Exploring Expat Communities and the Art of Reinvention

In this episode, we explore the growing trend of intentional living and self-sufficient communities around the globe. Charlotte, a Liberty Travel Coach, sheds light on how individuals break free from mainstream systems to embrace sustainability and freedom. We dive into fascinating examples, from community-first farming practices to assisted living models in Mexico. Charlotte also shares tips for aspiring expats, insights into life abroad, and future retreat plans to help people explore freedom destinations like Montenegro. If you’re curious about intentional living, sustainable communities, or navigating expat life, this episode offers actionable advice and valuable perspectives. To learn more about how Liberty Travel Coach can support your journey with tools, coaching, and retreats to help you thrive—not just survive—in a new country, visit https://libertytravelcoach.aweb.page/… You can also connect directly with Charlotte on Telegram at https://t.me/libertytravelcoach —she’d love to hear from you!

TIMESTAMPS:
01:40 Introduction to the Podcast and Guest
03:56 Charlotte’s Journey and Insights on Expat Life
06:04 Building Community and Social Connections
12:49 Gratitude and Reflections on Living in Mexico
21:33 Challenges and Mistakes in Relocating
29:01 Intentional Living and Self-Sufficient Communities
32:33 Residency and Immigration Rules
34:23 Assisted Living in Mexico
35:45 Reinvention and Future Plans
36:12 Retreat Ideas and Escaping Winter
38:25 Exploring Freedom Destinations
46:52 Advice for Moving Abroad
56:06 Final Thoughts and Future Travels

Emily: Welcome to each of reinvention, Eco Living Expats and Intentional Communities, the podcast where we explore inspiring stories and expert insights to help you navigate the exciting and transformative world of relocation abroad and expert living. Whether you are dreaming of new horizons or making new move we are here to support and guide you if necessary.

Today. I’m thrilled to welcome my friend Charlotte Tweed to the show again. Charlotte is not just an expert from Canada. She’s a freedom. Travel coach, a community builder, and a voice of wisdom for those seeking a fresh start abroad. After spending three years in beautiful Ajijic in Mexico, Charlotte has gained in valuable lessons about personal reinvention, intentional living, and embracing new lives possibilities.

We’ll be diving into her journey, exploring how expat life shaped her worldview and personal philosophy and uncovering tips for anyone considering a relocation. Prepare for insightful conversation about transformation, freedom, and the courage to start a new. Hello, Charlotte. I am happy again to welcome you to my Age of Reinvention Studio.

Charlotte: Thank you, Emily. I’m happy to be here. That was such a lovely intro.

Emily: Thank you and I was really looking forward to learn more about you and even you, not the first time on Age of Reinvention, but we, before we were speaking more about, freedom as a movement speaking about your Canadian part of life and now after you lived in Ajijic, Mexico for three years, I am really curious, how has your perspective on expat life evolved since you arrived at this known international expat hub?

And for some people who don’t know what we are speaking about, the place, the small city where Charlo is living last three years is located in Mexico, in Jalisco state. The name is Ajijic and it, the name was known and was published in many magazines even before I started to look precisely to this topic because I remember the strange name.

You know the first impression how name is strange. Now. I used to it, but I’m repeating again for people to remember it. Ahi, please tell us about you and your life in Ahi and how your perspective on expat life changed. I think

Charlotte: my perspective changed coming to Ajijic, as you had mentioned, it’s a very popular destination.

It’s the highest concentration of American expats outside of the United States. So there’s a lot of Americans here, there’s a lot of Canadians here. There’s German expats here. It’s people almost say it’s not real Mexico, it’s colonized. It’s different, right? It’s not a vacation town.

People come here to live and there’s a reason for that. And when I first started looking into Ajijic, I had the same idea going, I don’t know if that’s where I want go, because maybe there’s too many expats. And I hear that sometimes people are, no, I don’t wanna be around too many expats, because some expats get a bad rap.

They’re not necessarily the nicest people to be around. So I came here cautiously optimistic. And my view that has changed on that is I’m actually quite happy there’s an expat community here. I think people have an idea, like I said, what an expat community is like. But what I have found that I appreciate by having a lot of expats around is the support.

Because there’s people here who know what Canadian culture’s, what American culture’s what all kinds of worldly cultures are like, and they’ve been here, done that. A lot of these people have lived here for 20 years and they have had almost everything happen to them in Mexico that could happen to them.

And if you need help, you can go to them for help and assistance. And it’s right here, right close. You can go to your neighbors. You feel at home. Like we felt at home within three days of being here because we didn’t totally stand out where we were before Ajijic was in we were staying in the country actually in between two towns.

One called Melon Alco and 10 and single. And we were the only gringos around. There was nobody spoke English at that point. Our Spanish was. Not even Paquito. It was not a, it did not exist. So we were very isolated. Now, it was a wonderful place to stay at that time because we were, taken outta the city, taken outta the chaos of the day and just enjoyed the beautiful countryside.

So we really enjoyed our time there, but two months was enough when we came here, after being there for two months, we were shocked that we can understand people speaking around us. There’s people speaking English. We’re eavesdropping at the table in the restaurant beside us. So we felt comfortable quite quickly.

And I think that’s a misconception people have about becoming an expat. Two things. One, I don’t want to go to a community where there’s too many and am I gonna make friends? If you’re worried you’re gonna make friends you’re going to have to go somewhere to start. And I think Ajijic, having the large expat community is a good springboard.

For people who have never lived outside their country before, because there’s a lot of like-minded people around here to help you assimilate into the culture and get used to a different country. I.

Emily: I absolutely agree and I like you using the springboard because I fully understand what is about.

I was relocating twice in my life. Drastic relocation, not just like cultural relocation. And for the first period of time, like adaptation period, it’s very good to be in between people who had or recently or even before. For a long time this expat experience, they know, they understand your challenges even without you telling it, or from the small hint.

