This-as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kylie Genter, 36, a Haenyeo diver on Jeju Island, South Korea. It’s been edited for length and clarity. I’d been teaching English in South Korea for four years when I learned about the Haenyeo — female freedivers who harvest seafood without using modern equipment. I was interested.
This story is based on an interview with Leslie Hodgin, a 55-year-old marketing consultant who moved from the US to the Netherlands with her husband, John Lyman, 52. It has been edited for length and clarity. Until 2026, I was living in Richmond, Virginia, with my husband and our cat. My dad was in the
After 18 years of living in San Francisco, I was seriously starting to consider moving. I loved the life I had built there, but taking the next step — like buying my own house with a yard — felt out of reach for me. However, I was afraid I would regret leaving the place I
Last summer, I left my life in Connecticut behind and moved to Montreal on a whim, without a plan. People told me I was brave. Really? I’m a travel journalist. I’ve followed a snow leopard expert across Nepal; I’ve lived with a family in Uzbekistan who didn’t speak English; and I’ve had a private encounter
I always thought I’d be settled somewhere for good by age 55, with a comfortable home, established garden, and chest freezer in the garage. But after growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, raising my kids in Seattle, and becoming an empty nester, I realized I had no idea where I wanted to settle
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Luciana Pereyra, a 25-year-old Peruvian national who moved to the US at 17 on a tennis scholarship, lost her H-1B-sponsored job in 2025, and had to return to Peru. It has been edited for length and clarity. I was born and raised in Lima, Peru, and
