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Becoming even a part-time expat with a home in a developing country can change your travel style. If you’re in the midst of building, your bags may be stuffed with power tools, hurricane ties and various pieces used to put your home together. If you’re living in a completed structure, your luggage may contain replacement parts for appliances and those little things to make life more comfortable.
That’s not to say we try to recreate our lives back home when we’re living abroad. We shop locally, adopt a more relaxed lifestyle without a lot of “things” and sometimes choose to do without. But the simple fact is that we just can’t find some things we need in our new home.
Once my husband and I bought property in Honduras, we took note of airline baggage weight limitations, and haven’t traveled there with less than a backpack, waterproof duffel bag and a huge trunk. At this moment, our home’s foundation is halfway done. We’re not rushing the building because we’re only doing it in stages—as we can afford it. Regardless, there’s always something to bring in order to aid the construction.
One day I look forward to traveling to Honduras with just a backpack. For now, I have to cherish my trips to other destinations when I can get away with packing light.
If you’re contemplating expat life, check out the resources listed by Transitions Abroad to start you on your way. Making connections with folks who have gone through the same situations you’ll be facing can be of great help. That way, when you’re packing your bags, you’ll know just what to bring.
Do you have advice about expat living? Please share it in the comments section!
An Argentinian and U.S. passport. Photo: alex-s / Flickr Creative Commons
The most drastic steps an expat can make is to give up citizenship and take up permanent residency abroad. With tax season just behind us, the media has picked up on the expat connection.
This Time magazine article says that growing numbers of Americans are crossing that point of no return: U.S. expat taxes drive Americans to give up citizenship. There was a similar article in the New York Times: More American expats give up citizenship.
On one hand, it’s easy to believe that high-wage workers are simply trying to evade taxes. At the time of writing, the IRS exempts the first US$91,400 of foreign-earned income from being taxed. None of the backpackers and English teachers I know in Asia make anywhere near that much money. They aren’t renouncing citizenship.
To see how the other half lives, take a look at this eye-opening Reuters piece: For finance pros, Asian expat life losing perks. These executives get US$5,000 to 10,000 a month in housing allowance.
On the other hand, what if this exodus is a signal of people “voting with their feet”? Maybe these expats are tired of government bailouts, deteriorating public services, and rising crime. They’re making a statement by choosing a more hospitable country. The arbitraging of a lower cost-of-living is an undeniable attraction. US$1,000 a month in Thailand gets you a lot further than in America.
In some cases, the case for giving up citizenship isn’t about dollars and cents, as it is about love. Same-sex civil unions are controversial in America. A big problem is if one partner isn’t a U.S. citizen. It is difficult, if not impossible, to sponsor a same-sex partner from overseas. This NY Times blog post goes into more detail: Do gay couples give up their U.S. citizenship?
The Daily Mail had an article that served as a nice follow-up: 9 out of 10 UK expats say quality of life is better abroad. To be fair, life overseas isn’t always an endless paradise. Bureaucracy can be much worse, especially since it will often be in a language you don’t know. Your rights to residency, work, own property, start a business, and vote are severely limited.
Infrastructure can be shoddy in developing countries. Crime can be just as bad, if not worse. More importantly, locals can resent perceived arrogance from expats. For an extreme example of how things can go wrong, check out this Guardian UK report: Goa: property frenzy and crime poison the hippy dream.
Have you settled abroad for the long term? What made you leave? What are the pros and cons of your new home?
Bangkok, Thailand
It is 8:00 p.m. in Cairo and I’ve just crawled out of bed to tend to this blog. I have a fever and am feeling pretty darn miserable. My creativity feels stunted and, given that all I want to do right now is lay back down with the blanket pulled over me, I have booted up my laptop with some hesitation. This blog entry could really bomb.
But as I sit here with my eyeballs on fire in their sockets, I remember that some of my most powerful travel experiences have involved not feeling well. Travel, of course, takes us to places where, to at least some degree, we feel foreign. And in a sense, sickness does too. We don’t feel particularly comfortable with our bodies when we are ill.
In Luang Prabang, Laos a few years ago I remember being wracked by fever. My room overlooked the Mekong, and I’d sometimes move from the bed to the balcony, watching the muddy water flow. I remember feeling my weakness, the unpredictability of health, the sense of being particularly far from home as I eased myself back into bed and pulled the sheet over me.
When after a couple days the fever lifted, I packed my bag and continued north, bound for China. I still recall the clanking sound as my ride to the bus station crossed a rickety bridge. I felt alive, perhaps even thankful.
Thankful for what? For at times being brought to a standstill by illness. For then recovering with a renewed appreciation for the gift of good health. For the tremendous gift of being able to stand and walk, and for dwelling in a body that feels like an operable home rather than like a cantankerous old grouch.
When I think of Luang Prabang today, I think not only of the monks collecting their morning alms. I also think of the joy of feeling whole again. Both, I think, are pretty great to witness firsthand.
(The picture above, taken a couple years after my Luang Prabang fever, shows me, a nurse, and morphine the day after I had an operation at Bangkok’s Bumrungrad Hospital; a post for another time!)
