Book Picks: Living, Working, Retiring and Studying Abroad

...If people and their manner of living were alike everywhere, there would not be much point in moving from one place to another.
Paul Bowles

Retiring and Living Abroad

The Global Citizen: A Guide for Creating an International Life and Career for Students, Professionals, Retirees, and Families
Elizabeth Kruempelmann

If I could write a textbook on creating a new life abroad, the Global Citizen would be it. Kruempelmann has created the most comprehensive guide to living, working, studying, and retiring abroad. My only qualm is that the information is not very qualitative. It will do little to help you determine which of the hundreds of alternative travel programs are best for you. If you want a more qualitative guide, subscribe to my Big Blue Marble Newsletter.

Living and Working Abroad: A Survival Handbook
David Hampshire

Living and Working Abroad is the single most complete guide to the cost of living and availability of jobs for professional people abroad anywhere. In seemingly endless detail, Living and Working Abroad provides expatriates with a thorough analysis of what they can expect in their new country. My complaint: the book is geared exclusively toward expatriates who are looking to find the same life and career overseas that they enjoyed at home. Living and Working Abroad is little help if you want to escape your home and set up a business or new career on foreign soil.

Reinventing Yourself Overseas: New Opportunities to Live, Work, and Do Business Abroad
Scott McDonagh

Reinventing Yourself Overseas contains the most interesting tips on finding opportunities to live, work, or do business abroad anywhere. Use this book to get you thinking about what you might want to do. Then, use the references contained in Reinventing Yourself combined with the other books listed above, and my Big Blue Marble newsletter to find your perfect niche abroad. It is not as hard as it seems!

The Grown Up?s Guide to Running Away from Home
Rosanne Knorr

The Grown Up?s Guide is a thorough overview of the issues you need to think about if you want to live outside of the USA ? even if for only a couple months ? including how to choose the right new home, prepare your finances, and, if applicable, keep your home in the USA. It is also surprisingly entertaining and well written.

Expert Expatriate: Your Guide to Successful Relocation Abroad
Melissa Brayer Hess and Patricia Linderman

If I had to write a book about living abroad (for people who are relocating for a new assignment, at least) it would be the Expert Expatriate. Hess and Linderman?s writing is clear, approachable, and intelligent. They sprinkle the book with great sidebara based on their lives that illustrate their points effectively.

Moving Your Family Overseas
Rosalind Kalb & Penelope Welch

Moving Your Families Overseas does an excellent job of discussing all the aspects of transferring your family to another country from the physical logistics of the move to the making successful cultural and psychological adjustments.

Third Culture Kids: The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds
David C. Pollock and Ruth E. Van Reken

Third Culture Kids, though a bit academic, is a worthwhile primer if you are going to move your kids abroad for a long period of time. It discusses both the challenges and the benefits of moving back and forth between different countries for children. This book could also be an excellent resource if you are thinking about working as a teacher or businessperson working with expatriate children in another country.

Overseas Americans: The Essential Guide to Living and Working Abroad
William Beaver

Though dry, I would recommend this book highly to help you deal with the legal and bureaucratic issues involved with moving abroad including taxes, security, and doing business abroad.

I have only found two books that talk about living abroad for people who actually make the decision to move abroad (without having decided where they want to move) without a job overseas settled in advance. They are:

A Family Year Abroad: How to Live Outside the Borders
Chris Westphal

I like this book! It does a great job combining practical advice with a well written story of one family?s effort to establish a new life in Prague without the backing of a company or government. A Family Year Abroad holds no punches (it is hard to move a family abroad especially without the safety net of a US company) yet also gives you a valuable look at the benefits of transitioning abroad for enhancing family togetherness and developing a multicultural sense of awareness.

Live and Work Abroad: A Guide for Modern Nomads
Huw Francis and Michelyne Callan

The only book I?ve found that addresses all the issues of moving abroad for both people who are sent abroad by companies and those who choose a new life abroad. Live and Work Abroad is very thoroughly (though a bit overly British) and well written, though a bit dry in spots.

