“You’re doing what?!”
People were saying “I could never just up and move abroad.” Neither could we. In truth, a lot went into deciding to try being an expat. It was not wholly unlike someone deciding to climb Mt. Everest or deciding to work in Antarctica or even deciding to move to New Jersey. I suppose some people probably wake up one day and just know they are going to do a particular big adventure. For us, though, and maybe for most adventurous sorts, picking an adventure is much more of a spiraling into the decision than aiming straight at it.

As a couple this is a consensus process, but anyone might go through the same basic steps in picking an adventure:

1. We have to have the itch to do something, and know we have the means to do it.
2. Then, we generate the possibilities that appeal to both of us.
3. We start thinning the field by defining criteria that must be met. 
4. And ultimately, we pick something from the survivors.

It was only after we began actively planning our migration that we fully realized that most Americans find it unusual to think of leaving the country. Lots of our friends over the years have been immigrants into or out of the U.S, either for two-year, Peace Corps type adventures or more permanent shifts. To us changing countries seemed a fairly normal thing, at least within the context of big adventures.

We certainly didn’t see it as a small decision. Even for us migrating was in a separate category from moving across the country. Yet, it wasn’t a huge step from that, mainly just one that required considerably more planning. So, as we told various friends and co-workers that we were leaving, their amazement and some of the questions they asked made us more conscious of all the pieces of the actual decision.

1. The Itch – “Why now?”

One curiosity was why we were choosing this particular point in time. Isn’t this sort of move for twenty-somethings, or retirees, or people who relocate within their company? For us, the biggest reason was that we could, finally. We had achieved specific savings goals that allowed us to dramatically change our lifestyle. We no longer needed the incomes we had been maintaining, so we could take big risks such as quitting and moving without risking our financial security. This was further simplified by having no children or dependent family.

So really, we practically always have some itch to attempt a new adventure, but we were waiting for the right time. A more sane person possibly can’t imagine that constant urge for new experiences. They expect there must be a logical external reason we would do something like this rather than an irrational internal compulsion.

Then there’s the person who is restless, but hasn’t had a big adventure. Their curiosity would be about how we initiated an actual planned action rather than just continuing to imagine it happening at some time in the future. It can be very hard to see past all the possible obstacles when you haven’t done it before.

Some of the surprise at the timing was probably because we hadn’t talked about it to many people before. People don’t really talk openly about earnings and savings and early retirement planning, and this was just one piece of that package to us. We could see The End of Life as We Know It approaching for several years. In fact, saving was highly motivated by our “what next” dreaming and so we had been toying with ideas for years. But to many people it must have appeared to be a sudden decision.