My husband and I moved abroad in our 50s after deciding there was no perfect time to relocate

This narrative is according to an discussion alongside Leslie Hodgin, a 55-year-old promotion adviser who moved from the US to the Netherlands alongside her husband, John Lyman, 52. It has been edited for dimension and clarity.

Until 2026, I was living in Richmond, Virginia, alongside my hubby and our cat.

My dad was in the Army, so I grew up all complete the world, but Richmond is my adopted home. I lived there for concerning 10 years.

During that time, I got an recommendation to move to Seoul, South Korea, for my promotion job. My husband, John, and I were courtship at the time. We got wed one week before moving to Seoul for two years.

After the agreement ended, we returned to the States. I affection Richmond, but it did awareness small following I had been in Korea.

Some events happened in the two of our families that made us desire to move abroad again sooner fairly than later. My dad died. My husband's mom died. We had a brace of beloved allies continue away. It was all extremely quick. And it made me think, "What are we waiting for? We don't have promises for tomorrow. Now is the time."

We don't have kids, so that wasn't holding us back. We had several prosperity in the financial institution to move, which I cognize is a privilege. It was like, "Let's fair go and live our lives. We shouldn't fair keep expecting for someday since there may not be someday."

Moving to the Netherlands

John had gone to alumnus academy in the Netherlands, so we'd visited before. Through my activity in advertising, I additionally had a fairly ample network of group living there.

There's a visa for Americans called the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty (DAFT) that allows freelancers and entrepreneurs to live in the Netherlands. It made the nation appear akin a awesome choice for us.

My hubby plant for himself, so it was easier for him to choice up and go anywhere. I started my own consulting endeavor and remaining my agency. I knew there was an promotion community in the Netherlands, and I planned to freelance if my consulting endeavor wasn't doing well.

My husband's dad is in his 90s, and my mom fair turned 80. Moving far from them was likely the hardest part of the decision. I have a small guilt for that, but they're enthusiastic for us. I've promised my mom that I'll be residence for any big family and crucial events.

That's a difficult item to do, but we felt it was correct for us not to put our lives on hold.

Downsizing our lives

We moved in January. We did it in six months. We'd sold our home concerning a twelvemonth before moving and were living in an apartment.

We decided to market nearly everything we owned to keep expenses as low as possible. We shipped a half-crate over, which is fairly small, so we had to get rid of a lot of stuff. We made near to $12,000 marketing everything and used it to pay for the visas and assistance alongside several of the moving costs.

When we moved, we had nine suitcases, including a ample part of art. It was the largest oversize item that would fit on an airplane, and we had a particular museum-packing business group it. And our cat, of course, came on the aircraft alongside us.

We live in a two-bedroom apartment. It's an old, old building, but the flat is newly renovated and has a patio.

We do awareness fortunate that we established a place since there is a accommodation shortage, and it's fairly difficult to discover housing, particularly if you're American or from another nation and you don't have Dutch income. We had to pay six months' rent upfront to safe our rental.

Life in Europe

It motionless feels surreal that we live here. My hubby and I volition frequently appearance at all another and say, "Oh my God, I can't accept that we're here." I never desire to endure that feeling.

Business seems to be going really well. I additionally already knew several friends, but I've met so many amazing group through social media and made several awesome allies alongside our neighbors.

We affection the awareness of community. I value the social agreement that group oversee all another in the Netherlands, from the opportunities the authorities provides to the regard and rely they display all another in general.

Recently, there was Open Monumentendag, or Open Monuments Day, alongside complete a thousand monuments, churches, houses, farms, and historic places throughout the Netherlands open to the community for free. They do that all year, and it feels so special. It seems akin all another weekend there's a festival.

There are continually challenges. I'm extremely dilatory to choice up the language. Most group conversation English, but I awareness akin I need to be better.

Moving additionally expenses a lot additional than you scheme for. Even if you've tried to pad all the numbers, it motionless expenses additional than anticipated. Because our activity was fairly dilatory before in the year, we were like, "Gosh, what have we done?"

Our cost of living is fairly akin to what it was in the US. We don't have a car, so we don't have that expense. We would be paying twice the rent in New York City for this identical apartment.

A caller start

I awareness living again. I felt a small stagnant in Richmond following living overseas, and moving has opened a lot of doors for my creativity.

On social media, I've documented trying one new item a week. It's gotten us out to encounter group and have several engaging experiences.

There's a hazard in moving abroad. You have to get yourself complete the hump, and you have to be brave.

Believe in yourself. If there's item you desire to try, akin moving overseas, going on a solo trip, or taking a cooking class, obtain a chance on yourself. You're never going to regret trying it if it doesn't activity out. If you don't always put yourself out there, you're going to appearance rear in 20 years and be like, "That would have been great. Why didn't I provision that a shot?"