The FastDay Forum

I'd really like to know about the ex-pats on this site...

Where did you move to?
Why?
How did you manage it (financially mainly)?
Do you ever regret it?

Excuse me as it's a very nosy question but I dream of relocating to Greece one day and I'm really interested in how people have actually managed to relocate to another country.

Hi Sophie
I moved to Brittany in Northern France 11 years ago with my then partner and our daughter aged 18 months. I have always been a francophile and following the appointent of a new boss who was a mysoginist and thought women with children shouldn't work, we decided to move sooner rather than later. We bought a gite business and did some more renovation and developed it. I also teach English in Rennes. My ex continued working in the UK (to ensure our finances were OK during the development of the gite business. We had another child in 2007 and then he decided he didn't want to live in France, he also met someone else around the same time and we split up.
Financially it isn't easy because I bought my ex out and have a mortgage to repay, but the gite business works well and I enjoy teaching. My kids are very happy here. I'm now with a tall, dark, handsome, funny Frenchman who I'm really happy and who my kids adore. I have no regrets at all.
Good luck with your Greek dream if you decide to go for it!

I am half-Brit and I live in Greece (but I didn't move here, I was born here), let me know if you have any questions. I know many ex-pats so I could share your questions with them.

Hi
My DH and I moved to SW France 8 years ago, as a retirement adventure. We meant to stay 3 years but DH has now put down roots, I'm ready to go home but he isn't, sadly....a bit of a standoff at the moment! We managed financially by selling our UK house, giving half the money to our kids....tax free and while they were young and needed help, we now rent, much more common in France.
If you feel you want to do it, I say go for it, no matter how long your adventure lasts, you will make some brilliant memories.

Hi! I'm an American living in Tokyo, have been in Japan for 7 years now.

I moved to Japan because I'd always been fascinated with the culture, and studied Japanese at my university. I originally came as an English teacher on the JET program so I lived out in the country. My husband (then boyfriend) was also accepted in the program, and we lived in different towns for 3 years. Anyway, we eventually moved to Tokyo, and he works as a computer programmer, and I still teach English part-time while I get a Master's degree.

I don't think I could have managed the move without a job at the time, because I came here after I graduated, and didn't have much saved up.

I've not regretted moving, though of course I miss family and friends, and some food from home. The toughest times to live away are when there are family emergencies, and it's of course impossible to buy a ticket home. But I love my life here. I'll move back to the US eventually, but we don't know when. My husband and I originally said we were only staying 2 years, and look at us now.

Anyway, good luck! Sorry for writing a novel.

I am afraid I may be chasing rainbows to be honest, because I'd be going with nothing - I've not house to sell, no savings to speak of, two children etc... I suppose you need some capital and money to fall back on. I don't suppose you can pre-arrange a job and accommodation can you? I wouldn't know where to start as for looking into it - I have bought a book about a man and his son who build a house in the Peloponnese (my favourite part of Greece - thus far), I've yet to read it, but I think it will make a good read and maybe give me some idea of how it all works...

Hi Sophie,

You should always chase your dreams and I hope they come true for you!

We are living in South Africa. We came here 18 months ago for a 2 month period for my husband's work. We loved it so much that when we were asked to stay for another 6 months we jumped at the chance!
My husbands contract at work came to an end last August and we made the decision to stay on here on our own as we love the lifestyle so much. Luckily my husband was a ble to find more work and we have got visas from that.
We have now sold up in the UK and we are looking to purchase property here.

Living in another country is amazing, definitly broadens your mond and gives you so many opportuities. I do miss my family, but the world is a much smaller place because of the technology we have now - Skype, Whats App etc are much used here!!

good luck!!

It won't be easy to pre-arrange anything in Greece. There is much of bureaucracy going around and I doubt that any Greek will rent you a house without seeing you eye to eye first.
BUT, there is a huge ex-pats community in the Peloponnese and I'm sure that they will be of huge help to you should you decide to start looking. Many do free-lance work for UK companies, which is good because you leave the UK with a job in your pocket. Let's face it, not much to do job-wise if you don't speak the language, even a little bit.

It won't be easy to pre-arrange anything in Greece. There is much of bureaucracy going around and I doubt that any Greek will rent you a house without seeing you eye to eye first.
BUT, there is a huge ex-pats community in the Peloponnese and I'm sure that they will be of huge help to you should you decide to start looking. Many do free-lance work for UK companies, which is good because you leave the UK with a job in your pocket. Let's face it, not much to do job-wise if you don't speak the language, even a little bit.

I didn't realise that about freelance work. That's really interesting - I know a few people at a place I go on holiday too, I wonder if they could put me in touch with the ex-pat community.

PS, I'm currently learning Greek!

Learning Greek is good. I know people who came here and didn't speak a single word. It's OK in big cities and if you're here on a holiday but imagine if you are in a small village and need to speak to the neighbour, the baker or -touch wood- the doctor.

Free lancing is the easier choice, if you do a job that can be done from a distance. Not good if you're a surgeon but very good if you translate documents!

Really pleased I seen this post.

I've been going through similar thoughts lately and really have an urge to do something and move and work abroad. We're doing it all a bit backwards though as I'm on Maternity leave and have 10 month old and thinking its stuff we should have done before we had a baby but I didn't have the urge so much then. Being in maternity leave has really made me look at what we want from life.

My husband was out of work for 7 weeks at the beggining of the year and has now thankfully got a job but still only contracting. As much as he's settled more now, I still think we should do it now before little one starts school. I obviously need to go back to my job for a period to claim my maternity leave but I do hope I don't get too settled again and never take the plunge.

He's an enginner and I work in IT so we're hoping we have the type of jobs that are in higher demand abroad? I don't think we'd risk going if we didn't have jobs to go to....at least one of us anyway.

Our problem is we don't quite know where to start and countries to look at? As much as we've been and both love Australia, this maybe too far for now. Dubai is somewhere we talk about but have never been so need to do more research.

Any advise would be much appreciated, especially from parents who have moved with young ones!

Hello from across the Atlantic, I moved from Colorado in the USA to Vancouver, Canada so I could be with my partner. Most would guess that there is little difference betweeen the two countries and no change in culture, but there are a lot of differences and I do feel like an ex-pat. Just the social isolation from moving, I am mostly retired so don't meet people from working, is a challenge.

Would be glad to answer any questions if anyone is thinking about Canada, the process is not easy and long...but I am happy here.

Stan

We moved from the UK to Cyprus in 2004 and I had a job already lined up. Originally we owned our property but sold it in 2008 and now rent. Wages are very low compared to the UK and the hours longer. I have learnt Greek and not only does it 'open doors' but I really feel I belong in the Cypriot community.Now living on my husbands UK state pension and we keep away from the British expats because we have travelled extensively over the past 30 years and don't have any ties in the UK (two visits in the last 9 years).

I live in Paris. I studied French at university and spent a year here in my third year and met the man who is now my husband, we moved to England together while I finished my degree then decided to move to Paris, which was a lot cheaper than London where I'm from at the time.

We pretty much came with nothing but we didn't need much either, I got a job quickly, it was actually harder for my husband to find work, he was unemployed for a while and we lived on my salary, then we both got jobs, had kids and here we are 11 years on still in Paris.

I've never had any regrets, though now we'd quite like to move, we've talked about moving to Sweden (I'm half Swedish) mainly for the quality of life, but my husband doesn't speak Swedish and now has a good job here so it's not easy to leave that behind.

You sound like you're serious about moving, I'd say go for it but try and get a job etc. sorted before, you can always move back if you don't like it!

[janeg]

Pringh I would be cautious of moving to Dubai as things are at the moment. PM me if you want details...