While your wish to continue your career in another country may be primarily motivated by professional prospects, you also want to feel at home in the new location. This is all the more important if the move also affects your partner or the whole family.
On this page, I provide practical tips on how to best determine whether a particular location abroad can offer you the quality of life you want before you decide. With the approach I suggest, you can minimize the remaining risks quickly and easily.
Before I get to that, let me start by explaining a typical pitfall you should avoid in this situation.
Vacation memories are misleading
If you consider moving to a place you already know from a vacation stay, be aware of the trap that such memories represent in most cases!
There is a good reason for it. A vacation is meant to be different from everyday life. People often choose the opposite of what surrounds them at home. Moreover, you likely also behave differently while on vacation. You are more relaxed, more flexible, less goal-oriented, willing to spend more money, and open to solving problems with solutions that would be out of question back at home.
Assuming that your life at home has been set up the way it is for good reasons, the locations you choose for vacation are likely not suitable at all to become the right next place of residence for you.
The best way to find out: A flash of real everyday experiences
The safest way to discover if a location abroad is right for you is to get real everyday experience in this location before you make a decision. Of course, that requires a trip there, but not a long stay. In my opinion, two weeks are usually sufficient, but even a few days only will provide you with most of what you need to know if you spend your time there in the right way.
So, when your prospective new boss has invited you to come to their place for the final job interview, for example, do not use the time there for a little vacation, as tempting as this may be! Instead, use the stay to evaluate what everyday life will look like for you in this location.
The following aspects aren’t meant to be comprehensive, but should suffice to get your very own analysis on the right track.
> In general: Make it as real as possible
Despite the short time, try to live as typically as you will if you decide to move there. So, do not make compromises that can’t be sustained for a longer period. Do not buy yourself out of problems unless you can do this permanently. And avoid wasting your time with touristic activities that are fun but irrelevant to the decision.
> Housing
Identify a neighborhood you would likely live in later because, apart from other relevant aspects, you can afford the rent of suitable places there. Then, try to find an Airbnb apartment in this area that is as similar as possible to the kind of permanent place you would want to live in later. Your short stay will be relatively more expensive, but that’s no problem as long as you can afford the long-term rental of a place like that.
> Food
Discover where you can buy the groceries you need regularly, if all the products you mainly care about are available and affordable, and if any special dietary requirements you may have can be met.
Prepare your food “at home” and make eating out an exception.
> Health
Check where and how you can get the medication and medical treatment you may need regularly.
> Hobbies
If you have a hobby that is important to you, if there is a type of sport you enjoy doing regularly, or if you just like to go to the gym every week, find out what your options in that regard will be as well.
> Transport
Depending on the location, this can be one of the most important aspects. You can simulate regular car trips by using a rental car, use public transportation at rush hour if this is applicable, and only use taxis or similar services frequently if this would be your regular means to get around when you live there.
> Social activities
Last but not least, don’t forget the social aspects over dealing with all those practical issues! Despite the limited amount of time you have, try to meet as many locals and expats you can likely relate to as possible. Start organizing this before you arrive because these people may not be available to meet with you on short notice. Check upcoming events on InterNations, Meetup.com, and similar platforms for interesting opportunities to attend.
How to evaluate the results
If you keep yourself busy with activities like that, your stay may likely not feel like being on vacation. However, that wasn’t its purpose anyway. Don’t worry if some of the things were a bit stressful or did not work out perfectly. There are only two major questions you’ll need to find the answer to at the end of your visit.
1. Is there a real showstopper?
Check if any of the problems you encountered must be seen as a serious argument against the place. A lack of needed medical facilities or affordable housing could be examples of it.
2. Are you likely to overcome the smaller challenges over time?
Feeling uncomfortable with one or the other aspect is absolutely normal and should not scare you. Just check if you will likely be able to adjust to them over time. Having to drive on the “wrong” side of the road could be an example of that (as it certainly was in my case 😉 ).
In other words, focus on the big picture and trust that you’ll cope with the rest just fine later.
My personal experience with this approach
I’ve used this approach to making the right decision whether or not a certain location abroad is right for me already three times in my life. Each time, I got a clear result. Consequently, I decided to move to Poland and Mauritius, and decided against Jamaica. I’ve never regretted any of those three decisions.
In conclusion, I can tell that this method leads to reliable results, provided that the relevant aspects are tested.