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What You Need to Do If You Really Want to Live Abroad

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The best places to see for free in Barcelona

I left the US on September 5 2013, I had planned for only a three month excursion, however, life has a tendency to change rapidly. What was supposed to only be three short months quickly transformed into eight before I blinked my eyes. After all that time I had started planning on how I was going to continue my life abroad, however, quite a few things stepped in my way and prevented me from succeeding. It wasn’t that I didn’t plan its that I had the wrong plan. Extending my stay from three to eight months had not only stretched my budget to its thinnest but also created many road blocks that I was truly unprepared for. Roadblocks which stopped me cold and sent me packing long before I was ready.

If you really want to live abroad you should really plan for all contingencies. Where I went wrong was I just didn’t put in the additional work on the onset that would have allowed me to stay for as long as needed. Even if your adventure is only supposed to last a summer, you might want to plan for the just in case moment that you decide to stay longer.

Open a Bank Account With an International Bank

There are tons of great reasons to do this as even some gyms require you have a local bank account just join. Really doing this will save you thousands of dollars and millions of headaches when you take your life abroad. The worst thing I did was assume that credit would be accepted everywhere. Newsflash, it wont, and cash will always be your best friend. However, if you’re like me and you bank with a domestic only bank you’re going to get punished heavily for that mistake. ATM fees completely crippled my budget in the end, not only was I getting a fee for using an out-of-network ATM, I was getting a percentage tacked on what I pulled out for simply giving me Euros instead of dollars. In all I lost over a thousand dollars to my own bank.

You can cut some of these annoying fees down by banking with an institution that has no boarders. There aren’t many but they do exist and it really depends on what part of the world you’re going to. However the biggest banks in the world are usually a good place to start. Even though it seem counter-intuitive that a bank of that scale would be a better place to keep your cash but in all honesty it is, trust me. Stick with Barclays, Citi, Deutsche Bank, and HSBC, at the very minimum they’ll have a local ATM you can access free of charge.

Get a Visa, Any Visa

Your standard tourist visa will vary country to country, but for all intents and purposes it lasts approx. 90 days. While this might seem like more than enough time its really not. In fact its not even close to the amount of time you’ll really want or need. The biggest downside to this aside from essentially forcing you to either leave at the end of your visa or stay illegally is work. Your tourist visa in no way will get you job and if you think you’ll be able to pick up odd jobs for some extra cash you’re going to be in for a rude awakening. If you do somehow score one of these illusive under-the-table situations be ready to be overworked and underpaid. The only real asset you’ll earn is a deeper appreciation for what illegal immigrants have to deal with every day of their lives.

Not having a work visa blocked me from several decent job opportunities while living abroad. Were they dream jobs? No way (although the modeling gig would have been fun), but they would have certainly paid the bills and given me the ability to extend my stay until I was good and ready to come back. Student visas are usually the easiest to come by (although that’s changing) but they usually require you to also take classes, which may not be a bad thing. The problem with visas is that they are not cheap nor easy to get. Its a lot of leg work to put everything together with no guarantee that you’ll even get it, but trust me you don’t want to not have even tried you’ll regret it.

Find a Local Contact

This one isn’t nearly as hard as you would think, sites like meetup and couchsurfing have great community pages that will allow you to interact with people who are already living where you want to be. These people will prove a valuable resource when you are planning on everything from what to bring to what is the best neighborhood to live. The trick is not to ask the obvious questions, whats the best place for tapas, won’t get you too far (besides you can find that out when you get there). What you want to know if what things cost on average. When I arrived in Barcelona I had no idea what the average monthly rent was, no idea what groceries would run me, or even how much a night out would run me. Luckily for me it turned out they were much cheaper than I imagined, however London was a different story and I blew through cash at a startling rate.

Take the time to reach out a find someone before you go who can give you a quick run down on what to expect. This way to you can plan accordingly. Sometimes one persons advice won’t be enough so finding a few opinions never hurt. The alternative motive here is you’ll also be building a small community for yourself when you arrive. You may not actually turn out to be the best of friends but having at least a few people that you can call on to show you around when you get in never hurt.



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