Brutally Honest Advice for Americans Moving to Europe in 2026

Comments · 1.3K

• TR

  @TravelingwithKristin · 3 months ago · pinned

  What is your #1 fear about moving abroad? For those asking for the tax and relocation links, I&apos;ve added them to the description and here: Relocation guidance: <a href="https://www.travelingwithkristin.com/relocation?video=-Uwt7pDUnS8">https://www.travelingwithkristin.com/relocation?video=-Uwt7pDUnS8</a> // Expat tax help: <a href="https://www.taxesforexpats.com/ref/284">https://www.taxesforexpats.com/ref/284</a>

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• SU

  @suzanneparis18 · 3 months ago

  I&apos;ve been an immigrant several times in my life and I think we have to understand a few things: we weren&apos;t invited nor was anyone waiting for us. So we best keep our tone down, learn the language, adapt to the culture, do not compare continously with our home country, don&apos;t complain about customs or administration, but enjoy the positive things of our new home, such as food, drink, outdoor activities, easy travel, friendly people, spectacular landscapes, beautiful cities, security and perfect life-work balance. We are tolerated, so we do our best to fit in.

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• DE

  @Delaware-Tom · 3 months ago

  I know someone who moved to Croatia 5 years ago. She said it was temporary and she woukd be back. We all know she would only be back to visit family. <br>She came to visit around Memorial Day Weekend &nbsp;for about 10 days to attend a Tango Festival and her family. When she returned to Croatia, &nbsp;in a post, she wrote,&quot;It is good to be back home.&quot;

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• LA

  @LavenkerishX · 3 months ago

  A good attitude and a recognition that you are an immigrant in a new country with a different language and culture

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• SC

  @Scott-i9v2s · 3 months ago (edited)

  All brutally-honest advice lumped together: One is a <b>GUEST</b> when one visits a country other than one&apos;s own country. &nbsp;So <b>ACT</b> like any guest should, meaning <b>go by THEIR rules.</b> &nbsp;Which in turn means: <b>LEARN THOSE RULES BEFORE LEAVING</b> your own country.

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• RE

  @realhistoryplease4778 · 3 months ago

  It’s pretty similar to the first six months of a new relationship really.<br>The relationship naturally changes and you either embrace that or move on.

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• GL

  @glicmathan1771 · 3 months ago

  I’ve lived around Europe with the longest stays in Eastern Europe and 6 years in the UK. I have way too many thoughts to post in a comment, but I can’t stress enough the importance of gravitating towards what you normally do in your home country. Find your people wherever you are. Unless your job is vlogging on YT and posting about the street life, just walking around as a tourist will not satisfy most people for long. This new trend of moving abroad as a “digital nomad” is unique and part of the reason for a lot of the backlash against tourists. Digital nomads are essentially a kind of full-time tourist, rather than say, a foreign colleague now working in your department, going for lunch on your break and hitting the pub after work. You will meet people and make lifelong friends very quickly as soon as you’re interacting with people just like locals do. It’s the boring, stressful work day that you laugh about after work that helps form those bonds. Dating too becomes a lot easier once you’re a part of a network. That has always been my experience. As a musician, I initially went abroad with my band to play shows. I ended up staying and working in the music industry as a reporter, which I had studied and worked at already. So my enmeshment was very quick. In fact, I had almost too many friends and acquaintances with overlapping social functions. At some point, I could be at an event, party, dinner invite etc most nights of the week. In all those years, I only met a handful of Americans. I wasn’t avoiding them but had no reason to seek them out. This was before the UK’s EU years and pre internet btw when literally everywhere and everything was miles better! Seriously, not an exaggeration. I visited friends in London a few years ago and was shocked how much the dynamic had changed including cost of living, crowds of people everywhere including the “boring” areas formerly ghost towns, more crime etc. I still enjoyed being back there but it wasn’t as “small town” feeling as it used to be.<br>My “advice” is to know exactly why you’re traveling/relocating and understand the limits. If you’re moving to retire and not actively participating in society like a young person, you’ll still meet people and make friends, but it will happen differently and possibly take longer. Having said that, I find that I tend to attract certain people towards me without even trying. I’m sitting at a cafe and people at the table near me start talking to me. <br>I was at a food court in Porto a few years ago having a glass of wine on my own chatting to the server at the bar. I was laughing and having a good time on my own. A woman ordered next to me and invited me to sit with her friends. It probably helped that I wasn’t gloomy crying in my wine! <br>I similarly met a lot of Serbs and Russians this way who took me out with them bar hopping and to hear live music. Some of these guys were young enough to be my grandsons! 😂 I’m often blown away by how many good hearted people there are in the world. Lastly, I’ve found it’s important to travel enough to know where I connect better and less so. Some cultures are just not as compatible with our personalities. BUT conversely, I’ve also been changed by different cultures to the point an initial negative becomes a positive. Like the Slavic street vibe of not smiling I don’t even notice anymore and kind of prefer it - it’s more relaxed and honest than negative. Anyway, just my 2 cents!

