104: Before you move abroad: Take this one trip first

Before you pack your bags and move abroad, there’s one important step most people skip — taking a “test trip” to potential cities first. In this episode, Jordan shares how to plan a short scouting trip to help you decide where to live abroad.

You’ll learn how to narrow down your list of countries, set clear intentions for your trip, and focus on real-life experiences instead of tourist activities. Jordan also covers what to pay attention to while you’re there — from how safe you feel to whether you can imagine daily life — so you can make your final decision with confidence.

If you’re serious about moving abroad but can’t decide between places like Portugal, Spain, or Germany, this episode will show you how to find the right fit before you move.

Listen now to learn how to plan your “move abroad test drive” and choose your next home with confidence.

👉Take the free quiz: Which European city should you move to? 🤔

Grab my free guide: 5 exact steps to move abroad

Website: jordangiberson.com
Instagram: @jordan.giberson

Transcript

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To move abroad is such a huge step. So I think that it's important to go into it with intentionality and to have educated insights to make sure that you're making the right decision of where you're moving abroad to so that you're happy there, you're happy with your move, and it's a good decision in your life. Hey, my name is Jordan Giberson. I'm a Texas girl living and thriving in London. The best thing I've ever done? Moving abroad, hands down. And I'm passionate about helping others do the same. Are you curious about finding a job abroad? You're in the right place, friend. I'll teach you the tried and true secrets of how to make moving abroad a reality for you and how to live a fulfilling life once you get there. We'll cover topics like choosing the best visa for you, how to get a job offer in another country, how to get over your fear of moving abroad, and how to live a life you love once you get there, this is The Move Abroad Podcast. Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Move Abroad podcast. Today we're talking about one of my. Favorite strategies for choosing where to move abroad and for motivating yourself to actually move abroad is to plan a trip abroad, to test out potential cities or even the city that you plan to move to. Maybe it's not multiple. Maybe you already know where you want to be, but I do think that it's a great way to test out the city before you're fully committed to one or before you fully move abroad. We will dive into why this is really so helpful and probably more helpful than what you even think it's going to be later on in the episode. But I wanted to start us off by saying if you've been daydreaming about life abroad in. Portugal or Spain or Germany or the UK or you know that you want to move to Germany, but you aren't sure exactly which city that is. I think that this is a great way to decide which city or even which country feels right for you. So I think that in that way, this episode will be really helpful for you. And even if you know which city you want to move abroad to, I think it really helps you to be motivated to say, okay, I. Have this really clear picture in my mind of what my life could look like if I actually move there and not just visit. Now I've gone there with this lens of could I live here and what would my life look like here? Where would my gym be? Where would my cafe be? Like, how would I get to work? I think that all those things will help you have a bit more context into what your life could look like abroad, and I think that that is one of the most. Motivating things to actually move abroad because the biggest hurdle that people have in moving abroad is a lot of times, not some of the more practical items like getting a visa or getting a job, but it's finding the motivation to actually do it, to actually take steps to move abroad. And I think that this is one of the easiest ways to give you context. To motivate you to move abroad, really. So we'll be talking about how to plan a short trip abroad to confirm your move abroad destination. And just to confirm moving abroad in general, really. So we'll talk about what to do to research beforehand, before you do this short trip. How to make the most of your trip while you're there and what to pay attention to that can help you make a confident decision in your move abroad. So let's go ahead and dive into today's episode. I wanted to touch on why a test trip is so valuable, even if you have done a short trip somewhere like me. I did a short trip abroad to London. I was only in London for like four days. I fell in love with the city and I said, Ugh, I'm gonna move here someday, and it ended up working out really well for me. I did do one other really short trip. Abroad after I had made the decision that I wanted to move abroad to kind of confirm that. But I think I kind of already knew that's where I wanted to be. I didn't have several cities that I was considering. I already knew it was London for me. But I do think that that trip was so valuable to just reconfirm that that's what I really wanted and to picture what my life might look like by visiting different. Neighborhoods and seeing what made the most sense for me and figuring out where in the city I wanted to work, like what would that look like? How would my public transportation look like? I remember looking in the trains and seeing people in their work outfits and saying, that's gonna be me. Like that could be me. And I think just having that context and being there with that lens of. I'm gonna be living here and what is my life actually gonna look like? I think was really motivating for me and gave me a lot of confirmation on, yes, this is exactly where I want to be, but if I were to have been deciding between different destinations, I think that it would've made those trips all the more valuable. So why even plan a trip abroad before you move? I mean, you might be thinking, I already know I want to move to Europe. Why spend the extra money, extra time, take off of work, deal with all that just to visit first. I already know I'm gonna be spending my next year or two or five or whatever it is for you there. Why do I need to do this quick trip abroad? Like why do I need to spend the time doing that? I'd say, the thing is moving abroad is a huge life shift. I think sometimes what looks