Thursday, August 27th, 2026
Dear Reader,
In the 1990s, we bought a chateau in need of renovation in central France and decided to move the family there. I wanted to improve my French before we left, so I invited Jen Stevens, who was a young editor at International Living, to join me at the Maryland Club in Baltimore for lunch each Friday. We’d walk the few blocks from the office and spend an hour or so speaking French over a good meal...
She recently described this experience to me as a “7 out of 10 on the terror scale”... but these lunches proved useful for both of us, I’d say. She’d lived in France and French-speaking Africa for years and spoke well—so the conversation helped open my ears to a language I’d studied many years before.
And it was an opportunity for her to learn about why I started International Living in 1979 and gain an understanding about how I think it can best serve readers interested in living better, retiring sooner, traveling smarter, and investing in more interesting (and potentially profitable) ways overseas.
International Living remains in Jen’s good hands today—nearly 30 years later. She just recorded a video from France, where she’s been this summer, with some insights about just how accessible a more international life can be for you now, even in these uncertain times.
I encourage you to watch it...
Bill
Dear Reader,
As Bill mentioned up top, he and I got to know each other over lunches in French. And, once the Bonner chateau had been renovated, I started bringing small groups of International Living readers there for a week at a time in the summers to soak up the local culture and get a sense for what life in La France Profonde really feels like.
Which is to say: slow days... the most succulent peaches you’ve ever tasted... light that glows warmly on stone walls at dusk... fresh lavender cut from the garden... goats’ milk cheeses produced on nearby farms... pineau, a sweet local fortified wine, served as a cocktail... and the regional macaron, a delightfully cakey almond cookie.
Life in France is good. I’ve been reminded of just how good as I’ve been here with my husband for the last month... visiting old friends, checking out some towns new to us, and putting eyes on our kiddo #3, who’s been studying in Lacoste, and who we hadn’t seen in a few months.
I recorded this message in the Luberon in the south. This is Provence in all its glory: green hills planted with grapes, tiny hilltop villages with chapel steeples outlined at dusk like fairytale illustrations, a big sky so dark at night you can see the Milky Way clearly...
I made this video because I wanted to show you what a more mobile, more international, more interesting life can look like... and how possible it really is to create one for yourself without breaking the bank.
A month-long stay in an Italian villa... a winter spent in the Caribbean sun... gourmet dinners out... your own housekeeper and gardener...
Despite what most people assume, you don’t have to be super wealthy and famous to live a high-flying international life... to enjoy a retirement that’s rich with experiences you’ve always wanted to have...
It is 100% possible to live in comfort, travel often, and not worry about whether you’ll outlive your nest egg...
You just need to know the shortcuts.
When you do, you can live and travel like a king... and do it on a working-class budget.
I walk you through a bunch of those shortcuts, here.
Warmly,
Jennifer Stevens
Executive Editor, International Living
P.S. A lot of people like you—thoughtful folks who are interested in living a more international life and curious about the opportunities out there in the wider world—won’t ever actually take the steps necessary to embrace those opportunities.
But you can. And you should. Starting here.
