I’ve often watched the show House Hunters International and dreamed about moving abroad for a season in my life. Whether it be for work, volunteer/mission work, or simply to drop everything and go on an adventure with my wife, it has always been something that sounds appealing to me.
If you think about moving abroad enough, you eventually start thinking about the flip side: all the challenges of living abroad. I’ve had many friends who have lived abroad (and one who ended up moving abroad permanently!) and the challenges can be endless. In the end, it’s nothing that can’t be overcome, but it is important to take the various challenges into account.
1) Lifestyle Adjustment
After living in the United States my entire life, I inevitably have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle. From accessible and well-kept roads to the convenience of having stores like Target that have pretty much everything you need, to having somewhat affordable energy, there are a ton of potential lifestyle changes that I would have to get used to. The homes/apartments may be smaller or have quirky features that you simply don’t see in your homeland.
Of course, there may be some positive lifestyle changes. For example, I’m fairly certain all my friends in Minnesota who have lived abroad would agree that living in a warmer weather climate was definitely a perk! Also, one of the main benefits of living abroad is experiencing a different culture. While you certainly can experience various cultures in one or two week vacations, it’s much easier to really dive in when you stay for a longer period of time.
2) Pets
If my wife and I moved abroad, we’d be stuck with the awful decision of what to do with our 20 year-old cat. She’s only been in a car a couple times in her life and it was hard enough moving her 10 miles from our former apartment to our new home. Additionally, since we are planning on getting a dog, we’d have to figure out how to transport them and make sure our home abroad would accommodate them.
3) What to do with your Home & Possessions
Just like everything else, there are certainly viable solutions when it comes to dealing with your home and possessions you are leaving behind. A couple we know who moved to India for a couple years owned a home here in the States. They put their possessions in storage and rented out their house. One of our other friends acted as landlord while they were gone. Additionally I know a professor who went on sabbatical and rented out their home.
There are certainly solutions for dealing with this challenge. With that being said, it would take a lot of work to move all your possessions into storage. If you do own a home, it creates that additional challenge of finding renters.
4) Getting “Settled” and other Logistics
Anyone who has moved (even just across town) knows that moving is no fun and it takes some time to feel like you are truly “home” in a new place. Moving abroad can be a whole other issue, where you have to deal (potentially) with a new culture, currency, job market, and more.
Thankfully, new technology has made it easier than ever to get used to the country you are living in. If you need to talk to someone at home, Skype has been a wonderful tool (I’ve used it on many occasions with friends who were abroad). If you have to send money back and forth from your “real” home, international money transfer is easier than ever before. Also, learning about your new city, country, and the culture and businesses that surround it is as simple as logging on and surfing the web.
5) Careers and Education – Abroad and Returning
Potentially one of the biggest challenges of moving abroad is coming back. Did you take a break in your education to move? Did you take a job outside of your career to make living abroad work? Careers, employment, and education are all big issues with both moving abroad and ultimately coming home.
Thankfully everyone I know who has moved abroad has been able to find work when they get home as well as resume their education if they took a break from it to live abroad. Others may face more challenges, but it’s important to remember that everyone loves a good story. In a job interview, find a way to tie your experience abroad to the current position, or at the very least – entertain with a few good stories!
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Overall I still think it would be amazing to live abroad for a couple years, but I have to live with the reality that there would be some major hurdles to clear. One thing I didn’t mention was children, which would complicate everything further. I have seen a number of families with children move abroad and have at least a few friends whose parents moved abroad while they were growing up. They all had positive experiences.
If you feel like moving abroad, I would highly encourage you to not let the challenges overwhelm you. From what I’ve heard from the twenty or thirty-plus people I know who have spent some time abroad, it is definitely worth it.
Have you lived abroad, either for work, studying, or otherwise? What challenges did you face? If you could move abroad to anywhere in the world, where would you choose and why?
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Photo by Sara Hopkins
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I honestly think we would move abroad if we didn’t have kids. But, kids make the situation tricky. I want my kids to have first class healthcare and education and that wouldn’t be possible in some of the places I would want to live.
@Holly at ClubThrifty I can’t even imagine trying to move abroad with kids, and you’re right, it would limit the places you’d be able to go if you wanted high quality health care and education.
Like Holly, I think we would move overseas in a heartbeat if we did not have kids. We’ve been able to travel quite a bit and have loved it. We would probably end up moving to Ireland if it were up to my wife. ;)
@FrugalRules I haven’t been to Ireland but it’s one of the top countries I want to visit! Also, all these ppl saying kids are holding them back is making me think maybe we should extend our 5-8 year timeline…and most ppl think that’s already pretty long to wait to have kids.
