“And suddenly you just know… it’s time to start something new and trust in the magic of new beginnings.”
— Meister Eckhart, 13th century German mystic
Eckhart’s sentiment seems intensely romantic, especially in a flourishing font superimposed over an exotic landscape. Cast your fate to the winds! Live your life, take chances, don’t wait! Leap and the net will appear!
Or will it?
I hope I don’t have to tell you how much I love living in Seville, but occasionally I’ve watched aghast as someone arrives in starry-eyed haste only to repent at grumpy leisure.
One woman spent a single sun-drenched, wine-soaked weekend here, went home, sold everything, came back, moved into an apartment … and was absolutely miserable.
She found everything substandard, from the weather — too hot, too cold , too wet, too dull — to the people around her, who had the nerve to be busy with their own lives when she wanted to go out for tapas — which were never as tasty as she’d remembered. She had nothing to do, no place to go, and nobody eager to listen to her complaints. After a few months she took off for another country, where no doubt she’s learning to grumble in Arabic.
In my experience, if you’re contemplating a leap to a new life, you want to look — long and hard — at where you’ll be landing. Before picking a forever home, it’s wise to spend a year trying out the lifestyle.
As blogger Kirsten Raccuia demonstrates in My Moving Abroad Regrets: How to Learn From My Mistakes, even expats who make a successful transition overseas have lists of “if I could do it overs.” Dancing in the Fountain, the book in which I describe my move to Seville, is brimming with faux pas and ridiculous misunderstandings. The object of the game is to keep the bloopers and regrets to a minimum — and learn from them.
Which is why I compiled this checklist in consultation with my brother Mike and his wife, Deb. I’m not saying they’re obsessive compulsive, but they dotted every letter of the alphabet before moving to Seville for a year.
THE YEAR-ABROAD PREPARATION CHECKLIST
Define your goal or purpose. Is the trip about adventure? Learning a new language? Discovering the seediest dive bars? Finding a quiet place to write the Great American Novel?
Choose a suitable destination. Have you been there before? Do you know anyone there? Will it support your goal? If you’ll be traveling, is transit convenient? Might violent conflict break out? No? Are you sure? You might want to check that out with a reliable source.
Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done.
I looked up Spain on the US State Department’s travel advisory webpage. It warned, “Exercise increased caution. Terrorist groups continue plotting possible attacks in Spain. Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, local government facilities, hotels, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, parks, major sporting and cultural events, educational institutions, airports, and other public areas.”
Yikes! That’s everywhere I go! Was my life hanging by a thread? Before fleeing in panic, I decided to check the UK Travel Advice page for Spain. There was nothing beyond the lifting of the weather advisory after last fall’s flooding. The only thing missing was a yawn emoji. I figured (rightly) it was safe to stay put.
Check out your destination’s entry requirements, visa regulations, and tax laws. Start with their government’s official website, and thank your lucky stars most countries now provide English translations. Consider consulting an immigration lawyer, as Deb and Mike did.
“We Googled immigration lawyers in our area and her name came up: Debora Eizips-Dreymann,” Mike told me. “At first we kept saying, ‘Yeah, that’s good advice but we could have figured it out ourselves.’ By the end of the process, we were saying, ‘Wow, absolutely worth it!’”
Make sure your passport’s good for at least six months. Allow plenty of time for renewing.
Review your finances and work situation. Planning to work online? Organize everything in advance, from lining up clients to rebranding your service. Hoping to work locally? Check out options on job sites such as GoOverseas. Living on your savings? Be realistic about how long your money will last. Your new home may be cheaper, but it’s not free.
Set up an international bank account. I use Wise, a London-based financial technology company specializing in international money transfers. Keep your old account for online bill paying. Opening an account in your new home might involve surprising complications; in Spain, for instance, you pay extra fees if you don’t have an automatic monthly deposit such as a salary or pension.
Make arrangements for your home and pets. Don’t sell up until you’re comfortably ensconced in your new life. Find a renter or hire a house/pet sitter.
Research medical insurance. Medicare won’t cover you abroad, and you may not qualify for the national health service. Find out the reimbursement policy of your existing insurer. Need more? Sanitas is popular with expats worldwide. Make sure you’re covered!
Get medical records, renew prescriptions, discuss vaccines. Research health resources; you may be pleasantly surprised. Update your Covid vaccine and find out if other vaccines or meds are recommended for your destination. Visit the CDC Traveler’s Health page; get a second opinion from the UK’s National Health Service.
“Go see your doctor shortly before you go,” Deb advised. “Make sure your prescriptions won’t expire.”
Arrange mail forwarding. The US Post Office only pauses mail up to 30 days for free but now offers a Premium Forwarding Service for a fee.
Adapt your phone or get another. You’ll want an unlocked phone with e-sim cards and an international plan.
Register with your embassy.The Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) enables American consular agents to update you about health and security concerns.
Lease before you buy. Study neighborhoods, prices, and tax implications before you even think about committing to any form of real estate.
Get set up to watch TV from the Old Country. I use Express VPN to access entertainment in my own language.
Bring a few small things that remind you of home. Don’t ship cars, furniture, or appliances, but photos and mementos will make your new place feel cozier.
Once you’re sure, ignore the naysayers. “When setting out on a journey,” said the poet Rumi, “do not seek advice from those who have never left home.” Sometimes your plucky decision may inspire jealousy and passive-aggression in others.
“So what was your goal in moving to Spain for a year?” I asked my brother.
“Our goal was to travel around Europe and see if there was some place that we would ever consider living permanently.”
“And did you accomplish that?” I asked, and we all laughed. Because no, of course they didn’t. Five weeks after they arrived in Seville, Covid hit and the world went into lockdown.
Which just goes to show that you can never prepare for every possibility. But they made the most of their year abroad anyway, touring Spain and Portugal when lockdown loosened, creating vivid memories of a remarkable moment in world history.
And isn’t that really why we move abroad — to plunge into unexpected adventures and to experience, as Anthony Bourdain put it, “the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the unknown”?
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