Guidebook Series for Living and Working Abroad

Once you?ve identified a country, try to find a book about Living, Working, Retiring, and/or Investing in your new homeland. There are several guide series out there including the following:

Adapter Kit: A Traveler?s Tools For Living Like a Local Belize, Mexico, France, and Ireland
(note this review is largely based on the guide to Mexico written by Ken Luboff)

The Adapter Kit does an excellent job in simply and concisely addressing some of the cultural issues you need to expect and address when you move abroad and (perhaps its best feature) describing the pros and cons of moving to various (including a few that are off the beaten expatriate trail) places in the country. Its discussion of the practical issues involved in moving is decent but more thoroughly done elsewhere (note: this may be the only guide of its type for Belize).

Living and Investing in the New (Nicaragua, Panama, and Cuba) and the Golden Door to Retiring in Costa Rica
Christopher Howard
(note: this review is largely based on the Living and Investing in the New Panama and Nicaragua guides)

Living and Investing provides a thorough, seemingly well researched and accurate (note: I haven?t meet many expatriates living in these countries so I can?t vouch for the accuracy) view of the legal, political, and social issues involved in moving and setting up a business in these country (in my opinion, one of the best features of this guide is its discussion of working in these nations). Though Howard does provide sketches of Americans living in these countries, I would like to see more of that type of information.

Living Overseas: Follow Your Dreams to Affordable Living (Costa Rica, Mexico, Belize, the Dominican Republic and Living Overseas: What You Need to Know)
(note: this review is based on Living Overseas. All the books are by Robert Johnson)

This is the best book available if you want to work (or set up a business) in another country. It also does a good job of profiling real life expatriates and helping you understand the logistics involved in moving, living, and retiring in another country. The only real fault: the book doesn?t give you a good sense of the people, history, or culture (arguably this is done well by other books. I?d check out the Culture Shock series and look at my book listings).

Buying a Property Spain, Florida, France, Italy, Portugal (coming soon Ireland, Cyprus, Greece, Abroad, Retiring Abroad)
from the Sunday Times in England
(note: this review is based on Buying a Property in Portugal)

These very thorough guides are printed primarily for a British audience. They clearly spell out all the legal issues and processes involved in buying a home. They do not offer any sketches of real expatriates or talking about renting a home. They do a good job of profiling various regions of the country and a reasonable job of explaining the cultural, political, and historical background of the nation under question.

Choose Mexico (and Costa Rica): Travel, Investment, and Living Opportunities for Every Budget
John Howells
(note: this review is from Choose Mexico)

Choose Mexico does the best job of any guides listed here in describing life in various cities around the country. It is also the only guidebook in this series that could be useful (except the People?s Guide to Mexico) to anyone planning to travel around the country for an extended period of time. It is not a great guide for making a living in Mexico and its discussion of cultural differences is mediocre. (Note: John Howells also writes several guides exclusively for retirees in the US)

Guides to Living, Working, and Retiring in Mexico

Head for Mexico: The Renegade Guide
Don Adams

This the best guide for anyone who wants to live in Mexico bar none. Unfortunately, it isn?t all that easily available (though you can order it through amazon.com). Head for Mexico is well written, researched, comprehensive, and very approachably written. Best of all ? it is the ONLY book of this type I?ve ever read that caters to people who really want to be an integral part of their new country rather than a mere expatriate.

People?s Guide to Mexico
Carl Franz

The People?s Guide is the only traditional travel guidebook that belongs on this list. Thirty years after its first publication, it remains the ultimate travel guide to any country ever written anywhere. Better yet, it is entertaining to read cover to cover. The People?s Guide, unlike most guides, doesn?t recommend hotels or restaurants. Instead, it tells you how to live like a native and how to really appreciate the Mexican soul. Funny, well written, compassionate. A classic that I hope will continue to be updated until the end of time. The People's Guide also has an excellent website filled with tons of useful information about Mexico.

Live Better South of the Border in Mexico: Practical Advice for Living and Working
?Mexico? Mike Nelson

An excellent introductory text. Many of the guides listed here have specific strengths and weaknesses. This is the only guide which covers all the ingredients necessary for a useful guide concisely and simply. Nelson is truly a master of all trades; yet, he does leave one wanting more detail and that, fortunately, is easy to find in many of the excellent guides listed here.