really dreamy on Instagram might feel very different in real life. You might have done a trip abroad there and you might have said, oh, this museum, this tour was incredible. This really touristy, cafe was really incredible, was really beautiful, but is that going to be your daily life? Probably not. I think that it's really helpful to say, okay, what do the local gyms look like? How would I be building my community? What is the community even like here? What would my job opportunities look like there? You might not be thinking about those things specifically whenever you're visiting, but whenever you do a trip with a purpose of saying, how would I build my life here? I think that's a really different lens. And the example that I love to give is a, a year ago I was looking for a new neighborhood to, to live in, and whenever I had. Visited and spent time in different areas for fun. I remember thinking, oh, Chelsea is great. Kensington is great in London. I loved those neighborhoods. I thought they were so fun to visit. But then I did this scouting trip just in neighborhoods in London where I would visit, and I said, okay. What would my life actually look like here? Would I be happy here? And then I walked around with that different lens, not in a tourist, like I'm just having fun here lens, but A, what would my life look like lens? And honestly, it was really different in that sense because I looked around and I was like, actually there's a whole lot of tourists around here. And it doesn't feel as local here to me. And actually the gyms that I'd wanna join aren't really in this area. And actually to get to work, this doesn't make as much sense to me. Or if I'm working at coffee shops in this area, they don't like you to work with laptops. So in that sense, it wouldn't make as much sense for me. So I think that I had a really different point of view whenever I spent time in the area thinking what would my life look like here? How could I build my life here? And then I came with a very different answer. I said, actually, I thought that it was Kensington and Chelsea. Whenever I visited more as a tourist and more of just having fun, but whenever I'm thinking about where I actually want to live and build my life and have my day to day, this actually isn't the best fit for me. So I think sometimes having a purposeful trip saying, okay, what would my life look like here? Where you're deciding between different cities or maybe you already know the city and you're deciding on different neighborhoods to move to, or just making sure and and gaining confidence that. You are making the right decision in your life to, pick up your life and move. That's a really big decision. I think that such a big life shift deserves having a week, two weeks, maybe longer if you're able to swing it with work and depending on your, your life and your responsibilities back home. But I think that that big life shift deserves to have,, a trip abroad to help. Gain confidence that you are making the right decision and that you're setting yourself up for success whenever you do move there. Because a scouting trip gives you real world context. You might notice things that you can't pick up online that you might notice that the pace of life feels different than you expected. You might figure out different areas where you can connect with locals better, or where there's a stronger expat community that you know that you need. Or maybe you might realize that in one city the language barrier is actually really high. There aren't as many people that speak English in that area than you originally thought, but in another city it might be a better fit in that country than you originally thought. So I think that this is a great. Move a abroad test drive. You're not just there as a tourist, you're there as a potential future resident. And I think that has a very different lens and you'll have a very different trip and point of view whenever you go with that lens. So that's why a test trip is so valuable. So the first step you'll need to make in this scouting trip abroad is going to be depending on if you know where exactly where we want to move abroad or not. If you already know the exact city, then maybe you don't take the step. But if you're trying to decide between two to three potential cities in a specific country, maybe you're still trying to decide on the country, but maybe you know you want to move to Spain, so maybe you choose two to three cities in Spain that you are considering. So I would recommend focusing on two to three locations and then. I wouldn't recommend trying too many because you're just going to be rushing from train to train from city to city and not really getting an in depth feel of the place and not getting that experience that you really need to make a decision. So I feel like there's enough online to be able to narrow down to two or three. Locations maximum. So start by doing a little bit of homework online. Figure out which countries or visas might work for you. Figure out which cities are going to offer the lifestyle that you're after, whether it's a big city, more coastal, more small town. Figure out those must haves in the city that you're going to be moving abroad to and just do some research online to figure out where the best destinations will be for your type of living that you're looking for. And maybe look at things like your budget and, what people say online and, so basically just put together a list of what are the most important attributes of the city that you're going to be living in for the lifestyle that you want. And do a little bit of homework online to narrow down the two to three potential cities that you might want to move to. So once you've narrowed that down to your two to three cities that are the strongest contenders, then I would recommend giving yourself at least three to four days in each, if possible. I do understand that life is crazy. Maybe you have a lot of responsibilities back home. Maybe that will be difficult for you to swing with your PTO days and other competing priorities. But I again, think that. If you are thinking about picking up your life and moving to a new city, I think that that deserves. Some of your attention. I think that deserves doing a test drive of that city to make sure that it's a good decision because you don't want to move to a city remembering how fun it was whenever you were a tourist there two years ago, or maybe it was five years ago or 10 years