124: How I Actually Moved Abroad (My Story)

In this episode, I’m sharing the full story of how I moved abroad—from Austin, Texas to London.

Back in 2019, I received a job offer in Houston that most people would have been excited to accept. But instead of celebrating, I stepped outside and started crying. In that moment, I realized something important: if I didn’t at least try moving abroad, I would regret it for the rest of my life.

What followed was a series of decisions, conversations, risks, and unexpected opportunities that eventually led me to move to the UK.

Today, I’m still living in London, applying for permanent residency, and working toward British citizenship. Moving abroad has easily been the best decision I’ve ever made.

In this episode, I share:

• How a study abroad trip sparked the idea of living overseas
• The moment I realized I had to give moving abroad a real shot
• The tough decisions that came with leaving Texas
• How networking and unexpected connections helped me land my first job abroad
• What life in London has been like years later

Everyone’s move abroad story looks different. But if you’ve been thinking about living in another country and wondering whether it’s possible for you, this episode is meant to encourage you.

Because if I could do it, you absolutely can too.

👉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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I just knew that I could not accept the job offer and that I really needed to give moving abroad a shot. Now I'm getting my permanent residency then a year later I'll get my citizenship. You just never know where life's going to take you. I think that it's great to be open to moving abroad. It's the best decision that I've ever made. 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. I thought that we would do something a little bit different today, and that is to tell you my story of how I moved abroad. I don't know if people will really care to hear about my story, but we've been talking about moving abroad for quite a while now, and I don't know if I've ever really told the story. I think that I've told little bits and pieces, but I was like, you know what? I've been doing the podcast for a really long time, and I thought that'd be really nice to continue to get to know each other and maybe for you to hear my story. I hope that by listening to the story, that you can find a bit of encouragement. Everyone will have a very different move abroad story of what inspired and journey to actually move abroad and what it's been like for them, et cetera. But I thought that as we're getting to know each other, and since you're listening to the podcast, that it might be fun for you to hear my story. So without further ado, I'll go ahead and start telling the story of how I moved abroad from. Austin, Texas to London. So the story actually started in 2017. To give you some quick background information, I am from Austin, Texas. I was born and raised just south of Austin. My family still lives there and I love it. I love going to visit and I had a very happy childhood and upbringing. But my family didn't really travel abroad ever. I mean, my family had never had a passport. I never traveled internationally growing up. Some people you meet are like that, and that just wasn't my story with my family. So I didn't know about international travel or just being abroad in general. And then in 2015 or 20 16, 1 of my very best friends did a study abroad in Spain, and I remember her showing me photos and telling me about it, and I thought, you know what? If she can do it, then I could do it. So then in 2017, I went on a study abroad to seven European countries. It was crazy. Americans love to conquer all of Europe in a few weeks, so we went to seven European countries in 28 days. And the first place that we visited was actually London. And I remember we were only there for about five days because we were traveling to so many other cities and places. But in those five days I really fell in love with the city. I remember actually texting a friend saying, I'm going to move to London someday. And honestly, I didn't think that I would. Ever actually do it. But I just felt so inspired in that moment. I loved London so much, and I just loved the lifestyle of London. And as I traveled further across Europe, I just loved the European lifestyle in general, and I remember sending that text and I never thought that I would actually move abroad. But here we are, and I'm still living in London. So that's where my journey really started was in 2017. I did that summer study abroad. So then I went back to college in Texas. I went to Texas a and m and I. I remember being at school and going through those last couple years at university, and I just really could not get London out of my mind. I remember in 2018, I was constantly bringing up, moving abroad with my friends, with my family, and with strangers that I had literally just met. I just could not help but bring it up. Continuously because it was just constantly on my mind. You might be thinking to yourself, yes, I get that. I am the same right now. I feel like I'm constantly bringing it up with friends and family. So if I was you, I understand wholeheartedly. I remember being at parties, just meeting people for the first time, and it just would naturally come up in conversation all the time. I mean, consistently, I was always bringing up London and the fact that I wanted to move there, and I think in hindsight, I think that was partially. Me preparing myself to move to London, I think that it was something that I really wanted and I think that the more that I brought it up, the more I talked about it in conversations, the more I got comfortable with the idea of that being my future. So if that's you, I think that it's actually really healthy and I think that it helps to