Have you ever moved/lived abroad? What was your experiences, best advice?

Spent just over a year in Japan teaching English in Osaka back in the late 90's.

It was fantastic. Among other things I enjoyed terrific company, ate stupendous food, visited active volcanoes, stayed in ryokans to sample their onsen and rotenburo facilities, watched a sumo tournament (and met Konishiki - the famous 'Dump Truck'), saw Cerezo Osaka FC in action, became fascinated with Japanese literature/poetry (especially the Tale Of Genji - a stunning medieval psychological novel), and Japanese cinema.

Kyoto, Nara, Kagoshima, Beppu and Hakodate were all truly memorable places visited.

Was already familiar with Buddhism before I got there but the subsequent discovery of mystical realist Soto Zen was an eye-opener.

It's a great place to spend time after graduating (though I went when I was 35) and will hopefully be an option again for travellers if we ever get past this wretched virus.
 
Not the ones i met,
I was south west France, Cathar country which is why they hate the Parisians more than us. I found every official, whether town hall or electric board to be as awkward as hell towards Brits, shopkeepers were ass holes and all the French seemed to love telling us they were better.
The one exception to this was the village I was in who did open up and look to be friendly but that was because we were not strangers.
 
Am retired now spend about 9-10 months each year living in Aktinkum .Turkey
Love every minute of it .The friendliness of the people, the weather, the food , everything is at a more relaxed pace
Only disapointment which is my fault is i find it is a very hard language to learn ( majority of people speak English) but i keep plodding away
If you get a chance to work, live abroad give it a go but remeber it is not a holliday or you will come unstuck

Very true. When we first started going to Spain we were in ' work ' mode whereas many who bought were in ' holiday ' mode and treated it as such. You could see that after a few months reality had kicked in and it wasn't what they expected. Routines, systems, attitudes and the languages were all different and you couldn't just pack your bags and treat it as a return package flight back 'ome.
We used to get sick and tired of guests telling us we were living the dream. It was hard work, hot work and frustrating work and we lived there, no mains electric, no mains gas, no mains services...no nothing. The language was a problem, Catalan is a sort of an amalgamation of French and Spanish and as I'd taken French at school thought I'd piss it....wrong, we managed to get by after a couple of years, took lessons but gave up after a few months. Football is a good ice breaker !! Fortunately for us a few local businesses spoke English, they knew where the money was and they did a bloody good job of making sure they lined their pockets, the Brits in general were an easy touch because most had left their brains in the departure lounge.
As mentioned throughout this thread you really have to get stuck in and step out of your comfort zone and keep a very open mind before you really start to appreciate actually living abroad rather than just going abroad.
 
I was south west France, Cathar country which is why they hate the Parisians more than us. I found every official, whether town hall or electric board to be as awkward as hell towards Brits, shopkeepers were ass holes and all the French seemed to love telling us they were better.
The one exception to this was the village I was in who did open up and look to be friendly but that was because we were not strangers.
It's certainly fair to say that French officials can be very awkward. Whether that's just with the English is hard to say. Small town Mayors are the worst.
I spent years there, mooching all over the country, and made many good friends. It's certainly true that French women love to hear an Englishman speaking their language..
 
Very true. When we first started going to Spain we were in ' work ' mode whereas many who bought were in ' holiday ' mode and treated it as such. You could see that after a few months reality had kicked in and it wasn't what they expected. Routines, systems, attitudes and the languages were all different and you couldn't just pack your bags and treat it as a return package flight back 'ome.
We used to get sick and tired of guests telling us we were living the dream. It was hard work, hot work and frustrating work and we lived there, no mains electric, no mains gas, no mains services...no nothing. The language was a problem, Catalan is a sort of an amalgamation of French and Spanish and as I'd taken French at school thought I'd piss it....wrong, we managed to get by after a couple of years, took lessons but gave up after a few months. Football is a good ice breaker !! Fortunately for us a few local businesses spoke English, they knew where the money was and they did a bloody good job of making sure they lined their pockets, the Brits in general were an easy touch because most had left their brains in the departure lounge.
As mentioned throughout this thread you really have to get stuck in and step out of your comfort zone and keep a very open mind before you really start to appreciate actually living abroad rather than just going abroad.
The biggest downfall for people moving abroad is not doing their homework
Many rules, laws change & are open to interpation
Alot of people who think they are in " the UK with the sun"
soon come unstuck & pack their bags for home
Well done for sticking it out
 
Considering my options for when I retire
At the moment we're in the 3 month rental mindset twice a year rather than buying a place abroad
Thats a great way of doing things as if you find you not to keen on the area, complex, villa ect you can go somewhere else next time round
Where you thinking of going to ?
 

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