The Original Accidental Expat
I was the Accidental Expat, who made every decision based on the idea that I would be moving on soon. I was in expat denial – I couldn’t come to grips with anything being permanent. When I first started traveling and settling down in weird places, most of the other expats were other businesspeople. Someone came over with an electronics maker or an oil company, and when their posting was over, they stayed behind. There was a girl. There was a restaurant. There was an opportunity.
New Types of Expats
Now, however, there are new types of expats. For some people, it’s a long-term plan about retirement or “pretirement”. For others it’s a cost issue or lifestyle choice. Retiring abroad has become mainstream, and now with all the work from anywhere options, more people can afford to do it.
New Expats came from three groups.
The first was the business posters. These were engineers and specialists who might be posted to far-flung outposts for years. When it was time to home some chose to stay on, and others decided to return later. Many of these “hardship postings” developed into beautiful cities.
Some are the sun-birder types who begin their expat moves as visitors. They came back to the same places every year, and eventually got around to building real lives in a different country. The tourist–visitor–expat path is a tradition, and it still works as well as ever.
But in the 2010s or so, we started getting Digital Nomads. These are young go-getters who seek experience more than anything else. They travel to the best places, do all their work (which seems to be a lot of programming), and have the most fun. It looks exhausting. Sometimes they just settle down.
And that has led to a 3rd type of expat – The Digital Nomad in Denial. If you want to understand what I’m talking about, visualize Chiang Mai, Thailand. Everyone visited when they were wild nomads, but now that they want a cool place to live. Preferably one that is safe, affordable, and comfortable, it made sense to settle there.
Which are you?
If you are in it for the EXPERIENCE, you’re a digital nomad. I knew a lot of digital nomads in Asia. They are youngish, high energy, and very engaged. The digital nomad craze was a big deal pre-covid, but now their stock seems to be falling. I live in Mexico right now, where digital nomads are not highly regarded. “A café is a café, not an office.”, I can still hear the waiters saying as they chased me out.
If you are in it for the LIFESTYLE, you’re an expat. Expats are generally more…mature. For us, this is our primary or secondary home. Even if we don’t buy the property, we’re still going to put down roots. There will probably be applications for special long-term visas or registrations. Expats can cluster up in their own communities, or they pop up in local areas. Either way, they tend to try to keep a pretty low profile.
Expatting means understanding visas and residency requirements and complying early and often.
Which do you want to be? When I started to work overseas, the only way to do it was to work for an established company. I’m impressed that now it’s possible to be entrepreneurial from anywhere in the world.
But heavy travel is exhausting. That’s why there are so few really famous nomads left anymore. People like having homes. That’s how a lot of us ended up settling down into the comfortable expat lifestyle. It’s like traveling without going anywhere.
Warning signs that you might be an ex-pat.
1. You are helping friends of friends with visa or apartment issues.
2. You are keeping stuff for other people.
3. You own more stuff than you could carry.
Did you see that third one? The others were a bluff! The only thing that matters is if you own more physical stuff than you can reasonably carry. You can’t store suitcases and boxes in people’s basements forever. Trust me. Eventually you have to settle down. The sooner you start planning, the better you’ll be expatting.
Final Word:
When planning an ex-pat move, site selection is your first priority. Pick the right place first, and it’s easier to turn the rest of your vision into reality. directly in certain parts to enhance clarity and engagement.