Expat Explorer

Questions of the Day

paulsay@hsbc.com — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:29:56 PST

This week Expat Explorer has been asking its Twitter followers about their lives as an Expat. Check out some of the answers below – and answer the questions yourself ion the comment box below!

Question 1 – Do you have any top tips for #expat entrepreneurs?

David Kennedy, an expat from Dublin living it up on the Costa del Sol, says:

“Keep believing in yourself!!!”

This is a great tip for anyone adventuring off into the entrepreneurial world – but even more so for expats! In case you missed our last post of tips of expat entrepreneurs, here are the highlights:

Build some solid connections

Hire the right people

Knowledge and resource share

Develop the perfect pitch

Have you started up your own business abroad? We’d love to hear from you - what were your biggest challenges and achievements? Leave us a comment in the bow below!

Question 2 - Did you become an expat for financial gain?

Greg Lexiphanic, an expat living in Hong Kong, said:

“I became an expat for the lifestyle.”

Moving to a whole new country is a massive ordeal – so there must be something to make it all worthwhile! For some this is money prospects, either a better career, more disposable income or a more luxurious lifestyle. In the latest Expat Explorer Survey the country that came top for Economics was Saudi Arabia. One expat here gives a great tip:

“Bring a sense of humour, an open mind and expect the unexpected.”

If, like Greg, lifestyle is more your thing – whether that is a good social life, great food and a lovely local culture, our expats reported that Thailand is the best place to go! An expat living in Thailand says:

“Try to learn the language and take full advantage of the quality but reasonably priced healthcare.”

From Flickr

Question 3 - How are you celebrating Australia Day?

Nikki Moff, expat and third culture kid from Australia living in Durban, replied saying:

“wine & cheese night with girlfriends as husband away & no other Aussies in Durban”

Journalist Rebekka Hodges, and Australian expat living in the UK, wrote a great piece for The Australian Times about her first Australia Day abroad. She describes Australia Day as:

“a melting pot with all of the greatest elements of Australian culture coming together to form one harmonious day: daytime drinking; sunshine; water; music; and best mates. What more could you want?”

What did you do for Australia Day? Leave a comment in the box below! To compare what expats think of countries around the world, head over to the Expat Explorer Survey interactive site – and enjoy!

Expat Entrepreneurs

paulsay@hsbc.com — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:29:32 PST

Expats and entrepreneurs often share many similar traits. The ability to recognise opportunities, openness to change and coping under pressure for example. For our first post of 2012, we thought we’d begin by looking at an emerging breed of expats – the expat entrepreneur. SWMG6EC26P5M

Image source: Creative Commons- The Trampery in London

Moving abroad, expats might find more favourable policies, tax regimes, economic climate and infrastructure that really help to promote the entrepreneurial spirit and inspire expats to go down the start-up route. In other situations, people actively seek to move abroad to be in hotspots where start-ups naturally cluster be it New York, Berlin or East London and be part of the local tech scene.

For those thinking of setting up their own businesses, there is a wealth of information out there to help you get started and tap into the right resources. Here, Expat Explorer shares some our our top tips for prospective expat entrepreneurs:

1. Connections, connections, connections

One of the most important takeouts experienced entrepreneurs will tell you is that, to build a successful business, it seriously helps to know the right people. Your ability to tap into the right circles, meet the right people and make the right connections can make all the difference in whether you thrive or survive.

2. Sign up to meetups

There are lots of events you can join to meet like-minded people both formally and informally. Events like Entrepreneur Week in New York and Silicon Drinkabout in London are just some examples. You can also attend your local Startup Weekend – an event where you pitch your idea and build a team around it in 54 hours. Teams go from idea to getting a business hacked together in a single weekend, means there’s no room for talk and no action. Check out this list for other great events to join.

3. Hire the right people

Starting up can be tough. That is why finding the right people from the beginning can make or break your business. Often your first couple of hires are those who will have a big input into your company’s direction. Having a complementary skill set and being able to get on well with them also helps given the long hours involved.

Speaking at Webstock in New Zealand, Kevin Rose,

founder of Digg said:

“Ensure staff are committed to and understand your vision. Passionate, committed staff have a tendency to rub off on people. There is nothing like a new junior developer who runs circles around everyone to get people hyped up and raise the bar! Stay involved in the hiring process as long as you possibly can.”

4. Knowledge share and join co-working spaces

The value of knowledge sharing with peers is massively helpful to expats setting up their own businesses. Being with like-minded people and those who are going or have gone through similar challenges can help entrepreneurs problem-solve, bounce ideas and solutions off each other.

As you’re starting out, renting a desk in a co-working space can help surround yourself with other start-ups. Collaboration software developer, Huddle has put together this handy list of cool co-working spaces from around the world. See if there’s one near you!

5. Develop perfect pitch

Crafting the perfect pitch is a critical skill for expat entrepreneurs to have, be it for raising capital or to attract new business prospects. Knowing your business inside out and perfecting the elevator pitch is also a good start in getting your foot into the door. This Forbes article gives some great tips on developing and refining your pitch.

We’d love to hear from you other tips you have for entrepreneurs. Leave us a comment below.

Taking Christmas Top Ten Lists to the Extreme!

paulsay@hsbc.com — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 02:55:13 PST

With Christmas fast approaching it seems that every publication is posting at least one or two “Top Ten” lists, from Top Ten Christmas Movies (everyone has a favourite) to Top Ten Wackiest Christmas Decorations. So here is a rundown of the Expat Explorer Top Ten Christmas Top Ten Lists!

