Travel sans visa coming for European, Caribbean, Mauritius, and Seychelles nationals

by Brenda Yun on

A mutual agreement allowing Europeans, nationals from four Caribbean countries, and citizens of two island nations in the Indian Ocean is expected to be passed and approved by the end of March, which will allow for hassle-free and smoother travel.

If you hold a passport from any of the following countries, it means you’re that much more free to travel between those listed sans visa: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the Bahamas, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Mauritius, and Seychelles. The maximum continuous stay in any one country will be three months (90 days).

I have a feeling this means we’ll be seeing more speedos and nude women on the beaches of the Caribbean very, very soon.

[via South Florida Caribbean News]

Mexico Named Best Place To Retire

by Martha Edwards on
Been to Mexico? I have a few times and I love it. It’s not just the hot weather and the gorgeous beaches — Mexico is a really friendly, vibrant place with a lot of energy and culture. At least what I’ve seen of it. Anyway, I digress. The point of this post is to write about how Mexico was named the best place to retire by an annual retirement index in International Living magazine. It used to be that Panama held this coveted title, but housing prices have since sky-rocketed — I hope this doesn’t happen to Mexico too!


Want to see what all the fuss is about? Check out our Travel Guide for Mexico. Not interested in Mexico? Learn more about Australia or South Africa.

What are some other great places to retire? Ecuador, Italy, Australia, Malta, Spain, South Africa, Malaysia, France and Thailand all made the list. The US came in at #19, while the UK ranked at the very bottom.

I couldn’t find a copy of the whole list — I wonder if my native Canada made the cut? There are definitely some retirement-worthy places here too. But given the choice between Mexico and the prairie winters, you know which one I’m going with.

(Of course, there are plenty of great places in the U.S. to retire. Check out Money & Finance’s great retirement spots in the U.S. and decide if any of them are for you.)

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Win a Romantic Getaway Thanks to the U.S. Postal Service

by Jamie Rhein on

If you want to be able to fund that romantic getaway on someone else’s dollar–$10,000 worth, enter the United States Postal Service’s “Guess and Win Sweepstakes.” According to a flier I picked up at my neighborhood post office, all you have to do is guess the number of Hershey®’s Kisses® that will fit into a Postal Service Priority Flat Rate Box by February 15, the day the contest ends.

How big is that size box you wonder? 11-7/8 inches by 3-3/8 inches by 13-5/8 inches. If you happen to buy kisses and put them in the box to help you with your guessing, you can mail them anywhere in the U.S. for $8.10. That’s the idea behind the flat rate box. Not to get people to mail chocolate, but to get people to mail this size package.

Let’s say you are the lucky winner of this $10,000. You get to choose where you want to go for romance. If you have no idea where that might be, or want to try some place you haven’t thought of before, I found this list on AskMen.com. Reasons for each choice are listed by writer Harry Marks.

10. Turkey
9. Malta
8. Vienna Austria
7. Algarve, Portugal
6. Paris, France
5. Argentina
4. Greek Islands
3. Venice, Italy
2. Casablanca, Morocco
1. Bora Bora, French Polynesia.

My pick? I would choose Malta because I never would have thought of it and because it sounds like a place that’s intimate, historical and lovely. Turkey, though, is a close second. How many places could you go on a $10,000? It seems like if you did the budget travel version, you could hit 8 of them, including Malta on a few weeks trip.

You can enter the contest on-line and, if you don’t win the $10,000, you might be one of the 100 people to win a Valentine -themed bear.