Midlife Mavericks: Women Reinventing their Lives in Mexico
Karen Blue

Retiring Abroad

Retiring Outside the United States
A special report from Where to Retire magazine

Retiring Outside the United States is an insightful, careful researched and intelligent guide to all you need to know about retiring in various corners of the globe. I would recommend this pamphlet to anyone who is thinking about setting off for another part of the world (regardless of whether you are retiring or not).

Working Abroad

Travel Writing and Journalism

The World on a String: How to Become a Freelance Foreign Correspondent
Al Goodman and John Pollack

The World on a String, offers budding (and established) journalists a refreshing alternative to covering city council meetings ? freelancing around the world (after working in City government for fourteen years, I would sooner have a dentist do non?stop root canal surgery than report on City Council meetings). Sadly, the North American press coverage of the rest of the world has dwindled since The World on a String was published in 1997 reducing the need for freelancers. However, the World on the String remains a comprehensive and surprisingly entertaining primer to a great alternative to the traditional journalistic career.

The Travel Writer?s Handbook: How to Write and Sell Your Own Travel Experiences
Louise Purwin Zobel

Not long ago, a poll was taken which asked Americans ?What is your dream job?? The number two response (just after celebrity) was travel writer. Most people feel that travel writing is about as easy to get into as acting. Sure, it is not easy. But, it is also not impossible especially if you follow Zobel?s advice. The Travel Writer?s Handbook is the most comprehensive guide to travel writing in the marketplace. Zobel offers very useful advice on framing, researching, writing and marketing travel stores.

Travel Writing: A Guide to Research, Writing, and Selling
L. Peat O?Neill

This is the perfect companion guide to the Travel Writer?s Handbook. O?Neill covers some of the same ground as Zobel. However, she presents the information with a different spin and shares several little known secrets (particularly about researching and writing an effective travel story).

A Guide to Travel Writing and Photography
Ann and Carl Purcell

Out of print and a bit dated, nonetheless, A Guide to Travel Writing is an excellent primer to writing effective travel articles and taking powerful travel photos. This is the best guide I have seen for the layman to travel photography. It is a worthwhile guide to travel writing, as well, though O?Neal and Zobel have as good or better writing advice. In addition to books on travel writing, I would suggest reading a few classic writing books. Here are a few of my favorites:

Bird by Bird: Some Thoughts on Writing and Life
Anne Lamont

Bird by Bird is two different guides at the same time. On the surface, it is a practical guide to effective writing. At a deeper level, it is a lyric and moving guide to writing as an almost spiritual practice. A must read for all writers.

If You Want to Write: A Book about Independence and Spirit
Brenda Ueland

Originally written in 1937, If You Want to Write is a pungent reminder that the seemingly most trivial and boring events can be fodder for wonderful stories if they are written from your heart and soul. Ueland powerfully demystifies the belief that writing is only for ?creative? artistes and reminds us that we all have a book in us waiting to be born.

Writing Down the Bones
Natalie Goldberg

Writing Down the Bones offers sage advice to finding your own voice, writing effectively and powerfully, and fighting writer?s block. Filled with practical writing exercises, Writing Down the Bones will get you moving on the path to writing.

Working Your Way Round the World with Short Term Jobs

Working Abroad: The Complete Guide to Finding a Job Overseas
Edited by Clay Hubbs (Transitions Abroad magazine)

Working Abroad, written by Transitions Abroad magazine, is a thorough compendium of job opportunities that are available to recent college graduates and other people without experience in a lucrative, professional career. My only complaint: the book is dry. Suggestion: Use more real life stories (just like the magazine) of people successfully making a new life abroad.

Vacation Work?s Work Your Way Around the World: The Authoritative Guide for the Working Traveler
Susan Griffith

In my mind there are two ways to work your way around the world. One way is to select your travel destinations first and then try to find worthwhile work experiences at that destination. Another is to pick a career and then try to find the best position for you abroad. I would not choose the first path. I don?t want to tend bars or pick fruit. These types of jobs, to me, sound like drudgery regardless if they are in Sydney or Poughkeepsie. I would, however, love to travel around the world as a journalist or as an English as a Foreign Language Instructor. If you are like me, save your money to buy books some of the other books on this list. If, however, if you are interested in finding any short time work to finance your stay in the place of your dreams, Work Your Way Around the World is the best book to find out all the inner working of the part time, temporary job market throughout the world.

