Advice

Many people have asked us for advice about living overseas with children. This was supposed to be our last post but Aileen thought we should blog on this topic before signing off for good, so here it goes. If you are not interested in moving overseas, just read Emma and Hannah's entries - they offer good advice no matter where you are living.

Emma

1. Study the country you are living in.
2. Make friends with people or you will be bored.
3. Have fun!

Hannah

1. Don't forget your passport.
2. Don't bring things on the airplane you are not supposed to, like scissors.
3. Travel around the county you are living in.
4. Be nice to people around you.
5. Be safe.

Aileen

1. Do not send your kids to a fancy public school or to one of the American schools - you might as well stay home if you are going to do that.
2. Live in a place where there is not a large expatriate community.
3. Be mindful of the feelings and needs of each person in your family.
4. Travel light - you can buy what you need when you get there.

Jeff

1. Plan for 18 months overseas, one year is not enough and two years might feel too long.
2. Start your children at the beginning of the school year.
3. Given items 1 and 2, if we could do it all over again, I would have left the USA at the end of December 2010 and have the girls study Spanish in January. They then could have started elementary school overseas in February, which is the beginning of the school year in most of Latin America.  We then could have returned in August 2012. This would have been easier for everyone.
4. Try not to waste even one day - it goes by so fast.
5. If you are not working, volunteer someplace or get involved in a group or at your children's school so you can start building a local community.
6. Just do it. The hardest part is getting up the nerve to step out the front door - after that it is easy. Well, it is not always easy but it is easier than you think and worth the effort.

Random Thoughts on Logistics

1. In many countries, you can get by without having a work permit or residency if you are willing to leave the country every six months or so. Check expatriate websites for the country you are interested in for advice - the official embassy websites are often confusing and obviously not designed to help you work the system.
2. If possible, rent or sublet your home furnished while you are away and stuff your personal things in a closet, attic, friends house, etc. Try a website such as sabbaticalhomes.com to find a term tenant needing a furnished place for a fixed amount of time. If you play this right, you can earn some income or at least cover your USA housing/storage costs while maintaining a residence.
3. You do not need a property manager. We had a home warranty for any repair issues that came up (American Home Shield) and our tenants deposited the rent directly into our account.
4. It is very hard to open a bank account overseas. Find a USA bank that does not charge for using other banks' ATM machines. Also, find a credit card that does not charge for international transactions.  We used Citi as our bank and a Capitol One credit card and never paid any fees. We took care of all our financial needs with our ATM card and credit card without any trouble at all.
5. Bring 1 or 2 Ipads for books, movies, skyping, educational resources, etc.
6. Do not try to use your USA mobile phone overseas. It is easier to get one locally. If you want to keep you mobile number, switch your phone to a pre-paid plan while you are away and you have a USA number/phone you can use when you are home visiting and when you return for good. You might also consider getting a Skype number so folks in the USA can call you at no cost.
7. If you do not have a job, consider consulting if possible.  Jeff was able to charge half of what he would have in the USA and still earn over twice as much as he would have in Peru.
8. We had no idea how we would work out schooling before we moved to Nicaragua or Peru. In Nicaragua, we just showed up with our passports and that was enough. Peru was more complicated and it took some time to find a school that would accept us.  In both cases, everything worked out, but we were lucky.  Our daughters did not speak Spanish when we moved to Nicaragua and we just tossed them into the school no questions asked. In Peru, the girls had to take a test to get admitted to school and had they not spoken Spanish it might have been a problem enrolling them someplace. It might be worth researching this before you move overseas but there is always a solution if you are flexible.
9. There is no perfect age to move your children overseas. However, you should take into account where they are in their development as well as whether or not they want to go. This all has to be balanced with professional considerations as well as other family issues such as the need to care for aging parents. Emma and Hannah were 7 and 5 when we left and it worked very well for us. They were excited about the adventure and not too set in their ways that leaving was painful. It might have been a bit easier if Hannah was a year older but given all the other factors we had to contend with, it was the perfect time for us to go,

That is all we can think of right now. If you read all 50-something posts in this blog, you will find the stories behind this advice and probably identify some stuff we forgot to mention here. Regardless, if this is something you might want to do, just go for it. It is not that hard to pull off and totally worth the effort.  We will explain why it our next and yes, final post.