If you’re looking for a new challenge in your life, moving abroad can be a whole lot easier than you might think. You could move somewhere with better employment opportunities in your industry. Or you could just decide you’d like to see the sun a bit more often. Whatever your reason for wanting to explore new horizons, you’ll probably not want to take everything you own with you. So why not store some things with us?
Here are some things you might want to consider when you’re thinking of going abroad for longer than the usual couple of weeks.
How long are you going for?
Is this a once-in-a-lifetime, all-in, forever move? Or might it be for a year or two? What you hope to get out of the move might help you decide how long you’ll be away for. This seems obvious, but try to imagine what you’d miss at home. These are likely to be things like people, places and the familiarity. Nowadays you can get a lot of the things you get at home from importers or online. Make sure you really, really think things through. It can be quite an expensive ‘experiment’ if you hate where you’ve moved to after a few weeks.
Find the right place
Obvious, right? Spend time online looking for people who have done what you’re thinking of. See what they liked and what they found difficult about the move. This will be a pretty big move, so make sure you don’t regret it. You can find lots of lists that compare countries and let you work out where you want to be. You could have a look at this one from Business Insider that lists the 17 countries with the best quality of life. You could also look at countries where your skills will earn you more money. Again, Business Insider has a list for you.
Other things to think about
If you’re looking to work when you move, you need to make sure you’ve got everything in place to allow you to work. Plan ahead – be realistic about how long it might take to find a job. Make sure you allow enough time to settle in and acclimatise before your first day at work. Make sure the job you’re looking at is practical for your new life. It’s unlikely you want to move country and then spend your life commuting over there. Check what visas you’ll need, how long the process is likely to take and whether you need an employer to sponsor your visa. Make sure your CV is relevant to your chosen country’s customs and show how your experience will help you perform in your new role. And (another obvious one) be aware of the language barrier. If you are moving somewhere with a new language, we’d suggest you start learning as soon as you can.
We mentioned travelling light, right
Spend time working out what you’re taking and leaving. And then spend more time working out, from the stuff you’re leaving, what you want to keep and what you don’t mind parting with. Things you want to keep for the future (but don’t want to cart round the world) can be stored. Safely and securely with us. Things you don’t want to keep can be sold to give you a little more money, or can be donated to charity to help their finances. Be ruthless. Think about your carbon footprint if you take a whole load of stuff with you that you end up not actually using. It might be an idea to store things initially and then have them shipped out if you decide you really need them.
Lots of helping hands
We’ve got lots of experience of helping people who are moving abroad. So, if you have any questions just let us know. You can pop in, give us a call on 0141 221 4727 or email us at mail@gtwstorage.co.uk.
Many hands make light work.