Expat life vs. long-term travel—which is the better choice? I sometimes wonder if I made the right decision by moving overseas.
Maybe I should have taken my meticulously saved-up dollars and gone traveling instead. I could have spent ten months or a year traveling around Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Who knows how my life would have turned out?
Yet, almost two years ago, I decided to live as an expat, not a long-term traveler, for the following reasons.
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Table of Contents
Reasons to Choose an Expat Life
1. You're Less Likely to Burn Out
Travel can be quite exhausting. You're constantly planning where to go, how exactly to get there, what you'll eat, and where you'll sleep.
If you're lucky, you'll go through this process minimal times as an expat. Everything is new and confusing when you first move overseas. Then, you find a place to call your own. You have furniture and a bed.
You can take your clothes out of your suitcase and arrange them in your wardrobe, rejoicing in the lack of wrinkles when you wear them out. You know your food in the fridge will remain uneaten unless you have particularly devious housemates.
You are, in a word, settled. Having your own place and a routine can go a long way in ensuring that you keep your energy levels and, often, your sanity intact.
2. You Can Get to Know an Entire City Inside Out
When traveling, you may spend only a handful of days or weeks in a city. Living as an expat allows you to know a place more deeply.
I live in London - a massive city with an abundance of things to do. Living here allows me to truly experience England's capital in a way I would never have if I had only passed through.
As a result, when I finally leave London to move on to somewhere else, I know I will have explored it as much as possible. I'll know this city in a way that I only know a handful of other places. I'll never regret allowing myself to experience any place in this particular way.
3. Building a Stronger Sense of Community
One of the most rewarding aspects of expat life is the opportunity to form deeper connections with people around you. Unlike short-term travel, where friendships can be fleeting, settling in one place allows you to build meaningful relationships with locals and other expats.
You become part of a community, attending local events, celebrating traditions, and navigating daily life with a sense of belonging. This level of integration can also help with practical matters, such as understanding cultural nuances or finding a reliable residency service to navigate legal requirements.
Over time, these connections transform a foreign city into a proper home, offering stability and companionship that long-term travelers may struggle to find.
4. It May Help Your Career
Although many travelers embrace entirely new careers as digital nomads, this isn't the case for everyone. Some people who travel like the jobs they're leaving behind—they may just want to take a career break or see the world while they can.
Moving overseas can help your career in more ways than one. You may end up picking new skills that you wouldn't have gained working in your own country.
You may have the chance to further your education, increasing your employment prospects when you head home. You may seem more diversified to potential future employers—having international experience on your resume never hurts.
Working the same job in a different country could lead you to realize that you're happy with the direction your career is heading. Or, it could lead to a few home truths - in that, it might be time to try something new. Either way, you'll gain work experience while earning money, and there isn't any harm in that!
5. You'll Take Better Care of Your Health
Some people are pros at staying healthy on the road. Their mastery at cooking cheap and nutritious meals from the confines of hostel kitchens knows no bounds. They work out. They can sleep without the aid of earplugs. They're an inspiration to us all.
Not me. When I travel, I eat all the things, and the only exercise I get is walking around museums or historical sites.
It's only when I have a home base that I start taking care of myself—doing yoga, going to the gym, cooking deliciously healthy food, and sleeping throughout the night. As a traveler, I'm a hot mess. As an expat, I'm far more in control of my life.
6. You Can Still Travel - Sometimes for Longer
Here's the best part about living as an expat overseas—you can still travel. While living in London, I visited 16 other countries on three different continents.
I've also traveled around England, seeing many villages and cities that other travelers to the UK simply do not have the time or funds to visit.
Better yet, I've been able to travel longer than I would have if I'd chosen the nomadic lifestyle. As long as I keep earning money, I can maintain my lifestyle indefinitely (until the urge to return home to Australia grows too strong to resist).
There's no right or wrong way to travel. Some may genuinely enjoy a nomadic lifestyle, while others may find themselves unable to give up the comforts that come from having a home base. Either way, you're living your life and seeing the world. That's all that matters in the end, after all.