The Back Door Guide to Short Term Job Adventures
Michael Landes

Whether you want to intern for a political cause, learn organic farming, work at a ski resort, crew a boat, or study the theater, the Back Door Guide will have something for you. It also contains a wealth of tips, stories, and anecdotes to give you the inside skinny on a variety of alternative work experiences while motivating you to try something new. Use this book to plan your escape from the rat race. I wish I would have the gumption to try out some of these alternative jobs before I settled down. Nonetheless, it is never too late. One caveat: The Back Door Guide only offers a few ideas for jobs outside of USA, however.

Careers Abroad

The Complete Guide to International Jobs and Careers: Your Passport to a World of Exciting and Exotic Employment
Ronald L. and Caryl R. Krannich

The Complete Guide to International Jobs is the ultimate guide to finding employment overseas if you are a highly skilled professional in a field in high demand worldwide such as engineering, banking, or management. If you are not, don?t waste your money. However, if you are a professional, the Complete Guide does an outstanding job at helping you determine if you want to go overseas.

Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Teaching English Overseas: A Job Guide for Americans and Canadians
Jeff Mohamed

Teaching English Overseas presents a thorough and well researched overview of the opportunities, joys, and challenges of teaching English outside of the USA. It could use more information about job opportunities in specific countries and provide more information about the day to day of teachers abroad. Fortunately, both of these topics are well covered by a score of internet sites (particularly Dave?s ESL Caf?).

Cruise Jobs and other Positions in the Hospitality Industry

How to Get a Job with a Cruise Line
Mary Fallon Miller

Miller has written a very good introduction to getting and keeping a job in a complex industry. She presents a balanced view of the profession and a well-researched analysis of the need of cruise lines.

Setting Up a Business Abroad

Building an Import/Export Business
Kenneth D. Weiss

Weiss presents a thorough analysis of the prospects for developing a small import/export business that is poised for success in the future. Read this book before investing funds in this type of business especially if you want to develop an import/export business as your primary (or only) means of income.

How to be an Importer and Pay for your World Travel
Mary Green

As readers of my Big Blue Marble newsletter will learn, there are a myriad of ways to extend your travels around the world without spending money from home. Importing/exporting is one of the popular ways that travelers have used for decades to pay for their trips around the world. How to be an Importer is the classic guide (first published in 1979) to this potentially fun and lucrative income source. I only wish that a similar guide existed to establishing other types of businesses (such as bed & breakfast inns and art galleries) abroad.

Studying Abroad

Study Abroad: The Unauthorized Guide to College Abroad
Mariah Balaban

Study Away does an excellent job of providing Americans who are thinking about obtaining a degree abroad both qualitative and quantitive information about programs, open to Americans, throughout the world. Though this guide is geared to college aged students, I would recommend it to anyone (many people don't realize that you can probably take classes at most of the schools in this guidebook even if you don't intend to get a degree)interested in studying abroad for an extended period of time.

Study Abroad for Dummies
Erin E. Sullivan

Sullivan has written a good basic primer for college student thinking about studying abroad. Study Abroad for Dummies takes students through the entire study abroad process and even has some useful notes for students thinking about studying for an advanced degree in another country. My only suggestion: I would love to find a book that talks (even tangentially) about non-credit seeking adults who want to study abroad for the experience.

Notes

• I, (Paul Heller, founder of Big Blue Marble) have prepared these reviews to help you travel-like-a-local.
• Check out my reviews of links to websites about living, working, retiring, studying, and traveling abroad.
• Do you agree or disagree with my comments about the books listed on this site? Know of any books that should be added? If so, please send me your comments. I promise to post your comments on the Big Blue Marble blog.
• indicates that I highly recommend these books.
• See my tips for specific information about living, working, traveling, studying, and working abroad.