Americans Abroad

Friends would ask, Aren't you going to check it out first?
Why I ask? I might visit at a terrible time and thus make a bad decision, missing out on the best, or visiting there might be great but the living not so much.
For us the looking first was too expensive. Thanks to the internet and some self-inquiry and honesty about ourselves, we chose wisely. By the time we arrived in the city, the sights already felt familiar thanks to Google Earth.

We arrived with six suits cases and a plan, all our required documentation in hand; a three month Air B&B booked and three months on our tourist visa for settling in the new land.
The first week here we were at 'migracion' and often again. We received our permanent legal residency a year and some later.

Without my wife's Spanish, we would likely have failed. Now, if I could talk to the cruise ship passengers not arriving this year because of the pandemic, I'd say, "It is a great place to live, but not so much for visiting.