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So you’ve decided to take the plunge and emigrate. Congratulations! Your next question should be how are you going to make your move a success?
Many people decide to emigrate in order to provide a better quality of life for themselves and their family – the thought of year-round sunshine, more time with loved ones, different leisure opportunities. But whatever your motivations, it is crucial you put yourself in the best financial position possible if you are to get off to a good start in your new country. And to do that, you need to give serious thought and planning to the issue of currency exchange.
OK, so it may not seem as fun as researching all about the sun, sea and sand you can look forward to enjoying. But getting a good currency exchange rate can make a huge difference to the success of your move. And if it helps maximise the budget you have to spend on your dream home abroad that has to be time well spent.
Getting the biggest bang for your buck
For some people, currency exchange may be a key factor in their choice of destination. For instance, countries in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe with relatively weak currencies can offer great opportunities to make your savings go further.
Alternatively, among those soon-to-be-expats who have already picked their dream location, the issue will be more a matter of how to get the most from your money.
Take buying property abroad. For many expats it means exchanging your savings into the local currency of the country to where you are moving. Exchanging large amounts can be an expensive exercise though, and isn’t to be taken lightly. Therefore, many expats employ a foreign exchange broker to guide them through the process. Others simply bide their time, research the currency market, and exchange when the rate is particularly favourable.
Money matters
Foreign exchange rates are a huge factor when moving abroad – so make sure you address it as soon as possible in the decision making process.
The best advice is to do your research thoroughly. If you want help, consider using a foreign exchange broker. And if not, ensure you shop around to get the best exchange rate possible.
Tags: Abroad, Africa, Asia, broker, budget, buy, country, currencies, currency, destination, emigrate, Europe, exchange, expat, family, financial, Foreign, home, leisure, life, location, love, market, money, move, moving, property, quality, rate, saving, success, sun
Do animals get grumpy?
Are there certain days when your cat or dog is more irritable than others? Do creatures in the wild go through mood swings? Or is it just humans?
I ask because I read this week about Cathal Morrow, an author living in Madrid. Back in June he embarked on a quest to live for a year without unhappiness, in an attempt to prove happiness is merely a state of mind.
As he writes on his blog, http://imhappyandiknowit.com/:
“What I’m attempting to live is my belief that happiness is entirely independent of the highs and lows of my little life, that it’s far bigger than me. That happiness is a permanent state for us all, if only we allow it to be.”
Being happy. We’re all looking for it, aren’t we?
Yet that appears to be the root of the problem. We’re searching for it, as if happiness is a destination that will be reached once we’ve got X, Y and Z in place.
Thanksgiving
It’s an important issue, brought into focus by this week’s Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States.
While it began as a festival giving thanks for the year’s harvest, Thanksgiving has since developed into a more general expression of gratitude.
And therein lies Mr Morrow’s secret to happiness – a determination to see the everyday brightness in life and be happy for it.
Seeking a better life
Which brings me to moving abroad.
Why is it so many people around the world – including millions of citizens in some of the most prosperous countries on the planet – want to relocate elsewhere?
For most people the interest is spurred by a desire to find a “better life,” whatever their definition may be.
Many are stirred by the potential benefits they hope to find by relocating – better weather, more leisure opportunities, lower living costs, attractive employment openings. Others see moving abroad as an escape from the unfulfilled lives they are living in their current location.
Finding Happiness
However, this desire for movement is not necessarily the path to happiness.
Yes, moving abroad can lead to a healthier, happier, richer life. But switching one country for another won’t by itself be enough. Ultimately it is an internal shift, rather than the external one, that leads to happiness and fulfilment.
Hence the importance of gratitude.
Rather than think about the things that are wrong with our lives, we should devote more attention to the things that are right.
It could be your health, or the health of your partner or children, the love of family, laughter with friends, the joy of a sunrise or waves on the beach, thanks for the food you have to eat.
Which isn’t to say you shouldn’t want to improve your current situation. It is human nature, one of the driving forces of evolution. But by stopping to give conscious thanks for those daily blessings we too often take for granted, the chances are you will be a happier person, wherever in the world you happen to find yourself.
Who could ask for a better life than that?
