choice. This part of Europe is positively
saturated with recent and not-so-recent history, bordering on the old Austro-Hungarian
Empire with the great historic cities Prague, Vienna and Budapest within
easy driving distance from any of the eastern Germany states. After the
end of WWII and the introduction of the communist “Land Reform” laws in
1945, virtually all private castles and manor houses were confiscated by
the authorities for municipal purposes. The bare minimum in repairs was
carried out over the 40 some years of the GDR (German Democratic Republic.)
The situation became worse after the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989
and the end of Communism. Many historical buildings were simply left standing
empty and unattended for nearly 20 years, while others were sold to speculators
in the early 1990´s who mostly did nothing to prevent further decay. |
 Life
in a Turkish Tourist Town - By Priscilla Windsor Brown
- I wake up every day knowing that I live in one of the loveliest places
in the world. That, in spite of the invasion of thousands of people who
have arrived these past few years to buy into our quality of life.
Fortunately, I arrived in Bodrum, Turkey in the late eighties. Little did
I realize then that I would still be here 20 years later. I am not the
first foreigner to have been lulled into the Lotus Eating syndrome in Bodrum,
Turkey. Hundreds of foreigners arrived before I. It was 1983 when I first
arrived in Bodrum for a sailing holiday. I had been working in London
for a non-profit with teenagers from the inner city. We flew into to Izmir,
a military airport, where we were thoroughly searched before climbing aboard
a rickety bus and traveling south for an endless five hours without air-conditioning
in high summer. It used to be work to get here. Foreigners
who came to Turkey then were highly motivated travelers, in search of eastern
culture, atmosphere, food, and music. Three years later, I heard
there was a summer job as a holiday representative available. I jumped
at it. Everything then was exotic and charming - even if the power
did get cut off on a regular basis. Three years later, I heard there was
a summer job as a holiday representative available. I jumped at it.
Everything then was exotic and charming - even if the power did get cut
off on a regular basis. And there was the attention factor. As a blonde,
I stood out. I returned to London when my summer job ended, but I was back
the following year. |
 The
5 Best Places to Retire in Europe By Susan Beverley
- If you’re concerned about the cost of living in retirement – and let’s
face it, the thought of living on a fixed income makes ‘value for money’
a high priority in many a retiree’s mind, Bulgaria, one of the newest entrants
to the European Union, could be the perfect nation for you to explore.
Bulgaria is in Europe, it’s in the EU, it’s part of NATO, it has a strong
emerging and developing economy – but of critical of importance is the
fact that it does not (yet) use the euro as its currency. This has
had the long-term effect of keeping costs and prices so much lower in Bulgaria
than in equally interesting nations in Europe, such as most of those listed
above for example! Before Bulgaria joined the ranks of the EU back in 2007
there was much speculation that its real estate and tourism economies would
boom. Inward investment by Europe was massive, and speculative investment
from private sources soared. However, Bulgaria never really boomed
as expected, and instead it has managed to maintain its ethnic integrity
and its national identity, and not sell out to become just another tourism
centre in Europe. |
 Dalmatia:
Croatia's Adriatic Riviera by John Hurd
- You can feel it in the air, in the shining white yachts visiting the
Adriatic harbors, in the industrious village renovations by the local people,
in the sheer number and richness of the websites: something big is about
to happen. The tourists are returning, the German and Italian summer
visitors whose languages make up the second-languages of northern and southern
Croatia. More than that, there’s a feeling of widening awareness,
rippling out from this narrow band of Europeans. Only this year,
the beauty and timelessness of the islands got top story headlines in the
New York Times Travel section “Mediterranean Sun, Unspoiled Terrain.” And
so in America too, in Australia, and elsewhere, there stirs a brand-new
interest in visiting the islands of Dalmatia, in investing there, and perhaps
even in retiring there. The region is on the verge of a tourist-fueled
market explosion. My wife and I are Americans who
have fallen in love with the region. With the help of agents, Djani
Lidjan and Ljiljana Poklepovic, who have become our friends, and a good
friend from Bosnia, my wife and I have purchased a small stone house on
the island of Brac in the village of Milna. Milna is a uniquely positioned
17th century fishing village just nine nautical miles from the mainland
and Split, Croatia’s second-largest city. Here, we hope to
spend several months a year after we retire. |
 Montenegro:
There are places in this world almost too good to write about By Tanja
Bulatovic - Like precious jewels, unpolished
and raw they sit proudly in the quiet knowledge of their own self-worth
without needing to blow their own trumpet. With a surface of only 13 800
Km2 and a population of 600 000, Crna Gora, as the locals call her (meaning
Black Mountain) is the size of a postage stamp. And yet, this UNESCO protected
nature lover’s paradise packs plenty of punch. Diverse landscapes, rugged
terrain, dramatic gorges, spectacular rivers, striking fjords and a picture
postcard coastline. There are 250km of beach (pebbles and sand), National
parks and ski resorts, all complimented by the turquoise hue of the Adriatic
Sea. The average temperature is 25°C in summer, with 230 days of sunshine
per year. While Montenegro, specifically the coast has grown in leaps and
bounds, little is known about its inland charms such as Durmitor National
Park, the Tara River Canyon (the deepest in Europe), Mount Lovcen, Skadar
(the biggest lake in the Balkans) and numerous other lakes, forests, and
hidden gems. - |
 Live
In Georgia - Live Anywhere - Trade Stocks Offshore - Earn Money WorldWide
- If you want to live life on your own terms you need to earn an income
independent of common way. We have in place a system to help you learn
the methods of trading stock, by use of a MarketWizard trading system.
