Moving as an expat - Part 1

As I mentioned earlier, I'll be heading to Changchun shortly...February 27th to be exact. Moving to a new city is one thing, but moving to a new city in a foreign country can be a daunting task. Fortunately there are numerous resources available online. Unfortunately, the process of actually finding the best information is something that comes with experience.

Starting my overseas  life stumbling about the expat scene in Korea and Taiwan, I always did plenty of research before making any major location decision. The internet is filled with information on every locale you can imagine, but for a relative newcomer, it can seem daunting. To make matters worse, there really isn’t a step by step guide to determining what and where is best is the best location for you as an expat.

With that in mind, I’ll be writing a step by step guide on how to go about deciding where to move. I should probably make it clear that I will be writing this for the benefit of the relatively young traveler/gap year/short-long term English teacher/all around expat bum lifestyle type people here. 

If your company is giving you a housing allowance and you need a container to move your belongings, well…you too can gain some information from this series as well. But it will be mainly of interest to those of us who go where we choose, not where our boss sends us. So without further ado, let us begin.

Step 1 – Where to go?

            So you’ve decided to hit the road for greener pastures but you’re not sure where to begin. Well, start at the broadest category you can and work your way down. Is South America good but Africa down? Great, you’ve narrowed your search down pretty well just like that. Don’t forget the climate either! If you can’t stand the cold, then South Korea probably isn’t for you. Be honest with yourself about what you really do require.

            Once you’ve narrowed your search down to a manageable area, it’s time to do some reconnaissance. Start with these three websites, not necessarily in the posted order but doing 1,2,3 would not be a bad idea.

1.     Eslcafe – If you’re already living overseas then you likely know of this site, but eslcafe is the nexus of English teaching on the interwebs. Always devote lots of time to reading the various posts, no info is irrelevant!!! Well, no relevant information is irrelevant…whatever that means.

2.     Wikitravel – an invaluable tool for the worldly traveler, this wiki site has all the cliff notes you’ll need for any country and any major city.

3.     Couchsurfing – If you haven’t signed up for couchsurfing yet, do it now! You won’t regret it. Essentially a social network for travelers, couchsurfing is your one stop shop for communicating with other travelers. Every country and major city in Asia will have a group page. Check out each country/city page; how many members are there, how often do people post, how often do people reply, how often if ever are CS events hosted, etc.

Once you’ve soaked up enough information and stewed on it for a few days, you’ll be ready for step #2, which will conveniently be ready in a few days!   

PS. Step one should take between 3-14 days, depending on your temperament and tolerance for reading.