A few months ago, we talked about the usefulness of vacation rentals as lodging alternatives, offering many of the same amenities as hotels at closer-to-hostel prices. While the two biggest names in homestays are VRBO and HomeAway (the former now owned by the latter), a small grass-roots community has sprung up across the pond.
Instead of renting whole properties, Crashpadder.com specializes in the underutilized space in peoples’ homes. “We like to think that this makes our proposition not only more friendly but also opens it up to the wider hosting community (assuming the average Joe probably doesn’t have their own holiday home),” says Josie Anderson, the self-designated ‘Chatty Ninja’, who shares their Brixton office in the south of London with her two colleagues, Stephen Rapoport and Dan Hill. More than a business, they look at Crashpaddding as building a community, connecting people together and creating friendships between ‘Padders’ and ‘Crashers’.
Their Britain-based location mirrors the distribution of their offered rooms with 1457 in the United Kingdom, compared to their next biggest countries of Australia and South Africa, with about 70 rooms each. However, they do boast at least one room available in 777 cities across 54 countries. They strive to make the process of offering and reserving rooms as painless and low-overhead as possible. Their model means that hosts don’t pay anything to list their rooms, and instead simply take 10% off the top at the time of booking.
With a depressed economy in many parts of the US and Europe, companies such as these, as well as US-based Airbnb, CouchSurfing, and even Craigslist provide today’s traveler with ways to make their lodging money go just a little bit farther, and maybe even meet some interesting people along the way. If you’re looking for a Nice Futon in Brixton, Josie will be happy to let you crash at her pad.
The RTW trip lasted about two years and three days. It started in Pokhara, Nepal, and ended while traversing a pile of ceramic teacup shards this morning in Mirzapur, India. My left sandal has called it quits.
In the moment before I accepted its passing, the sandal’s life flashed before my eyes. A life of travel — from the Himalayas to the lakes of Maine, to the midlife grind of Pennsylvania boarding house showers, then back to India for one last push.
Sure, these sandals went all over. But even if you never leave your city, a shoe still breaks when it’s too full of stories.
A busted shoe ranks right up there with piles of tickets and calloused heels as a testament to ground covered. A shoe breakdown of the sort I had this morning brings one of those moments where we face up to where we’ve been, how far we’ve come.
Looking back can leave you proud, nostalgic, awestruck — or it can be a motivator to change direction. At least, I imagine that would be the effect when a heel falls victim to three years of the same subway staircase.
Sometimes it’s hard to let go. Anybody else have shoes in semi-retirement? Old dogs that can’t be depended on as they once were, but that now make brief, low-stakes appearances? You know, those hiking boots with worn-smooth soles, now only good for dry sidewalks…
As great and comfy as old shoes are, I’m always happy for a new (or rejuvenated) pair. That feeling of potential — I want to walk around the world! — can’t beat it.
How are your shoes holding up?
Photo “*sigh*” by helgasms! via Flickr.
Age: 32
Hometown: Toronto, Canada
Quote: “The best way to understand a culture is through its food.”
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Saving money for an extended trip is hard. “Like titanium alloy hard,” as Erin at neverendingvoyage.com puts it, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. In fact, with a little perseverance, Erin and Simon were able to save 75 percent of their income. To help you do the same, they’ve detailed the process they used in a great blog post entitled, How We Saved 75% of Our Income to Travel.
For most of us, living off 25 percent of what you make will mean some major lifestyle changes. But those changes need not make you into an ascetic monk. Even something as simple as not buying as much “stuff” will free up a considerable amount of money. Throw in some of Simon and Erin’s tips, like tracking your spending and creating a budget, and you’ll be well on your way to a travel nest egg.
Another big part of successful savings plans is to remember why you’re saving. As Erin writes, “we aren’t rich by any stretch… but we chose to prioritize travel over buying ‘stuff’ and spending money on big nights out.”
Here are a few of Erin’s tips to help you get started on the road to savings:
1.) Record your spending – Start a spreadsheet and write down EVERYTHING you spend. Do this for at least a month (although I recommend it as a permanent habit). You can then see what you are spending a lot on and what you can cut out.
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5.) Stop buying things – It’s very simple, just stop. No more clothes, CDs, DVDs, whatever it is you’re currently spending your money on. If you want to go travelling, you don’t need any more stuff.
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8.) Sell your stuff – Boost your savings by selling your possessions. We all own things we don’t need, and you don’t want to waste money on storage while you’re travelling.
Check out the full post for more ideas that will help your savings grow.
I also suggest heading to one of the many round-the-world trip planner on the web (BootsnAll has some nice cost planning tools) to calculate how much money you need for the trip you’ve been dreaming about. Pad that number by about 30 percent and you’ll have a fixed goal to work toward.
Living off of just 25 percent of your income that way Erin and Simon have done is an impressive feat, and not everyone is going to be able to do that.
Fortunately, it doesn’t take something that drastic to start saving up the money you need to travel. Even if you can only save 25 percent of what you make, that’s still enough — it will just take you a little longer to reach your goal.
And remember — as with any new habit or lifestyle change — saving will be hard at first, but eventually your mindset will change and it will seem natural. Just as some of us have been bitten by the travel bug, eventually you’ll be bitten by the saving bug.
