• Ward Chartier, 70, spent his career living and working across the US, Europe, and Asia. • When it came time to retire, he narrowed his options down to Penang, Malaysia, where he'd worked years earlier. • He hopes to live a long, full life — and spend the rest of it in the place he now considers home.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ward Chartier, a 70-year-old retiree living in Penang, Malaysia. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I've lived border to border and coast to coast.

Born in Wisconsin, I moved around the US as a kid because of my dad's job. After college in Michigan, I headed to Texas for work and ended up calling it home for two decades.

My career in high-tech manufacturing eventually took me abroad, and for the next 14 years, I lived and

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