By Jules · September 2026
Years ago, I sat down with Expat Diaries to talk about leaving Canada with my three daughters, starting over in Costa Rica, and everything that brought us here. We had a long, very open conversation about my life, my daughters, what brought us to Costa Rica, and what it had taken to start over here.
Then life carried on.
I recently discovered that the interview had been published all along. Watching it now feels a little like opening a time capsule.
Sometimes things find their way back to you at exactly the right time.
I knew we had recorded the interview, but I never heard anything more about it. I assumed it was one of those podcasts that had been recorded but, for whatever reason, never aired.
Until today.
I received a message from a complete stranger in Quebec telling me he had come across my story on Expat Diaries and that he loved it.
I actually had to ask him to send it to me.
And there it was.
Not one episode, but two. And Robin referred to me as the Guest of The Century!
I sat down and watched them for the first time, years later.
It was surreal.
There were moments that made me emotional. There were moments that made me laugh. There were things I probably would explain differently today simply because so much life has happened since. And there are things that I would add. Like that time, my remaining life savings and every dollar to my name was emptied from my two Costa Rican bank accounts.
But mostly, I found myself looking at that version of me and thinking:
She had absolutely no idea how much was still ahead of her. And that is exactly how I have got through life so far. I know that just around the corner, everything can change. Nothing is permanent. The hard times will pass and become just another life experience, lesson and memory.
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The Story Before Costa Rica
The episodes are titled Escaping Canada for a New Life in Costa Rica with Her Daughters. And Life like a Mario Kart Video Game.
It’s a dramatic title but all so accurate.
But the story behind it is real and humbling and a little crazy.
In the interview, I talk openly about some incredibly difficult years of my life and the circumstances that ultimately brought my three daughters and me to Costa Rica.
I talk about legal battles, protecting my children, starting again, and what it means to make enormous decisions when you don’t necessarily have the luxury of knowing exactly how everything is going to turn out.
There was no beautifully packaged five-year plan. Looking back, none of it would ever have been anticipated. And that is why I'm forever in awe of life.
There was a mother with three daughters trying to make the best decisions she could with the information she had at the time.
Eventually, that road brought us to Costa Rica.
We arrived in the Southern Zone on April 16, 2021.
And somehow, this place that began as our fresh start became home.
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Starting Again in Costa Rica
People often romanticize moving abroad. Especially Costa Rica.
And there is so much that is extraordinary about living here.
The jungle. The ocean. The wildlife. The warmth. The slower moments. The community. The feeling that you can step outside your door and be reminded very quickly that you’re part of something much bigger than whatever problem happened to be occupying your mind five minutes earlier.
But moving countries doesn’t magically make life easy or problems disappear. In fact, it can create a whole other layers of problems.
You still have children to raise.
Bills to pay.
Homes to maintain.
Paperwork to navigate.
Things break.
Plans change.
Power goes out.
The rainy season arrives.
Businesses need to be built.
Relationships change. People come and go.
You learn which battles matter and which ones don’t.
And when you’re living in another country, you very quickly discover that many of the systems you took for granted at home work completely differently.
You learn.
You adapt.
You find people.
You build relationships.
You fail. You fall. You lose.
And then you learn some more.
Somewhere in the interview I compare life to Mario Kart, which made me laugh when I saw the episode thumbnail years later. I say it all the time. Leaving Canada for Costa Rica was like moving from level 6 to level 7. A whole new terrain, rules, things to dodge (like massive falling fruit).
Things go wrong one day, and tomorrow you know better, do better.
And you keep going.
That’s life.
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The Life That Came After the Interview
This is the part that affected me most when I watched the episodes.
Because the story didn’t end when we got to Costa Rica.
In many ways, that’s where it began.
My daughters have grown up here.
I’ve grown up here too, in a different way.
I’ve bought and renovated property. I’ve dealt with many construction projects and contractors. I’ve learned how homes behave in a tropical climate. I’ve navigated utilities, residency, banking, leases, maintenance, rentals, vendors, employees, unexpected repairs and approximately a million things nobody thinks to tell you before moving to another country.
I’ve built businesses.
I’ve changed direction.
I’ve made mistakes.
I’ve trusted my instincts.
I’ve ignored my instincts and later wished I hadn’t.
I’ve met wonderful people. I've met con artists.
I’ve learned a tremendous amount about this country, this community and myself.
And gradually, without really setting out to create it this way, much of what I had learned through my own experience became the foundation for the work I do today.
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How The Conscious Concierge Came to Be
I didn’t move to Costa Rica to build a business around helping people live here.
I built that business because I learned, firsthand, what it actually takes to build a life here and how important the right mindset is.
Today, through The Conscious Concierge and Esencia Management, I work with property owners, residents, tenants, vacationers, investors and people relocating to Costa Rica.