After Erin and Simon’s first trip they swore they’d never be as frugal again and yet, “six months after the end of our last amazing trip we were at it again.”
[photo by Alan Cleaver, Flickr]
Vagablogging contributer Joel Carillet won the Solas Award for best travel writing in 2008 with his short nonfiction essay “Red Lights and a Rose.” A touching and raw account of his interactions with the street and club girls in Bangkok’s red light district, it leaves you questioning…and reaching for a paradise you never knew existed.
This was my second night in Soi Nana, a square three-storey structure with the feel of a frat house. Or was it more like that ride at Disney World, Pirates of the Caribbean? Yes, that was it, Nana reminded me of a Disney World ride: Pirates raucously chasing screaming women, people living out of bounds, with ogling eyes, on a quest for ill-gotten treasure. Yo, ho, ho, a pirates life for me! But here many of the swashbucklers were upper middle class businessman from the West, strolling in and out of clubs with names like Spankys, Lollipop, Carousel, DC-10, and G-Spot. And at less than two dollars, which covered your first beer, it was considerably cheaper than Orlando.
Over a three-day period I would visit several clubs in Nana, all of which were pretty much the same. They were like trash compactors, all of us pressed too tightly together, fighting the heat and humidity, sensing that intimacy was strangely recyclable here. It was a raucous environment indeed, with so much careless movement that hearts were easily broken. At least this is how I read the looks on the faces of several women, and later what I would hear them say.
And yet it was here, in a minefield of flesh and dreams, where black cats prowled on sheet metal awnings in search of geckos, where satellite dishes pulled in ESPN which overweight German tourists watched as girls nestled compliantly into their girth, where sound systems belted out the likes of Billy Ray Cyrus so that girls could rock their bodies to the rhythm of “Achy Breaky Heart”…it was here that I stood on the verge of discovering something new about paradise.
Most travelers are familiar with the slew of European rail passes offered through Eurail or through your local STA agent. Travelers can purchase country specific passes, lump a few countries together on one pass, or even purchase a “global pass”.
Country specific passes are available for 17 European countries, allowing travelers to really get around and see a lot of one area. Eurail also offers select passes that lump together 2 to 5 adjacent countries on one pass. All of this is capped off with a Global Pass that combines travel in up to 21 countries on one pass. Country passes start at as little as US$45 and regional passes at US$299. The global pass starts at US$559. Travelers can run into the occasional “booking fee” as they use these passes to get around Europe, but these prices very rarely exceed 15 euros each. Considering transportation is a traveler’s main expenditure, these prices can sound quite appealing.
Sounds pretty sweet, however there is a catch. All of this travel must be done within a certain time limit, and on a limited number of days. With these passes, one essentially purchases a specific number of days in which to travel within a 2 month time period. Meaning, you only have 5 days within a 2-month time period to travel across 3 countries.
One could argue that this will rush your travels, as you try to capitalize on distance on such a short amount of travel days. In this way one travels at a sprint as they try to gallop across their specific grouping of countries, and it can put a damper on the spontaneity of travel. Train travel is the preferred means for travelers in Europe, as it allows one to take in the beautiful scenic countryside. It is also a classic backpacker staple that is not to be missed.
For some travelers these passes might seem like an easy escape from the hassles that come with maneuvering around a foreign country. However other travelers, myself included, enjoy the fresh experience of trying to make your way through new and complicated means of transportation.
I recommend these passes to the 25 and under traveler who is planning to stick to travel within Western Europe where train prices are significantly higher. These passes are generally aimed at the student crowd, and the 25 and under traveler gets a serious price break. Indeed, the prices quoted above are the bottom most student pricing. Costs double or triple from there for certain passes and combinations.
Additionally, train travel in Western Europe is continually increasing in price, as it is easily the preferred means of transportation. For travelers wishing to see, say, France, Italy, and Germany, these passes really are a great deal, considering one can’t even get from Paris to Nice on a second class ticket for less than US$100. Imagine trying to travel the length of Italy and France, and swing back around through Germany, and you’ve easily bought a Select Pass three times over already.
However, in Central or Eastern Europe these passes seem like a scam to those travelers who have done some research into the price of local transportation. Why pay US$299 for the Austria – Czech Republic – Hungary pass, when you can get across all three countries for around US$30 round-trip by taking advantage of the regional bus transportation?.
On one hand I feel these passes can help the right traveler, namely the 25 and under Western Europe traveler who may only be able to hit the road for a few short weeks. Otherwise, I feel they are not to be relied upon. They are only more economical in a limited area, and there are far greater experiences to be had by figuring the workings of local transportation and freeing yourself of limits and schedules.
“[International travel] is very important not only for individuals but also for the country as a whole. The U.S. has periodically made policy blunders because we tend not to appreciate the way our country is seen by foreigners; we often fail to understand the prism of suspicion through which any American action is perceived by foreigners. So I think if more Americans spent time traipsing the world, the United States would become a more cosmopolitan country and we would perhaps have wiser and more sensitive foreign policies.”
–Nicholas Kristof, interviewed by David Frey, World Hum, October 21, 2009
