Well . . . a few thoughts. Since 2008, there has been a glut of English as a Foreign Language teachers (ESL is slightly different and only in the U.S., though other English speaking countries have equivalents). It used to be that a non-degree holding U.S. citizen could get EFL jobs that paid decently well, but because of so many shitty experiences, countries that look for EFL teachers or host EFL companies tend to be much, much more discerning. The typical EFL teacher will have a degree (usually at least somewhat related to English or linguistics), a CELTA certification or a TEFL certification from an accredited program, with at least 120 hours of study.

Non-degree, non-certified, native English speakers still can find jobs teaching EFL, but they make much, much, much less money. Like, I worked with a guy who fell into that category, but who had some years of teaching experience who was making $12/hr, whereas starting wage for a TEFL/CELTA holder with a degree was $15.25. In any case, wages are down significantly from where they used to be as more and more people go abroad to teach, especially in places like SE Asia and the Middle East.

There are a lot of great things about living abroad, but I would suggest that you seriously consider what your marketable skills are, or how you might leverage your experience into something that people elsewhere will pay for. There are working holiday programs in Australia and NZ (as briandmyers mentions) that allow people to work in Australia or NZ for up to a year. Now, that might not sound like what you're looking for, but as it sounds like you're not quite sure what you're looking for, perhaps it's a good idea to think of stepping stones that might lead to opportunities to help you and your wife figure out what you'd like to do.

On a personal note, many countries have pocket populations of ex-pats who are just kind of . . . there. These types tend not to interact much with locals, or do much other than hang out with other ex-pats. I'm not at all suggesting that you and your wife would do that, but if you do live abroad I'd emphatically encourage you guys not to do that. Those ex-pats suck.

Obviously I don't know you two personally, but from this post it really doesn't seem like you're so interested in living abroad given your concern about safety and limitations on the types of languages that you'd want to be surrounded by (although you are correct, "immersion" tends only to work in contexts where the language is not too linguistically distant from one's own mother tongue). In any case, what gets you guys excited?