gradually emotionally get yourself to the point where you can decide without a shadow of a doubt that you 100% want to move abroad and that nothing's getting in your way. I had to get to that point, and I think that it's really helpful actually to kind of go through that process of constantly talking about it. So that was me in 2018, but I don't think that I actually still fully thought that I was going to move abroad. I think that I was just on a journey and a process to kind of make that decision for myself. So then in 2019, I was coming up to the end of finishing my master's degree, and I was feeling super pressured to get a job because everyone around me was getting a job, knew what they were doing, had their life all planned out, and I did not have a job. I remember sitting down and looking at job applications and I was just like, I just feel so uninspired. None of these look interesting to me. Nothing was calling to me. I just would sit on my computer and look at job openings across Texas, and I just had no desire. I had no interest in any jobs that were coming up, and so I just kind of sat there just going through month by month with graduation, slowly approaching, and with no job prospects at all. So then in April, 2019. This was about a month out from graduation. I still did not have a job offer or any prospects, and I actually had an agency call me. It was an advertising agency that I had interned with a couple summers prior in 2017, actually right after I finished that study abroad that I did, and they called me and they said, Hey, do you have a job? Like what are you thinking after you graduate? And I said like, oh, I don't know. I don't have anything yet. I'm just kind of figuring it out, like I'm not really sure. And I kind of was like, you know, I might be interested at a job at the agency, because that's what they were really calling about was to see if I was interested in a job. And I said, oh, you know, I'm open to it. And then fast forward a couple weeks later, I was sitting in my graphic design class, which happened to be my hardest class that I took during my whole master's program was graphic design. Anyways, I was sitting in my graphic design class. And I just happened to see an email come across my screen on my phone, and I looked at it, opened the email, and I saw that it was that company in Houston, Texas offering me a job position at an advertising agency. I immediately stepped outta the class and do you know what I did next? I literally bawled my eyes out. It was just an immediate response. I just knew in that moment that I could not accept the job offer and that I really needed to give moving abroad a shot. I think that I still kind of had this push and pull, but I was like just so emotional because I think that I just knew that. Texas was not for me that I needed to give moving abroad a shot, and I needed to at least try, otherwise I would regret it for the rest of my life. So that was one of the two biggest things actually, that made me realize that I had to move to London, or die trying. So that was one of the things was getting that job offer in Houston, Texas, and I left that class bawling my eyes out. Around the same time I started really exploring moving abroad and what that would look like. And I remember one of the things that I did was go to the college advisors, job advisors, they help you with the next steps. And I remember talking to one of them and I was just telling them that I really wanted to move to London and was explaining my story and they were talking to him. He told me that he knew of a woman who had graduated from the university and had moved to London for a few years, and I think that she had moved to Canada since that point. But she did live in London for quite a few years and he connected me with her and I set up a phone call with her and I told her that I had done the study abroad and that I was just confused and I didn't know if I should move to London if it was a bad idea. All of my friends and family were discouraging me, maybe not my friends as much, although I think that they didn't quite understand why I wanted to move to London, but they were a little bit more supportive than my family who were kind of not supporting me at all and did not want me to move abroad because they loved me and didn't want to lose out on a relationship with me and just, we didn't grow up going abroad, and I think that it was just very foreign to them. Anyways, I was speaking with this woman on the phone and I was telling her my story and she told me her story. She said that she lived in Texas, went to Texas a and m as well. My university had graduated and she married this Texas boy that she had met at a university. And backing up, I love a Texas boy. I was in a relationship with a Texas boy at the time. I was very, very in love with him and I. Had talked about marrying him. We had talked about getting married. We had talked about after we both graduated to move to somewhere in Texas and both get jobs and to get married eventually, which is an amazing thing. It's super great. I really did love him. But I think that I kind of had this push and pull of wanting to move to London and he did not want to move to London. And I think there were also a few things about our relationship that were just not great. I think that in hindsight I'm like, okay, yes, this makes sense now. I was very, very serious about him at the time, but now upon reflection, I think maybe we weren't the best fit for one another. But anyways, at the time I was in a relationship with him and I was talking to this woman and she was saying that she had married the a Texas guy and they were married for quite a few years, but she always had this desire to move abroad and to move to London. But that he didn't really want that, and I am not saying this is the reason for their divorce, but. And to her