Sometimes that means managing a property.
Sometimes it’s overseeing a renovation or coordinating maintenance.
Sometimes it’s helping someone find the right home.
Sometimes it’s helping an owner understand what their property actually needs.
And sometimes it’s simply being the person on the ground who knows who to call, what questions to ask and how things tend to work here.
And always an advocate.
There are things you can learn from Google.
And then there are things you only learn by living somewhere.
My work grew from the second kind.
That’s probably why discovering this interview now feels particularly meaningful.
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Why I’m Sharing This Now
The timing is interesting.
I’ve recently launched a new website for The Conscious Concierge Costa Rica.
And the business is growing even quicker. The word spreads fast.
Everyday I am bringing on new properties and clients, continuing to develop the systems behind what we do, and moving into another phase of something that started much more organically than most people probably realize. I am building on what I have and continue to refine how we operate and can be of service to the community.
And right in the middle of all of that, a stranger from Quebec sends me a message about an interview I’d almost forgotten existed.
Suddenly, I’m watching myself explain the beginning of a story whose next several chapters I have already lived.
It gave me perspective.
When we’re in the middle of building something—or surviving something—we tend to look forward.
What’s next?
What still needs to be fixed?
What haven’t I accomplished?
What problem needs solving tomorrow?
We don’t always stop long enough to look behind us.
Watching this interview forced me to.
And I realized just how much life has happened.
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The Story Isn’t Perfect. It’s Mine.
I thought for a moment about whether I wanted to share these interviews publicly.
They are personal.
Some of the subject matter isn’t easy.
And they capture me at a particular point in my life—not the person I am today with several more years of experience and perspective.
But ultimately, that is exactly why I decided to share them.
I don’t want to rewrite my past to make it fit neatly into my present.
My past is why I'm here doing what I do. It's made me who I am. And given me experiences and insight well earned.
I want my clients to know who I am and how I got here.
The woman speaking in those interviews was telling her story as she understood and experienced it at that moment in time.
It’s honest.
It’s sometimes emotional.
It’s sometimes funny.
It’s definitely not polished.
Neither was or is life.
The truth is the truth.
I will always stand in the truth. Speak the truth, Share the truth. Hence my instagram handle and personal email address for many many years, Truthfully Jules.
In my previous life, I shared my story publicly and it has always led me to the right people and the right places.
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Watch Part One
Expat Diaries — Part 1: Escaping Canada for a New Life in Costa Rica with Her Daughters
In Part One, I talk about the circumstances that led to leaving Canada, arriving in Costa Rica with my daughters, and the beginning of creating a completely different life here.
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Watch Part Two
Expat Diaries — Part 2: Escaping Canada for a New Life in Costa Rica with Her Daughters
Part Two continues the conversation about rebuilding, resilience, raising my daughters in Costa Rica and some of the lessons I had already learned along the way—including, apparently, my philosophy that life is basically one giant game of Mario Kart.
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Where We Are Now
Years later, Costa Rica isn’t the place we escaped to.
It’s home.
Our hearts are here.
My daughters are older and creating lives of their own. The two older ones are now heading to boarding school in the US for a fun new adventure after 5.5 years in the jungle in Central America.
I’ve built businesses, friendships and a community here. I’ve had beautiful seasons and extremely difficult ones. I’ve watched ideas fail and others turn into things far bigger than I originally imagined.
And I’m still building.
That’s another reason I wanted to put these interviews here.
There are people reading this website because they’re considering moving to Costa Rica.
Others already own a home here and are trying to figure out how to manage it from another country.
Some are investing. Some want a Plan B home.
Some are looking for a rental.
Some have already made the leap and are discovering that living in paradise still involves real life and a steep learning curve.
I understand many of those experiences because I’ve lived them.
Not exactly the way you will.
Everyone’s story is different.
But I understand what it feels like to arrive somewhere new and slowly turn somewhere new into home.
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Maybe You’re at the Beginning of Your Story
I don’t believe everyone should pack up their life and move to Costa Rica.
But I do believe we’re allowed to question whether the life we’re living is still the life we want.
We’re allowed to change direction.
We’re allowed to build something different.
And we’re allowed to have absolutely no idea how the entire story is going to unfold before we take the first step.
When I recorded these interviews, I couldn’t have told you what my life would look like today.
I’m glad I couldn’t.
Some chapters are better lived before they’re understood.
So thank you to Robin and Expat Diaries for sitting down with me all those years ago and giving me the space to tell my story.
And thank you to the stranger from Quebec who happened to find it and took the time to send me a message.
You had no idea, but you handed me a little piece of my own history today.
And apparently, it found me at exactly the right time.
We now have our Permanent Residency.
I just turned 42.
And my business is on fire - in the best way possible.
Remember: Keep going. Keep growing.
It all gets easier in time.