It is programmed to help you identify opportunities in the stock market
that may result in enough profit to live offshore. EscapeTrade provides
a series of 15 videos that explains how to play the stock market to your
advantage. We provide weekly webinars and daily education that will turn
you into a better than average trader. Trading for a living is an excellent
way for people to realize the Escapeartist lifestyle. Trade stocks offshore. |
 Take
the Money and Run with Overseas Home Business
- If you’ve always dreamed of cashing in on EscapeArtist’s promise that
you can live where you want to live, live how you want to live, and make
money doing it, NOW YOU CAN! After a year in production, EscapeArtist now
announces the launch of OverseasHomeBusiness (OHB) on to the world stage,
offering reviews of dozens of money-making opportunities to anyone with
an Internet connection and some extra time to create a primary or secondary
income. The programs offered on OHB cost only a bit more than spare change
found under the sofa cushions (and most offer 100% money-back guarantees),
but they all cost far less than one months’ cable bill. Even if new users
have never made money online, ever, the majority of the programs reviewed
on OHB can be installed by beginners if they’re willing to put in some
time to follow their simple directions, learn a few new computer skills,
enhance their technology vocabulary, explore new ways of doing things,
and then patiently, roll them out. |
 Become
a Real Estate Mogul -
Escapeartist has entered into talks with one of the top real estate franchising
organizations in the world to assume the master franchise rights and existing
franchisee relationships for Latin America. Do you have what it takes
to be a real estate mogul? Would you like to partner with the largest website
in the world for international living? Are you ready to Escape from the
‘known and uncertain’ and realize the Escapeartist Dream? Do you have the
experience and financial capacity to secure this very unique opportunity?
Does traveling the tropics and sharing in this mucho caliente real estate
market in the go-go cities of Central and South America excite you? Now
you can enter into a real estate franchise in partnership with Escapeartist.com
and be like ‘The Donald’ of Latin America. If the answer is “Yes,” then
read on . . . |
 Expat
Taxes - Offshore Tax Information - Foreign Earned Income Paying Taxes Overseas
- Or, Not Paying Taxes Overseas - Individuals
have been leaving their own land to seek opportunities elsewhere since
the dawn of mankind. But it has only been since the development of the
modern nation-state, and its taxation of the worldwide income of its citizen-residents,
that expatriation has taken on significant tax consequences. One of the
first tax advisors to appreciate the potential tax savings of expatriation
was my friend and colleague, Marshall Langer J.D., a valued member of The
Sovereign Society Council of Experts. Langer is an international tax attorney
and the respected author of several major international tax treatises.
He is also the daring creator of a now out-of-print book, The Tax Exile
Report. This title gained international notoriety when the late U.S. Senator
Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), red-faced and angry, waived a copy of
the book at a televised Senate hearing, denouncing it as “a legal income
tax avoidance plan.” Also see: Running
Away to Home: Information on Expatriate Taxes and how to handle them -
Links to CPA's who deal with Expat Taxes |
 Never
Pay U.S. Taxes Again - Legally - Expatriation:
It’s been called “the ultimate estate plan” and it’s a legal, step-by-step
process that can lead to the legal right for you to stop paying U.S. or
other national income taxes—forever. In sum, it requires professional consultations,
careful planning, movement of assets offshore and acquisition of a second
nationality. When all that’s done (and done exactly right), you must leave
behind your home country and become a “tax exile” with an established domicile
in a low or no-tax jurisdiction. And, for U.S. citizens, this unusual plan
requires, as a final step toward tax freedom, the formal relinquishment
of citizenship. A drastic plan? You bet. And in truth, there are many other
perfectly suitable offshore strategies that The Sovereign Society recommends
that can result in significant tax savings. These include international
life insurance policies (TSI 1/02)5 and offshore investments made
through retirement plans (TSI 7/03).6 But for U.S. citizens and long-term
residents who seek a permanent and completely legal way to stop paying
all U.S. taxes, expatriation is the only option. Also see the article:
Become
a Real Estate Mogul Owning a master franchise |
 Get
It Fresh In Our Popular eZine -
Most of these articles started in one of our eZines. Escape From America
has been online since 1998 - Twelve years of articles in our archives,
we don't even know where they all are, but you can read current articles
in our eZine. Find out what's going today; what are the current prices,
the current destinations, the hot spots, the spots to avoid. Subscriptions
are free, and you can see the current issue free. - If you want to move
overseas you need facts. The Escape From America Magazine is the international
lifestyle magazine that provides real information on what it takes to live
abroad, including articles on International Relocation, Overseas Retirement,
Residency, 2nd Passports, Jobs Overseas, International Real Estate ...