And yes I believe that the, and I don’t know if there’s a big difference between say, American expert community or Canadian because it’s more, I think about personality, connection. Yes. This, in this regard. But it’s very good when you have people to ask question, ask for help, or even not to ask.

And if there are people who ready to help it’s big thing when you starting your life. But when you look now back on Charlotte of three years ago, what changed? Can you say or can you share the moment or experience in Mexico that profoundly changed how you view yourself as

Charlotte: expat? That’s a really good question. An experience that’s profoundly changed my view as an expat myself. As an expat,

Emily: yes. And your worldview because it’s all shaping.

We are changing and our view of the world around us and even it’s now we speaking expat community and I, you probably didn’t have yet chance. And Mexico as a country is huge. I mean to, to comprehend all country. But this particular environment, can you say that it’s actually community of people living in Ajijic?

Charlotte: Yes. There is definitely a community of people living here and. I think, I don’t know if I really expected to find that. Like I, I find we have a better social life here than we actually had in Canada. We have more friends here than we had in Canada. So I think we’ve become more outgoing rather than sticking to ourselves.

Now, we may be, because my husband and I both work online, we maybe don’t go out into the community as much because we have other time constraints, things that we have to do that we find a lot of people, they’re going out doing all kinds of activities or volunteering or being active in the community, or a lot of people are retired or semi-retired.

We’re not there yet. So I think in a way that can be a little bit frustrating for us. Sometimes it’s no, we just can’t go and do all these things.

Emily: Because you’re not

retired yet, you are not at this stage yet?

Charlotte: We’re not retired yet, so it’s, I can’t play pickleball five days a week.

I’m sorry. I can’t. We’re getting left behind in our pickleball skills because we’re not as good as some of the other people. But I don’t think I expected to find that community here in Mexico because I didn’t have that community in Canada. So I really appreciate the friends we’ve made here, the church, we’ve made, the church, we go to the events out in the community that we can go to.

And usually if we go to something going on in the square, if there’s a festival, there’s not a lot of expats there. It’s a lot of locals. So we can still find, we can comfortably go to these events hosted by the locals and feel comfortable and we can go and integrate with, the expats and still feel comfortable.

So I didn’t expect that it’s made us more outgoing and. And comfortable in our own skins, I guess being out in public

Emily: and it’s a excellent, it’s already a huge gain. Speaking about lifestyle, speaking about your social I don’t connection. So you didn’t even expect that you will get such big circle of new and reliable friends.

I would say supporters, and I believe it’s specific for Mexico. Because the local culture, it’s not the same, but very supportive, like family oriented and climate and all this probably works toward people being more open and helping each other. So if you could express gratitude for one aspect of living in, ah, what would it be?

And why does it mean so much

Charlotte: to you? I have a lot of things I’m very grateful for, but I think the number one thing is the climate. Look at my tan. Yeah. I noticed

Emily: immediately I am here still hitting my home. And you already on the beach or on the pool

Charlotte: every morning. And I’m sure I’ve said this to you before, Emily he, this area in Lake Chapala is known as the second best climate in the world.

And it, from all my traveling I have done, I can truly say this is the best climate I have ever experienced. And leaving Canada’s winters was one of my top three reasons to, to leave the country. I was just, you know what? I’m done. I’m done. with The snow and the ice and the, for six months. So every morning, we get up here and we’re entering the hot season.

So it’s getting April, may, are the hottest seasons here. But you open the door, the sky is blue, the birds are singing. It is, there’s no wind. It is just the most peaceful, serene feeling every morning that it just, oh, you feel good every morning that you open that door and, close the screen and just let the fresh air.

And it’s fabulous. I am the most grateful for that.

Emily: It’s great, and actually I have been exactly in this place in April, and I know that April in May, in the middle of Mexico, it’s the most hottest period. And I was very happy with with the weather as well. Even for me, it was only travel, but always in this season, kind of April,

may.

And

Charlotte: it’s so consistent. I’ve never been to or seen an event canceled due to weather, never. I have never seen that in three years. There’s not as many outdoor events during rainy season, because rainy season’s in June, July, but it usually rains in the morning, then it stops and it’s sunny all day.

Or it rain may rain overnight, but through the day it’s just absolutely beautiful. It’s surreal. It’s like living in a fairytale with the weather. The weather is just incredible.

Emily: Oh, it’s surreal For Canadians. It’s

Charlotte: real. For many people living, it’s the consistency. So you’re not going, and if Canadians are watching, they’ll understand.

You’re not going from plus 31 day to minus 10 the next day to plus 10 the next day to down to minus 20. It’s not like that at all. It’s so much better for your health, for your skin, for your mood. It’s incredible. That’s what I’m the most grateful for.

Emily: So based on your experience in the expat community in and knowledge about what’s going on in other expat places, I know that you are trying, actually building your community, online community.

It’s what I feel. So what type of community are you envision in trying to build now

Charlotte: a freedom loving community and people who are looking for that community and connecting with like-minded people who have, the idea of an intentional living. I love the idea still of self-sufficient communities, so you know, where you can feed yourself, where you can support each other as a community work together to achieve goals.

That, I’m a small town girl, I like the smaller, I grew up on a farm. I love the idea of that, of having communities that are small, supportive. Intentional and self-sustaining.

Emily: You often talk about helping people find the freedom destination. How do you define freedom destination? And can you say that places like Ajijic are the great example?

I

Charlotte: do think Ajijic is a great example. To define what a freedom community is, it’s for us, when we came here, it was really at the height of the pandemic restrictions, masking still nobody could go anywhere and we ended up in Mexico for that reason, that there was no restrictions to come in.

When we were here, some people were wearing masks. You wanna put it on fine, it’s up to you. But it wasn’t enforced anywhere. So people were allowed to still meet with their families, to still get together, to be free to work. To me that is freedom, that the government is not telling you what to do and how to live.