ago, and maybe you end up moving there and the place has changed so much. Maybe the city has changed, maybe. You have different priorities than you did back then. Maybe you just did some awesome tourism things where the bike tour guide was just so stellar. You remember being so fun, but then whenever you're actually living there, you're like, wait, this is not what I signed up for, not what I remember, not what I was picturing. In my mind. You just wanna make sure that. The vision you have in your mind is going to align with what the city is actually going to be like in this point in time. And I think that that deserves our attention and our focus to spend the resources and time to visit that place and make sure that it is a good fit for you, and your partner, for you and your family, and who you're moving abroad with. So now we have chosen our one city that we already know we're going to move abroad to. Or if you're in the camp of, I'm not sure exactly which city. So maybe you've just chosen two to three. So if we've gotten to that point, then awesome. The next step is going to be setting your scouting trip intentions. This is not a vacation. You are not going as a. Tourist, you are going as a a person with a fact finding mission. You are on a mission. You have the lens of, okay, could I live here? And what will my life look like here? So before you go write down a few intentions or questions that you wanna make sure you answer, you can go into this more relaxed and just have them in your mind. Or you could go into it with a bit more structure, with specific questions written down that you're going to physically answer. Because you might think, oh. I'm going to remember the difference between Porto and Lisbon, but my goodness, sometimes you just get overwhelmed. You're like, did I have that experience in Porto or was that Lisbon? You just wanna make sure that you are going in with strong intentions. This is a fact finding mission, and you might think that you're going to remember the specific neighborhood that was in that city and the cafe that you went to there, and the feel of that specific street that you want to move to or whatever. But honestly, sometimes we get overwhelmed and we forget these little details. So I would recommend taking some notes while you're there. And some questions that you might want to ask yourself are, could I see myself living here long term? Maybe you're thinking you just want to be there for one year. But I do think that this might be helpful if you could see yourself potentially living there long term. Then you know that you have a higher likelihood of success for a short term, right? Another question you might want to ask yourself is, how easy is it to get around the car if I have a family or if I have pets? Maybe you're asking yourself. How would I feel walking alone at night? Does it feel safe for me? Would I feel safe with with me and my partner walking alone in the evenings? You might wanna ask, is English widely spoken here? If I don't know the foreign language that well enough yet, would I still be able to get by? Would I still be able to form a community here? You might want to ask yourself, is there an expat community here? Is there a neighborhood where there's a stronger expat community? Where there are people who are similar to me where I would feel at home in that area? You might want to ask yourself, which neighborhoods would give me the easiest access to get to work? And do I feel comfortable in those neighborhoods? Is that where I'd want to rent? What does the rental market look like? Should I chat with some. Local agencies, where they rent houses or what would it look like to buy houses in the city? Is there a different city where it'd be better to buy a house? If that's my goal? What are the local grocery stores like, what is the food like? What are the gyms like? I think that it is helpful to go into. Like what are the specific aspects of your life that are really important, whether it's having really strong coworking spaces or having really great coffee shops, because that's a really important part of your lifestyle or gyms, or you wanna make sure that. You're living in a neighborhood where there's a bunch of Americans, or you're moving to a city where the, there's a great property market for you to be able to buy something for you and your family or your future family. So those are the questions that I'd be asking yourself. Safety, maybe you want to. Get your master's degree. Is there, are there great schools in this city? I think that there's so many different questions that you could be asking, and I think that it would just be helpful to think about your day to day. What are some important aspects in your life or your family's life that you wanna make sure you can also do successfully in this new city to make sure that you're having the lifestyle that you really want. So those are some questions that I make sure to, to ask yourself and honestly ask Chat GPT, what are some important questions I should be asking myself whenever I'm doing a scouting trip abroad in. Blah country in Spain or in Portugal or in Germany or wherever you want to move to and see what Chat GPT gives you. And then remove the questions you think aren't relevant. But I think that'd be helpful to have a good starting point. So I'd say this is a good starting point to figure out what to focus on, but I think the point here is that I would set your scouting trip intentions and make sure that you are on a fact finding mission that you are accomplishing. What you're going after, that you're not just going to experience the best restaurant or to do this really cool tour or whatever because you're not going as a tourist. You're going to see could I actually live here and what would matter for my daily life here? Not just having the pretty views, although we love the pretty views, but for this, it's not the most important thing. We wanna make sure that we're moving to a place where we can have a happy life. So we have chosen our city or potential cities, and we have set our scouting trip intentions. The next step is to perhaps plan some real life experiences, not tourist activities. So I would skip the major tourist attractions, or at least it'll make them your main focus, and instead, plant on normal life experiences. Make sure you. Visit a local grocery store or farmer's market. Make sure you are trying to go into work at a cafe. Like actually bring your laptop for