From Flickr

10. Top Tentech gifts for grandparents this Christmas

1. Senior-friendly mobile phone

2. Webcam

3. Plant sensor

4. e-Book reader

5. Digital photo frames

6. Motion Sensing Gaming Console (MSGC)

7. HD video cameras

8. GPS

9. Large print keyboards

10. Portable media player

9. Top TenBest Christmas Movies Of All Time

1. Die Hard

2. Brazil

3. Nightmare Before Christmas

4. 1941

5. A Christmas Story

6. The Bishop’s Wife

7. Elf

8. Gremlins

9. Miracle on 34^th Street

10. A Christmas Carol

8. Top TenChristmas markets in Europe

1. Munich, Germany

2. Cologne, Germany

3. Vienna, Austria

4. Prague, Czech Republic

5. Copenhagen, Denmark

6. Nuremberg, Germany

7. Strasbourg, France

8. Manchester, England

9. Brussels, Belgium

10. Zurich, Switzerland

From Flickr

7. Top TenMost Wanted Christmas Gadgets

1. iPad2

2. iPhone 4S

3. Kindle Fire

3. Nintendo 3DS

4. Blackberry Playbook

5. LG Star

7. TiVo

8. Chromebook

9. Motorola 3.0 Tablet

10. Sony Ericsson Experia Play

6. Top TenUnusual Christmas Decorations

1. Bah Humbug Bauble

2. Jelly Belly Baubles

3. Christmas Pudding Bin Bags

4. Cluedo Crackers

5. Cat Badge Christmas card

6. Christmas Loo Roll

7. Moscow Fur Stocking

8. Moustache Snow Globe

9. Feather Tree

10. Gisela Graham White Feather Owl

5. Top TenEthical Christmas Gifts

1. Fairtrade Fun Ball

2. Kamikaze Airlines Organic T-Shirt

3. Organic Green / Pink / Charcoal Proportional Striped Socks

4. Fairtrade Organic Hi Top Trainers Black & White

5. Organic Turquoise / Aqua Affirmation Socks

6. Fairtrade Organic Low Top Trainers Red

7. Fairtrade Mini Football Ball

8. Kamikaze Women’s H20 Organic T-Shirt

9. Fairtrade Pro Football

10. Fairtrade Organic Kids Hi Top Trainers Black & White

4. Top TenBest Childrens' Christmas Books

1. The Night Before Christmas - Clement C Moore

2. Cops And Robbers - Allan and Janet Ahlberg

3. The Snowman - Raymond Briggs

4. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

5. How The Grinch Stole Christmas - Dr Seuss

6. Letters From Father Christmas - JRR Tolkien

7. A Child's Christmas in Wales - Dylan Thomas

8. The Polar Express - Chris Van Allsburg

9. The Tailor of Gloucester - Beatrix Potter

10. Horrible Christmas - Terry Deary and Martin Brown

3. Top Ten Christmas Lists

1. The Best Christmas Books Ever

2. The Only Christmas Gifts You Should Buy This Year

3. The Coolest Christmas Card Ideas You’ll Ever See

4. Christmas Albums You Probably Don’t Own But Should

5. Best Advent Calendars EVER

6. Christmas Printables, Websites & Other Cool Online Tools

7. Handmade Christmas Gifts for Kids to Make & Give

8. Best Advent Calendars EVER

9. How To Wrap and Detangle Christmas

10. Presents Without Bows Are Just Wrong

From Flickr

2. Top Ten BestNovelty Christmas Songs

1. “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” — Alvin & The Chipmunks

2. “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” — Elmo and Patsy

3. “All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth” — Spike Jones and his City Slickers

4. “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas” –Gayle Peevey

5. “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” — Thurl Ravenscroft

6. “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” — Jimmy Boyd

7. “Snoopy’s Christmas” — The Royal Guardsman

8. “Santa Baby” — Eartha Kitt

9. “Feliz Navidad” — Jose Feliciano

10. “Frosty The Snowman” — Gene Autry

1.Top Ten Expat Christmas Posts!

1. An Expat Christmas – hungary for adventure

2. Christmas Edition: Carols – Life of an Expat Parent

3. A Mince Pie for Christmas – Expat Daily News

4. Classic Displaced Writing: Dickens – A Christmas Carol – The Displaced Nation

5. Expat Christmas: Holiday Blues to Holiday Cheer – Memoirs of a Young Adventurer

6. Christmas Variability – Boreal Expat

7. Happy Expat Christmas – Punchbuggy

8. Twelve Crafts of Christmas [Guest Post] Swedish Christmaswith Bailie from Expat in Training – her new leaf

9. Christmas spirit in Lugano – Expat with Kids

10. An Expat Christmas – The Life and Times of Chantelle

We hope you have enjoyed these Christmas Top Ten lists. Do you have a Christmas themed Top Ten list to share with us? Tweet us @ExpatExplorer or share the link in the comments box below. Merry Christmas!

Expat Guest Blog - Cocktails at Naptime: How two writers met in Cyberspace and wrote a book

paulsay@hsbc.com — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 04:14:07 PST

Once upon a time, two mums who really should have been doing housework wrote a book together. They called it Cocktails at Naptime and some nice Australian publishers called Finch Publishing laughed out loud when they read it on the train home and thought their readers would laugh out loud too on their trains home, possibly startling some fellow passengers along the way.

Here’s their story:

Emma says:

Gillian was like Nanook from the frozen North (Aberdeen) while I was a sunburnt British ex-pat living in East Coast America. How, you may well wonder, did this unlikely duo meet on the blogosphere. I am ashamed to say my chat up was that corny old line, “I really like your blog.” Luckily she was polite enough to reply.

At first I was suspicious. What was the matter with Gillian I wondered? She was not loud and shouty like so many people on the blogosphere. She never posted pictures of her cats or mumsy articles about how to create rainy day activities out of a thousand saved yoghurt pots. She was immature in a certain way like me, a Eurovision Contest fanatic who liked to dress in cheap spandex for non sexual purposes, yet unlike me seemed to run her family like a well organised military machine. Whereas I was domestically challenged, leaving the dirty washing to overflow the baskets like Mount Vesuvius and sometimes (okay a lot) getting my two daughter’s names mixed up.

So in some ways we were chalk and cheese and yet before we even disclosed we were both Capricorns (born a mere two years and 10 days apart) there was a certain indefinable chemistry between us. Well I’m not sure how it happened but we realised that we were having the sort of synchronised and brilliant ideas that could no longer be hidden under a bushel and before long we were telling each other we had to write a book together.

Now why that worked out is a bit of a mystery. Why we understood each other so well despite the fact we’ve never met in person may be partly astrological but it is also deeply geographical. For while I was born in the South and Gillian in the North we both shared the same soggy, damp landmass for many a moon. Essentially our shared heritage involves such cultural reference points as finding the royal family ludicrous, a genetic disposition to enjoy things like fried sausages and eggs without worrying about its cholesterol content, a 70′s childhood involving numerous electricity strikes where we sat in the dark listening to ABBA on a portable radio and an adolescence spent dating weedy pasty men with crooked teeth (tans only briefly becoming a fashion statement in the UK in the 80’s when orangey fake tan made a debut which looked awful unless you were a member of Wham!).

Even though we were psychic twins in many ways including a love of cheesy pop music and the fact that we both speak German it still didn’t take a genius to figure out that writing a book together in cyberspace was going to be about as easy as asking Lindsay Lohan to lay off the sauce. And yet, because we are both goats we dug our hooves in and got on with it, with bits of text flying back and forth until we had amassed something that looked distinctly like a book. And now that this book is done and dusted and filled with marvellous illustrations, we’re hoping there are other mums out there – not necessarily Capricorns – who will enjoy our peculiarly skewed but perceptive views on what really happens after your midwife screams, “Mrs Mum! Take a deep breath and push. You’re crowning!”

Gillian says:

It was October 2008 and I was hatching plans for that year’s over the top Halloween costume (Marie Antoinette, as I remember, complete with a papier mache dead Louis XVI’s severed head in a basket) when an email popped into my inbox from someone I only knew as Emma K in the strange world of blogging.