So I appreciate that about Mexico and about this area. And there’s a lot of people in this area who feel the same way. They have that same libertarian type mindset where, you know, less government to less regulations to tell me exactly what I’m doing. So for me, that’s a part of the freedom aspect is to be able to live life the way that I want to with as little regulation as possible.

Emily: So can I say that you already found your community of like-minded people living on a or you are still searching?

Charlotte: I’m always searching. I’m an adventurous person. We do really like it here. We’re going to be doing a little bit more traveling again, coming up. Our intention is to come back here again in the fall.

We have community, we have friends here. Things do change. So I, Mexico has a new president now and a lot of the expats are concerned about some of her views. So I don’t think it hurts, even though we’re happy here and comfortable here to have another plan of another destination we could possibly go to.

So I’m always keeping my eyes open for other like-minded people, other like-minded communities, other countries that value that freedom aspect.

Emily: So we are absolutely aligned in this regards. Even I’m still in Canada, but I keep my eyes, ears, and heart open because we live in a time of big changes and all might happen and we are still alive.

We still want to discover to understand the world and how people are living in different places. Your journey from writing for expats online International magazine to founding Liberty Travel Coach Company, or seems very natural for me. But what inspired you to leap from storytelling and being kind of employee for the magazine to hands on coaching for Expats, actually to be fully entrepreneurial in this direction?

Charlotte: I still love storytelling. I’m a storyteller at heart, so I still love writing. And I still do that. I still do editing, but the travel coach came into being, because when I was with that magazine, we would have people write to us and it was a libertarian focused magazine. So people with a lot of that ideal and that seeking freedom as well as to where they could go.

And they would write me and say, where can I go to escape the new world order? And I felt restricted by the magazine with what I, what destinations I could promote or couldn’t promote. And I felt like I just really couldn’t help them on that next step. I could write, I could edit the articles that came in from the writers, but to take them really to the next step and match them with countries or present these destinations that are very different I felt that piece was missing.

And if I could go on my own, I could be very honest and upfront and not be promoting somebody else’s destinations or promoting somebody else’s properties. But ones that I felt were a truly good match for my ideals and the client’s, my client’s ideals.

Emily: I absolutely understand you agree with you and I’m trying lately always outline that I’m not working for any real estate company, for any, even immigration, like specific office.

Like I can find if people need, because I’m working in the same direction. I know people, I have more time now to consider, to trust, to look to the connection. But in order to be really independent and help our customers, we need to be fully independent. Meaning we need to be self-employed with all ups and downs of this particular destiny.

Destiny, I would say. And I read your book, like Small booklet with the title, 20 Mistakes to Avoid when Relocating to a New Country. Very Good, like Solid Job Down to the Earth. Practical advices. What do you think are the top three mistakes new expats make and how they can overcome them? So from 20 known and maybe even more mistakes, the main three, which would define success or I would say mood and disappointment from expats.

Charlotte: One, I think, and I, this is a mistake we made, but when we left it was under different circumstances too. We is not learning some of the language before you go. But we did not know we were going to end up in Mexico. We had a few different countries we had planned on visiting, so we didn’t focus in on one language specifically.

So I think if you learn, know where you’re going to go or have a good idea, start learning some of the language. Even, I highly suggest things like learning numbers, food items, because markets and going to restaurants is probably where you’re gonna spend a lot of your time in the beginning. So I think that’s a big mistake people don’t make.

And then along with language issue is assuming or expecting that everybody is going to speak English or know some sort of English. And I think that’s a dangerous and bad assumption to make. And I think it, not learning any of the language is also, I do feel disrespectful. I’m a guest in Mexico. They have opened their arms to me and welcome me here. It’s the least I can do to try and learn some of the language. Is it easy? No, it’s hard learning another language, especially as we get older. I wish I would’ve paid better attention in school and I should be fluent in French, but I’m not.

So I think that’s a big one, is that is the language. Another one is not doing homework. So not learning customs, not understanding where you’re going what those people are going to expect you to look to act like. Because Americans and Canadians, even though we’re very similar, we still do act differently and we act differently than Mexicans do.

So the way we may act in public or respond to people they may find rude. Mexicans are very polite. They say good mor, they say good morning to you. When you walk by people on the street, you should say, buenos dias Even if you do not know who they are, you greet people. You, when you see them, you say, hola buenos dias Cómo estás you ask, how are you?

And then you ask your question. Otherwise you’re considered rude. You don’t just say no, you say, no, gracias no thank you. You don’t know, or I don’t. They’re very polite. So I think not learning the culture before you go or some of those little, idiosyncrasies is a mistake that people can make because that can also help you blend into the culture and settle a little bit better.

And I think another big one is not having realistic expectations.

Emily: It’s hard to get realistic expectation when, like for many people, when in best case they were just traveling and now they experiencing the life how you can, and I’m speaking about realistic expectation, how people can get realistic expectation without, touching the ground.

Charlotte: I still travel. I’m a big advocator of travel and long-term travel to, and going to different countries to help you understand different cultures better and realize not everybody thinks the way that you do, and traveling really is the best way to, to get those expectations in reality.

But I think too, along with those expectations, don’t expect the country that you go to be like the country that you left, and do not take what you left and bring it with you. So leave your politics at home. I, we can talk pol politics is a big thing right now, Canadian American politics. When I’m going to a restaurant here in Ajijic, I do not need to listen to another table of people talking about the president or complaining about somebody else’s president.

I don’t want to, can you just leave it home? Leave those things you’re upset with about your company back home, because not everybody in the restaurant wants to hear you complaining. You’re not living there anymore. So I think some of the things need to be left

behind,

Emily: but people care about, they still feel that the citizens of this other country, and sometimes people, first of all, they have, some people have a lot of free time, they following the news.

There’s a lot of excitement, I would say, and drama and, you don’t need to see, to watch any movie, especially Hollywood. You have drama here in the every day. So people take sides and actually it’s the same. I don’t know if happened, I’m not going a lot to restaurants, but I. By the way, I like to hear the conversation because I, so you hear to people afraid to speak, people just kinda, for me it’s a sign of free society.