a few hours and see what the vibe is like. See if that's accepted in different cafes or if it's not a part of the culture at all. Make sure you're taking public transportation and getting a feel for it. Make sure you're going to a local meetup or a language exchange or an expat meetup of some kind where you can get to know the local people and get a feel for the vibe and how acceptable it is for Americans to move there and to get a feel for how acceptable they are to New Americans moving there or wherever you're from. Make sure that they are open to people moving there. Check out the neighborhoods and see where locals actually live, not just in the city center, but. Where would you actually be living and how would that feel? You're trying to experience the rhythm of everyday life, not be in vacation mode. So you might wanna try to plan some of those specific experiences. You might want to decide on which neighborhoods you want to check out, and maybe even go on Google Maps and flag the grocery stores and flag the cafes and flag the gyms and honestly, just go ahead and go in the gym. What does their monthly rate look like? What does the gym. Feel like, maybe start actually doing some apartment viewings to see what the apartments look like and how much bang for your buck you can get in that place. And how much you might be paying for rent and what the houses might look like to get a real feel for what the life might actually look like. The next step is going to be planning your trip. So you need to actually book your flight, book your accommodation, preferably in a neighborhood that you're actually considering moving to. So make sure that you book. That trip. Decide how long you're going to stay in each place, and then once you're there, make sure that you are intentional about your trip and about your time there. Remember, we're trying to experience life. Make sure that we're making an educated decision on where we're moving to. To make sure that we can have a happy life there, that we're making a right decision for us in our lives, and making sure that we'll have a successful move and that we'll be happy there. Really. So once you're there, you'll wanna make sure that you're tracking how you feel in each place. So yes, you're kind of checking boxes of do they have the right cafes, they have the right this and that. Is there a good job market? There's a correct visa for where I'm moving to, so I'm making a good, educated decision. So you're making an educated decision, but you also wanna make sure. You're tracking how you feel in each place. So keep a simple journal or maybe just go on your notes app on your phone. Either it would be. Great. So it's whatever is best for you. And after each city, or maybe 10 minutes in the morning or in the evening, just jot down some of your first impressions. What did you love? What didn't feel quite right? How were the people? Did it feel like home or could it feel like home sometimes? The place that you. Expected to love ends up feeling a little bit off. And the one that you thought maybe you wouldn't love as much ends up being one of your favorite places, and it might surprise you. This has happened to me many times. Whenever I've traveled, it's happened to me. Whenever I was deciding on the neighborhood to live in London, it really surprised me. But even trips, I. Visiting Spain and Barcelona. I thought I'd love Barcelona. I hear people raving about Barcelona. I was like, I'm gonna love it here. And I visited twice. I've been twice. And both times I was like, eh, it's okay. But then I had a really low expectations for Madrid and I went to Madrid and I was like, this place is the bomb. I loved Madrid and I could see myself living there for a year or two and being super happy. So, you know, sometimes you might go in with certain expectations and. Expecting to love it and to feel really good in a place. And then you go there and you have a completely different feel. So listen to your gut. And I'd say sometimes your gut, once you're actually there, is often more accurate than the spreadsheets and the research and how a place might look like on paper. And then the last step is just to reflect and compare after your return. So whenever you get back home, take a little bit of time after you've slept on it for a few days. After you've maybe chatted with some people in your life about different things and you've kind of verbalized and chatted through, take some time to reflect before jumping to any conclusions quickly look back at your notes. Look back at your photos and how each city made you feel. Ask yourself, which city felt easiest to imagine in real life? Which one aligns to my visa or my job options? Which place makes me feel really excited that I could potentially wake up there every day? Which one is really going to feel like. Home. I think that if you're between a couple options, that's okay, but I think that honestly taking a quick visit is going to give you so much clarity that is such a deeper dive than just looking online, just looking on Instagram. Even that trip that you took even two years ago, I think that doing a trip now closer to whenever you actually want to move there can give you so much clarity. And if you're still really confused or you're like, I have so many places I could potentially move to, I'm not really sure the best place I would recommend taking the quiz. There is a quiz that's at the bottom of this podcast description, so it'll help you narrow down, which. Country and city might fit your vibe best. So you might consider taking that quiz if you haven't already. Or if you wanna just go to my website, jordangiberson.com/quiz. Then you can take the quiz there or the link's. Also, I think it's just easier on the the bottom of the podcast description just to click on that link there. So that could help you in figuring out some potential cities that might be a good fit for you. But I hope this episode was helpful. I think that a move abroad is such a huge step. So I think that it's important to go into it with intentionality and to have educated insights to make sure that you're making the right decision of where you're moving abroad to so that you're happy there, you're happy with your move, and it's a good decision in your life. I hope that you found this episode helpful. Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the Move Abroad podcast. I will catch you here again next week, same time, same place. I'll catch you then.