Leaving a place can be a chain of events or a collection of reasons which are usually the catalyst for people to leave, and expat their country, and for Tom and I, it was no different. Normally, one is looking for something better than the current situation provides. But before you move you should make your Checklist(s). Our first Expat Checklist was about WHY we want to move.
We decided firstly that we both needed a fresh start in a new location, as life seemed a bit ordinary in the area where we were living. Also, we both had some really tough times from the very beginning of buying this property in Spain. There was so much trouble connected to this property, that we were not able to enjoy the place for one minute. It was causing so much stress, that it almost cost us our marriage. Even though we purchased the property outright, we had to fight for more than 3 years just to get the title deed in our name and in our hands! Words cannot express here!
So, we definitely wanted a new start on a neutral ground.
Once we had made the decision to leave, other things popped up to confirm that it was the right choice. In the paragraphs below you will find the most common reasons why people are leaving their home country, to expatriate to another one. You will also find our examples, our personal Expat Checklist – Our Top 5 Reasons We Wanted To Leave:
1. Business opportunity or Job offerings
Of course, this was our first experience why we each became expats in another country. Tom had the great job offer in the Middle East, to join an accelerated airline pilot career, and I had a great offer to earn some great money in Kabul, Afghanistan.
If one is hired by a company and offered a job in a foreign country, then this makes things a lot easier most of the time. The company is taking care of everything regarding your move, your Visa is taken care of, as well as flights, accommodation, and a lot more. If the company is not offering these things, then maybe you should really re-consider the offer. In both of our cases it was very well taken care of.
If you are working for yourself, things are, of course, a totally different story. (This is now the case for both Tom and I, in our new expat journey). Everything has to be taken care of by yourself, and there is many things to consider and to organize. This is one reason we created this blog and our YouTube channel.
2. Life style
Life style is, of course, a very individual and personal choice. Certainly no one is going to expat their place of residence, somewhere else, for a life style that is worse. It all depends on what YOU want, but beware, “the grass is always greener…!”
In our early 40’s, Dubai was a welcome change and very tempting with its vibrant, colorful and ever-busy, bustling city lifestyle. Dubai attracts millions of expats from about 200 different countries all gathered together, in this truly multi-cultural place. “A playground” for expats… that’s for sure!
Today, in our 50’s, and after the experiences from the last two plus years, we are thinking a little differently. We are happy to take a step back and go a bit slower, being more “off grid”, maybe growing our own food etc., and trying to be more self-sufficient.
Today, in our 50’s, and after the experiences from the last two plus years, we are thinking a little differently. We are happy to take a step back and go a bit slower, being more “off grid”, maybe growing our own food etc., and trying to be more self-sufficient.
3. Weather – Seeking the Sun
Maybe this subject could also go under the life style part, but we wanted to give it a separate paragraph, because we are such warm weather fanatics. 
Cold weather was certainly another factor that was a strong confirmation to us both, that it was time for a warmer, and new location. Even though, here in Spain it is sunny in the summer time, but the winters here seem to get longer with each year that passes. It really seems, that during the last few years, Spain got much colder and a lot more rain. Years before, we never saw such long periods of cold and wet weather here. It was always like about two or more weeks nice and then 3 – 5 days of ugly weather, but now this relation seems to have completely reversed and houses here are not constructed for such long periods of cold. They cool down very quickly and hence in the winters here, you need adequate heating in the home, to keep it comfortable.
Also, we both found we were much more enthusiastic and inspired about life, when the sun was shining, and the air was warm. Comparing this to if it is cold, overcast, and rainy, it is hard to get motivated to feel inspired, as you were busy just trying to keep warm and dry. Most times, when it is cold and rainy outside, you choose not to go anywhere, and you just want to sit on the sofa, under a blanket!
Best times for Inspiration
We both found we were most inspired, when we were outside, enjoying a nice sunny day, whether it be on a walk, with our little dog Peque, or sitting somewhere nice, like in an outdoor restaurant, a coffee shop or beer garden, sitting under a tree, this would be when our inspirations, thoughts and ideas would flow. As the saying goes “follow your bliss”, as you find, when you are doing something that you enjoy, then all sorts of inspiring thoughts come to mind! It worked for us!
Excitement about New Horizons
Since the decision to leave has been cemented, we are both excited about the “new horizons” coming up. For us, this means, no more “long sleeves” needed, just warm sunny days and balmy evenings! We are inspired by this, which helps propel, further, our thoughts and ideas more easily now. We can visualize the white, sandy beaches, lined with palm trees and the warm breeze accompanied by this, not to mention sipping on a nice refreshing homemade, minted lemonade on ice!
4. Financial and Tax
I mentioned above the main key factors for leaving Spain/Europe, being, seeking the sun all year round, as we are tired of the winter months. Additionally, we felt we are tired of our surroundings and needed a fresh change in location. 
Real Estate
Other reasons also come to light, being we could do things a bit smarter financially, and have out assets work a bit harder for us. As we all do, we made mistakes when buying property, but at least we have learnt a lesson from it and look now to correct this in the new country we expatriate to.
We both bought a nice house each to live in and putting a lot of time, effort and money into these houses, not realizing that it is not going to make us money, if we are living in the house. In hindsight, we now both realize we both would have been better off, if we had each bought two smaller houses, renting one out and living in the other. This was our pre-marriage days, and of course now, later, thinking smarter, we like the idea of buying a bigger property with land, having a smaller home for us to reside in, but build two extra cabana’s on the land and rent these two out for an additional income, hence, making our money work for us.
Tax
Of course this can be a very important point for many.
In particular, if you’re running your own business, or if you’re a digital nomad etc. We certainly cannot give you any advise on financials or taxes but we can urge you to get that professional advise. The one guy we consulted is quite famous for his life style as a “perpetual traveler,” who is living tax free legally for more than 10 years. He also has all the contacts in most of the favorite countries. We might provide his blog page and his service along our way, later. In any case, no matter who it is, you need to get that professional consultation before you move, as it can save you a fortune!
Due to our experience, we can tell you that Dubai is a very favorite place to be when it comes to taxes and if you are able to found your own company there. In Dubai, there are many agencies who can help you get started, setting up your own company there. Certainly, this is another option for us in the mid-term future.
5. 1. Political reasons
We don’t want to get too political here and spread any political opinions, but we must mention this reason, because within the last two plus years this became more and more obvious for us, as an additional reason to add to our list. Before 2020 this was never really a factor for us and also many other people, but as we all know, and we also mentioned in our first video, the year 2020 has changed the whole world.
We both are “freedom lovers” and believe that everyone on this planet has the right to live freely and happily. So, this became now, one of our biggest consideration points for leaving our home countries.
If one has friends and/or family in Australia, for example, you soon find out that Australia is not a free country anymore. Again, we don’t want to get too political, but if you were to compare for example, how other countries handled the “pandemic”, it makes it very obvious, how not so free Australia was. That’s why Australia was completely disappearing from our “potential country list,” along with now, the whole of the EU region, because they are not any better.
Again, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and views, but this is now one of our main reasons to go somewhere else, and maybe you want to consider it for yourself, in your choice of a new country.
Conclusion
Moving forward with this big step to move to another country, maybe a country you don’t even know much about, this can be quite stressful and demanding. I am sure there are probably many more reasons why you may want to move, other than what we have mentioned above. However, we just pointed out, our list of top 5 reasons, why we want to expatriate, yet again.
The short list of our potential new countries, along with how we chose them, will be part of one of our next blogs.