telling me her story, they ended up getting divorced after being married for many years. I think it was like eight to 10 years that they had been married. And she moved to London right after that. And she said that she finally got to accomplish that dream of living in London and moving abroad, and that it fulfilled what she really wanted and that it was like her dream come true. And so I'm sitting here on this phone call, and again, I'm not saying that this was the reason for their divorce and I don't know the whole story, but I just saw myself in her. I mean, her telling me this story, I was like, yes, I'm also with this Texas guy. We're talking about getting married, but I really wanted to move to London, and I just really identified, I think that I just really. Felt like her story aligned with mine in a way, and that her story was kind of me looking into the future and I think that her telling me that story was a little bit of me looking into the future and seeing what my life could be. And I think I was looking at my life and there were these two completely separate paths. There was this one path where I felt like a lot of my friends and family were supporting me in and that I was, felt, I felt drawn to, and that I understood what that path looked like, and it was marrying this guy that I was in a relationship with, that I was very, very in love with him. And we had talked about moving somewhere else, a different city in Texas and settling down and having jobs, and I think that is a great path in life. I think that if there are people out there that have had that life, there is nothing wrong with it. And I think that it is a beautiful thing, and I love Texas Boys. I think the Texas guys are great. But I think that was not the right path for me. I think that my other path was me moving to London. We going after this dream right after graduating, where you have, like a open path of what you want to do after you graduate. You don't have a lot of responsibilities. I didn't have a mortgage. I didn't have a family already. I wasn't married to somebody. I didn't have kids. I didn't have a house I didn't have a job. I didn't have an apartment that I was living in that I needed to stay in. I mean, all my friends were leaving. We had this apartment in college, but I think it's just a great starting point to kind of start a new life. Right. Where after you graduate college, so. Anyways, I had these two paths and I think that in having that conversation with this woman, I had this aha moment of wow, I mean, I have these two really separate paths and what is really the best path for me. So anyways, I'm making this a long story, but basically I had these two paths and I think that the two biggest factors of me saying yes to London and yes to I'm going to go abroad are these. Pivotal moments where I had this job offer in Houston, Texas, and I had to make a decision of whether I wanted that job offer. And I had this big emotional reaction and it kind of showed me what I truly wanted. And then having this conversation with this woman where she told me this story of her life and her path, and I saw myself in her and I said, I wanna make sure I'm making the right decision if I'm getting married and settling in Texas with this man who does not want to move abroad ever. But I really want that. I really want to be in London. And so my next step actually was I had come up with a compromise with my boyfriend at the time, and I had proposed that I did a three month long program. Basically, I found this program online that would allow me to do a short term work contract, which the visa basically that I got in the UK was it had to quote unquote be an internship. but I kind of worked it to where it was like an internship on paper, but it was also kind of like a short term contract with a company in Brighton actually. So it was a little bit outside of London. It was in Brighton, England, so it was like an hour south of the coast. But it was the opportunity that I got and there was this program online where you could do your visa for three months and then I would come back to Texas and basically I thought about doing that and then coming back to Texas, but whenever I had told my boyfriend at the time about this program, he got really upset and we ended up breaking up. And again, I think that there were other things that were not a good fit, but basically I was planning on doing the three month internship, getting it out of my system or three month contract, or whatever you wanna call it, getting it outta my system and then moving back to Texas. Well, I went to Brighton. I did end up getting that program. I ended up going through the process with a company. Where I was able to get a Visa for just three months. I did that program and Brian and I constantly went into London because that's where I really wanted to be. But I said, you know what, Brian? It's close enough. I'll go for it. And I, I ended up going there for three months and I do not think that I would. Wanted to move back after that. I think I mean obviously I didn't, I mean, I was there for three months. I fell in love with it and I said, I really wanna stay in the UK. I really want to move to London. So it took me a lot of networking, it took a lot of reaching out to people on LinkedIn to be able to find opportunities to connect with the company in Brighton and then actually. After that, I ended up getting a connection with somebody that I met in a waiting room, actually at a clinic. And I ended up speaking to this woman and she was like, oh, my husband knows a guy who owns a company in London. It's a startup. You should check it out. And I, at the time I was like. I am not interested in that company. It was a company that was building later living communities for older people. So like Care Homes but luxury ones. And I was like, I'm not really interested in that, but