Ayashe Ninetails

Oh, you have to travel. You must. It's such an amazing experience. Dust off that passport (when Covid calms the hell down, anyway)!

Oh hell, that's definitely part of it, LOL. But what I'm looking for specifically - a large, safe, diverse minority community where we're not over-policed to literal death. Somewhere I can just throw my headphones on and tune out and go for a walk in the park without having to be on high alert all the time. Geez, I haven't even been to a park in forever now that I think about it. I used to enjoy that a LOT but I don't feel too safe wandering around alone these days (general crime plus shenanigans). My biggest wish is honestly just to be left alone, lol. But Aya, you live in New York! Uh huh...leave NYC and try that statement again. 🤣 Though even NYC is a mess these days and I wouldn't take my chances there either.

You don't have to worry about lil ole me! Lol, I'll be super honest - I have absolutely no desire to relocate to Europe. I had a blast in England and Scotland and did think about returning, but the excitement I had many years ago where I'd say "omg I could move to Spain or or or Italy or or or Germany next!" yeah, that's long gone. My priorities changed in a big way since then and I realized living over there wouldn't really be much different than living over here. For what I personally want/need, it's not much of an upgrade.

Mhm! It makes the whole process a lot more fun - having someone to help plan itineraries and spend time with in an unfamiliar place. I don't mind traveling around alone, either, but it's just a lot more comfortable for me doing it that way. I've heard Portugal is really nice. Shame you didn't go!

My college was so absolutely inept, they mishandled my financial aid upon arrival, leaving me flat broke without my disbursement for housing and food. Thank goodness the president of the school found me sobbing in the front lobby, walked me to his office, and personally kicked some butt around the Financial Aid dept, otherwise I would've been completely stranded. They had my money at the ready in no time after that. In the meantime, my roommate, who I had just met that week (there were 7 of us in our apartment total, but she and I were assigned to the same bedroom - ahhh the joys of student housing), offered to share her food with me until it came through. I had two of my own contacts, but they lived too far outside of the city to be of much help. So that taught me real quick - make sure they live in the same city, too! Never know when you'll need a ride back to the airport. 🤣 That's definitely one way to make connections, sure. My method is to pick a place where I already know someone. I used to be super social online (well, I still am), so I met a lot of people all over the world and had some long-term online friendships. I've visited quite a few places based on that and always had someone to hang out with when I got there. It was a great chance to meet some of my closer online friends and explore new places simultaneously. That's actually how I met my best friend of oh gosh...14 years now? We first met in World of Warcraft a million years ago and then hung out quite a bit in person, though he's somewhat local (just a few states away).

This is so true. And, the one thing I learned taking the "just go" approach - sure, that works as there's never a perfect time when the stars align to make a big move like that. It's always a huge risk. But you absolutely should have at least one contact in the country you're going to. I'm not at all afraid to yeet myself into the abyss, but I always always always make sure I have one person waiting for me at the other side when I do it. Red tape is so scary and it's not uncommon for things to go horribly wrong.

Oh my god if I went to Mexico I'd do nothing but eat and buy musical instruments I'm not even kidding LOL. My mom still has the didgeridoo we got from our trip to Australia. I kid you not - we had to ship the damn thing home it was so huge. Found it in a shop full of handmade arts and crafts made by locals this lovely woman ran. We stayed in there for hours chatting with her, looking at her photos, chatting about the local history, etc. But yeah, you can't go to Australia and NOT buy a freaking didgeridoo. And when in England, I bought a beautiful used violin and took some lessons. I chose to leave it with a friend rather than bring it home, though. I was afraid of trying to lug that through an airport. I would totally fall in love with Mexico I'm sure. Unfortunately, my Spanish is absolutely horrid. Yes I took it in high school (3 years worth, essentially, and straight As) - but the moment I got laughed at trying to use it in a real-world situation, I was done, LMAO. I'm convinced what they teach us in school is not even real! These days, I can understand some of it if written - but I can't speak a word and can't understand it at all when spoken. But go freaking figure - I took one single German class at the local community college years ago and found that so much easier. Which reminds me - Duo is probably very angry with me as I've been neglecting my German lessons for ages now, but yeah, I pretty much gave up on Spanish for good unfortunately LOL. A lot of the music I listen to is from Germany, so I just went with that.