“Hi Gillian

I always enjoy your blog and believe you are on the ball, so I just wanted to pick your brains. So, I was wondering……”

And that was how Cocktails at Naptime started. We added the Woefully Inept bit later as we realised there was a slight theme emerging when none of us put forward any recipes for anything anyone could feasibly feed our kids or any top household tips on how to get any baby puke cleaned off of anything that would normally require dry cleaning. So, effectively what I’m saying is that the email there is the evidence I need when my own mother reads this book for the first time and gasps at all the naughty bits so that I can point squarely in Emma’s direction and shout “She started it!”

What strikes me now, over two years on, is that what is even more bizarre than starting this tri-continental book in the first place is that we actually finished it. You see, Emma and I have never met in person. Not even as I write this little epilogue as the book’s about to go into print. Yet, I feel I know Emma pretty damn well as for the past two years we have been writing and sending little funny stories and daft lists about “Ten Ways to Hide Birthweight with Nothing More than Electrical Tape” to one another, and fretting over what’s funny and what’s not, and what’s too rude and what’s not rude enough and somehow getting a book written between us. Along the way we’ve talked about what’s going on in our lives, made each other laugh frequently and possibly cry with frustration on the odd occasion.

We’ve even had the odd off-peak long distance phone-call where we nervously tried to suss out if one of us was one of those unhinged crazies you meet on the internet, who given half an inch, will turn up at your bedroom window one evening wielding an axe or start sending you carefully constructed and physically uncanny representations of yourself as a voodoo doll through the post. Turns out we were only as unhinged as each other and that’s why we got on so well. If Emma ever sent me a voodoo doll I’m sure it would have been well meant. I’m certainly currently working on a simply darling one for her.

One thing’s for sure it’s not been the easiest way to write a book I’m guessing, but it certainly has been an incredibly interesting one. At first I was convinced that at one point Emma and I would have to at least meet geographically half way and actually clap eyes on one another to get this book finished. Maybe we could rent a cheap garret in the Faroe Islands halfway across the Atlantic and stay there for a week, with one of us sitting at a laptop typing furiously with fingerless gloves on as the other paced the creaky floor brandishing a half empty wine bottle, dressed in a parka ranting about nipple shields, support pants, colic and the humour therein. After all, isn’t that the kind of thing writers do? It never happened. We each just sat in our respective kitchens thousands of miles from one another and wrote and edited and emailed, and then rewrote and edited and emailed some more without requiring any Faroese hospitality, garrets or otherwise. I still wore fingerless gloves though for that feeling of writerly authenticity — I can’t speak for Emma although I’m guessing, like me, she was in spandex a lot of the time. We both also confess to occasionally brandishing half empty wine bottles.

After all the blood, sweat and emails there came a lovely time when a good while after we had dispatched Cocktails out into the world of publishing and sat expectantly by our letterboxes, we indulged in quite a lot of virtual jumping about hugging one another in cyberspace when we were asked by some nice Australians if they could publish our book. This was indeed an unexpected twist to the already insane geography of this whole project. Let’s get this straight: I live in Aberdeen, Scotland- Emma is English but lives in Baltimore in the United States- and a publisher in Sydney, Australia wants to publish our book? And none of us have ever even been in the same continent as one another at the same time, never mind the same room? Somehow, even in the era of an international web community and the whole “global village” thing, that still seems completely and utterly mental.

The big question for me is; will Emma and I ever meet one day? I really don’t know. But I know I feel like we already have. In fact, I feel like we’ve been sharing a flat for nearly three years. And yeah, that horrendous mess in the living room, yeah that wasn’t me, that was Emma.

The authors are excited to announce that Cocktails at Naptime is now available as an iBook from the Apple iBookstore and can be downloaded to an Apple device such as iPhone or iPad. Cocktails at Naptime is available in English on all Apple iBookstores worldwide, that is in Australia/New Zealand, America, Canada, UK, France, Germany and other EU countries.

It is available for download here:

Cocktails at Naptime by Emma Kaufmann and Gillian Martin http://itunes.apple.com/au/book/cocktails-at-naptime/id481628324?mt=11

You can follow them on twitter here:

www.twitter.com/naptimecocktail

And read more of their great writing here:

www.cocktailsatnaptime.com

Lonely Planet- Friends for Friends

paulsay@hsbc.com — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 03:17:07 PST

As an expat you are probably quite familiar with feeling totally alone in a new city, and how long it takes you to start to feel even remotely at home, rather than just a visitor. Lonely Planet have come up with a great Facebook app that helps you to find friends of friends in your destination city. Although the app seems to be geared towards tourists, it is a great idea to help you get to know a new place whether you are there for a week, a month, a year or indefinitely.

Watch this video on this fun and really useful new tool and tell us what you think. What do you think of reaching out to a friend of a friend to help you get to know a new city and become a local in no time? Leave us a comment below!

Expat Explorer Survey: The Results!

paulsay@hsbc.com — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:54:14 PST

Over the past week, through this blog and Twitter, Expat Explorer has been sharing what expats really think of their country of residence and experience as an expat. Some of the highlights include expats being able to afford a more luxurious lifestyle in developing countries, China came out as the most cost effective place to raise children and (an expat favourite) that expats don’t seem to be as affected by economic conditions!

There has been much discussion on Twitter about the results of the study, such as here, here and here, now it’s your turn to tell us your thoughts right here! If you haven’t had a chance to look at the results of the survey, you can check it out right here! Have a play, compare two countries, read all the reports on the findings, and post us a comment!

Did you know that social media is increasingly important for expats across the globe to keep in touch? Even when there is not a lot of social media usage in their country of residence? Do you use social media? Skype? Facebook? Flickr? Tell us your experiences.

Are you living in France? Do you have children? The Expat Explorer findings report that France tops the charts for bringing up children abroad, but do you agree? Perhaps you have lived there in the past, and think it is better than other countries you have been in.

It’s been a hell of a week here at Expat Explorer HQ! We just wanted to say a big thank-you so much for all your support throughout, from filling in the survey to commenting here on the blog and tweeting @ExpatExplorer on Twitter. We really would love to hear what you think, so have your say!

Expat Explorer Survey findings released! Money doesn’t buy happiness for expat children!

paulsay@hsbc.com — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 04:14:21 PST

Expats from across the global rated their current countries on quality and cost of childcare, the health and wellbeing of their kids children, and how they integrate into the community. The findings revealed France (1st), the Netherlands (2nd) and Australia (3rd) to be the top places for raising children abroad!

Children in these countries appear to lead a much healthier lifestyle: they are more likely to be spending more time outdoors (France 53%, Netherlands 53% and Australia 75%) and playing sport (France 47%, Netherlands 56% and Australia 81%) since relocating than average (47% and 46% respectively).

However, expats living in these countries benefit from a child friendly environment at the cost of wider economic benefits. These countries find themselves towards the bottom of the rankings in the Expat Economics league table (France 28th, Netherlands 29th, Australia 21st), revealing that expats in these locations are less likely to benefit from higher salaries or accumulate luxuries.

Are you raising children as an expat parent? What do you think of the country you live in? Let us know in the comments box below. And you can check out the full results by clicking here.