Even it’s something negative might come. It’s not what I wanted to hear but people are speaking out, people feel that they can discuss

Charlotte: and they can, and that’s good. So I’ll give you an example. And we were sitting in a restaurant, it’s a cute, nice little garden, peaceful and calm, and people are enjoying their lunch.

It’s this little, it was a little Jewish deli here and this table came in. They were fairly new to town, I believe they were, and I’m not trying to bash a certain country, but this is just the scenario that happened. So they were, two Americans sat down and they had finished hiking. They were there for lunch.

And another American came in and sat down, didn’t know these people at, he sat down at the table beside them and out of the blue just said, so what do you think about Trump? And my husband and I are going there. I don’t want to hear this conversation. I don’t care if you wanna talk about it wherever. But, and you know what?

They didn’t want to hear it either. The lady said, I don’t think this is a place that we should be talking politics. So that ended the conversation and I went, thank you, because I’m not saying for against Trump, I’m, be aware of your surroundings. I think that’s it. We are all here in a nice, peaceful garden.

We’re just enjoying our lunch, having a lemonade or a survey. So whatever, please do not bring up this conversation that could really turn bad. Just enjoy the day. Just enjoy the garden if you wanna talk your politics. Talk somewhere else.

Emily: What I was thinking listening to you, it’s what expert life provided you as well.

This kind of outlook, this strong independence and understanding where people should speak and where it’s better not to enjoy the moment because yeah, sometimes we are too involved. And by the way, I’ve never seen living almost 30 years in Canada, such a heated preparation for elections that we will have next Monday.

Even like for me, it’s all clear. I don’t need any discussions like I’m just curious, but. I feel it’s in the air that Canadians, which are so peaceful, so now heated, maybe not like Americans, but it’s a different temperature at home, I would say. But back to you as someone who focused on self-sufficient communities and liberty loving living communities, what trends are you noticing on how, in how people choose to live intentionally abroad?

Are people choosing or they falling at some place and starting to make changes?

Charlotte: Yeah I think a trend, and the world has changed so much, but I think a trend that people. I really appreciate is the self-sustainable part where they don’t have to rely on food from the grocery store. That they maybe can’t, that maybe it is possible that I can live in a community where we, have food for our own people.

I saw a video the other day and it was quite interesting and I think it was in Texas. I’m not sure if it was, but it looked like Texas. And the gentleman had a Texan accent and he was a farmer and he had decided to scale down his operations. He still had a big farming operation, but not the mass production operation where he had had thousands of acres and just, one crop.

And one of his neighbors said to him how are you gonna feed the world that way if you’re going down to this smaller farm operation? And he said I don’t think it’s my business to feed the world. I think it’s my business to feed my community. So his idea was scaling it down to have he, so he walked people around his property and he said, this is where my poultry manager lives, and this is where my livestock manager lives.

And this is where, his gardener lives and they they feed their community, they provide the restaurants, they provide the grocery stores. And I thought, what a cool way to look at it instead of, I have to feed the world. I’m one farmer. No you have to feed your community. And if we had that mindset around the world with all that different farmers and communities where I really only have to provide this many square miles, acres, that would be a very different mindset than what we have now in the agriculture community.

Emily: I do know of such communities in Mexico, expat coming to Mexico and forming like Eco living, sustainable living. Intentional communities. Are you in touch with such

Charlotte: projects? There’s some I’ve seen and just touched base with none that I would really promote at this time that I’m comfortable enough with to know if they’re doing everything properly or in safe zones.

But I do know around the lake where we are, like, there’s a lot of farming around the lake. There’s a lot of the berries come from here, the produce comes from here cheese that, that type of thing. The chickens there’s a lot of local production for the food.

Emily: So you don’t have clients or somebody who you get in touch some people who are looking for, relocating or living in such communities.

Speaking about expats. Because I understood it’s a local communities, whatever, like you’re speaking around, it’s local and it’s understandable. Like Mexico, it’s pretty agricultural country, and they’re looking for the maybe new model for the family or circle of France. But it’s not expat in ska, at least

Charlotte: not yet.

I know there are people talking about it. And I’ve seen people, they’re looking for farmland to start a community or they’re in the beginning stages of doing that thing. I have seen some, but I don’t, I haven’t touched base with a lot of them personally yet.

Emily: Because I just yesterday, like getting some news and maybe you know about like in Romania, for example, in Europe, like there are some, maybe not very advertised, but a group and young people who want this with education and with possible career in the city.

Selecting actually this way and coming from Germany, from all the countries buying land, I often find it like fascinating, the lifestyle change. And for many it’s just to have homeschooling their children. It’s one of the reason which, some countries are not allowed, but it’s a big sacrifice of, from lifestyle and to move to different country and to provide and it’s not so simple, better education as people believe to their children.

So what questions people are asking you when they’re looking for the freedom loving communities and how they defining this freedom for themselves for you and the like-minded people. We discuss it couple of times and I’m still thinking, so how they explain what they’re looking for, the question if they know exactly and can define what kind of community they’re looking for when they searching for the freedom loving community.

Charlotte: And everybody’s different, right? Everybody has a different idea of what they want. But I think a lot of the ones that I speak to are more the libertarian type mindset. They’re looking for something that has low governance. I get questions about places that have low EMF. So the 5G is becoming a concern for people.

Cbdc. If countries are imp implementing cbdc, I get those questions. Residency of course, is a big one because can you stay, you may love somewhere, okay, this great community maybe is starting up in Spain, but can I stay in Spain? So residency is a huge one that people really need to take into consideration.

Emily: But speaking about community itself, residents like immigration rules, it’s important part, but when they’re looking for certain project Yeah. Or community, how they explain what they’re looking for.

Charlotte: Yeah. And community for one and certain things that they like to do, and I said it’s different for everybody.

People still want the coffee shops or the little places they can go and hang out places they can go play if they’re musicians that they can go play music, make music, sit around and jam together. So I have questions like that. It’s it’s very individual for people, but the community is a big one.

