BellaOnline Forums Relationships Married No Kids CF Opportunities: Moving Abroad

My husband and I are exploring some ideas around taking advantage of our CF lifestyle. One of the ideas we are really liking is that of moving abroad (we live in Rhode Island, USA for those international readers) for a few years. Any recommendations on good countries/cities/regions for Americans to move to for a few years? My husband is an english teacher, so I feel like he has tons of options. But, are there services that will help me find a job? (currently a corporate worker bee, but I dont care what I do). With no kids, we feel like we have the chance to take some risks and try new things that so many of our other more burdended parent friends can not. Has anyone out there tried this? If not this, what have you done specifically because you were not burdened by children?

My husband and I have discussed this as well (we live in Florida). We just bought a house though, so we'll probably stay put a few years. We did seriously look into moving to London once. He has some family there, and we have visited a couple of times. Maybe we'll revisit it again in a few years (we just bought a house). I'm not specifically sure if they need English teachers (being England and all), but they do apparently have a need for more highly educated people (please no one in England take offense to this, just repeating what I read while looking into immigrating to your wonderful country). They give visas based on a points system (i.e., you get a visa if you have a certain number of points). You get extra points for master's and doctorates, points for being below 35 (guessing they hope we'll reproduce? Suckers.), and for working in certain industries.

I think a lot of European countries work on kind of the same system. I'm telling you right now, if I ever get a grant to go study some species in Ireland, you bet I'll be there in a heartbeat. I went there once, and I can't wait to go back again!

I'm not sure if I've taken full advantage of my childfree status. I'm sure that if I had kids, even if I did get a grant to study something in Ireland, it would be difficult if not impossible to just up and go. Perhaps my our travels would not be possible were I not childfree. My husband and I make good money, but we are far from rich. If we had even one kid, I doubt our annual international trip would be monetarily feasible. Speaking of which, we are in a heated debate about this year. Scotland or Germany?

I live abroad. I'm from the US and live in Chile. I definitely think it is easier to do something like this with no kids. I participate in another fourm for expats here and a family recently moved here with three kids, stayed for one month, decided they didn't like it, and are now trying to move back. Apparently the kids were really homesick, but it seems crazy they only gave it a month. It sounds like they really didn't research what they were getting into. I have one friend that has lived abroad with her husband and child, but they are lucky that they have just the one and she has turned out to be quite adaptable. I don't think most kids would handle it as well as she has. As far as English teaching in South America, typical language institutes pay poorly and generally do not have the greatest working conditions. If he has the qualifications, teaching at an international school is probably his best bet. It also may be possible to give private lessons. It would take some time and contacts to build up a clientele. However, you get to keep everything the student pays, rather than having more than half of what the student is charged go to the institute. Low- to mid-level office work here also is poorly paid, for the most part and the work week is 45 hours. The better jobs are generally filled via personal connections. Also, you would, of course need a pretty high level of Spanish to get most office jobs. Maybe you could get by with a lower level of Spanish in some tourism jobs, if you were hired to mainly deal with English-speaking tourists. I married a Chilean, so it looks like I am here for the long haul.

Hi, we had the same idea that you're having now, and we moved to Greece ( Rhodes )three years ago from the north east of England. My husband has a pension from the police, and we live on that ( sold our house and bought one here ! ) the cost of living is so much cheaper than the U.K. So much so, that I don't have to work. ok we don't have much money, but we manage well, and have a great lifestyle. when I looked into getting a part time job, the average wage here is 5 euro ( if you are lucky, and my friend worked at a bar for 3.....) I've heard with the economic crisis many brits are leaving this year, returning to England. They can't find work enough to pay the bills. If we had kids there is no way we could follow our dream like this. And the weather ! I don't know what the weather is like in Rhode Island, but trust me, if you want to see blue skies and sunshine for more than a fraction of the year, don't go to London. Our teacher friend worked in a private school near London. the salary was excellent, but he only lasted a year. It was full of foreign students, of all religions, which he said was a mine field of do's and don'ts. I'm not racist at all, and I think integration is a good thing, but I know of many primary schools around London where English is the third language. ( the sign on the door for the computer room was in a foreign language with the English underneath in brackets.) I'm not trying to put you off, but i know a lot of teachers who have changed profession, if they were able, and that's why ( yes, you're right Dolyn ! ) they are crying out for teachers, especially the more highly educated ones, because they are the ones who are leaving teaching, able to find better paid and more rewarding jobs. The teacher friend I spoke of has just divorced, no children, and he has been teaching in Germany for the last 2 years, and loves it. he can speak fluent German though. The move abroad was incredibly stressful at times, but you have to follow your dreams because life is short enough. who knows where we'll be in ten years time, we often talk of trying France to live. for the moment we're happy here, and I'm glad we made the move. I wish you well. good luck.

Haha, I guess the grass is always greener, right? I'm from Florida, the place to be if you want sunshine (I've actually never seen snow before). I'd love to get out of the "tropical paradise" and go somewhere that actually has some seasons and some history older than a few decades.

As a former Army Brat we lived overseas a few times when I was younger. I find that I still have a bit of the 'gypsy' in me and would absolutely LOVE to find some ex-pat work somewhere. Of course, as kids/teenagers I am sure we gave our parents grief for moving us around, but looking back on it...well...it was a GREAT experience IMO. Here is a link to an article about living and working in France (if anyone was wondering). I'm not sure how strict other countries are. [url=http://french.about.com/od/travelfrance/a/liveworkinfrance.htm]About.com[/url]

Hi, My husband and I moved from Rhode Island to London and then back to Boston all within six months. I'm sad to say that this is the second time we've done it in the last few years and it hasn't worked out. I am not trying to be discouraging at all because we'll very likely do it again (but not to London/Engalnd). I'd suggest long visits to countries/cities where you'd like to live. If you can take some time off (even unpaid) in order to have more than a week or two and really experience the day to day and explore the culture and mentality. Try and live like the locals do and maybe don't go during the 'best' time of year (London summer). But this depends on weather you'd like your move to be short term - fun focus or long term - a new place settle. If you speak the national language, that will help you in getting jobs (I don't know if that's true for all countries). There are also visa issues to consider unless you have foreign citizenship or your company relocates you with a visa. I think the first thing to do is visit the places you're considering moving to and read up about them including local news.

My dream job is to work for my country's (a "tropical paradise") Foreign Service so the husband and I can move around the world every 2 to 5 years! We're working on that :) And don't you badmouth London, we lived there for about a year and I still can't look at the pictures because they make me cry, that's how "Londonsick" I am! I loved it there :)

Come to New Zealand!! Especially if you love the outdoors, nature, beautiful scenery, beaches, mountains, skiing, etc. So many cool things to do, like adventure sports, especially if you are not burdened with children. As for what I have done because I`m not burdened with children - mostly a lot of travel, all around the world, and I hope to do more! :)