"I was looking around in different Facebook groups, and I got connected to a world schooling Facebook group, and it was all about families who basically travel with their kids, and they teach them through traveling."
While wealthy and glamorous influencers try to convince their followers that their upwardly mobile lives in Dubai are just peachy, in reality, many young Irish teachers and nurses are wondering whether it's time to pack up and return home.
The decision wasn't made lightly. I can remember walking the sidewalks of our Colorado exurb, trying to decide if this was the right choice. In that sunny winter weather, our daughter bundled up in a stroller, the dog investigating lawns, our conversations would go: "Are you happy here?" "I feel like if we stay we're going to get old in front of the TV." "Can you imagine how much better the food will be?" "If we don't do it now, we'll probably never do it."
We're a 10-minute walk from the Palace of Versailles. My wife attends ISIPCA, one of the most prestigious graduate perfumery programs in the world, and I'm an American writer living right outside Paris. It may sound glamorous, but my daily routine hasn't really changed. Before our move in October, I sat in front of a computer all day. After our move, my life has looked pretty much the same.
I think people don't always believe me when I say it, but living abroad has always felt more fun to me. I love the cultural challenges, the language barrier, the different food, and the process of figuring out the day-to-day. I'm originally from Conyers, a small town just outside Atlanta. In high school, I moved to Athens, Georgia. It was a typical small, suburban place - there weren't many people traveling internationally. Certainly, no one was moving abroad the way I eventually did.
There are few things Arabella Carey Adolfsson enjoys more than going fishing near her lakeside home in Sweden during the summertime, or getting her camera out and taking photographs of the natural beauty surrounding her. She and her husband Stefan, a Swede, often take their boat out from Torpon, the island where they live, onto the waters of Lake Sommen, savoring the picturesque views of the surrounding fields, forests and cliffs.
After working as an editor in New York City for several years, my then-wife got offered a job in Singapore. It was the golden opportunity we both wanted. What we thought would be a posting of just a few years turned into decades. We divorced in 2011, but both stayed in Singapore, building our careers and lives. Singapore was the jolt my career needed I'd always wanted to be a photojournalist, so in 2000 I decided to pursue it full-time.
I met an incredible woman on a random outing to London while I was living life in slow motion, alone in a quiet English seaside town. I fell in love in a way that surprised me, both in its speed and its certainty. I knew it was her. The relationship unfolded across train rides, weekends, and the growing realization that what I thought was a temporary chapter in my life was quietly becoming its center.
I've spent years filling up my passport with stamps from all around the world, from Australia to Latin America to Asia. I was even the first in my family to travel internationally - the only vacations we'd been on were road trips in our home country, Germany. By the end of 2021, I'd travelled full-time for seven and a half years, visited more than 40 countries, and lived in several of them.
After living in US cities for years, I moved to a small Italian town with a few thousand residents. It's been an amazing experience to really connect with my neighbors and get to know them. I like living in a place with a strong sense of community - I never felt I had that back in the US. Ten years ago, I was enjoying overpriced cocktails at trendy bars in San Diego.
My husband and I were both born in the US, but for the last decade, we've worked remotely, living abroad in countries like Mexico and South Korea. We always had a longtime dream, though, of ending up in Europe. Five months after having our daughter, we decided on Portugal, which offered a digital nomad visa and proximity to tons of European countries.
Just think about it: you've got a shared interest, so there's no risk of small talk. You know you're going to see them again, but in a neutral environment. There will be other people there, so you can easily find someone else to talk to if the conversation runs cold, and if it all goes belly up you've got an easy way out you can just stop going to meet-ups and never have to see them again.
I was 30, a British-South African expat living her best life in Zurich, when I was unexpectedly and entirely swept off my feet by a Swedish knight in shining armour. The day we met, I knew deep in my bones that my life was about to change forever. We spent an hourslong brunch together, followed by strolling the city with mutual friends he was visiting for the weekend from London.
Imagine waking up to the sound of waves gently lapping the shore, enjoying fresh tropical fruits for breakfast, and spending your days exploring lush landscapes—all for $1,000.