And what amenities are available? Homeschooling is one as well. That’s a big shift that people are leaning toward. Can I homeschool my children?

Emily: And for people like 50 plus years old, like when children are not concerned, people probably asking about medical facility or

Charlotte: mobility. I, I do have to say the sidewalks in Mexico are atrocious where we live here, the sidewalk it, I think it’s more the most dangerous thing we face every day is crossing the street or walking on the sidewalk.

The sidewalks are not good. If you have mobility issues, that can be a problem. With people who are 50 plus, for some of ’em, not all of them. Mobility is a concern.

Emily: Okay. So they can move maybe to the different community or part of the city or different place where it’s new like road.

Charlotte: Yeah, like even assisted living type of spaces.

And those are something that’s very popular here. There’s one that just opened that friends of ours moved into and they pay. Yeah, they just moved into it. Her husband was starting to fall a lot and in Mexico there’s lots of stairs. So they wanted something that was, all on one level where they could not, it’s not a nursing home, but there’s care there all the time.

They get three meals a day made for them. Someone comes in and cleans for them if they wanna be driven anywhere for appointments, medical appointments. If they need medications, they will take them to do that. They’ll, and, the name of the festival’s escaping my mind, but Cotis, I think it’s St. Andrews Week Cotis, which of the fireworks go off here?

Like almost 24 7 and drive some people crazy. They put ’em on a bus and they take them somewhere nicer in me somewhere in Mexico that’s more quiet to get them away from the noise. And it’s one fee. They pay. One fee includes everything, it includes their rent, their food, their utilities, the cleaning, everything.

Emily: Former Lata

Charlotte: complex. It was just renovated. I haven’t seen it yet. They just moved in April 1st. But she’s, she wishes they would’ve moved into it sooner.

Emily: No, it’s nice to know and keep eye on this because it’s what people need. So Charlotte, as somebody who is already invented herself and her career several times like you.

What does reinvention look like for you moving forward? Oh, I would say where will Liberty travel coach be over the next few years, professionally and maybe personally?

Charlotte: I’m looking to implement retreats. I’ve discussed that with you a little bit. So I have three retreat ideas in mind and one is for people looking to escape the winter that have not left their country.

So probably Canadians, Americans, or those living in other Nordic countries, they’re just done with winter, but they don’t know where to go. They haven’t left, which, is it even possible to escape winter? ’cause I know, being Canadian, that was a mind shift for me was I thought winter is winter.

That’s part of being Canadian. It’s what makes me resilient. It’s what makes me strong. And I had never left the country in the winter before because I didn’t understand it. Why do people, what are, what is the snowbird thing? Why did they leave? It’s,

Emily: you were not enough strong yet. You were not

Charlotte: yet enough strong.

I wasn’t. I wasn’t what, 30 yet you and then I left Canada in the winter and April, which, where I lived in Alberta was still winter. And we went to Tennessee, we took my parents to Graceland. I wanted to take my mom to sea grace. She was a big elves fan. And it was, the weather was so beautiful and, they were cutting the grass and mowing the lawn and you could smell the fresh cut grass.

And the sun was so warm. And I thought, now I get it. Now I understand why Canadians leave six months of the year to get away from it, because I had to go back to it. And so it’s the idea of leave the country in the winter, come down here and experience this incredible climate, the best climate in the world, in my opinion, second best, but that I’ve experienced, come down and just see what it’s like.

Take a break from that winter, because winter it’s hard. It’s hard, especially when you get older, that you’re stuck sitting inside. ’cause you don’t wanna go outside and slip on the sidewalks or fall going to get your groceries or you don’t wanna shovel anymore. It’s, take a break from it and you will not believe how good it feels to take a break from it.

So that’s one.

Emily: So your retreats are actually for the three months or how long they can be?

Charlotte: I’m still fleshing that out. I’ve heard they should be at least three weeks. They should be at least five weeks. They should be five days. So I’m still flushing it out. I’m working on my program and my itineraries right now.

And the other one is an international retreat. So I wanna explore different freedom destinations countries that have value freedom or have these projects that you and I have discussed before on intentional communities that are already in the making and going and taking people to those countries.

Immersing them in the community, seeing is this a place you’d wanna live? So exploring different countries like that. And then another one is more geared towards actually locals who wanna retreat from the heat in April and May, and they’re just like, please take me somewhere cooler. I’m cooking here in Mexico, and we can maybe find a cooler destination in Mexico during April and May.

And I have a few of those on my radar I’m looking into. So I want it to be that’s my idea to have these three retreats a year. And I’ll also do one-on-one coaching. It’ll be exclusive. So I may not have 12 to 15 clients a month. It may be three clients, that it’s, I, it’s retreat-based focus, but I will do the one-on-one, but on a more exclusive basis.

And that’s my vision for Liberty, travel coach, and then personally, eventually I heard the other day think about exiting without exiting. And I’m like that’s, what do you mean exit your business without exiting? So if I were to hire someone to replace me, what would I want that person to do? So even start looking for ways to improve myself or skills that I need to improve and bring those into my repertoire now and start working on them now.

So then five years, if I do want to remove myself a little bit more from the business and maybe have someone manage my retreats or that type of thing, they would have those skills. So I know exactly what skills I would want in the person to replace me and my business so that I can maybe step back a bit.

Emily: Today they say we will use who is open to it? AI agent. You will teach AI agent not all, but some skills, some routine work that we all need to do, accounting, creating content maybe or something and have more time to do whatever you like. It’s how I hope it’s gonna work. I know. It’s I really, and if you’ll be working 24 7 without vacation, without

Charlotte: Yeah.

And I don’t want that. I still, I wanna have a life I still wanted. Okay. If it comes to the point where I can go play pickleball every morning for five days a week, then I can, but it still have nurture my business. But if there is somebody that I want to take over, they I need to know exactly.