Expat Experience – Social Media Savvy Expats

paulsay@hsbc.com — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 04:31:14 PST

Did you know… Expats are using the latest in social media and communications technology in order to stay in touch with loved ones all over the world, according to the latest findings from the 2011 Expat Explorer survey from HSBC Expat. While Facebook tops the list as expats’ social media channel of choice, expats across the globe would be lost without the latest technology such as Skype to keep in touch with their friends and family.

Facebook use among expats is remarkably high, even in regions where general use is pretty low. In Africa and Asia, Facebook penetration among the local population here is extremely low (3% and 4% respectively), yet the channel is still one of the most popular methods of communication among expats (67% and 65% respectively)!

This trend actually consistent across the world, where Facebook use among expats continues to be much higher than the local population, as witnessed in Europe (26% usage locally vs. 73% among expats) Latin America (21% local vs. 72% expats) and the Middle East (8% local vs. 68% expats), further demonstrating how important these tools of communication are for expats living away from home.

Does this reflect your experience as an expat? Check out the full findings and a load of other interesting expat stats here.

Expat Economics – Good news for expats!

paulsay@hsbc.com — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:38:15 PST

Expat wealth remains robust in spite of global economic conditions!!

Across the world economic unrest has unsurprisingly impacted expat’s confidence in the strength of their host country economies; one third of expats globally say there has been deterioration in their local economy since the beginning of 2010. However it’s not all bad news as the findings of the 2011 Expat Explorer survey show that expat wealth remains widely resistant to these economic troubles, even in countries which have, unfortunately, experienced a certain amount of turbulence over the past year.

A massive 97% of expats in Egypt believe that their economy has deteriorated since 2010, alongside 92% of expats in Bahrain and 80% of expats in Japan. Expats in these countries are also more likely than average to report that their economy is weak: Egypt 77%, Bahrain 40% and Japan 40%.

However, despite this negative economic outlook, expat finances in these countries remain resilient to the wider troubles. Egypt find itself 2nd out of 31 in the Expat Economics League Table, which ranks countries based on a number of factors such as earning levels, disposable incomes and ability to accumulate luxuries. Bahrain and Japan also perform strongly, ranked 10th and 12th respectively in this league.

Furthermore, expats in these areas are better off financially. More than half (52%) of expats in Bahrain have much higher disposable incomes than they did in their home country, as well as 58% of expats in Egypt and 38% of expats in Japan, compared with the global average of 35%.

If you enjoyed these interesting stats, you can check out more about this and other findings by clicking here!! Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The 2011 results of the Expat Explorer Survey revealed today!

paulsay@hsbc.com — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:28:32 PST

Now in its 4th year, the 2011 survey reached 3,385 expats from over 100 countries and is the world’s largest ever global survey of expats! Many of you participated in the survey, so a big thank-you for helping Expat Explorer! In case you are new to the Expat Explorer, it covers every aspect of living life abroad, including questions relating to expats’ finances, the impact of economic, political and social factors on their current country and even how recent natural disasters have affected their experience of living life as an expat.

You can explore the findings for yourself here and discover the places that expats have rated highly for the things that are important to you. You can also see all of the results of the survey broken down into interesting stories here. The Expat Explorer Twitter feed and this blog will also be keeping you up to date with interesting findings and answering your questions about the results – so if you have a question, just ask!

Just to whet your whistle, here are a few of findings that you might find interesting from each section of the survey:

Quality of life and Expat Experience:

The UK finds itself in the bottom quartile in this year’s Expat Experience league table in the Expat Explorer report, coming 29th out of 31 countries overall. Despite this, it is the 6th most popular choice in terms of an ideal expat destination.

The Expat Explorer 2011 findings show that Facebook ranks as the top social media channel among expats, with 69% choosing to stay in touch using this method and two fifths (39%) using the channel twice a week or more to share the latest news with loved ones at home.

Expat Economics:

Expat wealth remains widely immune to global economic troubles, even in countries which have experienced significant turbulence over the past year.

Expats have weathered the Eurozone crisis and even though the UK is in the bottom half of the Expat Economics league table (23rd), it performs well against its EU counterparts on these criteria, ranking behind only Switzerland (5th) and Belgium (21st).

Almost half of expats in the UK feel that the economy has deteriorated since the beginning of 2010. However, only 25% of expats here in the UK believe that the economy will continue to deteriorate compared to 44% in Italy and 38% in Spain.

Raising Children Abroad:

Countries which offer the greatest benefits for expat children in aspects such as settling in to their new country, general health and standards of childcare are less likely to be able to deliver economic advantages such as greater overall wealth, disposable income, and luxuries.

France ranks first in the Raising Children Abroad league table in the Expat Explorer report, with the Netherlands (2nd) and Australia (3rd). Children in these countries appear to lead a much healthier lifestyle and likely to be spending more time outdoors and playing more sport.

We would love to hear your thoughts, so have your say and ask your questions on these interesting results in the comment box below!

NORC Country Series: Norway

paulsay@hsbc.com — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:27:25 PST

Overview

From Flickr

Known to many for its beautiful scenery of fjords, mountains and lakes, Norway isn’t always top of mind for those looking to relocate. Expat Explorer hopes to change this and introduce future expats and those looking for a new adventure that Norway is one to watch. Again, the Lonely Planet guide gives a great overview for those wishing to find out more about this picturesque land and for slightly more information on the country, National Geographic have a nice piece.

Norway is one of the great places to work for high-flying, successful business women. Read more about the fantastic leaps and bounds that female business leaders are making in Norway in these great articles from Harvard Business Review and The Economist.

Resources

It’s really important that to get all the facts as well as the feel of the country, so here are a few resources for any would-be-Norwegian-expat. Firstly, have a look at what your Embassy for Norway has to say as they often have useful information. For UK residents the place to go is TheBritish Embassy Oslo, plus they are also on Twitter.

From Flickr

For women planning on living and working in Norway Expat Women have put together a great set of resources on everything from looking for work to international schools guides. Everything you could possibly want to know about working and living in Norway has been summed up beautifully by Oversees Digest.

One way of what it is like to live in a country as a foreigner (apart from actually visiting) is to read about other people’s experiences, such as in this blog – An Expat’s Norway. Also, try keeping up with the news and current affairs that are going on in the country and imagine what it is like living there. The Guardian has a good overview of Newsin Norway, and for a more local outlook on the news The Norwegian Post is English.

