Top Tips For Moving Abroad Alone

Moving abroad alone can be an exciting and rewarding experience. You’ll need to get to grips with a new job, a new home, and a new life pretty quickly, but with only yourself to please, the opportunity and adventure can be hard to resist. But moving to a new country can also be intimidating and challenging. With no friends, family, or partner for support, the thought of being in a new environment alone can be scary. But whatever the reasons for your departure, we’ve pulled together some expert tips for moving abroad alone to help you gain confidence and embrace your new life abroad.

Get yourself prepared

While an amazing experience, moving abroad alone can be just as stressful as moving with a partner or family, but it may also come with additional challenges. One of the surest ways to help your process along smoothly is to ensure you’re prepared well in advance of when you leave.

When moving abroad alone, keeping an open, calm, and positive mindset is essential. Get used to being on your own so you feel comfortable, and visit your new country beforehand if you can. And learn some basic language skills if the native language is different from yours. You’ll learn more over time, but make sure you know enough to get by.

But getting any necessary paperwork and documents in order in good time is among the top challenges of relocating internationally. You’ll need essentials like your passport, driving licence, medical certificates, and birth certificate. But check with your destination country well ahead of your move regarding any visas. And check all the visa requirements – mistakes can cost you time and money.

Research your new country

Researching your new country is a must if you’re making your life there, and it can make the whole moving process much easier. There’s no way you can learn everything, but researching a range of different things will give you a good grounding for the most important areas for you and your new homeland.

Finding out about your new destination country is a great start, but don’t forget to look deeper into the district or area you’ll be living in. While it’s tempting to look up where the best restaurants, bars, or clubs might be, remember: you’re not going to be a tourist. Look into the cost of living, cultural norms, and any potential safety concerns in the area you’ll be moving.

Understanding your destination’s culture, customs, and laws is important before you move. Doing this will help you feel more prepared and comfortable in your new home.

The pros and cons of moving abroad alone

Moving abroad alone definitely has a lot of perks, but it can have its downsides too. Here are some more common pros and cons to consider beforehand.

Pros

Independence and freedom

You’ll have complete control over your life and can make decisions on the fly without having to check in with anyone else. This can be very freeing and allow you to do your own thing – things that you might not be able to do with a partner or family.

Personal growth and self-reliance

The experience can be an excellent opportunity to challenge yourself, develop self-reliance skills, and focus on your career. Taking you out of your comfort zone, flying solo can be a chance to learn more about yourself and your strengths and weaknesses.

Meeting new people

Moving can also be an opportunity to meet new people, new colleagues, and of course, meet the locals. You may find that you can start conversations and make new friends or connections much more easily when you’re on your own.

Cons

Loneliness

Moving abroad alone can be a great chance to do exactly what you want, but you might sometimes feel lonely or isolated. Having left the support network of your friends and family behind, it could take time to make friends.

Doing everything on your own

It might take some time to adjust to being alone in your new country. Finding accommodation, buying a car, and generally adjusting and adapting to a new way of life in a new country can be hard, especially if you have no one to share the burden with.

Vulnerability

Though you might be excited about moving abroad alone and settling in, it will take some time before you get a proper feel for the area you’re living in. At times, you may feel more vulnerable or unsafe, especially in unfamiliar places.

Top tips for moving abroad alone

Moving abroad alone is challenging. But despite that, and with some proper planning, it’s definitely something you can achieve. To help give you some peace of mind, we’ve pulled together a list of top tips for moving abroad alone, which should help to settle your nerves and prepare you ahead of your big move and when you get there.

Find local expat groups

Connecting with expats from your home country can be a great way to find new friends and support when you’ve moved abroad alone. Check apps and local resources online before you move to find groups and organisations to join that may have regular meetups or events.

Get friendly with the locals

It’s easy to rely on expat groups in a new country to help you feel comfortable or supported as you settle in. But you should also make a real effort to make friends with the locals too. Work colleagues and neighbours, and attending local celebrations or events, can all help you integrate more quickly into your new surroundings.

Research housing and accommodation

Unless you’re moving country for a job with a company that’s relocating you completely, you’re going to need to research your accommodation options. Finding housing abroad can be competitive, so it’s crucial to be proactive and start your search as early as possible. Remember to be flexible and open to different options.

Politics, health, and education

Look into the political climate and government of your new location. This can help you understand any potential risks or challenges you might face while living there. Take time to learn about the local laws and customs, such as restrictions on speech or behaviour that may differ from what you’re used to.

And research the local healthcare system and what access to medical care you’ll have. It can help you understand what to expect regarding availability and medical costs. Also, consider health insurance to cover you while you’re living abroad, just in case.

And while it’s unlikely you’ll need to know too much about the local schools in your new area, you might consider further education while you’re there or taking language classes to help you adapt to your new environment. Research the education system to understand what options are available.

Keep in touch with people back home

When you’re enjoying your adopted country, it can be easy to get swept up in your new life and forget to keep in touch with friends and family back home. But doing so will help you keep your feet on the ground and give you a chance to catch up with what’s happening. And it’s so easy to do these days – Skype, Zoom, and Facetime apps are all free. Keeping in touch can also help with any feelings of homesickness you might have.

Expect the unexpected

No matter how much preparation or research you do before you move abroad alone, you should always hope for the best, be prepared for the worst, and be unsurprised by anything in between when you’ve newly arrived! There will always be times when the unexpected will happen – good or bad. But they’ll be things that can happen wherever you are, so just try and enjoy them if you can, deal with them however you need to, and give them a positive spin.

Plan your shipping needs

Before you start your new life abroad, you’ll need to pack up and ship your belongings out to you. That could be the one thing you’re looking forward to least, as it can be a daunting process. Once you’ve decided what’s coming with you in terms of household items, furniture, and belongings, you’ll need to arrange for shipping everything to your new home.

The most common and cost-effective way to do this is by shipping container via sea freight, with costs including hire and transportation costs, and usually shipping insurance too. It’s wise to make enquiries into this a few months before your planned departure date to give you time to find the company that can best suit your needs.

You don’t have to move alone with UPakWeShip EU

Whether you’re moving abroad alone out of choice or necessity, you need to find an international removal company you can trust with your possessions and move them to your new country as quickly and safely as possible. At UPakWeShipEU, we take that responsibility seriously.

With moving and shipping services from Europe to the USA, Canada, the UK, and anywhere else in the world, UPakWeShip makes shipping easy. We offer guaranteed affordable rates with no hidden fees and an excellent reputation for saving customers like you time and money.

Find out more and contact UPakWeShip EU today. Call us on +31(0)6 21 61 76 19 or email move@upakweship.eu.com to get your free quote. You can also check out our ‘how to…’ video guides for expert info for moving abroad alone too.