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• CA

  @CarolLeMaster · 3 months ago

  Even if you’re moving to a new location in the USA, it takes a year to get settled. &nbsp; As for making friends, you have to get involved, not come on too strong, and contribute to the community over time in order to build trust. &nbsp; ❤

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• OL

  @olafreinhardweyer · 3 months ago

  So glad I&apos;m an introvert. I can go months without meaningful human contact. A walk through the city, chatting with a cashier etc. is quiet enough :) For deep conversations I have long time friends and those you carry in your heart, I don&apos;t understand need to see each other all the time, the feeling of being connected never diminishes for me, it doesn&apos;t need to be sharing the same space.

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• RA

  @rabukan5842 · 3 months ago (edited)

  I bought a house in Portugal one year ago, and retired here from almost 20 years in Japan. I never experienced a honeymoon phase or a dip mainly because I never expected anything as I have lived in 5 countries since the 1980&apos;s and am very used to the reality of living abroad. In fact, the only time I experience culture shock or any shock is when I return to the U.S. Even in the 1980&apos;s, when I lived in both the Middle East and London, I loved being where I was and found the U.S. unsettling because the changes there since my youth in the 1960&apos;s and 1970&apos;s have been not only dramatic, but catastrophic because in no democratic country do I feel as much the disparity between the tiny minority of &quot;the wealthy&quot; vs the vast majority of &quot;the working.&quot; I&apos;ve watched the country deteriorate to where it is now. I just returned from a 2 month visit to spend time with family. I am so happy to be &quot;home&quot; in Europe, and that saddens me because I love America and the promise it once had. I still believe in that dream, but for now, I will dream it from Europe where I am actually living it.

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• MI

  @millernight1 · 3 months ago

  been in Spain for over 2.5 years and had the dip about a year ago - but have came out feeling even better after the dip - have gotten involved with more people and more engaged with the culture and it is great...

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• DA

  @Dahrenhorst · 3 months ago (edited)

  Carpet Cleaner? I&apos;m living in Europa all my nearly 70 years, and never ran into one of those. And the only people employing gardeners are the rich or elderly and disabled people who want to keep their garden and get it maintained. Favorite copy shop? Nobody uses a copy shop unless you need to print out you masters thesis or something like that.<br>My most central and important advice for people wanting to move to Europe earnestly and for good: Learn the language of your destination country BEFORE you leave your home country as much as possible. Don&apos;t think you can do small talk with an A-Grade level, you need at least B-Grade for that. Don&apos;t think you can compete for high-level jobs (and especially a low-level or mid-level job, because people in those jobs are usually not that proficient with English) with less than an C-Grade language certificate, when you want to live and work outside of the bigger cities. With a few exceptions the countries national language is the working language, and although most people in Europe can understand and speak some English, life is done in their local language.

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