Key facts – from BBC

Full name: Kingdom of Norway

Population: 4.9 million (UN, 2010)

Capital: Oslo

Area: 323,759 sq km (125,004 sq miles)

Major language: Norwegian

Major religion: Christianity

Life expectancy: 79 years (men), 83 years (women) (UN)

Monetary unit: 1 Norwegian krone = 100 ore

Main exports: Fuels and fuel products, machinery, metal products

GNI per capita: US $86,440 (World Bank, 2009)

Internet domain: .no

International dialling code: +47

NORC Country Series: Sweden

paulsay@hsbc.com — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 07:30:00 PST

Overview

From Flickr

Most people would agree that the first place to look when researching a country is a travel guide, such as Lonely Planet. After having a dig around, Expat Explorer found thishandy online overview of Sweden from the lovely people at Lonely Planet. It is brief, but gives you a flavor of what to expect so you can decide whether it sounds like it’s for you. Amongst the many articles that layout the benefits of moving to Sweden, the two most relevant ones come from The Swedish Wire on why childrenin Sweden have the best lives and Marie’ Claire’s The World’sBest Country for Women. Some of the reasons given in these articles are healthy lifestyles, small gender pay gap and long maternity leave period for men and women.

Resources

There are many useful resources to describe every aspects of Swedish life for a potential resident, the difficulty, often, is finding them. For those looking to live/work in Sweden here are a few key sites to check out before making any hasty decisions.

From Flickr

For those who don’t work in a company that will post them in their desired country, trying to get a job may pose the most difficulty to achieving the dream. Sites such as EU JobCentre have many useful help documents to point any potential job hunter in the right direction, such as this page on internshipsin Sweden.

Sweden has many, many benefits to offer residents; some of the more concrete ones are listed here, at sweden.se. The lovely ladies at Expat Women have put together this useful list of resources for women looking to relocate to Sweden, and is very useful.

Depending on what you are looking to get out of your move to Sweden, if you like it you may want to stay there in the long term. To be successful in achieving this, a little career advice could go a long way. Whether you are a jobseeker, a businesswomen or just want to dowell, have a read of these articles to get you going.

Key facts – from BBC

Full name: Kingdom of Sweden

Population: 9.3 million (UN, 2010)

Capital: Stockholm

Area: 449,964 sq km (173,732 sq miles)

Major language: Swedish

Major religion: Christianity

Life expectancy: 80 years (men), 84 years (women) (UN)

Monetary unit: 1 Swedish krona = 100 ore

Main exports: Machinery and transport equipment, paper products, chemicals

GNI per capita: US $48,930 (World Bank, 2009)

Internet domain: .se

International dialling code: +46

Do you live in Sweden? Share your experiences with us about your time there. Would you like to live in Sweden? Ask us your questions and we will try and find out for you! Comment below, or tweet us @ExpatExplorer.

Introducing: NORC Countries

paulsay@hsbc.com — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 07:30:02 PST

When embarking on a life changing adventure such as uprooting your world and relocating to some distant land, making sure you are moving to the right place in seriously important. There is no substitute for putting in the legwork, checking out the reviews, talking to people who have lived there, visiting the city; there is no one size fits all way to find out where is best for everyone.

However, there are a number of studies, surveys and reports that can be a strong grounding for individual research and can be a good jumping off point for those who have no idea where to move. Of course one such survey is the Expat Explorer Survey, which this blog supports and will release the 2011 findings next week, but this post aims to take a slightly different angle.

There are lots and lots of studies on the best places for women to live and work, and the general consensus is that NORC countries (which stands for Northern Rim Countries and consists of Canada, Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Russian Federation and the northern United States) come out on top. Have a look at this video to see where countries from across the globe fair for women, then scroll down to find out just why Scandinavian countries are so great for women and see if you are inspired.

JESS3 x Economist: Women's Economic Opportunity from JESS3 on Vimeo.

In the coming days Expat Explorer will provide a mini-series of country focuses on some NORC countries that seem to top the charts of places for women to live and work time and time again. They will cover the benefits of each individual country, how to find out more and insight from expats who already live there, so you can a real feel for the place.

Guest Blogger Series: Where are you from?

paulsay@hsbc.com — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 03:46:51 PST

“It’s complicated” – This is the answer that many third culture kids gave to the question “Where are you from?” on an online survey. Most of the TCKs had moved at least once before the age of 5 years old and spoke at least two languages. An infografic on third culture kids can be found at Denizen, an online magazine dedicated to third culture kids.

After being born in the Zambian bush and living in Africa until I went to university in the Netherlands (also know as Holland), the question “Where are you from?” was a very difficult one for me to answer. During my time in Africa the answer to the question was not so difficult. I was living in Malawi and later Zimbabwe but I had blond hair and blue eyes and I was the “foreigner”, even though I had lived in Africa all my life and was even born there. My parents are Dutch and so I was Dutch.

The shock came when I went to university in Europe. I looked sort of like the other university students. I say “sort of” because I was not wearing the latest fashion, I did not quite sound like the others. There was an accent in my Dutch (ofcourse it was an English accent). Now the question was more difficult to answer. I suddenly discovered that I did not think like the other Dutch young people did, I did not feel like they did. I missed the colour of the Zimbabwean sun. I missed eating the sweet ripe fruits. I missed my friends and family back in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. There were many awkward situations in which I did not know what to do. How do I use the public transport? What brand margarine should I buy? If I visit someone should I always phone first or can I just drop by? Maybe I was not Dutch after all?

Years later I read the book “Third Culture Kids, Growing up Among Worlds” by David Pollock and Ruth van Reken (add a link to the book?). The book helped me realise that I was not strange, but that the confusion had everything to do with my life experiences. I was a “hidden immigrant”, I looked similar but thought differently to my peers.

Libby Stephens’, a cross- cultural transition consultant, says:

"In the 25+ years of working with third culture kids, I don't find cultural identity confusion to be a big issue until the TCKs return to their passport country"

I would advise parents and third culture kids to read the book I mentioned earlier. It also helps to know that problems could arise when children return to their passport country. That is my experience too. “According to my passport I’m coming Home” is an interesting document on the subject. It is writen by Kay Brandman Eakin. She has taught for more than 20 years in 8 different countries.

I recently started a blog. On the blog I want to share my life experiences and share information about third culture kids, children that grow up in other cultures. I have discovered that I feel “a whole person” if I can integrate the experiences I had as a child into my daily life or work. Writing the blog gives me energy. I also have the privilege of being part of a project in Indonesia. I just love the travel, interacting with people of other cultures, tasting new foods, and working internationally.

I would like to invite you to watch the short film “Les Passagers” by Aga Magdolen. It’s about third culture kids:

“I come from here, I come from there, in truth I come from everywhere”

Thank-you so much to Janneke, writer of the blog DrieCulturen, for writing this insightful blog for us. If you would like to hear more, either visit the DrieCulturen blog or Twitter feed.

Bonjour, ciao, hello, hola!

paulsay@hsbc.com — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 01:01:08 PST

One of the biggest quandaries faced by Expats when heading to a new country is the language – is it easy to pick up? Will I be able to get by? How do I go about learning?

Here at Expat Explorer, we have put together some top tips on how to learn a language, do let us know if you have any other tips that you found helped you out, always look forward to hearing from you!

1. Be Realistic

Learning a language is difficult, so don’t be too hard on yourself if you aren’t fluent within the week! It take’s years to be completely bilingual, this is the first step on a long road!