Tags: beach, Children, citizen, countries, country, destination, employment, family, festival, Food, friend, gratitude, happier, happiness, happy, harvest, health, leisure, life, living, location, Madrid, Moving Abroad, planet, relocate, sun, thank, Thanksgiving, United States, weather, world
A recent holiday in Spain – the first trip back to our house on the northern Costa Brava since repatriating to the UK last Christmas – reminded me of all the good things about our former life in the sun.
And the drive home from the airport after we landed back in the UK, with the rain greasing the congested motorway, showed the stark contrast with the world we had left behind.
Since our return friends and work colleagues have been asking the same question: do we regret moving back to England?
Of course, we miss some of the lifestyle benefits Spain offers. After all, the UK is by no means perfect. Nevertheless, on balance we are happy we repatriated.
So what are the good things about living back in the UK? For me, the key ones are:
The number one advantage is being back among family and old friends, renewing those old, precious relationships.
There is an ease to living in a place where you understand the societal attitudes, the sense of humour, and how the systems involved in day-to-day life work. Being able to think and speak in your native tongue once again is nice too.
We have now been through all the seasons, and while the UK’s weather may not be wonderful (I’m writing this with the rain lashing outside), each reveals some special aspect of the country’s beauty.
In the months since our return we have also taken the chance to explore more of the country, and see the charm that attracts so many foreign visitors: the wonders of London, the nation’s majestic stately homes, its quaint villages and verdant countryside.
It is not always easy to see how great Great Britain is when you are brought up with it and long to escape. Instead, sometimes you have to leave to come back again.
As Irish novelist George Moore said: “A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.”
That is just how I am feeling … at least for the moment!
Tags: airport, beauty, Britain, Christmas, Costa Brava, country, culture, England, escape, family, Foreign, friend, Irish, life, lifestyle, London, rain, relationship, repatriate, social network, Spain, stately home, sun, UK, visitor, weather, work, world
After a nail-biting finale, the European team just pipped the USA to the post at this year’s Ryder Cup. The tournament is golf’s showcase international event, and its prestige was served well by some remarkable performances on both sides.
Unfortunately, it was the atrocious conditions that dominated the early stages of the competition though, with long rain delays that forced play into overtime on Monday … when, sod’s law, the weather made a volte-face and bathed the country in glorious sunshine.
Well, what can you expect from Wales in October?
In truth, Britain in autumn can be a challenging place to live. Hurricanes, like the famous one of October 1987, might be blue moon events. Wind and rain, however, are guaranteed. Add in the fading daylight as the days shorten and it starts to sound a bit bleak. No wonder so many millions of Brits dream of escaping to a life in the sun.
Mind you, in New York, where I spent a year at the turn of the millennium, the descent from the broiling heat of summer to freezing winter is even more precipitous.
By contrast, in the corner of north-eastern Spain where I lived until recently, the thermometer frequently nudged 30°C through to the end of October. Calm, sunny days meant there were a lot of leaves on the trees right up to Christmas, and oftentimes we could still venture out in T-shirts.
But now we’re back, experiencing our first autumn in the UK in eight years. I confess, weather-wise it is nowhere near as appealing as where we have come from.
The upside is the warmth we enjoy from being back among family and old friends.
Tags: autumn, Britain, Christmas, Europe, family, friend, Golf, New York, October, Ryder Cup, Spain, sun, UK, USA, Wales, weather
The headlines this morning are full of the news that Quentin Tarantino’s Oscar-nominated film editor, Sally Menke, has been a victim of the heat wave that has hit Southern California.
Ms Menke reportedly died from heat stroke while hiking in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park on Monday. The day saw temperatures in the city climb to a record-breaking 113°F (46°C). Tuesday was cooler, reaching a high of 99°F, but that was still 17 degrees more than is normal for the time of year.
To make matters worse, the record demand for electricity as people turned up their air conditioning caused outages that left 11,000 Los Angeles residents without power.
Seeking Better Weather
You couldn’t get much more of a contrast with the weather hitting northern Europe at the moment. In the UK, we woke up this morning to cloud and heavy rain showers. More is forecast for the rest of the week.
And with October just around the corner we can hardly expect an improvement. Nope, autumn – with its shortening, squally days – has well-and-truly taken hold.
Faced with such weather conditions, moving to somewhere that promises year-round sunshine, short winters and long, guaranteed summers has an obvious appeal. No wonder places such as California, Australia and the countries of Southern Europe are so popular with expatriates.
But a life in the sun can brings its discomforts, as LA’s population can attest. And as Ms Menke’s tragic death shows, it has its dangers too.