I. What those skills are and I need to have them in myself now moving forward. So I need to, does that make sense? The exiting without exiting? No

Emily: I am so far away from exiting. I understand. It was like, if it became part of your life, you might don’t wanna

Charlotte: to exit and you may not wanna, and that’s what the person said.

You may not want to, but realize if those are skills that you think someone should have, maybe you should have them too. Okay. So you have really some, something to think about. And if I would ask you if you were to choose your next freedom destination. To live and work, where would it be and

why?

Okay. Would it be somewhere I have gone or not gone?

Emily: Like you feel that you shaped your skills already, you know enough of, and now the travel bug is working on you. Which it already is. Yes. Yes. So what the next freedom destination that you, not just visiting, but maybe planning, considering to live and understand, how it works and community wise, what it might be.

Charlotte: Now, ha have I visited this country or have I not visited this country?

Emily: Like you are free to select. From my question. No, let’s do two, one, which you visited and want to go back to leave. And one that I’m speaking about freedom destination, not just travel destination. Yes. And one that you just open to discover.

Charlotte: Okay. So the one I’m very open to discover, and I think you already know this answer, I’m still very curious about Montenegro. Very curious about Montenegro. There is a in intentional freedom community there already that’s being built and they’re working on it. So you see progress going, there’s buildings going up, there’s people living there.

It’s close to a main city, I think 15 minutes out Montero. And I’m very interested in what they’re doing there in as a project in the libertarian, the Free Cities Movement. From what I hear about Montenegro, because I haven’t been there before that they were very freedom oriented as well.

During the pandemic there were restrictions in place, but nobody really followed them. It’s okay if you wanna do this, you can, or if you wanna put your mask on or you can, or, but they didn’t enforce anything or force people to do things they didn’t want to do. Nobody was locked in their homes. They were still free to go out and mind your own business type of thing.

So that is good. And I love the country. Looks beautiful. I love mountains. I love water. It’s got both, it has a Mediterranean climate. Winters are supposed to be cooler, but I can deal with cooler. That’s okay. Just not snow. So that’s okay. And I’ve heard there, there is a healthy expat community there, but I think you really have to go and experience it yourself to see if it.

If what you hear is accurate, because everybody has a different perception when they go to a country, different things that they’re looking for. Residency also is because I know that’s a big thing I hear from people and from clients and things, nightmare residency stories they’re going through in countries now that’s almost montenegro’s easy from what I understand.

It’s quite easy to get residency, so that’s a big draw for clients as well. You can set up a business and get your residency. It has to be renewed every year. But the the regulations or the restrictions are very easy to maintain. If you set up a business, you have freedom to come and go in the country as you will, you set yourself up as a director, you pay yourself the minimum salary you have, legitimate co company.

It income tax is low. I think it’s nine to 15%. It’s it. It offers the freedom to also be in Europe. I really enjoy Europe, and I think because I have a European background, I feel at home there because people look like me. That’s one thing. I don’t look like a Mexican. I may have a nice tan now, but I don’t look like a Mexican.

It’s, I’m you’re at home, but you realize you’re still a foreigner. And I love Europe. I love the buildings, the history, and Montenegro has the history. And

Emily: so I learning language already. I’m learning

Charlotte: language. Serbian, no, I’m not learning Serbian. I know not right now. I have to visit first and see if some people are like, no, just get me residency.

I’ll worry about it when I get there. And I recommend people go first. I can’t tell you what to do, but I recommend people go first and I wanna go first to see it doesn’t, isn’t as good as it looks to me. On paper, on the computer, then I can start

Emily: learning. So what time do you think it’s enough for you to live in community and Monte Montana?

It’s not big country, like at least months to get this feeling If it’s a place for you to, for the future home.

Charlotte: I think minimum it’s best if somebody goes somewhere for a month. I know if you’re somewhere for two weeks and I, when I say go, I don’t go to a resort, don’t go stay at a resort because that is not visiting a country.

You can put someone on a resort in Mexico. You can put someone on a resort in Jamaica or Cuba. What’s the difference?

Emily: It’s a Disneyland for Americans, as they

Charlotte: say in Canadians. It’s not what the country is like. So don’t go to a resort. I, another thing that I suggest people look at is do house sits, because then you get right in a community, you’re not even staying in a hotel or you’re not staying in an Airbnb.

It really integrates you into the community to see what it’s like. You need to know what it’s like to get groceries. You need to know what the, how the people react to foreigners. Are they, and I’ve heard, and Europe can be like this and even Germany, I’ve spent a lot of time in Germany. It’s not as warm as Mexico.

Like the people are more withdrawn and they’re not as good morning. Hello. How are you? It’s not the same, it’s different here,

Emily: but Montenegro will be more close to Mexico, as in Germany, I’m telling you, like Eastern Europe for, you just need to get this vibe. And by the way, you good prepared from Mexican mentality to be in Montenegro in Eastern Europe, mentality.

It’s all together, Ana with Zestful

Charlotte: life. Yeah. Good, good. And it just, it sounds really good to what we’re interested in. So I’m very curious to check out Montenegro. Now there’s a lot of countries I’ve been to that I love and it, to me, it almost seems when you’re in a country, this is my favorite one.

You know when you’re in Italy, oh, I love Italy. This just is, I love, I don’t wanna go anywhere else. And you go to Portugal, oh, I love Portugal. I don’t wanna go anywhere else. I don’t know if you feel that way. That’s the way I feel anytime I travel somewhere.

Emily: So the first time when you in discovery mode, they say, and you go to the nice places, historical, obviously Europe, it’s full of treasures, but the honeymoon ends

Charlotte: and realistic, reality sets in.

And it’s, this isn’t just a vacation, you’re going to see, can I live here? And someplace that I really like Portugal, I, my husband and I really enjoyed Portugal, ma Mainland Portugal. When we were there there was a town called Nazare that I wish we would’ve spent more time in. It seemed, very the manana type idea was very calm, laid back, right on the ocean.