2. Try and use it as much as possible

The best way to learn a language is being immersed in it, and trying to use it as much as possible. It can be very daunting at first when you lack confidence, but you will find, if you start using it day to day it becomes much easier, much more quickly. Don’t worry about mistakes, that’s all part of the learning process, and people will help you if you are making the effort.

3. Use the locals!

Keep your eye out for advert in the local paper/shops for mutual tutors. This is where you can teach someone your language, while you learn their language…it’s such a great way of learning, can be free and also means you are making friends!

4. Mini goals

It can be very daunting wondering how you are ever going to start learning a new language, and small achievable goals can help! Set yourself 10 new words a week and make sure you use them everyday, and suddenly you will find you have built up a solid repertoire of words! It all helps you measure your success, which can act as a motivator.

5. Enjoy it!

Although it can be frustrating, learning a new language should be fun, so try never to treat it like a chore! It opens up worlds of opportunity and allows you to truly get involved in other cultures!

Good luck to all those budding linguists out there – do let us know how you are getting on!

Trans-Atlantic Stereotype Battling

paulsay@hsbc.com — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 08:12:05 PST

As an ex-Londoner now living in America I find myself in the unique position of being an Ambassador for this much misunderstood country. There is much misinformation about America still flying about but luckily I’m willing to take the bull by the horns and separate fact from fiction.

Do Americans have no sense of irony?
In my experience, I think it’s safe to say many of them don’t – not really. They definitely have a keen sense of humour, it’s just not one that is based on ‘taking the mickey’ and ‘trying to mask our repressed emotions by using humour as a defence’ as we Brits are want to do.
For example on the day Ricky Martin came out as gay I adopted a deadpan voice as I told an American friend the news. While shaking my head as if I’d been winded by the announcement I muttered, “Wow! I never saw that coming.”
In response my friend wrinkled her forehead and said, “I don’t know, he always seemed a bit camp to me. I wasn’t that surprised.”
Which immediately led to me bursting out, “I was joking! Of course I knew he was gay!”
Yes indeed, there is definitely something ‘lost in translation’ between the American and British sense of humour. They just don’t have the same desire to pick something to pieces for its humour value before tossing the carcass aside. But that probably makes them nicer people.

Do Americans all have freakishly white teeth?
For an American, straight white teeth are very important while for Brits it’s more a case of ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.’ As long as you have some teeth why sweat it and put yourself at the hands of a maniac with a big drill who will leave you with a large bill? Let’s face it dental perfection is very low on most British people’s list of priorities. Achieving freakishly straight not to mention white teeth is part of the American dream and if you need to take out a second mortgage on your house to afford dental care then hey just do it!

Are Americans are extremely superficial?
The vast majority are not. However, look at America via TV and what do you see? A huge growth in the breast implant industry (pun intended) as well as a focus on chiselled noses, abs and pecs. For these Hollywood stars the pursuit of perfection is a full time job. Americans have a very strong work ethic which has rubbed off on these celebs: but rather than going to work they are having work done on them. It’s more about looking the part of a celebrity than trying to look younger or firmer. As for the ordinary folk, generally US culture is less focused on looking sexy than in the UK.

So, there are some cultural myths busted, that’s it for now but do let me know if there are any other myths about Americans you’d like my insight into.

by Emma Kaufmann at www.mommyhasaheadache.blogspot.com

Guest Blogger: Meghan Fenn - Bringing Up Brits

paulsay@hsbc.com — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 01:10:42 PST

I am a mother trying to give my children first-hand experience of my own culture and country while raising them in Britain with my British husband. Born in Korea, I was adopted at 8 months old by American parents and became an American citizen. I grew up in America as a Korean American girl in an American/Canadian family. After graduating from University, I went to Prague to teach English and it was there in a bohemian expat bar that I met my British husband.

After living and working on Prague for two years, travelling around and then living in Tokyo for another two years together, we moved to England to settle down and start a family. We have three young children; all born in the UK and all have dual British and American citizenship. I consider my family to be very cross-cultural! So, what’s it like raising a cross-cultural family in Britain today?

For one thing, I am completely outnumbered! I live with a British husband and three children (who all speak with a British accent, even my two year old!) and I’m often made fun of and mocked because of my own accent and other ‘Americanisms’ (that I just cannot help having). There are no family members from my side here nor are there any cultural references - my life, and my children’s lives are far more British than American. However, because of my background and my desire to raise my children as partly American, I force upon them American traditions which do not exist here and I always offer the American perspective on situations.

Celebrating American traditions such as Thanksgiving and the 4^th of July have become the norm in our household and my husband and children have learned to love them, not quite as much as I do, but enough to make me proud and happy. Proud that I am passing my cultural traditions down to my children and happy because I don’t have to give them up entirely. Of course it’s not the same celebrating them here, but it is the recognition and the effort that matters and the fact that my children might even pass those traditions down to their children one day (no matter where they end up living).

Language and communication are also very interesting aspects of our lives. When I first moved here, I struggled with both the British lexicon as well as the nuances of British English. Over time, I have become used to hearing and using words like ‘motorway’ instead of ‘highway’, ‘nappy’ instead of ‘diaper’, ‘jumper’ instead of ‘sweater’ and so on and so forth! My children love asking and re-affirming what the American word is for something. They often mix the two without even realising it! I love that they are growing up with another cultural reference – even though they have never lived in America, they are influenced by me and I am instilling in them a part, albeit a small part, of what it is to be American.

I think because language is not an obvious cultural difference between Americans and Brits, it is generally not considered to be problematic. However, it is huge. At times, my husband and I have misunderstandings and even arguments purely because we don’t understand the meaning of what we are actually saying. There is a subtlety in the way things are communicated between British people that is totally foreign to me and probably always will be. It is critical for us to recognise this cultural difference so that we can understand and support each other in any given situation.

Raising children within a cross cultural family is, at times, challenging and full of surprises. It is also wonderful, educational and extremely fascinating. In my book, Bringing Up Brits, I write about my experience as an expat mother and also about other cross cultural families from all over the world who are raising their children in Britain.

This article is by Meghan Peterson Fenn, author of Bringing Up Brits: Expat Parents Raising Cross-Cultural Kids in Britain
www.bringingupbrits.co.uk
www.bringingupbrits.co.uk/blog

Top Halloween Tweets

paulsay@hsbc.com — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 03:03:56 PDT

Here is a run down of Expat Explorer's favourite Tweets about Halloween from over the weekend.

From The Huffington Post:

'Today' show's Halloween costumes rule http://huff.to/rVP0Qo

From Jimmy Carr:

It’s Halloween. Just as it was exactly a year ago. On this very day. Spooky.

Click here to see original

From Technorati:

Kid's Safety: Tips For Parents On Halloween "Trick Or Treat" Night -http://bit.ly/rt8clG

From UK in California:

Happy Halloween Everyone! Hope to see all of your finest #UnionJack, #MickJagger, and #KateMiddleton costumes out and about!

