The ideal Expat Destination

I'll make the start myself by giving my personal take on the topic:

1. Do not believe first impressions!
    A country might look good in pictures, descriptions or during a short visit, but turn out less than perfect once you live there. This is due to the initial holiday mood (or "honeymoon phase" of the culture shock model) later on being replaced by something more realistic. You need at least six months to tell if a place is really good for you!

2. Don't overestimate money!
    A country might have cheap restaurants, girls and beer, plus rooms near the beach cost next to nothing, but this isn't enough to ensure a fulfilled life for all but the most dull-minded individuals. In almost all cases, a quality of life similar to what you have at home will cost you the same or more elsewhere. And you usually get what you pay for: Cheap food and taxis cannot compensate for the lack of intellectual stimulation or a cultural life!
    On the other hand, countries with a low cost of living index also have accordingly low salaries and a lack of economic opportunites. It is far easier to find a job, earn well and afford a good lifestyle in rich countries, despite the higher prices!

3. What will you do every day?
    Even for those who do not need jobs to earn their living, a variety of regular activities is needed for a happy life. A beach house will get boring soon if you have it every day and there is nothing else to do - and only the most solitary characters (and maybe researchers of forest ecology) can enjoy a wood cabin far from civilization for more than a few weeks. It is usually better to stay in (or within reach of) a major city offering many things to do and see, among them something familiar in case you get homesick (and believe me: you will)!

4. Do consider language and culture!
    Unless you want to remain an outsider (and accept the social awkwardness and loneliness that comes with it), you need an environment that you understand and in which you can make yourself understood. Everyone needs friends, and just relying on other outsiders is not a good idea. Thus you need to speak the local language and know the cultural fabric and mentalities well. This can be learned once there, but it is hard - especially in the beginning, when you have no support network (yet)!

5. Stay legal!
    Even more so than at home, it is advisable to stay out of legal troubles abroad. You don't know the rules, are more noticeable and thus more likely to be caught, and you have no way to defend yourself then. Therefore, stay clear of drugs, visa violations (e.g. overstays or work without permit) or any other illegal act at all cost. Even if others try to suggest that it is o.k. and the authorities would leniently look the other way: This is not the case and you will regret it later!
Note: It is also illegal in almost all countries to work remotely (e.g. via the Internet) for foreign companies without work permit, independent of where and how you get paid. You WILL be noticed when you declare the income for tax purposes, and if you don't, it is even doubly illegal (plus morally wrong: Why shouldn't you contribiute to your host society like anybody else living there?).

The ideal destination OK so ticking certain boxes will be different to everyone else I guess, some of us might want to be reclusive and off grid, others might prefer busy local town squares, others might want beaches to walk, or hills to climb.
More or less we all have an idea of our own Utopia, first thing to remember is to move with a clear mind, leaving whatever life you have lived behind will work much smoother with little or no past life distractions, I'm a little off topic here I know but I've  not left you hanging here on a lonely topic it's a kind of reply loosely I admit?
Regards and best wishes to all ex-pats! 

beppi, with the one exception being your personal "opinion", re: the legal & moral aspects of not paying of income taxes, you've done a great job of covering all the bases, in detail, sir.

HI beppi

I think you could not have said it better and you have covered most of what people need to understand when relocating. I find so much ignorance in people and asking the same thing over and over and not doing their homework when it comes to choosing a country.
Personally I think most people are too lazy to research and just expect the information to be handed to them.  Stepool 1970 hit the nail on the head and I want to hit that nail on every potential expats head to say, don't bring your culture and history with you, be an open book and and look at your new country with an open mind if you want to make it work for you. Yes, and forget about the hollywood, american dream-kind-of mindset and bring yourself and family and just make it the ideal destination. Life is what you make of it. There is no ideal destination in my opinion. It does not exist. Every country has it down side and up side.

Sanbo: I like what you said about "make it the ideal destination."
In fact, the ideal destination is within oneself, not outsde!

beppi wrote:

4. Do consider language and culture!
    Unless you want to remain an outsider (and accept the social awkwardness and loneliness that comes with it), you need an environment that you understand and in which you can make yourself understood. Everyone needs friends, and just relying on other outsiders is not a good idea. Thus you need to speak the local language and know the cultural fabric and mentalities well. This can be learned once there, but it is hard - especially in the beginning, when you have no support network (yet)!

