Mind you, I wasn’t so enthused when I looked out the plane’s window as we came in to land. The pilot informed us (a little too cheerily, I thought) that it was -3°C, and the sky was an ominous grey.

Still, the city soon made up for it.

I had a few hours to kill before a business meeting, so I took the opportunity to amble around the Old Town, before finding my way through the winding streets to the Kunsthaus art museum.

The museum lacks the grandeur and wealth of treasures that the Louvre, National Gallery or the Prado can boast. But with a collection of works spanning six centuries – including some beautiful pieces by Canaletto, Monet and Van Gogh – it is well worth a trip.

And Zürich has a lot more to offer. The cafes, restaurants, shops, and its beautiful lake make Zürich an enviable place to live. Easy access to Switzerland’s world class ski resorts has a certain attraction too!

The Swiss advantage

And Switzerland’s appeal is not limited to its culture or sporting activities.

In its most recent annual survey, the World Economic Forum crowned Switzerland as the most competitive nation in the world for the second year running.

Switzerland was followed by Sweden, with Singapore third in the rankings. The United States slipped to fourth. The United Kingdom was 12^th.

Running like clockwork

Such rankings were underscored on my way home.

The Swiss, of course, are famed for their timekeeping and efficiency. When the trains say they will arrive at a certain time they do, and to the second. They are smooth, clean and comfortable. Getting around Zürich is a cinch.

By contrast, getting back to my home in the UK was anything but smooth and comfortable. London’s Underground system was ground-breaking (literally) when it opened 150 years ago. Now though it is showing its age. There are constant repairs, and too many people jostling to get on.

The subsequent overland leg of my train journey was even worse. Broken signals, delays, overcrowded carriages. Suffice to say, it eventually took me twice as long to get from London’s City airport to home as it had taken me to fly from Switzerland to the UK.

Having lived abroad for many years, I know that nowhere is perfect.

Britain has its faults, for sure – the climate, the overstretched transport infrastructure, the lack of space, its cost of living. Yet coming back to live in the UK has helped me see it with new, more sympathetic eyes, better able to appreciate the wonderful things it does have to offer, and not just the bad bits.

Still, I can see why there is so much interest – especially among those well-paid financial types – in relocating to Switzerland.

Much of the reason may be to do with the favourable tax regimes they can expect to find in the country’s various cantons.

But I’m sure Switzerland’s long-trumpeted quality of life advantages must be as much of a draw.

Related posts:

1. Swiss Watch
2. Tax Threat to UK’s Global Competitiveness
3. Your Moving Abroad Location Checklist

To many outsiders, me included, America’s fixation with its guns – and the ease with which people can buy them – is incomprehensible.

Gun advocates, meanwhile, argue their case by referencing America’s frontier past, their constitutional rights and the defence of freedom.

Bridging the Cultural Divide

This divergence of opinions on the issue of gun control illustrates the cultural divide expats often have to bridge when trying to make a new country their home.

For those heading to the US, the actual question of gun ownership is one aspect. But it is understanding and living with the underlying beliefs that support such positions which are likely to prove the bigger test.

Personally, I loved living in America. I loved the landscapes, its space, the optimism and can-do attitudes. And I met nothing but warm, generous, friendly people.

Nevertheless, the country’s political environment, its commitment to capitalist economics, and prevailing sentiments around healthcare, education, religion and a host of other factors may prove insurmountable obstacles for some.

Global Challenges

And it is not just America. Such political, economic and cultural considerations should feature in your decision, whatever your intended destination.

For example, Europe offers an abundance of cultural delights, with untold historical riches, beautiful architecture, and a culinary smorgasbord from which to sample. But can you cope with Italy’s red tape, French workers’ proclivity to strike, or the famous British reserve?

It is never easy to know until you are on the ground in a country, facing the life it offers day after day.

But if you ask yourself the testing questions on how suited you are to a life abroad before you go you will be better equipped for the changes ahead.

Related posts:

1. Your Moving Abroad Location Checklist
2. China: Expat Heaven in the Middle Kingdom?
3. Currency Exchange Critical to Moving Abroad Success

Working for a US-based publisher, first in London and then in New York, I always used to get teased by my American colleagues about the quality of British cuisine.

Now, to an extent I concede they had a point. There are some wonderful eating establishments around Britain, and in particular in London. But there are some shocking places as well. And a country that boasts fish and chips as its national dish has to be on dodgy territory.

By contrast, the year I lived in the States – and I did a fair amount of travelling around during that stint – I never had one bad meal. So, grudgingly, I had to admit my colleagues had a point. Indeed, the only complaint I ever had was that the portions were too big.

Where I did have a gripe though was with American chocolate. Hershey’s! Urgh.

According to Wikipedia, Hershey’s uses a secret, more economic process in its milk chocolate that, it is speculated, produces a compound that helps stabilize the milk, but also produces a sour, “tangy” taste. Definitely not one that works for me.

America also sets lower cocoa limits: US government rules specify milk chocolate must have a minimum 10% concentration of chocolate liquor (which, says Wikipedia, is pure chocolate in its liquid form, containing approximately equal amounts of cocoa solids and cocoa butter). By contrast, European Union regulations stipulate a minimum of 25% cocoa solids.

Even the chocolate bars we were used to finding in Britain had been adulterated beyond recognition. And I won’t even get into the comparative merits of Swiss and Belgian chocolate.