Click here for original

From Life:

Cats in Costumes, Looking Horrified — appropriate for Halloween, yes? - http://on.life.com/uZnoae

From Robert Ebert:

Video history of Google's Halloween doodles, 1999-2010. http://bit.ly/sH4fFW

From Matthew Karsten:

Cool. RT @kenkaminesky: World's Largest Pumpkin Carved Into an Awesome Creepy Sculpture http://ow.ly/7by3w #halloween

From New Yorkology:

The top of the Empire State Building tonight will light up orange, black and white for Halloween http://bit.ly/rtxFGF

From Mrs Stephen Fry:

The baby won't go near our Halloween pumpkin. I keep saying there's nothing to be scared of . . . http://twitpic.com/78v9dt

From Heather Marter:

Genius Turns iPad Into Amazing Halloween Magic [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO] http://su.pr/2z0Cmo

What are your favourite Halloween Tweets? Leave us a comment below or Tweet us @ExpatExplorer.

The question on every potential expat's lips

paulsay@hsbc.com — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 01:34:46 PDT

How easy is it to get a visa?

It's often tough to get a residential visa for the country expats want to move to. It is often at least as tough to find out the requirements for getting a visa and where to get the information from. It can be a nightmare. So Expat Explorer has had a little dig around and come up with the top 5 sources of visa information that should at least point you in the right direction, as requirements differ wildly from country to country.

1. Global Visas and Visa Bureau are not all encompassing sites, but they a good source of information for many people. A good place to start.

2. Project Visa - pick your country off world atlas and instantly get visa information. Also has links to the country's embassy, which is a useful addition.

3. Sometimes you really want to ask the advice of someone who has been through the process. Expat Forum has a wealth of people who have been through every type of emigration issue and experience possible. Someone will be able to help you.

4. It's not all about the rules and regulations, this article from Shelter Offshore is all about the process. A nice little guide to help you through.

5. If you are starting out looking for a country to move to, this little gem, Anywork Anywhere, will let you search through countries to see how to make your skills work in the country you would like to move to.

As always any suggestions from the experienced expat community out there is welcome. Comment in the box below or on Twitter.

Are you watching the changing of the seasons where you are in the world?

paulsay@hsbc.com — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 09:08:11 PDT

Across the globe the extent to which the passing of the seasons affects the weather varies dramatically. The extreme changes occur in places nearer to the poles, such as the northern most tip of Alaska, where there are two months of winter when the sun doesn't rise and 85 days straight of sunlight in summer. Compare this to countries nearer the equator where the temperature doesn't vary so much throughout the day or year and only have two seasons, rainy or dry.
So what has sparked this topic? Many expat bloggers have started posting about how much they love fall/autumn. From the food and the weather, to the holidays and the Christmas planning, many expats are raving about this time of year as their favourite.

Dear England, Love Canada

" ... a melancholy season, bewitchment for the eyes ..."

- Alexander Pushkin (1799- 1837)

The quote here was featured on the blog It's an Expat Life in a post about autumn in Russia, with a lovely picture taken whilst flying into Sheremetyevo Airport recently and admiring the beautiful golden leaves that Pushkin may be referring to in the quote above.

The picture above is from the blog of Anne Kostalas called Dear England, Love Canada, who states many reasons for loving autumn in this lovely post, Autumn Colours or Fall Colors - It's all Good! Anne writes about her enjoyment of Thanksgiving, which is not only celebrated almost a month earlier in Canada than in America, but a novelty to her as it is not celebrated in her native UK.

Sarah Bittorf expresses her love of autumn in Ghent, Belgium in her post Fall is Here. She is looking forward to lots of home cooking, brisk walk, dressing and and decorating the house, activities which so many people fondly associate with autumn.

Expats in Ghent

All of which, naturally starts expats thinking of home, what the seasons are doing in the country where they grew up and in many cases, of whether or not they are returning for the Christmas vacation. Britney of Arabia has a very accurate account of attempting to make Christmas plans for the family (do you go to them, or them to you) which many expats will be all too familiar with in her post They're Coming!

Twins Mummy Blog

An expat in Dubai with young twins gets a very surprising answer when she tries to find out how much they know about Christmas, and what they would like for their presents - purple!

So, what are you enjoying about fall or autumn. Are you in a country where there is little change between the seasons and missing the cooling of the weather heading into winter. Or possibly you are experiencing seasons for the first time, what's your experience? Share your story in the box below, or tweet us @ExpatExplorer.

Taking the plunge - getting employment in another country

paulsay@hsbc.com — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 06:59:27 PDT

After making the hard decision to move abroad on a long-term basis, either solo or with family, and deciding on a country it is now time to knuckle down and really get into making it happen. Whether you are moving half way across the world with all your worldly possessions, your family, pets and much more, or spontaneously country hopping alone, here is a short overview of getting employment abroad. If you have had similar experiences, and would like to add your advice or questions at the bottom, please feel free.
Some tops tips from the Overseas Digest suggests that there are really five ways to get employment abroad, and the experiences of expat bloggers out there seem to back this up. They are as follows:

Get posted abroad.
Volunteer.
Study.
Freelance.
Just go and hope for the best.

The only addition to this would be teaching, but in most cases this would either come under volunteering, studying (moving to a country, studying to become a teacher and then teaching) or freelancing. Some of the items on this list may seem like they should not appear on a post about how to gain employment abroad, but this is a long term plan, and sometimes they may need multiple steps.

For example, volunteering abroad, should you be fortunate enough to be able to work for free even for a short time, is a way of creating a local network of contacts and discovering where you want to work and where the jobs are. Studying allows similar benefits.

Get posted abroad
The first point on this list has become increasingly difficult in recent years with many companies capping the number of employees that they will give foreign assignments to, with many stopping their posting abroad programmes all together. This point is made very well by Expat Daily in their article on Convincing your company to move you abroad.
Expat Daily gives the advice that most companies will be much more willing to move you abroad if you are motivated by the experiences that it will afford you and the advancements that you can make for the company, rather than simply wanting to be paid more. This advice comes with a caveat that convincing your company that you are the right person for that overseas posting is no easy feat, and may take a lot of persuading.

Volunteer
There are an almost infinite number of volunteer abroad companies out there that will (usually for a fee) arrange your volunteer work and accommodation for you. Although this may often be an expensive way of going about getting employment it allows you to be your desired location for an extended period of time (budget dependant), create a network of contacts and find the right job, as opposed to any job. If you can volunteer in a company, sector or area related to the job that you want to get in the long-term, even better. Of course, this point leads to volunteering as a teacher. There are many ways of going about this, such as studying in your home country then moving abroad to volunteer, finding a programme that allows you t study in the resident country before moving. The best known accreditor for teaching English is TEFL, but there are lots and lots of ways of gaining this.

Study
Apart from a teaching qualification, there are many courses that you can do in your chosen country, provided you obtain a student visa. Studying in a country is a particularly good way to be able to stay in a country for a reasonably long period of time, whilst creating a game plan and meeting people who can help you in the long term. The most comprehensive list of universities who give classes in English (outside of native English speaking countries) can be found on College Lists.