Beautiful, affordable, tamar is another town that we stayed in Portugal. We were there for three days and I went, and every time I go somewhere I’d look around and say, can I live here? So we usually go sit in the square, have a coffee. That’s one of my favorite things to do, just people watch.

And I really enjoyed Tamar. It was a very walkable town. It was had lots of restaurants, it had historic sites. Some people say there’s not much in tomorrow. What’s there to do? But when you’re living there, you’re not necessarily always just looking for what’s the next big attraction I can go to.

And what I like about tomorrow too, it’s close to Lisbon Libo. So if you wanna get close to a city you can go. But it just had that nice small town laid back feel, but also the old world European charm. And we found the people were friendly and happy to help. Yeah. And yeah, we enjoyed that area.

Emily: Many people dream of new life abroad, but still dreaming because they afraid to leap. And there’s a lot of uncertainty. There’s days and prices like flight prices and even harder to plan a trip. Like I look myself at my experience now, but I’m speaking about Argentina, which are going through the big changes and prices.

Were always under the questions there, but what advice would you give someone standing at the crossroads between the current life and the possibility of starting fresh in a new country?

Charlotte: I think you need to look at what’s your number one reason for wanting to go, and you have to determine what is it that’s holding you back?

What is that one thing that’s. Preventing you from taking that leap? I know what I hear from people prevent something that stops ’em or they can’t leave their grandchildren. I can’t leave my grand babies. That’s a big one. And I don’t have grandchildren yet, so I,

Emily: some people cannot leave parents.

Elderly parents?

Charlotte: Yes. Really? That’s the biggest one. The grandparents, the family, and it’s a big one. It’s a tough one. Missing family. So if you are that person, I think if that’s your number one reason for you really wanna go, but that’s holding you back. I’d say consider Mexico really, because it’s there again, the springboard, it’s close to United States, it’s close to Canada.

Like you can get back to the states on a two hour flight. For us, one of the reasons we are here instead of over on Europe is same. Our sun is in British Columbia. We’re still on the same piece of dirt. It’s a massive piece of dirt. No,

Emily: it’s a continent.

Charlotte: It’s, but mentally that’s helped me be here.

Emily: Yes. I agree. That’s why I selected Mexico with all my love to Europe. And by the way, I might be close to get European passport. I just, I’m waiting for the letters, but I’m still here because my children are here. And it’s tough. And technology has made it much easier. We have a Zoom call with our son every Sunday night.

Charlotte: We talk for our 40 minutes on our free Zoom thing. And that’s good. Where we were in Canada and it’s with this way with a lot of families now. We were so spread out, we were in Calgary. Or we had family in Regina, my husband’s wife, or husband’s wife. That’s me. My my mother-in-law was in Regina.

Our son and my brother rode on Vancouver and Vancouver Island, and we were stuck in the middle. We’re like 800 kilometers away from everybody, if not further. I think I looked and it was 937 kilometers to my son’s door or something. So it still was a full day to either drive and you actually usually stop overnight because going through the mountains takes longer or you have to fly.

So it’s, you know what does it matter if we’re in Calgary or if we’re in Mexico? Because it would still be a full day travel to get to see anyone. So that’s how we viewed it and yeah the family, it’s a hard, and I miss family. That’s the truly, that’s the only thing I miss about Canada is my family.

There is nothing else I miss. Honestly I wanted to be

Emily: offended, but I’m not,

Charlotte: and if I offend somebody, I’m sorry. No, I’m not sorry. I shouldn’t say sorry if I’m not sorry,

Emily: but No, life is moving forward. Many people when I’m thinking, and I know people who were speaking for years about, oh, probably we need to relocate.

It might be economical condition. It might be they don’t see future for themself or for retirement. Really tired to, to shovel the snow and the people afraid. Often of unknown. And even there is a lot of, videos and you can find information. You can find coach, you can find the webinars, free webinars, people who are ready to help you.

I would say for some people maybe it’s not their lifestyle, maybe it’s for them just to travel and that’s it. But for others and I hear a lot of, concern in communities, like where we would go and how we will retire. And I’m so let’s do something. Let’s at least to learn what we need to do and how we need to consider.

Because, even from my experience, like I relocated, like fully immigrated, not relocated twice, I would say today, experience is different. Obviously my previous experience helping me to reevaluate things and, giving different perspective. But today is. Many things are changing very quickly, and some people they afraid to get out of the comfort zone.

Let’s be open. Or because they’ve had pretty traumatic experience, getting papers and starting their life and going specifically like for Canada, which is pretty expensive country. To get to this, to climb the ladder, I would say I am I understand because I was not exactly but the same condition.

So what you would say for such

Charlotte: people, nobody knows the future, if you don’t make any changes, you know your future’s not going to change. If you are stuck in that.

Emily: Right thinking that because they’re relying on government, they’re waiting now. Oh, it’ll be new when I’m speaking.

And they look, let’s see, like it’ll be election and I don’t, and I will go to election. I will do my duty because I really care, for Canada to be better place, at least as I remember it like 20 years ago. But people relying on

Charlotte: government or stop relying on the government to take care of you and stop expecting they are going to take care of you and stop thinking they care about you because they don’t, the government, Canada did not care me.

Emily: They promised a lot now, like I’ve never heard such a promises. I don’t know what budget you need to have from what to to implement at least half of all this. What is promised.

Charlotte: Yeah, it’s, it people need to stop expecting the government to answer all their. To solve their problems because from my experience, the government is the one,

Emily: not all.

We say economy. If economy will be okay, we’ll continue to live our life because, we have home here again

Charlotte: the government puts you in the situation you’re in right now. So how are they gonna fix it? They’re the ones who’ve destroyed the economy right now. So why do people think

Emily: they hope for another government, another leaders, another.

Okay. Things are changing. We I would say hope for the best, but we need to be vigilant and have our plan B anyway. I wish it’ll be good. I wish people will really not to leave their homes because it’s not easy thing, not families. And because e every relocation, it’s actually stress, but it depends how you look at this.

