Health Travel & Tourism Life As An Expatriate Is Not Always Sweetness And Light


by Donald Saunders - Date: 2007-08-28 - Word Count: 824 Share This!

Sitting sun lounge and looking out on your windswept and rain soaked garden it is easy to imagine yourself living a new life in a new country, but just how does the picture in your mind's eye compare to the reality once you have made the move? Well, this question is not perhaps as easy to answer as you might imagine.

Possibly the most significant problem is that there are such a large number of variables to consider and Such a large number of factors which are quite simply not known at the beginning. It is easy, for example, to think that the fact that you do not speak the language is unimportant as, at least in the short term, you will probably be able to get by in your mother tongue and can always pick up the language in the longer term. Just how easy is it however for you to learn a language and just how simple easy is it to learn the language of your chosen country?

You might also be excited about the prospect of all that exotic food, but just how is a possibly marked change in your diet going to affect your health? You might well have enjoyed some wonderful restaurant food on holiday trips but is this really the type of food you will be eating every day when you are shopping and cooking for yourself?

All of these problems are of course relatively minor when it comes to comparing them to trying to adjust mentally to living in what is not only a different country, but possibly a very different culture. Those things which you have thought of as both fascinating and curious during holiday trips could well present you with considerable difficulty when they become part and parcel of your daily life.

Many countries with a sizeable expatriate community develop a substantial support network, which normally includes an expat club which holds regular meetings, organizes events and outings, distributes its own newspaper and a great deal more. Initially this might seem to be extremely comforting but it is often worth considering why the expats in the country have found it necessary to create such an extensive support network. Indeed, when you examine the extent to which the lives of many expats revolve around the activities of the expat community you may find yourself asking why they chose to live abroad in the first place.

In point of fact a significant number of expats find that, after the novelty has worn off, they regret their decision but have all too often burnt their bridges and now find themselves with no alternative other than to stay where they are and to make the most of their situation.

This is not of course the case with all expats and, as an expatriate myself, I can assure you that there are many of us who are very happy with our decision to re-locate and would certainly not wish to turn back the clock. For many thousands of people every year the decision to live overseas turns out to be the best decision they have ever made and one which they most certainly do not regret. By can you know which group you are likely to join before you make your decision?

Regretably, you can never of course be sure, but there are some things that you can do to increase your chances of your decision being one that you will be glad you made.

One of the most important things that you can do is to test the water so to speak and this means effectively living in your chosen country for a fair period of time before you cut your ties with home. And the important word here is 'living'.

It is no good simply visiting your chosen country from time to time on holiday, staying in a hotel and dining out in restaurants. You need to spend a minimum of a year in the country and to throw off any thoughts of being on holiday. You need to make a conscious effort to live as you would wish to live in the longer term, steering clear of tourist areas and activities and becoming part of the local community. Live just like a local, doing your own shopping and cooking and making the time to learn something of the local history, culture and lifestyle, while at the same time making the effort to learn the language.

If you stay away from the expatriate community and integrate yourself into the local community from the outset you will {rapidly|quickly|soon{ find out whether or not you would be making a wise choice to live abroad permanently.

If you are thinking of traveling abroad either for a short holiday or an extended stay, then do not leave home without arranging the appropriate international travel health insurance plan. Visit MedicalHealthInsuranceToday.com for more information on this and other aspects of medical health insurance


Related Tags: health insurance, relocation, expat, living abroad, expatriate, living overseas, moving abroad

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