Tags: Australia, California, death, editor, Europe, expat, film, Griffith Park, heat stroke, heat wave, LA, Los Angeles, Menke, rain, record, sun, Tarantino, temperature, UK
Spain 30 – England 20.
No, it’s not some freakish football score. It’s the current temperature differential between our home in the UK and our former one in the north-east of Spain.
The forecast for the coming week in England doesn’t look much more promising either. Temperatures barely struggling out of the teens centigrade, and the threat of heavy rain showers. Yippee.
Remind me – why did we move back to the UK?
Sort of summer
Still, that’s a British summer for you. The odd few days of glorious sunshine, when there seems like no more beautiful place to be on Earth, followed by leaden skies and rain squalls.
It’s a season of uncertainty – periods of joy mixed with gloom. One day you’re in shorts and sandals and the next it’s jumpers and coats.
As for making plans to enjoy the Great Outdoors … in the words of Hugh Grant in Mickey Blue Eyes, Forgeddaboutit.
In other words, hardly ideal conditions when you have kids who want to be spending their days building sandcastles on the beach, or splashing around in a pool.
(For that matter, have you swum in the sea around Britain recently? Are you crazy?)
Sunshine costs
Nevertheless, seeing the BBC News reminded me that the scorching summers seen across southern Europe and elsewhere do have their downsides.
For instance, parts of the Spanish coast are being plagued at present by an invasion of jellyfish, to the painful detriment of the people that have come in contact with them.
Meanwhile, swathes of northern Portugal are being cremated by a series of forest fires, an annual occurrence in many parts of the region.
There is, after all, a price to be paid for the sun.
Tags: beach, Britain, British, coast, Earth, England, Europe, fire, home, jellyfish, kid, outdoors, Portugal, sea, Spain, Spanish, summer, sun, UK
Golf, I’ve discovered, is not like riding a bike. Picking up a club for the first time in five years and expecting to smash ball after ball down the middle of the fairway was always going to be wishful thinking. I mean, if Tiger struggles with his game after months out what hope did I have?
At least the conditions were perfect. It was one of those glorious English summer evenings: the warm sun dipping towards the horizon, soft June light, shadows lengthening across the rolling green fairways, woodpigeons calling from the branches … the thwack of small white golf balls clattering into yet another copse of trees.
And, quality of play aside, it was great to get out last night for a hack round with my brothers, the first time we’d done it since before I moved to Spain seven years ago.
In fact, the last time I played was with my eldest brother, when he came to visit shortly after we moved abroad. On that occasion we tried out the Empordà Golf Resort, one of a string of top-notch courses to be found close to our home on the Costa Brava. Unfortunately, that was as far as my Spanish golf career got. Places like PGA Catalunya, which is ranked number seven in Golf World magazine’s Top 100 European courses, remain an unfulfilled dream.
For despite the fantastic facilities and ideal weather in Spain, time was always a problem.
The expat lifestyle may seem to be one of leisurely days spent drinking wine and soaking up the sun, but that isn’t the reality for most. I still had to work hard all week. And with two young daughters to look after it never seemed fair for me to slope off for five hours on the weekend to play, especially when we had no other family around to ease my wife’s childcare load.
As a result, it’s taken our repatriation to the UK for me to be able to dust off the clubs. That, and the chance to spend valuable time with my brothers, are among the plus points of moving back. If only I could have brought some of those magnificent courses with me.
Tags: Catalunya, childcare, Costa Brava, Emporda, English, expat, family, Golf, leisure, lifestyle, Spain, Spanish, summer, sun, UK, work
Democratic elections seem to bring out the best and worst in a society, as the current campaign in the UK has shown.
Of course, the right to have an equal voice in the governance and future direction of your country should be a source of pride, something to be celebrated and embraced. Let’s not forget what life would be like without it, as many people around the world have to endure. Be grateful, and exercise that privilege.
Unfortunately, elections also have a flip side.
There is all the negativity: the schoolyard name calling and finger pointing that so often characterises the grab for votes.
There is the veneer politicians put on their campaigns, for fear some small blemish, some sign of human frailty, might wreck their electoral hopes. With that comes a tendency to rewrite history, for politicians to claim that all the decisions they have taken – or would have taken, if they don’t happen to be in government – have improved the country, while their opponents’ ones have been a disaster.