My wife and I, when we retire to somewhere other than where we live now, will seek out communities that speak English. There are dozens of countries with communities like that in South-east Asia, Latin America, and most nations in Europe. Mixing with the locals and learning their language is all very well as an adventure, but certainly at our ages (late 70s) it's not practical. Our list of possibles include Mexico and elsewhere in Central America, and Canary Islands and the Balearics both in Spain, and maybe Madeira - all those places have English-speaking communities. Not all members of those communities are native-speakers of English, but half the civilised world speaks understandable English, doesn't it? My Norwegian grandchildren speak English; my son's Polish girlfriend speaks excellent English; tens of millions of Indians and Chinese speak English.

Even in our working lives from our mid-twenties we sought out English-speaking communities. Australian-born, we worked in England, Canada, Bahamas, New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) and Cayman and loved them all. I had my name down for (but didn't get) jobs in Jersey (the Channel Islands Jersey, not the US one), Hong Kong, Bermuda, Turks & Caicos, Falklands and Kenya. So for those of working age who want to leave home and live somewhere new - go for it, and don't worry about being isolated - unless you want to be!

beppi wrote:

Sanbo: I like what you said about "make it the ideal destination."
In fact, the ideal destination is within oneself, not outsde!

I do agree with Sanbo on that wonderful phrase ... but, only in spirit, not in letter, perhaps!  
Can't stop laughing thinking about its other (slightly bitter-sweet) connotation.

Today, most problems related to immigration and expatriation around the world are deeply rooted in this very fact that people do everything they can to make it their ideal destination.
You know what I mean. Isn't that true??

I guess I can add something in line with expectation. When an expat wannabe arrives with expectations that their host country runs as well or as bad as their homeland then living with all things foreign becomes so much more hard and then homesickness will prevail and you have a miserable expat.

Anyone seriously wishing to up sticks and more either forever or  for employment really should clear the head of wanting their new life to be like their old one. If they don't then whats the point of moving?

I normally explain that concept to new expats when I meet them as part of my work through the fact that they are no longer in the west. If they think what they see is similar to buildings at home, they are. However note the lack of fire extinguishers and fire exits. One door in same door out.  This is Indonesia, people don't prepare for the worse. If that is accepted then we can all move on. If not then the new guy will struggle from there..

Just a thought

lukereg wrote:

I guess I can add something in line with expectation. When an expat wannabe arrives with expectations that their host country runs as well or as bad as their homeland then living with all things foreign becomes so much more hard and then homesickness will prevail and you have a miserable expat.

Exactly!
I realized, thankfully very early in my Expat "career" as life became much easier afterwards, that if millions of locals are happy and like their country but I hate it - then who is most likely wrong?!?
From then onwards, I always went out of my way to figure out what makes them happy - and adopted that into my life as well. The result was many years of adventures, finding lots of friends, feeling at home (really!) in 7 countries and still being an Expat years after returning to my original country, because of the many matters I took with me and which became part of me.

I suppose you are never going to be the expat that belongs( treated equally to the native) you will always be a blow in, no matter how long you have lived abroad or how many friends you make. That is one aspect that one has to accept. You might have an accent change over the years but you are still just the expat. I hear what you say bebe, by adopting some of the culture of the home country in order to get along or to make friends. I suppose when you are in your teens or early  adulthood its a necessary step but old croonies just don't get that. So they suffer total isolation and maybe they are happy with that decision. I don't consider myself and old croonie but I like who I am and I am happy to adopt some things but I am not desperate for friends at this stage in my life and I get on well with my colleagues but I don't want to hang out after work. In fact I enjoy having a drink in the comfort of my own home and not go out for the night to a pub like the locals do. Like bebe says we are on an adventure and trying out new things is something you have to like to do if you want to survive in your newly adopted country. There is nothing worst than somebody who keeps commenting on how the food just is not as good as their home countries and importing it. Joke joke joke!   any italians here who can identify with that last comment??? I am married to one by the way.

To me the ideal expat destination is very dependent on the individuals perceptions of what is 'ideal'
Those who expect things to be just like home soon fall by the wayside. Others do nothing to try and assimilate and are always negative when asked about how life is treating them in their new destination.
Some are there short term and having fun.

There are those who take the time to research the destination of choice, learn the language, mix with locals. They have a positive can do attitude.

I have worked and traveled the world for 45+ years and have met them all.

beppi wrote:

Sanbo: I like what you said about "make it the ideal destination."
In fact, the ideal destination is within oneself, not outsde!

beppi, you did it again! That's really hitting the nail squarely on the head.