In short, this is one area where America can learn a thing or two from its friends in Europe. So I only hope Kraft doesn’t ruin Cadbury’s now it has taken charge.

Related posts:

1. Taste for the Multicultural
2. Repatriation Advantages
3. The Perfect Country?

At the time I remember thinking ‘Blimey, that’s the life.’ Writing a few hours a day and then trailing around the French countryside the rest of the time.

Hardly a deep, or unique reaction I know. Everyone thought the same, which was why the book went on to sell so many copies and turned Peter Mayle into a rich and famous man.

What was perhaps different was my next thought – ‘That’s what I want to do.’ Become a writer, first and foremost. And live abroad.

Well, I’ve done the moving bit all right – first to the States, and then six years ago to Spain. But now, at last, I’ve got a book coming out too, which I hope will be the start of an even more wonderful journey.

There is, after all, a certain kudos to being a writer.

Millionaire novelists like J.K. Rowling, John Grisham and Stephen King spring to mind. Or perhaps the literary cool of an Ernest Hemingway, Jay McInerney or Zadie Smith.

And the non-fiction arena is an even bigger market. Self-help bibles, business success stories, health and fitness guides, even cookery books have the power to turn their authors into celebrity figures.

And even if it doesn’t make the New York Times bestseller lists, a book can act as a badge of status that a writer can leverage for speaking engagements, workshops, coaching programmes and a host of other money-spinning activities.

No wonder so many people dream of becoming an author.

But the traditional publishing world has an uncertain future.

There are the big success stories of course, with millions of copies of certain titles – not least the Harry Potter series – flying off the shelves.

Nevertheless, reports indicate that for years the general public as a whole has been reading less and less. It doesn’t bode well for your business then if demand for your product is steadily falling.

Plus publishing has an idiosyncratic business model. For while the publishers bear the expense of producing and – less frequently these days – promoting their books, any unsold ones can be returned by the retailer without having to pay for them. The publisher then has to find warehouse space to store them, or pay for them to be pulped.

In other words, they face all the risk for the success or otherwise of their products. Can you imagine any other business working that way?

So it’s no wonder publishers are keen to focus on what they think will be surefire successes – the celebrity writers with marketable names, and established literary big guns with a track record.

Which isn’t to say new writers can’t break in. Arguably those that are good enough, and keep submitting, will get noticed by agents and publishers, who are full of talented people as keen to sign the next literary superstar as the writer is to be one.

But it’s not easy for the aspiring debutant. And the rewards for all that work are often pitiful.

Meanwhile a mass of mediocre books continue to hit the display stands, largely on the strength of the author’s name blazoned across the top.

But an alternative future is emerging … which I’ll come to in Part II.

Related posts:

1. Expat Book: The Long and Winding Road
2. Expat Living By the Book
3. Endless Summer – The Postcards Tour Finale

Yet Catalunya has its idiosyncratic traditions too. One – less common in Barcelona but found across the rest of the region, especially in rural areas – is tió de Nadal (the Christmas log).

They can be bought in various sizes, but essentially it is a hollow tree log, commonly raised on one end by short stick legs, and with a painted face and stuck-on nose on the front (I know, but bear with me on this). The tió is ‘fed’ every night in the run up to Christmas, and then on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, depending on your preference, it is beaten with a stick to a special accompanying song and ordered to poo out its treats of sweets or nuts and the like.

It may sound somewhat bizarre, but is – or so I am told by the teachers at my daughter’s school – magical for the children.

Meanwhile, across Spain the big present-giving celebration is not December 25 as in North America and some other parts of Europe, but Epiphany (January 6). For this is the day when the Three Kings (los Reyes) came to see Jesus in the stable, bringing their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Nevertheless, Santa Claus and Christmas Day gifts are slowly encroaching into the Spanish calendar – the power, I guess, of Disney and Coca Cola!

Related posts:

1. Living Abroad: An Epiphany
2. Celebrating the Holiday Season Abroad
3. Catalan Ban Spells the End of Bullfighting?

It’s a celebration that I always viewed with a degree of envy as a boy growing up in England, something else to look forward to in those interminable months between the end of summer and the fever of Christmas. And what a great tradition – lots of hearty food shared with the family, and then licence to spend the rest of the day lazing in front of the television.

So although it felt almost like a betrayal to my nationality to be doing so, when I moved to New York at the turn of the millennium I determined to take part in the festivities. We braved the freezing temperatures with the thousands of other people to watch the inflatables bob down Central Park West, and then returned to our apartment to cook up a passing resemblance to the traditional feast that would be laid on millions of tables across the States.

Unfortunately my wife had come down with flu the night before, so it wasn’t the liveliest occasion. But just being off work and sampling the experience in the flesh was good enough.

So I can see why for the millions of expat Americans around the world this is a day when homesickness is at its keenest. It is, after all, a peculiarly American holiday that is meant to be shared with your nearest and dearest.

Still, while it’s a day to miss home, it’s also a day for gratitude for all the things you do have, right here and right now, wherever that happens to be.

And so in some small way I too have been trying to appropriate this tradition by remembering those things for which I can truly be grateful: my wife and daughters, my health and theirs, the love of family and friends, having a roof over my head and food to eat, having the opportunity to live in Spain and experience first hand and in detail a different culture, with all its joys and frustrations.

Plenty to give thanks for I feel.

Related posts:

1. Living Abroad and the Joys of Family Support
2. The Cost of Living Abroad
3. Taste of America