No matter how much you love the town or city where you live, you have most probably thought what it would be like to live somewhere on the other side of the globe. A place with different people, different cultures, away from bad memories and the hustle and bustle of city life. A place on our very own earth, yet so alien to you. A place of fascination and discovery, full of opportunities distant from your previous life mistakes. A new start to a new life. Of course, as good as that sounds, it might not always be so simple. Moving somewhere across the world usually requires some sort of preemptive planning, or enough money to not have to care about things of that calibre.
Wanderlust
First of all, let us talk about the obvious. Living somewhere else in a completely different climate and time-zone can be quite the exotic experience for the average westerner. Moving to a different country will prove to be much better than any sort of tourism could ever prove to be. No longer will you exclusively stick to the tourist-beaten paths of yesteryear just to see those same postcard-esque locations seen by just about every tourist who made it out of the airport. You will be able to explore off into the much more real expansive reaches of the landscape. Filled with locals and small local businesses rather than camera-bearing tourists in Hawaiian shirts. The real visage of the town and country will lie bare just in front of you, waiting to be discovered. With more than just two weeks of time at your disposal, you will become more familiar with the traditional local foods rather than just getting the same old panini from Starbucks. This will most definitely prove to be a rather culturally enriching experience
Buying rather than renting?
If you come from any sort of bigger city in Europe, the UK or the United States, chances are you are no stranger to ridiculous house prices. Regardless whether you are looking to rent a flat, or buy a whole house, the prices are probably out of this world and far beyond the reach of the average person, unless you want to go in debt for the next 20 years. Buying a house abroad is a very viable option for most working class people. Places like Southeast Asia have considerably cheaper living expenses, not limited to the housing alone. The price of food, transport and other basic commodities also tend to be a lot cheaper. Anyone who wants to move abroad should consider actually buying property due to how much drastically cheaper it is. If you have a surplus of money in the first place you should probably invest in new property in somewhere prestigious like Kuala Lumpur, alternatively somewhere back in the west. If you are just looking for ownership of property with relatively average wages, buying abroad seems like a much more feasible option.
Staying afloat
While it is cheaper abroad, it is mostly cheaper due to earnings being higher in the west. Favourable currency exchange and several other factors have a big part in this. If you started working somewhere where you are planning to buy the house, chances are the previously drastic change would be nowhere near as impressive. Think about where you are working now, can you somehow make this into a freelance situation? Could you take your current profession and get your own clients rather than having them get processed through a company first? Can you come to an arrangement with your boss to allow you to work from home? All these are options very much worth considering since they allow you to maintain your usual wages but from the other side of the world where they are considerably more impressive. Maybe you are in a position where you own a company of your very own? It is very possible travelling back over, taking care of business and then leaving can still be profitable and very much on the affordable side. Planning important events that require your presence out of season and booking in advance can reduce plane ticket fees by huge chunks of the price. Of course ideally, if you have a company then the best case scenario would be just being able to manage it from afar. In the modern era of technology, communicating with all your staff and business partners should not be an issue whatsoever. Either by phone, or via the internet, there is most definitely some sort of program which will suit your needs. The biggest problem in this case would be timezones. and even then that is an easily avoidable problem. Rearranging your daily routine to fit a few phone calls or online meetings should not be much of an issue.
New career opportunities
You should not rule out the possibility of new career opportunities opening up when you move. Even if you do not feel like you have some highly sought after qualifications, that might not be entirely accurate in a completely different part of the world. Skills which you do not even consider out of the ordinary may be in high demand in your new place of residence. One that people often seem to forget about is the language you use in your daily life. With the English language being used on such a wide scale across the world, it is no wonder English language teachers are in high demand across the east. Very often you do not even need any proper teaching qualifications, being a native English speaker, or of a native level is more than enough to land you several jobs overseas. Often, just a conversation partner who is fluent in English is enough for students to learn pronunciation from, not requiring much more from you than properly speaking basic English.
What if you change your mind?
Many people get homesick, the culture shock, different weather and general longing for something more familiar just proves to be too much, leaving many questioning their previous decisions. Keep in mind, even if the house you bought or are buying is not fully paid off yet, it is a great asset to possess. If you do not feel like living too far from home permanently, the option of having a free holiday house always stands. Why splash ridiculous amounts of cash for hotels when you can go to your very own house in a tropical paradise? Whenever you are not there, you can either rent the house to someone or even set up an Airbnb location which often proves to be very profitable. This is a relatively stress-free business opportunity and allows you to gather clients from around the globe who just happen to be going on holidays to wherever your future house may be. Put all your personal clutter away into a storage cupboard under lock and key, then just advertise the rest of the house as a place perfect for holiday goers. Chances are you could hire someone to clean up the house whenever the people renting are gone, ready for your next clients. Of course, if worst comes to worst and you want to back out of the situation entirely, you can just sell the house itself. If you managed to renovate it somewhat, kept it in good shape and it is in a decent location, you probably won't have many issues finding buyers willing to pay much more for it than you invested into it in the first place. That’s after you have already had a tropical holiday house for a decent amount of time.
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