Worse, I think, are the overblown promises for the future. “Vote for me and we will have huge and sustainable economic growth, a wonderful education system, transformed healthcare, no crime, a clean environment, congestion-free roads, great public transport, bounteous pensions …”
Unfortunately, the underlying message each time an election comes around is that the country in question has gone to the dogs, but that a gilded future is on the horizon.
As I read expat forums and articles on emigration, or talk to people considering a move abroad, I see a similar mindset: “My country is on the road to ruin and so I’m getting out to someplace where the sun always shines and all my problems will be solved.”
Instead, we need a balanced, honest approach to the debate – both political and expatriate. The situation isn’t all terrible now, and won’t be perfect when we change government/country.
We should recognise, and strive to appreciate, the good we have at the moment, as well as being open-eyed to what needs changing. And we should have hope for a better future, without pinning it on some quick and easy fix.
For changing political leader, or your country, isn’t the magic answer. One cross on a piece of paper or a new stamp in the passport won’t solve everything. We must bear that responsibility ourselves – to make our lives better, wherever we choose to lead them.
Tags: campaign, country, crime, Democratic, Education, election, electoral, Emigration, environment, expatriate, growth, healthcare, move abroad, political, politicians, sun, UK, vote
It had a certain inevitability. The UK’s May Day bank holiday weekend beckoned, but after a surprisingly warm and sunny April what happened? A washout.
The bank holiday was supposed to see us picnicking in the local park, catching up with old friends, many of whom we hadn’t seen for years thanks to our expatriation. A chance for us to meet each other’s kids, reflect on how we’ve all changed in the seven years since we moved to Spain.
But the rain, whipped up by a north-east wind and chilled by 10°C temperatures, put paid to that. Time for Plan B. So we found ourselves splashing through puddles en route to a tenpin bowling alley in a desperate attempt to find some indoor activity to keep the children entertained.
The usual British holiday routine, in other words. Welcome home!
Mind you, it’s no better in the corner of Spain where we used to live. From the Catalan meteorological bureau I see much of the Pyrenean region is being layered in fresh dumps of snow at the moment. And the Costa Bravan coast – normally basking in warm Mediterranean sunshine by now – is stuck with maximum temperatures of just 13°C, while being pummelled by rain and the fierce northerly wind known as the tramuntana.
Seems the cold winter so many parts of the world experienced this year just doesn’t want to let go. What will summer bring, I wonder?
Tags: British, Catalan, Costa Brava, entertain, expatriation, Friends, holiday, home, kids, May Day, Mediterranean, picnic, Pyrenean, Spain, summer, sun, tramuntana, UK
There may not be many, but being a journalist does have its occasional advantages … as I found last week when I was invited to a private viewing of the Van Gogh exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
The exhibition, The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters, which finished yesterday, has been hugely popular. Unfortunately, it meant the queues to get in during normal opening hours were over three hours long at times. And the crowds inside made it difficult to view the paintings, drawings and letters that were on display, according to a friend who went last month.
So the invitation to a press party and private viewing – organised by the exhibition’s sponsor The Bank of New York Mellon – was too good an opportunity to miss. Having the space and time to amble around uninterrupted, reading the inscriptions and admiring the paintings in close detail, was a real delight (not to mention the free cava and canapés).
Of particular interest was the insight the exhibition gave into Van Gogh the expatriate. His formative years as an artist in the Netherlands produced a series of dark and dour paintings drawn from the people and landscapes around him. However, once Van Gogh moved to Paris colour began to infuse his palette. At last he was at the centre of the artistic world, and the influence of the Impressionists, and pointillists such as Georges Seurat, is visibly evident in his development as a painter.
But it was Van Gogh’s relocation south, and the inspiration he found in sun-blessed Provence, that marks the real turning point in his career. It is from this period that his most famous paintings date: Bedroom in Arles, Irises, Cypresses, The Starry Night, Cafe Terrace and the Sunflowers series.
Unfortunately, this time in Provence also saw a pronounced deterioration in Van Gogh’s mental health, an illness that led to his eventual suicide.
On second thoughts, perhaps a life in the sun isn’t such a great idea after all!
Tags: Arles, expatriate, Impressionist, journalist, London, Netherlands, painting, Paris, Provence, relocation, Royal Academy, south, Starry Night, sun, Sunflowers, Van Gogh
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