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Old Friends on the Road to New Memories: Living and Investing in France 2021

A sunset view on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice France

We’re counting down the days to our upcoming Living and Investing in France Conference and Tour to Provence and the Occitanie, that kicks off on September 27th. While we’ve done lots of similar events and tons of webinars, we haven’t done a conference of this magnitude since 2014.

Living & Investing France conference and tour logo for Nice

This one all started over lunch at Café les Philosophes in Le Marais with Barb and Michelle Sedita and Barb’s daughter, Jamie Perriello. These three marvelous women run a travel and event-planning agency in Florida, Opportunity Travel. I’ve known them since 2001. I owe them for having launched my own career in France!

The story goes like this…

Publisher of Internation Living magazine, William BonnerIn September of 2001, literally the day before the 9-11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York, they organized a conference in Paris on behalf of International Living, a monthly magazine “detailing the best places in the world to live, retire, travel, and invest.” Founded in 1979 by Bill Bonner, IL has offices and writers located all over the world. They regularly host events of this nature and Opportunity Travel was (and still is) their event organizer.

That particular conference was in need of speakers, so Barb and Michelle (Jamie was just a baby then) began asking around town and made contact with Bob Bishop of the Paris Voice. The Paris Voice was our revered English language monthly magazine that had been in print since 1979. I had just completed an article for the publication titled “How to Own a Piece of Paris,” as a result of having just purchased my apartment in Le Marais the year before. Bob recommended the ladies contact me to speak at the conference. (You can still read the original article—it’s online and available! Click here to download the PDF.)

The cover of the Paris Voice magazine from October 2001

I was flattered, but had never spoken before, so I wasn’t the right person, but I knew who could…so I organized a line-up of speakers that filled their entire day on the topics of immigration, finance, lifestyle and property. These were my friends and colleagues I had come to know in the few years I’d been in Paris, many of whom are still here and doing much of the same things, even all these years later.

Bill Bonner was a keynote speaker at the conference. A tall and elegant man, as he brushed past me on the sidelines, he introduced himself and said, “I know who you are and I’d like to talk with you about opening an office in Paris for International Living.” Imagine my shock! Who was I? Nobody, but someone obviously making a bit of noise in the community, enough to have gotten his attention. I had been desperately seeking employment at the time and this was a golden opportunity.

A day later, the planes flew into the World Trade Center in New York, and a month later Bill had me flown to their Ireland offices to meet the publisher of his magazine. The rest is history—I spent three years working for International Living and working closely with Barb and Michelle to participate in IL’s events as well as organizing our own conferences.

I lost almost all contact with Barb and Michelle once I left International Living to start my own business in 2004, except for occasional notes just to stay in touch. We had always enjoyed our working and personal relationship. Then, in June of 2019, they came to Paris with their families (Jamie, quite grown now) for the FIFA Women’s World Cup soccer championship that took place with 52 matches staged in nine cities in France. We met at Café Les Philosophes on rue Vieille du Temple. Over lunch, we reminisced about our history together and got the bright idea to do it a again…a conference and tour! This time, in the South of France!

Adrian Leeds with Barb and Michelle Sedita and Barb's daughter, Jamie Perriello at Café les Philosophes in Le Marais

So, here we are. Twenty years later, working together to bring you all the information you need to start a new life in France. It’s been challenging with Covid-19 getting in the way of our plans as we originally scheduled the conference and tour for Fall of 2020, but had to postpone it to now. Undaunted, it will take place just as planned, with caution and care to ensure everyone’s safety, of course.

The line-up at the conference is impressive—with our finest experts covering a myriad of topics that include wealth management, tax issues, getting financing, currency exchange, finding and owning property in France, immigration, renovation and decoration, learning to speak French and all the details within. On top of that, we’ll be touring the entire French Riviera, hosting a round-table discussion and offering an open house tour!

Photos of the speakers for the upcoming Living & Invresting in France conference in Nice

The tour to Provence and the Occitanie is totally sold out, but the three-day conference isn’t…we have about 50 participants, but we can handle double that at the beautiful Hôtel Splendid in Nice.

So, don’t delay to learn more about it and book your seat! Join Barb, Michelle, Jamie, me and our entire team during these exciting three days in Nice! You won’t regret having taken the time to learn all you need to make your dream to live in France come true.

Visit Opportunity Travel NOW for details and registration!

A la prochaine…

Adrian Leeds in a cafe in Paris in 2008Adrian Leeds
The Adrian Leeds Group®

Adrian Leeds sitting in chairP.S. Great news! The Federation of Alliances Françaises USA has invited me back for another webinar devoted to “Pursuing the Dream: Living and Investing in France.” Mark your calendar for this November 6th (11:00am Pacific/12:00pm Mountain/1:00pm Central/2:00pm Eastern/8 p.m. CET ([France]), for one hour of information that will teach you the steps to make a move to France—whether living full-time or part-time. In this session we’ll discuss getting a visa, determining where in France you might want to live, and the steps to finding the perfect home. The session will also include an open forum for questions. Register now FREE of charge as my personal guest!

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