I think we’re too set in our ways, but it’s fun to think about moving somewhere exotic. I could never leave my dogs, though, so that would be a deal breaker. Maybe when we’re old and don’t have to work anymore, it might be something to consider.
@Eyesonthedollar Yeah there’s no way we can leave my wife’s 20+ year old cat. It’s hard to leave her for even a weekend.
We sometimes think about up and leaving to somewhere with a nice beach (such as Hawaii), but we love our family and friends. It would be too hard to leave!
@SenseofCents Oh my gosh…Hawaii…so amazing!
I watch HH International and think the same thing. Of course those shows make it look like it’s a piece of cake. I’m exploring an option to maybe house sit overseas for a month or so…enough to feel like I’ve “lived” somewhere else, but where I can go back to my creature comforts. I have a cat too which makes it complicated, but I can always find someone to house sit for me, and as a freelancer I SHOULD be able to take work with me, although it would be challenging.
@Beachbudget You should totally do it! I would love to read your posts abroad : )
oh good, so language barrier doesn’t bother you :) I have had liver for breakfast when I thought I was ordering cookies haha that is definitely a challenge of settling abroad for a while.
@RFIndependence Liver? You’re kidding me….also you eat cookies for breakfast? haha
@DC @ Young Adult Money It was in Arabic. They asked if I wanted Kebda and I only knew the word for Zebda was butter, so I assumed it was a butter cookie or something sweet, originating from the butter word. I usually have eggs with bacon but my vocabulary made my diet limited for a few months so I would have been happy to manage cookies for breakfast!
@RFIndependence Haha makes sense, that’s a great story!
I have also always thought it would be great. Our recent cross country move has really helped me realize how difficult parts of it would be. Although, I have to imagine it’d be the adventure of a lifetiem:)
@KelseyJass Gosh, even moving across the country seems like a nearly insurmountable challenge! Congrats on the move!
We watch HH International and their newer shows, HH Living Abroad and find both very intriguing. Actually, one of the recent shows was about a family from our city that moved to Switzerland as the husband left an amazing job here for a sweet one that he found there. They took their 2 kids with them and they are gone for 3 years. Occasionally I check out how they are doing via their blog.
It can be an adjustment but many people, as you mentioned too, are doing it quite successfully. I think if a person goes knowing that it is only for a period of time and that they can turn around at any point they may feel more comfortable.
Several years ago the company I worked for sent me to work in the UK for 15 months. At the time I was single, owned a townhouse and didn’t have any pets. I had 3 days notice, which was perfect because I find that the more time I have the more I will find things to worry about. With 3 days I barely had time to pack. I loved every minute of my time there and took full advantage of living there & traveling to Europe, but I did notice that when others came over from North America they did have difficulty adjusting to the lifestyle.
@TacklingOurDebt Wow, that sounds like quite the adventure! 3 days notice? I would not do well…I would have so many problems with that short notice.
Never lived abroad, only traveled abroad. I’d definitely love to live abroad at some point in my life. Right now it’s not really a possibility because of our jobs. But if we could find jobs abroad we’d definitely jump at the opportunity.
@StudentDebtSurvivor One problem for us is we both have grad school ahead of us (well, at least my wife does for sure) and then we both want careers, so we’d have to find a place where we could BOTH get jobs in our career field. It’s definitely doable, but would be a bit of a challenge.
I doubt that I could live abroad. Heck going to Canada feels like a whole different world. I couldn’t imagine somewhere exotic. It’s fun to think about, but I like my home.
@JustinatTheFrugalPath Haha well when you know you know
I just moved abroad a few months ago to start a PhD program, and I’ve been adjusting to it. Another thing to adjust to is the food. Two of my roommates can’t eat much of the local cuisine because they do not eat spicy food. One person basically eats Western food every day for lunch which is usually a cutlet with fries.
@ChewyTravels Ah food is huge. I would struggle abroad in that category, as would my wife.
Keeping up with taxes and figuring out how the laws of the foreign country applied to me are in my top five list. I got behind on my US taxes while living in Bangkok and paid a lot to catch up. I also started a “business” and then realized that under <a href=”http://www.thailand-business-law-center.com/”>Thailand business law</a>, my enterprise was illegitimate, and I lost a lot of money.
Keeping up with taxes and figuring out how the laws of the foreign country applied to me are in my top five list. I got behind on my US taxes while living in Bangkok and paid a lot to catch up. I also started a “business” and then realized that under <a href=”http://www.thailand-business-law-center.com/”>Thailand business law</a>, my enterprise was illegitimate, and I lost a lot of money.
Yes. These are surely the tough challenges to be faced when moving abroad. Even while traveling you have to face such issues. My sister moved to USA recently and it took her 4 months to settle down completely with lot of adjustments. Anyways, your post is very good. Thanks for sharing. :)