5: A sneaky test drive of your dream city abroad
I decided I wanted to move to London after only visiting for 4 days. I’ve now lived here for almost 4 years and I absolutely love it. I guess the saying “when you know, you know” fits here. But truth be told, I think I got a bit lucky. If you’re thinking about moving abroad and you haven’t spent much time in your dream city abroad, it might be worth planning for an extended trip there. In this episode, we dive into how you can do a sneaky test drive of your dream city abroad.
Let’s first address why you would want to do a test drive abroad:
- See if you’d actually like it or if you just think you will. If you’ve never been or were only there for 2 days for example, you might want to consider spending a bit more time there to be sure you’d actually like living there. You can do this pretty easily by spending 3-6 months in countries on a tourist visa. For example, in New Zealand you can stay for up to 90 days, Canada for 6 months, UK for 6 months, Portugal for 90 days…
- Network a bit to understand the local job market – Staying in your dream city abroad for a bit can he helpful to get a lay of the land of the local job market. Bonus points if you can meet up with somebody who has the job and visa you want.
- Find the neighborhood or area you’d want to live in – You might find an apartment online and think “wow, this apartment is a great deal” only to find out it’s the crappiest area ever lived in upon arrival and and you feel like you might get stabbed if you step outside at night. Or you move somewhere that has terrible public transport. Or there are no people your age in the area when you really wanted to be somewhere where you can meet people your age.
So how to actually do a sneaky test drive in your dream city abroad? So glad you asked. In this episode, we discuss how to do an extended trip abroad if you are:
- Living off of savings and/or passive income
- A contractor/freelancer
- Working in a 9-5 job
Listen to the podcast to learn more!