If you look at the process of reinvention and try something new in life, and I understand that this age, it’s not so easy and I’m working on myself as well, and I’m not yet learning language as I supposed to do. But

Charlotte: I thought that life would get easier when you get older and it’s not, it doesn’t get easier.

That was a misconception I had growing up. Oh, when you get older, life will be easier. And it’s not. You still have lots of decisions and lots of problems and things happen that you don’t expect it. It’s not easy.

Emily: No I was not expecting. It’ll be easy, but I can tell you a little bit out, out of topic that I’m happier now than I was 10 years ago or then I was, 20 years ago when I was working full-time, making actually good salary and it was different period of time like raising children and all this, it was really grind. But, and I think what age is giving you the problems are not disappearing, but it’s up to you which problem you select to be a problem and which ones you can

Charlotte: let go of and say Not my problem.

Emily: Yeah. Yes. It’s what you did in restaurant and I fully commend you and it’s actually what you’re trying to do now. You built in your new life, your new business, you already different Charlotte versus Charlotte, which arrived three years ago. And I believe when we are working on ourself, when we are learning new skills, when we are open to the changes.

It would make us active young regardless of what age we are. And if we continue to do, obviously we need to have a boundaries, we need to not to be exhausted and maybe know where to stop as I’m telling to myself. But in age of reinvention, I believe we have many opportunities, many possibilities, and not always, we need a lot of money to travel.

We need some but we can we can organize our life around our priorities at certain stage of life.

And I think it was enough for today. I was enjoying our conversation as usual. Thank you, Charlotte. Thank you. Always a pleasure, Emily. And I wish I, we will be traveling the summer. You will be in Germany and Montenegro, I will be in Argentina and Uruguay, which I decided to take a trip to, to compare.

And two different countries. Pretty interesting to me. Both open expert live, but offering different lifestyle, I would say. So let’s reconnect in September, October after all these experiences and speak again. Thank you. Thank you. All the best.

Charlotte Tweed

Liberty Travel Coach

Charlotte Tweed is an expat travel coach dedicated to helping you live, not just visit, your next destination. As the founder of Liberty Travel Coach, she specializes in guiding people to relocate to unique, freedom-focused communities. Based in Mexico, Charlotte offers personalized coaching to help you find a home where you can thrive with like-minded people. A published author, she is passionate about transforming lives through expat travel, one adventure at a time.

In a continuously evolving world, intentional living and self-sufficient communities are emerging as a viable and appealing lifestyle. Driven by the need for independence, sustainable living, and the search for freedom, more people are exploring how they can redefine life as they know it. I recently had the opportunity to dive deeper into this subject during an enlightening conversation with Charlotte, a Liberty Travel Coach specializing in guiding people towards transformative lifestyle choices.

Redefining Community Living and Intentionality

What does it mean to live intentionally abroad? Charlotte explained that more individuals are becoming captivated by the idea of creating self-sustainable communities where dependence on mainstream systems is minimized. One compelling example from our discussion was a farmer who embraced the philosophy of “feeding his community rather than the world.” This mindset fosters self-reliance and reinforces communal bonds, creating a mutual support network to sustain isolated yet thriving communities.

Liberty Through Low-Governance Living

For many, freedom is a deeply personal concept, shaped by individual priorities. However, some recurring themes include low governance, autonomy, and preserving personal values. Charlotte shared inspiring stories about people seeking communities that cater to their unique lifestyles—low EMF environments, homeschool-friendly neighborhoods, or bustling yet easygoing areas with coffee shops and music venues. The key motivator for most remains the same: living in a place that balances self-sufficiency with personal freedom.

Navigating New Frontiers Abroad

Our conversation explored how relocation can unlock opportunities for intentional and sustainable living. Charlotte shared insights about communities in Mexico that successfully embrace this lifestyle model. Though she’s yet to fully endorse a specific initiative, many projects are showing promising progress. For instance, Mexico’s assisted living communities represent a thoughtful balance between independence, sustainability, and catering to diverse individual needs.

Charlotte’s Vision for Liberty Travel Coach

Charlotte has ambitious plans to help more people embark on intentional living journeys. She envisions curated retreats that provide immersive experiences in freedom-centric destinations. These would include seasonal escapes during harsh winters, international retreats for exploring emerging “freedom hubs,” and local getaways within Mexico. Through these experiences, individuals can evaluate potential new homes while enjoying authentic, hands-on exploration tailored to their needs.

Exploring Montenegro as a Freedom Destination

Charlotte sees Montenegro as a promising option in her search for freedom-loving destinations. Its stunning beauty, growing community of like-minded individuals, and accessible residency processes make it an increasingly attractive choice for expatriates. Nevertheless, Charlotte emphasizes one crucial factor: experiencing a place firsthand before making any commitments.

Advice for Aspiring Expats

Charlotte urges individuals contemplating a move abroad to align their motivations with their goals. Evaluating barriers such as emotional family ties, economic uncertainties, or dependence on familiar systems can help assess readiness for such a significant change. A pragmatic approach ensures fewer surprises and a smoother transition into this transformative lifestyle.

Embracing Change and Personal Growth

Our discussion wrapped up with reflections on adaptability, reinvention, and learning. Charlotte underscored that while life’s challenges may not disappear with age, they become more manageable as we develop the wisdom to prioritize battles to fight and let go of.

Conclusion: A Journey Towards Freedom and Intentional Living

As Charlotte begins to explore Europe and I prepare for my South American adventures, our conversation solidified that intentional living is fundamentally about how you choose to live, rather than where. We plan to reconnect in the fall to share insights from our journeys as we collectively work toward crafting lives aligned with freedom and self-sufficiency.

The takeaway is simple for those pondering a similar shift: it’s not just about finding a new home. It’s about exploring, discovering, and ultimately choosing a life that allows you to live intentionally, sustainably, and freely.