I was like, yeah, I'm interested and I think it's always good to explore opportunities. And so I explored it and I ended up working for that company actually for, I dunno, what was it, like two, three years. And I loved it. I loved working there. I had the best team in London and it was my foot in the door. We had to be open to opportunities, and it was because I was just speaking with a woman. I spoke with a million people. I was constantly bringing it up. Like I said earlier in this episode, I'm constantly brought up moving abroad to people as I spoke with them and. That was the opportunity that led me to London. Really. So I had, that one, got me a foot in the door. I worked there for a few years and then I ended up getting another opportunity. When that door closed, I ended up moving into the company I'm at now, and I've been here for coming up to four years now. So, anyways, it's just, it's crazy. I mean, I think the story was maybe a little bit jumbled. I mean, I'm really just. Kind of openly tell you a story, like we were sitting on the couch with a tea and just kind of talking about my story and what happened. But yeah, that's basically the story and. I mean, I never would've imagined back in 2017 when I went on that study abroad, that in 2026 I would be living in London. nine years later, and here I am, I'm actually applying for permanent residency and about a month, which is crazy. It's something I've been working towards for the past. five years of having consistent residency. So I lived in the UK for six years, but the visa that I had at the beginning with the program in Brighton and then at first in London, didn't count. So anyways, I'm so excited. It's just crazy. And now I'm getting my permanent residency and then a year later I'll get my citizenship. So I'll be able to have British citizenship and also be able to have my citizenship in the US as well. So I think that's pretty cool. And you know, maybe someday I'll move back to the US. Maybe someday I'll move to another European country. Maybe I'll move to another continent. I mean, who knows? I just think it's cool to have the opportunity in life. You just never know what's going to happen. So if this is you right now, if you are in the stage of just exploring. Life abroad. Like maybe you've just visited a country abroad and you're open to the idea of life abroad, or maybe you're in the stage where you're constantly bringing it up, but you don't actually think that you're going to do it, but you're kind of exploring it. Maybe that's you. Maybe you're frantically googling online how to move abroad. I totally feel you. I was there. I remember starting to Google and getting completely overwhelmed. so that's you. That's why I'm here. That's why I really started the podcast and. Why I try to provide resources for people who are interested in moving abroad, because that was me. I was completely overwhelmed with everything on Google of how to do it and the options and the next steps. And I think I would've loved to have somebody hold my hand along the process to have the right next steps to keep me accountable. so if that's you, feel free to reach out and we can chat about it. But yeah, that's really why I wanted to start the podcast And talk about moving abroad and to encourage people to do it because legitimately, and this is not just because of the podcast or anything. I mean this might speak for itself, but I love my life abroad. I love that I moved abroad to London. I love that I have the best of both worlds with going to visit my family in Austin, Texas and still visiting the US quite often. I go at least two times a year. Last year, I think I went like four times. It was crazy. I went so many times. And I think that it's amazing to have the opportunity of best of both worlds of living in the U.S but also having this life here. I mean, this upcoming weekend, I'm flying to Barcelona literally tomorrow. So for a, I'm running half marathon on Sunday. Wish me luck. but yeah, I just think that. You just never know where life's going to take you. And I think that it's great to be open to moving abroad. Like I said, it's the best decision that I've ever made. I just wanted to share the story today. I hope that. This feels encouraging in some way. Maybe there's pieces of my story that you identify with. Maybe this is completely different from your story, and I think that just depending on where you're at in your career and your experience, maybe you're wanting to do a startup, so you'll have a completely different experience or. Maybe you're way later on in your career, so it'll be a lot easier for you to find a job and to get a visa, and it's a lot clearer of a path. Or maybe you're retiring. I mean, there are so many different visa options and so many paths. but I'm here to help. I just want to leave you with a bit of encouragement. Everyone has a very different story, but. I am not special. I'm really not special. And I hope that you find the encouragement like I did years back when my friend did the study abroad and I said. If you can do it, then I can do it. And I hope that you're sitting here right now listening to this podcast episode saying, if she can do it, then I can do it, because you absolutely can. I am not special, and you absolutely can make moving abroad a reality for you. So. I hope that you found this episode encouraging, and I hope that maybe this brought us a little bit closer. You hearing my story of how I moved abroad and getting to know me and my life a little bit better, maybe that is, has been fun as well. So anyways thank you so much for listening to my story. I really appreciate you listening to a bit of my rambling of my story of how I got here and where I'm at. I hope that you found encouragement in it. And yeah, that's it for me for today's episode. So 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.