In addition there are thousands of archived articles that are free for
the reading... articles written by professional writers and also by those
who have 'walked the walk' and are willing to relay their experiences to
you . . . Subscribe
Free |
|
|
 More
Articles On Living & Investing World Wide
- and thousands of articles on living and investing overseas in countries
around the world; including numerous articles on international real estate
- Most of our articles start in our international relocation magazines;
but we keep them in an archive so that visitors can access them - -
access is free, and free is a very good prices -
Click
here to visit our relocation reference library - This library is filled
with facts, contacts, suggestions, inside information & offshore information,
artist havens & tax havens .... We sincerely hope you make your
escape and that you find your Shangri La, or your Shangri Lil ... and that
special place in the world that sets your heart on fire... We're
willing to show you the routes |
|
|
|
 Write
For Us - We welcome article & eBook proposals
- We
are actively seeking articles, eBook manuscripts and reports - - EscapeArtist.com
publishes up to eighty new articles per month. In addition to articles,
we publish Books, eBooks and special reports. We are actively seeking
articles, eBook manuscripts and reports. We're interested in articles
on living overseas, offshore investment articles, travel articles &
eBook proposals - What we seek from an author is content. Content
and knowledge of the subject which entails that the author provide a worthy
road map of the conceptual territory. - Contact
us with your proposal |
|
|
 Partner
With Us! - IS THERE A FIT? Do you have a website, business, or service
that shares a commonality with EscapeArtist.com? If so, the time has arrived
to put us to work doubling or tripling your traffic & income - and
we can do that. - Take
a look! |
|
|
|
 Crazy
Joe’s Top Three Picks For Overseas Home Business - Crazy Joe KNOWS
what’s ‘hot and what’s not.’ After living in the basement of EscapeArtist
for 14 years and living on pretzels and sodas, his real joy in life is
attending staff meetings and telling all of us what is trending with network
marketing companies, affiliate programs, franchises and home-based businesses.
In each issue, we will share Crazy Joe’s Top Three Picks so you can take
advantage of money-making opportunities and still have time for a real
life. - Part
of the Overseas Home Business Portal |
 15
Paying Travel Magazines That Want Your Writing - Becoming a travel
writer isn’t easy – but by harnessing new media and the Web, it is possible
to make a career out of traveling the world. To help kick start your career,
we’re offering a FREE download of 15 travel magazines that actually pay
for your writing. All you have to do is fill out the form below. Join the
Matador Travel Writer Hot List to get travel writing tips and tricks from
the editors at Matador. You’ll also get instant access to your free download.
- Free
Download |
|
 Self
Service shipping to Georgia & worldwide - Ubox we ship - Save
over 40%! on international shipping. Door to door , Door to port
, Port to port. Professional services with discount prices. Call today
for a free shipping quote 866.566.9350 |
|
 Offshore
Securities Broker Private Asset Management Online - Thales Securities
has been on our website for almost a decade and in that decade we have
heard nothing but positive reports about their service. Founded in 1998
Thales Securities is a leading investment brokerage based in the Republic
of Panama. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Escape
From America Magazine Our Expat Magazine - is
filled with information about living oveseas, much of it written by expats
who have moved overseas. Our magazine provides real information on
what it takes to live abroad, including articles on international real
estate, asset protection, and a wide range of issues related to the international
lifestyle - In addition we have 1,000's of archived articles from
past issues free for the reading... |
 World
Without Borders “Offshore Intelligence” - Without Borders is a
unique monthly publication aimed at intellectual adventurers. It
is written for a select group of men and women interested in learning more
about global opportunities they would never encounter anywhere else. |
|
|
|
 Advertise
Your Real Estate, Yacht, Product, or Service on EscapeArtist -
Wow! We're growing, we'll soon have videos on our real estate marketplace
site, our magazines have over a half million readers, and those readers
are looking for real estate abroad. Find out about advertising on EscapeArtist,
or becoming a partner of EscapeArtist. Join one of the fastest growing
sites on the internet. |
|
|
|