Freelance

Taigh Smyth

This is all about using the skills that you have to make money in a different country, whether your "thing" is writing or teaching, website design or accountancy, creative or technical, there is always a need for skilled workers in almost every country. Have a look at Taigh's experiences for inspiration.

Just go for it!
This approach is not, as Overseas Digest points out, for the fainted hearted. It won't suit everyone, and may not be what you are looking for in your life abroad, but it definitely one way of making it happen. Take inspiration from Leif and his Runaway Guide.

Once you are in your dream career in your perfect country, have a look over John Falchetto's 10 tips to grow your career abroad. Hopefully these points have been helpful to you and would love to hear your comments and suggestions.

To keep or not to keep, that is the question

paulsay@hsbc.com — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 07:42:05 PDT

The New Diplomat’s Wife says her own sheets, Kim says her toothbrush, then her computer and H&K’s own Matt says kettle, tea, toaster, but what is the first thing you unpack when you move into a new house, and why?

One couple say that they have to unpack the stereo first, just to get through the enormous task of unpacking, whilst this little survey throws up some results that I’m sure many people think about when unpacking, whether they are constructive or not.

From this small list of things it seems that people like to have four things with them when they move somewhere new. People like to have some that is familiar to them to aid the transition between old and new, like The New Diplomat’s Wife and her sheets, something that makes life more fun, life the couple and their stereo, something to help you communicate with friends and family back home, like Kim and her computer, and then there are the practical aspects – toothbrush, clean clothes, something to eat.

Packing, moving unpacking can be an extremely difficult time in anyone’s life, but no more so than in the life of an expat. Expats can’t simply pack everything up, hire a truck and drive all their belongings down the road. There is shipping, customs, ensuring there is somewhere for all these belongings to go on the other side. There are many good sites that aim to help make the move a little bit easier for expats, and here are just a few:

There are many reasons that people don’t like getting rid of their possessions, if you are interested in those reasons have a read of this article, but sometimes it is just necessary. When becoming an expat the question turns from, do we really need to keep this, to do we really need to pay to ship this across the world or pay to keep it in storage here?

So Expat Explorer has compiled a list of things that really, really can be ditched before the big move:

Any clothes that are more than a decade old.
Anything that you have used or worn in 2 years.
That big stash of magazines that is over taking the garage/office/attic.
The contents of the man drawer.
Books. Many books hanging around in houses will never be read again. Give them away. The same goes for CDs, games and DVDs.
If you have any DIY projects half finished, now is the time to let them go.
If you needed to use it and it was packed away at the back of the garage, would you be willing it out? No? Ditch it.
Do the Throw Out 50 Things Challenge

Don't you wish you could just do this?

So, expats, what is the first thing that you unpack when you move home? And what are your top tips for de-cluttering before the big move? Leave a comment below or on Twitter ExpatExplorer.

A Preview of Expat Life in 2011

paulsay@hsbc.com — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 06:49:16 PDT

Expat Explorer always aims to provide expats living across the globe with interesting and useful information, in the hope that it makes life as an expat that little bit easier. Well, today is no different. Very excitingly, ahead of the full Expat Explorer Report launch in November, the preliminary results of the Expat Explorer 2011 Survey have been released this morning and can be viewed by clicking here.

If you are new to the Expat Explorer Survey, it is the biggest survey of its kind, now in its 4th year and surveyed 3,385 expats from over 100 countries to bring you fascinating insights into expat life everywhere.

For example, did you know 63% of expats surveyed have more disposable income since relocating? And despite an optimistic economic outlook amongst expats generally, only 64% of expats intend to remain in their current country?

Six new countries have been added this year, and the league table has changed dramatically. Plus, Thailand is the number one expat destination when compared globally across economic and lifestyle factors taking the top spot from Bahrain in 2010.

Expat Explorer will be updating you with the full results, trends and insights in November when the Expat Explorer Report is released, but for now check out the preliminary findings here. What trends have you noticed over the past year as an expat? Are you planning to stay where you are? Leave a comment in the box below or send a message on Twitter to @ExpatExplorer.

Peace Day

paulsay@hsbc.com — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:50:36 PDT

This Wednesday, September 21st, is Peace Day, a day of cease fire in every country in the UN, and a day for the celebration of peace across the globe.

Regardless of whether the country that you are living in, from or transiting through is in the UN, in peace time or war time, September 21st is a day that reunites families, brings together people who may never have met before and spurs them on towards a common goal.

Last year many people across the world arranged events to raise awareness not only for Peace Day, but for the causes that it aims to stop. In London people walked barefoot, these students in Logan, Utah spelled out Peace One Day by lying on their school field, Paris held the official Peace One Day benefit concert. This just goes to show the absolute range of things that you can do to contribute to Peace Day this Wednesday.

This year, find out what is going on in a town near you and join in, you might just meet some dear friends as well as helping a good cause. And, as always, let us know what you get up to!

Just to get you going, here are Expat Explorer's top ten everyday things you can do to promote peace on Peace Day:

Smile more than usual. A smile can turn someone's day around, it can cheer them up and help them to spread happiness as well.
Specifically only buy products that are fair trade and from companies that promote peace in the countries that they work. It might take a bit of homework, but it is worth it.
Ban all bickering from your home and workplace. Smiles all round please!
Try and understand everyone's point of view, whether you agree with it or not, see what you learn.
Say sorry first.
Support a charity with your time or money that promotes peace locally, nationally or internationally. Every little helps!
Show and share your support of the cause by downloading the Peace One Day app here.
Tell someone else about Peace One Day and encourage them to do something to support it.
Watch a documentary that supports peaceful relations, like this one.
Pledge to extend your personal Peace Day for longer than one day.

One final video before you go though...

Expat Explorer

Top 10 Expat Explorer blog posts

Questions of the Day

Expat Entrepreneurs

Taking Christmas Top Ten Lists to the Extreme!

Expat Guest Blog - Cocktails at Naptime: How two writers met in Cyberspace and wrote a book

Lonely Planet- Friends for Friends

Expat Explorer Survey: The Results!

Expat Explorer Survey findings released! Money doesn’t buy happiness for expat children!

Expat Experience – Social Media Savvy Expats

Expat Economics – Good news for expats!

The 2011 results of the Expat Explorer Survey revealed today!

NORC Country Series: Norway

NORC Country Series: Sweden

Introducing: NORC Countries

Guest Blogger Series: Where are you from?

Bonjour, ciao, hello, hola!

Trans-Atlantic Stereotype Battling

Guest Blogger: Meghan Fenn - Bringing Up Brits

Top Halloween Tweets

The question on every potential expat's lips

Are you watching the changing of the seasons where you are in the world?

Taking the plunge - getting employment in another country

To keep or not to keep, that is the question

A Preview of Expat Life in 2011

Peace Day