Preparing for an overseas move is a lot more complicated than preparing to move across town, or even across the country. The cost of bringing your home furnishings and personal items with you can end up costing you tens of thousands of dollars instead of the hundreds you will pay to move within the US. While you may be able to get away with packing everything and moving it across town, the financial burden to do that with an international move is staggering. My solution is to downsize before I …
Corporate Cubicles: I’m Just Saying No
Those of you who have followed me for a while know that I don't often get super-personal. Once in a while, I do share my personal circumstances occasionally, when it’s relevant to our overall discussion. When I lost my job in March as part of the US financial meltdown, I let you know about it, because it was going to effect my ability to explore new places to live. I spent the next seven months, approximately, without a job, picking up some freelance writing here and there with unemployment …
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Expat Films: Across the Universe
At its most basic, Across the Universe (2007) is a coming-of-age love story. Young man from Liverpool, England, takes a job on a trans-Atlantic ship, then disappears into the US on arrival. Boy meets girl, they fall in love, find obstacles in their path, are temporarily separated and ultimately reunited. All set to music of the Beatles. I have to admit up-front that I am an avid Beatles fan. I was in the 6th grade when the Fab Four made their first American tour, so I spent some of my most …
Save Up To 50% on Health Care Costs
In Mexico, that is. That's the headline in today's email postcard from the Overseas Opportunity Letter. I thought I was done writing about health care, for a little while anyway. But this postcard caught my attention. Author Therese Lewis goes on to discuss in some detail the upside of Mexican health care: It costs a quarter to a half of what you'd pay in the US You don't have to cut back on quality Visits to doctors, even specialists, cost about $27-38 A hospital stay, overnight, will set …
A Town Like Alice: Expat Book Review
A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute is multi-layered expat novel, which was made into a TV mini-series in 1981. It has been one of my favorites for a long time, not only because of the expat themes, but because it also features a strong female protagonist who overcomes some truly daunting obstacles. Author Nevil Shute is interesting in his own right. A prolific author, with over 20 novels to his credit, Nevil Shute Norway was by profession an aeronautic engineer and pilot. Shute became an expat …
Health Care and Expatriation
A few days ago, I asked the question, “Is US health care driving Americans to move abroad?” The response was swift. “Of course it is,” wrote Lya Sorano, Atlanta businesswoman. “Hardly a month passes in which I do not hear about a friend-of-a-friend or former neighbor decamping to Mexico or Costa Rica. I may be next . . . :-)" Mary Duckworth Mimouna, living in Morocco, responded: "It was one of the major factors prompting me to move overseas in 1993 when I did with my foreign husband. We had no …