Undoubtedly, one of the most important questions to be answered in the decision to live the part-time expat lifestyle, is “where?” Which places in the world beckon? Where do you want to invest your life’s time, passion, relationships, and heart?
It will be exciting to see where this next part of our series leads you.
Will you be starting a new life in a Southern European small town?
A large, bustling city in Asia?
A beach community in Central America?
A small village in the Andes?
A Caribbean mountain town with a view?
A South Pacific island community?
An African farm?
Or a history-laden modern city in Europe?
The possibilities are endless. You are on a journey to decide where to spend a good portion of your life. And the exciting thing is … it is your decision. You are free to choose whatever place tickles your fancy.
In Part 7: Choosing Where, we will be looking at questions that will help you decide just that – where you want to live as a part-time expat.
So, let’s jump right in …
Where Do I Want to Live? What Part of the World Do I Want to Experience?
As you can see, this is really two questions. They are so closely related, I’ve just put them together. Is there a particular country or region of the world that has always fascinated you? Is there a place you find yourself reading about, dreaming about, or watching shows about on tv? Is there a place where you have traveled to that you can’t wait to return to? If you have answers to these questions, you probably have a place in mind to start your part-time expat lifestyle. Why don’t you start a list of places? You can start with the first place you thought of. Then think of other places that have interested you, and write them on your list. It will be interesting to see what ends up on your list as you think and dream.
Where Would I Be Happiest? Some people believe they know the answer to this question instinctively. They just know from either reading about or visiting a place where they think they’d be happy. Perhaps the bottom-line question is actually, “What makes me happy?” Sometimes we think we know what will make us happy. But in reality, there may be other things that we are not conscious of that actually drive our happiness. What do you seem to need to be happy? What are the basic essentials? Are there certain amenities, certain relationships, certain climates, certain freedoms? We will be considering some further questions in subsequent blogs that will help with this.
And that leads us to our last question.
Am I willing to research and see if my knowledge is accurate or my expectations are unrealistic?
Sometimes people have a “fairy-tale” impression of a place, or they have expectations that are not really based on fact, but rather in imagination or hearsay or some idea they’ve gotten from someone. To really know if a place is for you, you need to be willing to investigate, talk to people who live there, read as much as you can about it, travel there and spend some time, etc. You’ll be glad you did.
Well, our journey continues as we examine if the part-time expat lifestyle is for you. What are you thinking today? Could part-time expat living for you? Hmmmmm …
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