Thank you so much! And yeah, that's the hardest part. If you can't meet a country's company sponsorship requirement (due to being entirely freelance or worse - working completely for yourself with no clients involved - like a blogger or something), you're pretty much out of luck there. So many of those travel blog posts telling people - just move to Bali and be a freelance web designer, yaaaay! - don't tell them that they'd be working quite illegally in many cases without getting the proper approvals and documents, lol. So much this. I'm not looking to move somewhere cheaper. I'm looking to move somewhere comfortable. I've taken tons of long multi-day road trips around the US before, so I know packing up and skipping off to Nebraska or North Carolina or Alabama or Utah or whatever is NOT the answer for me. Yayyyy but it's an exciting process! I mean, stressful, but exciting. And yeah, super complicated - even before Covid. Paperwork up to the eyeballs, but so worth it. South Asia would be amazing if you can pull that off before settling down elsewhere (and lol so many people in this thread choose Canada!).

Moving abroad for financial reasons wasn't really why this thread was started. Luna and I started off discussing work visas and how difficult they can be to obtain, especially for freelancers, in the Pet Peeves thread. From there, we decided to just start a whole new thread to discuss expat success stories in general and pick each others' brains on how it was done. The reasons for moving can be varied - met someone in SL and decided to take the plunge, moving for college, moving for work/employment opportunities, met someone elsewhere online and got married, joined the Peace Corps, won the lotto, left to teach English, etc. Anything at all. Me personally, it's been a lifelong dream to leave ever since I took my first international vacation and it only grew stronger the more I traveled around. Once I had a few trips under my belt and realized how much more comfortable I felt outside of the US, I was sold on living abroad (and managed it for a short time but only temporarily - I'd love to make it permanent).

I'm going to peek at this! Thanks! England would require a company to sponsor (same as many places), and so many companies in London and beyond hate doing that (I job hunted while there). I remember back in the early 2000s, company websites even had that in the footer - we do not sponsor, LOL.

Check my edit - bangs! That might be an easier problem to solve than finding a hairbase that wants to play nice and line up well. Though I'd still recommend trying some new hairbases for fun, too.

LMAO. Yeah I saw mention of a HUD on Flickr and I have no idea. Cute hairstyle, though! But nuuuuuuuu, don't give up! Hit up Not Found, grab their hairbases, try em out. Hit up Stray Dog and Mister Razzor, too. Demo all the things! Don't just stick to the womens hairbases either - the mens can look so nice, as well. Can't really see it that well, but this is Not Found - Carl on my Lilly. Edit: Better view of it below. AND ALSO! What about adding bangs? Get thee to...who sells separate bangs? Doux? Tram? I forget...but get thee there!

Same! I considered both Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands several years ago (that's not technically leaving leaving for me buuuuut, kind of sort of, and a way easier process), but then Hurricane Maria hit. I mean, I'm somewhat used to seeing hurricanes hitting those regions (St. Croix especially), but that one was massive and recovery is still in progress. Oof. Shame because I adore both of those places. Well, St. Croix less so. It's too quiet - St. Thomas has all the nightlife.

That one looks super cute! Also completely unrelated buuuut her new braided styles are insane and I need them in my life.

Try a little bit of everything. I had that weird issue with my male avatar - hair out too far, hairbase out too far, etc. I finally found something that lines up really nicely at Not Found (Not Found - Carl), but it's mostly shaved with some cute lil line work on the side (speaking of which, can we get more of that, too, please?!). Edit: Wait - you have that exact hairstyle? I totally didn't read that right, LOL. Have you peeked at Vanity Hair's shop in a bit? She seems to be doing Evo X hairbases now (with mesh addons), at least for events, so maybe one of those might fit that style, too. Might have to buy a whole new hairstyle to get one, though, but ya know... there are worse things... Here's her Flickr - https://www.flickr.com/photos/vanityhair/with/51496971920/

That particular hairbase (and fully shaved ones I've got from a tattoo shop that have really nice tattoos on them) are the sole reason I mostly keep my butt in Evo mode when I wear Lel heads. Head tats and cute hairbases make it almost impossible for me to go full-time Evo X. Stores just aren't updating them and new ones are kind of lacking at the moment. I was going to suggest taking a peek at Not Found Rufus or Roddy, but they're not quite like that, and they're mostly shaved on the sides/back. Uhhhh...part of me wants to say Mister Razzor or Stray Dog, but I don't think they do that style either. Maybe, maybe, mayyybe poke the creator to ask if she has any plans to revisit those hairbases maybe. Maybe?

