I see what you mean now.

I thought you were mainly concerned about shipping things from the US, which neither I nor anyone I’ve known has had intercepted or interfered with en route to dozens of countries, frequently containing valuables. It must happen, but it seems very rare.

The other way though, if you’re sending packages to the US from other countries, you could have that problem occasionally, which I have experienced twice and heard of from other travelers shipping things to the US.

As far as I know, that’s a one-way problem, US-tagged packages seem to slip through sticky fingers.

people usually ship their belongings by sea or air(ocean freight is cheaper and slower, but I’m not sure by how much with Costa Rica being so near) with a company like DHL, I’ve used them and found them to be a reliable international shipping company, FedEx and UPS are also options.

I wouldn’t worry about customs taking your stuff, especially if you have insurance or tracking or anything like that on the ticket, and especially with a wealthier country like Costa Rica where paper trails are more important.

I’ve actually never heard of customs taking anything legal in real life from anyone who’s shipped belongings overseas(my friend’s yak jerky got confiscated because it’s illegal to import a lot of international meat products into the US) so I personally don’t believe customs pocketing things is very common.

Legos aren’t apparently valuable on their face and with the paper trail of receipts/documents I wouldn’t think you have to worry about anything getting lifted by customs. plus, if you add some fragile notices and insurance on there the agents responsible for transporting the packages will be a lot more careful, for sure.

yup, it’s called the Schengen area:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area

you do not have to be rich to live in Europe, Europe is much cheaper than the states, especially in the situation you’re describing as a long-term traveler.

Three big ones are:

1. There are lots of international families, so they’ll have company, support networks and infrastructure.

2. There are tons of safe, affordable countries with easy access to good education.

3. Native English speakers are all but guaranteed jobs as ESL teachers, so the parents will have access to available, steady income abroad.

A lot of people don’t know about international schools, which is where most international families send their kids.

Other than the first two points, there are not many differences between my individual and family advice. For many families, moving from the US to a country like Thailand means safer, more affordable lives with a better quality of life.

at this point, visas are very easy to get in general, but Thailand is still one of the easiest and is one of the friendliest and most affordable countries around.

if you’re a US citizen, you have visa-free travel in Thailand for 60 days.

if you need a visa, go to the evisa website, thaievisa.go.th, fill out the form, pay the fee, they’ll email you the visa in a couple days.

I usually recommend Thailand or somewhere in Southeast Asia as a first destination. good food, great healthcare, cheap living, great people, beautiful environment, and they’re very used to travelers so there are local and expat support systems nationwide.

another nice thing about Southeast asia is that there are tons of other friendly places close by.

it’s about as easy to live there as anywhere else, but the support systems and the country being very used to travelers might make first time travelers more comfortable.

oh PS thailand has a lot a lot of really good all you can eat buffets for 3 to 10 dollars per person.

if anyone has any questions about getting out of the country, ask away.

I’m a long-term traveler.

kick their teeth in

ooh, sharp.

good one.

plus how to reheat pizza evenly…good point

I could have been reading Animorphs and Bigfart!

what a world.

that sounds like a plague to me.

this is where I’m at.

lemmy communities are plagues.

haha, I really liked that part of the description!

I think technically that’s the same thing.

that’s got to happen sooner or later. plague instances spreading like the plague.

that’s the phrase, certainly. you’ve nailed it.

I think this is the genesis.

who doesn’t like a good plague these days?

“This is not entirely true.”

I’ll check.

“Malaysia…English teaching industry…Most countries…standards…VIetnam requires…employ illegally…risk…very high”

yea, solid disclaimer, most of that looks less than entirely true. Honestly, a lot of that is barely half true.

real quick: ESL is still booming in April 2025 with thousands of currently available ESL positions, pay rates are higher than ever, outpacing inflation significantly, the requirements are about the same as they were 15 years ago; native english fluency, college degree or TEFL certificate sometimes required based on the position and location for 25 hours of teaching a week, not including the breaktimes each class.

Most countries certainly do not have enough of an english speaking population to have affected the ESL market, hence the thousands of currently available ESL postings and dozens of platforms for teaching online.

Vietnam does not require “TESL diplomas” to teach English.

how to make a martyr

I’d like to say that so are zombie films and media.

zombies have become an excuse to dehumanize and glorify justifiable violence against humans at this point.