Relocation & Expat Coach

After Thailand ...

So Thailand wasn't to be.  One of the reasons pulling us to looking at Asia was the distance between Australia and Europe - both were reasonably easily accessible.  So we stayed looking in this area of the world.

Vietnam - wow, this seemed to be an interesting area to research.  A friend of mine who had emigrated to Taiwan many years ago (straight from University) had recently moved his family and his business to Vietnam.  Back to our research - so back onto the internet!  Now that we knew some of our pitfalls for moving to Thailand, we were able to restrict our research to reviewing those pitfalls first.  Again we found that purchasing property wasn't a simple process.  The difference here was that the length of the lease was more reasonable - in fact, we believe that the lease would outlive both of us!  So although this wasn't our preferred option to invest our finances, we continued to look. 

Philippines - a friend from my schooldays in Malawi moved to the Philippines which drew our attention to the Philippines.  Although we had not finished our research for Vietnam, we started to look at the Philippines as well.  I contacted them and asked what had drawn then to move there.  Interestingly one of their reasons was very similiar to our own - equal access to our families (Europe and Australia).

Our research continued and for varying reasons (one of the main reasons was the lack of information) we decided against Vietnam.  We felt that if we really had wanted to emigrate there we would have, at some time during our past travels, visited the country.  We hadn't ...

Malaysia - still researching the Philippines, we started to research Malaysia.  We could drive to Australia from Malaysia, and although the drive through Australia would be a long one down to Sydney - we knew that we would both enjoy that travelling.  Although on our trip(s) to Malaysia we had loved the country, we couldn't find an area that we would love to live in.  A lot of the information on the internet indicated that the 'expat' community lived in a number of areas, and we didn't want to live in an 'expat' community.  One of our reasons for emigrating was to participate in the local culture and learn the local language.

Continuing our research into this area of the world, brought up a number of concerns.  We took our research notes with us and went out to a fabulous and interesting area of Kent - Samphire Hoe (it's the newest part of Kent, UK, and is made from 4.9 million cubic metres of chalk marl dug to create the Channel Tunnel)! 

Following our pathway from our decision to the leave the UK, on the 1st January, 2007 (after 4 years of research) we walked and talked!  We sat outside on a beautiful sunny, but very cold, New Years Day at Samphire Hoe and talked through our research notes.

We made the decision that this part of the world wasn't what we were looking for!  It wasn't an easy decision - it did mean that we now had to think about how easy it would be to travel to our immediate families - Australia and the UK.  Family members outside the immediate family also live in Canada, UK, Europe, South Africa, and Zimbabwe - so travelling is still one of the concerns we have where-ever we decide to go!

Want to make a success of your plans to move?  Want to work with someone who will not judge the reasons you want to make your move, who will not guide you down a specific path?  You have this opportunity to work with a qualified and accredited coach who has done it!

Just email Barbara on [email protected]!

Find Barbara's biog on http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org/coach_referral_service/display_detail.php?trf=91

Where next?

Our desire to leave the UK was still high ... so we now had the sit down and think about where we really wanted to go!  Out came the world map and we pinned it on the wall.  So where next?

We looked at what we wanted from life ... we wrote lists ... we jotted ideas down.  We started to think about which countries met our requirements.

We knew someone who had emigrated to Thailand.  A client of mine was in the process of buying a property in Thailand - so we looked.  One of the draws to Thailand for us, was that it was half-way (reasonably) between Europe and Australia.  We still want to be able to visit both families. 

We spent many hours on the internet (a great resource for information, but very time consuming) researching Thailand.  We got out our photographs and our journals from the times we had visited Thailand.

After about a month of independant research, we sat down over a glass of wine and started to discuss what we had found - what our research had uncovered.  We looked at Thailand from all aspects.

We started by reviewing what we wanted from our emigration plans and Thailand seemed to meet most of our requirements - as high as 90%!  We knew that we would need to 'start again' with building our social life and we looked at ways in which we could do this.  We looked at running a business in Thailand and although there are restrictions, we felt that we could meet these.  We looked at purchasing property and this was the one thing that stopped us in our tracks!  Although we fully understood the reasons for the local property ownership legislation, we felt that we could be investing in leasehold property with no asset at the end of a reasonably short leasehold.  We reviewed our own financial situation - selling the house, our investments, pensions, etc. - and knew that we did not want to put ourselves in this type of financial position.

So back to the map ...

Want to make a success of your plans to move?  Want to work with someone who will not judge the reasons you want to make your move, who will not guide you down a specific path?  You have this opportunity to work with a qualified and accredited coach who has done it!

Just email Barbara on [email protected]!

Find Barbara's biog on http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org/coach_referral_service/display_detail.php?trf=91

What type of expat are you?

Over the years I've come across a number of reasons why people 'move abroad'.  What-ever the reason that you've selected to move away from your own country of residence the emigration process is not always a simple one.

What is the reason that you are looking for move away from where you are living now?

1. company move - the company you are working for has requested that you move to another office where the office that they would like you to move to is not in the same country in which you are living and working now.
2. job move - you've seen and applied for a job that is not in the same country in which you are living and working now.
3. career move - to enhance your CV, to take you up another step on your career ladder, you apply for a job that is not in the same country in which you are living or working now.
4. career challenges - to provide you with the opportunity to experience a completely different type of career.  One where you live at home during the week-end, but live in different countries during the week.  For example, airline staff, IT consultants, engineers.
5. moving your own company - opportunities are opening up for you away from where you are now living, so you select to move your own company to a place where you can take advantage of these opportunities.
6. family history - your ancentory is from another part of the world.  For example you will know of South Africans, Australians, New Zealanders who are living in Europe.  They've moved away from their country of birth or citizenship to experience and understand their own personal family history.
7. closer to family - this provides you with the opportunity to follow members of your immediate or distant family who have moved away.
8. retirement - where you 'looking for a better way of life'.  This can be driven by health, wealth, hobbies, interests, a whole variety of reasons.
9. a more holistic way of life - you move to 'get out of the rat race'.  In this you often feel 'stuck in a rut' and are looking for a completely different way of life.
10. back to your roots - your parents emigrated and you've now selected to return to the country of your birth.
11. let me know if there is another reason ...

Emigration is always thought to be where you 'withdraw from the residence in one's native country'; but the challenges, trials, problems encountered by those emigrating can also apply to those moving from one area of their own country to another i.e. Aberdeen to London; New York to San Francisco.

Whatever your reason for moving away from where you are now, ask yourself 'does the grass look greener on the other side'? Looking at the questions in hint and tips two ... what are you moving away from?  What are you looking for?  What's driving you to make this move? 

Looking at all the questions in the hints and tips section of the blog, whatever the reason you have selected to move away from where you are living now - only you will know whether you are making the right of decision.

Want to make a success of your move?  Want to work with someone who will not judge the reasons you want to make your move, who will not guide you down a specific path?  You have this opportunity to work with a qualified and accredited coach who has done it!

Just email Barbara on [email protected]!

Find Barbara's biog on http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org/coach_referral_service/display_detail.php?trf=91