I made the huge mistake of going off to school with what...like 4-5 big heavy suitcases and carry-ons and a laptop bag and omg. This was obviously long before we got charged $50 per bag or whatever nonsense they're doing now. Miserable navigating airports with all that, I tell you. Absolutely miserable. When I came back, I tossed almost everything and came with one suitcase. Shipped another to avoid having to deal with it. That was it. If I do it again, I'm not taking anything but a backpack. Rather start my whole life from scratch than pay $40+ a bag are they insane? Sheesh. I bet shipping is wayyyy more expensive now, too. To be fair, that's how I travel in general. If it doesn't fit in a carry-on, I don't even take it with me. I learned my lesson. Luggage sucks.

California is a lot like NY in that it'd be just as expensive to bounce from one coast to the other. It's how I settled on London for college since I had narrowed it down to Hawaii vs. London and I said wait a sec - why in the world would I stay in the US when I could fly across the world - the costs are kind of the same? And at least there will be cute accents! But no seriously - I'd live almost anywhere. Almost. Getting out is something I've been wanting to do since high school. A few of us in my family feel the same, but so far my brother, uncle, and I are the only three that have made it out (temporarily - we're all back here and grumbling about it regularly lol). Oh wow. That's absolutely something I've seen recommended if you're lucky enough to gain permanent residency outside of the US as you'd still be paying taxes in both countries. Giving up citizenship is something I wouldn't at all hesitate to do if given the opportunity (for many many reasons), but I know how hard a decision that is for most people. Congratulations! Adopt me?

Oh oh I thought you meant because of costs. Okay that's a bit better! This all reminds me that I've never actually been to Mexico. Weird considering how close it is (I mean geez I've been to Canada a few times).

That's just so sad I can't even. I mean good that it's an option, but sad that it needs to be.

I used to know someone who would hop over to Mexico for medical care that he couldn't afford here. I'm not sure how he did that exactly - maybe had family who lived there or something, but that's when I started telling myself high crime shouldn't necessarily be a deterrent and added a few more places to the list. Yolo!

Did he tell you what changed his mind? I'm so nosy lol.

Canada just gives you a whole list and says add up these points - got enough? No? Sucks for you, stay mad, bye. 🤣

Yaaaaaaaay thanks for the thread, @Luna Bliss! Curious to hear everyone's experiences (if there are any successful experiences out there!). I've already mentioned in Pet Peeves that I up and left in the very early 2000s to study abroad in London, and I did say that going away to college is technically the easiest way to become an expat, but I should mention that it's definitely not without its problems, too, so big warning to anyone considering that - get your financials in check before you get on that plane! Mine was an entirely spur of the moment decision as one afternoon I got extremely pissed off with the president of my company constantly questioning my skills as a designer while I was quite successfully running the entire company's print and web design department by myself after he literally fired every experienced in-house contractor we had in favor of bumping me from newb intern to FT (massive eyeroll), so I got it into my head that my Associate's Degree would never be enough to shut him the hell up. Got so mad I gave two week notice and within another few weeks, I was on a plane to continue my education in a whole other country (yeah I got mad enough to leave the entire US on a whim LOL) but here's the kicker - I got held at the airport for hours upon hours until they could verify my financial aid and personal finances. 😵 They called my bank, my school, everybody I knew, went through all my paperwork with a fine-toothed comb... thank goodness the person I had picking me up from the airport was patient because woooo. Finally got let in, but renewing that student visa later was no joy, either. Immigration does not PLAY. My roommate's boyfriend was doing his OB/GYN residency in London (from India) and even he got harassed by Immigration! HMPF. Sad part is I didn't actually get to finish the degree before financial aid collapsed (it turned out to be one of those scam colleges oh joy - the less said about that the better), but the experience was AMAZING despite all of that, so I've been quite eager to get out again! Edit: A very close SL friend did offer to help me relocate to Australia should I want to live where nature is completely out to get you, but I believe the process there is quite similar as I checked into student and work visas when I vacationed in Melbourne many many years ago after high school.

Oh most countries basically treat it this way. It's why companies need to sponsor and need very good reasons for doing so over hiring their own citizens. And yes please! I'd love a separate thread. ❤️