I had said words like these many times before: \u201cI want out this country, I may love American citizens, I may love America\u2019s beautiful scenery, I may love America\u2019s four seasons and I may even love America\u2019s baseball and apple pies, but I want out!\u201d<\/p>\n
This time, my wise wife, in all her radiant beauty and charm just smiled and said, \u201cWell, honey, then let\u2019s move. I can be ready tomorrow. Why don\u2019t you look on eBay?\u201d<\/p>\n
That one simple statement was all the encouragement I needed to leave the country I had called home my entire life. That night I did get on eBay and typed in such phrases as \u201cforeign real estate\u201d, \u201cinternational property\u201d, etc. It wasn\u2019t until I typed in \u201cNew Zealand\u201d on eBay\u2019s real estate search that I saw a property that would change my life forever!<\/p>\n
Amazingly enough, the property that caught my eye wasn\u2019t in New Zealand <\/a>at all, it was in Tonga! I saw the beautiful island pictures and began reading the listing out loud to my wife. After finishing the last word I turned to my wife, who was smiling one of those strange smiles, and said, \u201cWhy are you smiling like that\u201d. She replied, \u201cTonga sounds perfect. Let\u2019s move there.\u201d I rolled my eyes and said, \u201cNo way. I am not moving to Africa or wherever this place is. I just wanted to know what you thought.\u201d She replied, \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s in Africa honey, maybe it\u2019s in Europe or Asia. Why don\u2019t you research it?\u201d and so that is exactly what this author did.<\/p>\n Much to my amazement, I found out that Tonga was not in Africa<\/a> at all, nor was it in Europe or Asia, but it was located in the beautiful South Pacific. I read everything I could find online about Tonga and when I saw the following articles from the Tongan Constitution, I knew we were all about to leave our beloved America for a new love, Tonga!<\/p>\n No person shall succeed to the Crown of Tonga who has been found guilty of a felony or who is insane or imbecile.\u00a0<\/em>(Constitution of Tonga, 1975, Declaration of Rights, No. 35)<\/em><\/p>\n After living under a government that I felt to be bordering on \u201cinsane\u201d due to some of its most recent decisions, it was a relief that such would not happen in Tonga.<\/p>\n It shall be lawful for all people to speak, write and print their opinions and no law shall ever be enacted to restrict this liberty.\u00a0(Constitution of Tonga, 1975, Declaration of Rights, No. 7a)<\/em><\/p>\n After some of my own friends and colleagues had been denied their \u201cfreedom of speech\u201d in some very curious ways in the United States, this declaration was a breath of fresh air as well.<\/p>\n There shall be but one law in Tonga for Chiefs and commoners for Europeans and Tongans. No laws shall be enacted for one class and not for another class but the law shall be the same for all people of this land.\u00a0(Constitution of Tonga, 1975, Declaration of Rights, No. 4)<\/em><\/p>\n This article really eased my mind as I wasn\u2019t sure what to expect from a monarchy, having lived under a democracy for my entire life. Needless to say when I read this, I was very relieved.<\/p>\n So, after doing a couple nights worth of research on Tonga, I told my wife, \u201cWe\u2019re moving to Tonga, babe,\u201d and her simple response was, \u201cGreat, let\u2019s go.” So, after selling our Ozarks home and having a huge auction for all of our other items, we were off to the South Pacific without a care in the world!<\/p>\n Excerpted and adapted from the ebook “Retiring, Working and Doing Business in Tonga” by Trevor Jefferson.<\/em><\/p>\n Here are three amazing articles written about Bali.\u00a0 I know you will love them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Practicalities of Moving to Bali Part 1<\/a>;\u00a0Part 2<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Part 3\u00a0<\/a>\u2013 Enjoy<\/strong><\/p>\n